Next Level Strategy · 01. June 2017

Too many business executives believe, wrongly, that differentiation requires blazing new paths or innovating something from nothing. Instead, paying attention to trends can help you differentiate and identify needs and opportunities like nothing else can. Being a “trend getter” is a best-kept secret among high-growth companies, with executives envisioning new ways to approach and leverage what already exists. Here are some ways to make "trend getting" an ongoing initiative in your company....

Momentum Building · 01. April 2017

Too often, owners and managers operate their businesses in silos that cause many opportunities to be overlooked. Accounting focuses only on accounting. Operations focuses only on operations. Marketing focuses only on traditional sales and promotion. Safety and maintenance only focuses on safety and maintenance. I could go on and on. High growth companies understand that each area of the business is a spoke on a wheel that works in tandem to truly keep opportunities flowing in and turning into...

Value Building · 01. August 2016

Speed of change is the new norm in building a business. Agility is critical to growth and even more critical to value-building, sustainable growth. If you are not strategically building your business based on this fact, you are already falling behind. Your company's ability to scale is contingent on four critical success factors. Effectively aligning and leveraging its Intelligence Quotient (IQ), Emotional Quotient (EQ) and Velocity Quotient (VQ) will directly impact your ability to realize a...

Next Level Strategy · 01. March 2016

Too many businesses, in an effort to compete, miss the mark in what it takes to truly differentiate themselves. If you are using your competition as a template for what you think you should be doing, then you will always be following, and will more likely get left in the dust of "not knowing what you didn't know."Companies that truly excel against competition are willing to put their offerings and how they approach doing business on the line. These businesses are willing to be disruptive, and...

Momentum Building · 01. August 2015

As we are a month into the second half of the fiscal year for most businesses, savvy business owners are already planning for the year ahead, along with continuing to look 3 to 5 years ahead strategically. For decades, the norm for situation analysis within a business plan and strategy is to use SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) as a basis for making strategic decisions and prioritizing action. Too often, however, specifically the weaknesses and threats are not effectively...

Confidence Building · 01. May 2015

You may have heard the cold call statistic that it could take as many as 100 phone calls to get one meeting. That statistic has been around since cold calling was in its heyday. But at a one percent return on your time investment, are those odds really working in your favor? After all, wouldn't it be better to have odds that would actually give you the probability of converting that prospect into an actual customer? Over more than 30 years working with businesses, I have tracked what I like to...

Image Building · 01. October 2014

If you want to be considered the best in your industry, seeking awards for your business should be a part of your strategy. Award-winning companies are viewed as more credible, stable and worthy of patronizing. Many business owners do not realize the number of opportunities that exist for a business to be named among “the best” or where to begin to identify them.Google can easily open your eyes to the world of awards in your industry and marketplace. Winning awards can become a competitive...

Momentum Building · 01. April 2014

Wearing multiple hats is nothing new in the life of an entrepreneur. However, this column is going to focus on the hats you throw upon others. Too often hats are being tossed onto the wrong person or for the wrong reasons, which have a negative impact versus the positive relief you envisioned. Have you or are you placing hats on the wrong heads, causing more confusion or chaos than collaborative gusto? 1. Just for a While Hat: I witness this all the time. An employee is asked by the business...

Team Building · 01. December 2013

Are you frustrated by employees or associates whose work or efforts are not to your standards, level of passion or competency? Is this causing you to feel as though you are the only one that can get things done right? Nothing is more disheartening for a high achiever, and especially a business owner, than feeling as though no one can do it exactly like you. The dilemma is that as you take on more and more in order to accomplish more and more, you are actually crippling your ability to achieve...

Customer Building · 01. November 2013

Part II of II - In the last column, I helped you understand the different shopping mentalities of a customer or client. Now that you have had some time to analyze these different shoppers within your own business, you can better understand how to turn shoppers into buyers through understanding a buyer’s motivation factors. 1. Impulse Buyer: Impulse Buyers are exactly as described. They will purchase on a whim out of a perception of immediate need, convenience or instant gratification. There...