11 WAYS TO REACH THE DECISION-MAKER

No matter what business you are in, chances are that it requires some degree of ‘sales.’  And anyone involved in sales can tell you that selling is a process.  There are steps.  Once you thoroughly know your product or service and you know your audience, the first step in business-to-business sales is to identify and contact a decision maker at a company that could use your product or service.  If you trying to reach a big company, it might be someone in the procurement department.  If you’re selling to a mid-sized company, it could be a department manager.  If you are selling to a small company, it might be a director or owner.  No matter who, communicating with the decision maker is often a challenge, especially without an introduction. Continue reading →

Recession. War. Earthquake. Divorce. Illness. Terrorist threats. There is a never-ending supply of internal and external disturbances that strive to steal our concentration and reduce our productivity at work.  With so many distressing headlines, personal problems and benign daily distractions, it can often be difficult for you or your staff to stay focused and fruitful.  American businesses are often sabotaged – not by those headline-grabbing threats – but by the impact of events big and small on employees’ ability to stay focused.  Indeed, simply staying on task is often the biggest challenge.  Continue reading →

Recent studies conducted by Stanford University have found that multitasking basically makes you bad at everything. Several studies found that people regularly bombarded with several streams of electronic information do not pay attention, control their memory or switch from one job to another as well as those who prefer to complete one task at a time. Continue reading →

Keeping up with marketing trends is a lot like keeping up with fashion.  Just when you think you are styling and profiling with what is in vogue, the season changes and its time to update your wardrobe again.  Marketing is very similar.  Just when you have your company’s website updated, have installed the latest CRM system and positioned your company on the most popular social networking sites, new tools and strategies emerge and you are running to catch up. Continue reading →

At first blush, this week’s essay seems to focus on what to do when you fail to succeed.  But let’s turn that on its head. Instead, I am suggesting that you need to fail in order to succeed… success achieved through failure. Indeed, history shows that truly great success is usually achieved only after either great failure or a great deal of failure, or both. Continue reading →

It is fairly accepted wisdom that by working together, more can be achieved.  On the heels of the New Orleans Saints winning the 2010 Super Bowl, we are reminded that ‘none of us is as strong as all of us.’  There is a great parable that drives home the point of teamwork.  Continue reading →

Given the economy, there is scarcely a business that can afford not to be ‘business frugal.’  That is the term I use to describe a heightened awareness and control of unnecessary costs and expenses at work… even more than usual.  ‘Business frugal’ means finding ways to save on cell phone bills, eliminate waste of office supplies and postage, reduce courier costs, and a myriad of other strategies that, combined, can save companies a lot of money each month.  The best managers are always ‘business frugal’.  Here are six strategies that can help you be more ‘business frugal.’ Continue reading →

There is a growing cry in the global workplace for people to ‘own their career.’  That is, there is a growing desire for individuals to take control of their career growth – including career transition – and recognize that the only person responsible for what happens in their career is themselves.  That is good advice.  But it is also important for people not only to own their career, but to also ‘own their work.’  Owning your work or job is not a recommendation for employees to go out and start a business or become freelancers / contractors… although that might be good advice for some. Continue reading →

A new calendar year often makes people think about how to simplify and improve daily life.  Over the last few weeks, we’ve discussed steps to set and achieve goals and ways to better manage time.  But what if the challenge you face is to de-clutter your life?  Continue reading →

TEN MORE TIPS FOR EFFECTIVE TIME MANAGEMENT

Adopting time management strategies is similar to planning and adopting a budget. Just as the goal of a budget is to put you in control of your money, the goal of time management is to regain control of your time.  Last week we examined ten tips to self-manage your way into a better (read:  more productive) use of your time.  Here are ten more tips. Continue reading →