You've heard marketing and advertising gurus quip, "Sell the sizzle, not the steak." Advertising initiatives best reach their target audience with benefits and the "wow" effect, not the value or features of their product or service. This may work well to get customers in the door. But once they're in, you better have some substance. How can you ensure you uphold the integrity of your business and still maintain the "Wow Effect"? It just...more
Sure, as tactics usually presented to business, non-profit and association managers, special events, brochures and news releases are fine. But they're not the high-octane PR firepower you need to deliver growth results like new proposals for strategic alliances and joint ventures; accelerating prospect contacts; rising membership applications; customers making repeat purchases; rebounds in showroom visits, or capital givers and specifying...more
I went to my barber a few days ago. We talked about his hobby, which is playing poker, and his nephew who is a boxer, and about my job and my kids, etc., etc. I told him where my son, a high school senior, wants to go to college. It is a rather expensive private school in the city where we live. Jerry, my barber, said he knows several people that attend and work at this college, and that he believes it is an excellent school. And then he said something that is very true. "If I stop learning, then I am through. I've been a barber for forty years and I still am learning." He then related a story about a former customer. This fellow came into the shop one day and said "I want you to cut my hair the same way every time I come in." The conversation continues:Jerry: "I've been cutting your hair for years. Isn't it always the same?" Customer: "You never use the same method. I want you to cut it using the same method." Jerry: "Doesn't it come out the same every time?"Customer: "Yes, but I want it cut the same way every time."Jerry says to me "I know several ways to cut hair and I am always learning more. If it comes out the way he likes it, what difference...more
Today, good credit is the one constant necessity needed to succeed in any endeavor, from starting a new business venture to purchasing a home. Without having established prior good credit and maintaining this status, re-establishing decent credit can be a very difficult task. The need for credit and a good credit history is further enhanced by the...more
Ever since I created Unlock The Game, one of the first questions people always ask me is, 'Does Unlock The Game apply to online selling?' I've been holding off on answering that question because I wanted to get enough experience under my belt with my own online business so I could answer this from an authoritative position. My...more
Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. But, when it comes to yellow page display ads, you better know who you're imitating and why! A yellow page ad is supposed to do one primary thing: get people to call your business. If it's a really good ad, it should get people to mentally discount competitor ads and favor yours. If a particular business wants to garner the lion's share of all prospects, then why imitate the format of all the other ads? More importantly, why imitate an image-style format? Let's look at an example of an image-style format. The name says it all. "Image" is everything (and maybe the only thing, for lack of anything better to say). Coca-Cola has an image. IBM has an image. So does Citi Bank. These Fortune 500 Companies also have enormous advertising budgets that would dwarf annual revenues of most individual businesses. They're the big players. Having massive distribution networks and established prominence, their products and services are virtually everywhere. They can afford continuing, expensive image ads simply because of their immense size and the marketing inertia they've developed over multiple decades. Is it any...more
According to Pricewaterhouse Coopers, investment by institutional venture capitalists in startups grew from less than $3.0 billion at the beginning of the 1990's to over $106 billion in 2000. Although venture capital volume has retreated...more
You can meet your goals for your business this year. Consider these resolutions as ten steps to your success in 2005.1. Develop a business plan or strategic plan. You won't get where you're going unless you know where you want to be and let...more
You have a head spinning with business ideas but you encounter difficulties in financing? Or you have recently started your great potential business but are not yet turning profit? A fundamental aspect for your business, financing is usually the most...more
IntroductionOne of the easiest "things" that can happen in life is the ratcheting up of a large credit card debt. For whatever reason, making purchases with credit cards seems easier than spending cash to obtain a product or service.Maintaining high...more
Almost everything you have ever been told about the world's stock markets is probably wrong. Almost everything you have ever assumed about the world's stock markets is also probably wrong. You probably believe that share prices go up and...more
Any old policy and procedure format saves time by not having to start from scratch, right? Well, not necessarily. Using a weak starting point can hurt employee usability, introduce confusion and user-error, and may not assist in your compliance and...more