This is the fourth installment in a series of basic marketing concepts. First we described what marketing is, and what it is not. Then we talked about the problem your service or product will solve, the need it will fill, or the want it will satisfy. Next we talked […] Continue Reading…
Marketing 101c
Maybe you remember the old Jim Croce song that goes, “You don’t spit into the wind, you don’t tug on Superman’s cape . . . “ etc. The idea is that there are some things in life you just don’t do. Case in point. Last time I wrote (Marketing […] Continue Reading…
Marketing 101b
This is the second installment of a series on marketing. The first installment set the groundwork by defining what marketing is . . . and what it is not. Now we’ll dig a little deeper into some of the major components of marketing.
The foundational question for marketing is, “What […] Continue Reading…
Marketing 101a
This begins a series on marketing. I’ll dispense with the quotes I usually use because I couldn’t find any that I thought were appropriate for this discussion. If you consider yourself to be a pretty savvy marketer, this may be too elementary for you, but for everyone else, please […] Continue Reading…
“Give up trying to grow the bottom line. Grow your people and your people will grow the bottom line.”
I was in a conversation recently with a guy who works for a technology company, and during the course of the conversation, the subject of “training” came up. He said that his company has a training budget for their technicians, but not for their managers. He said he knows […] Continue Reading…
Now, Discover Your Strengths
In his excellent book, “Now Discover Your Strengths,” author Marcus Buckingham and co-author Donald Clifton discuss the work they did for The Gallup Organization to find out what makes successful people successful. What do those successful people have in common that makes them high achievers?
So they sifted through over […] Continue Reading…
“Increased productivity comes from continually identifying areas where you can achieve 80 percent of your results from 20 percent of your efforts.”
Vilfredo Pareto was an early twentieth century Italian economist who gave us the 80/20 rule. We hear it most commonly used in reference to sales . . . 80 percent of your business comes from 20 percent of your customers. But the mistake we often make is to spend […] Continue Reading…
“Communication is to leadership as the swing is to golf; everyone can do it, but few do it well.”
Consistently, “being in the know” ranks near the top of employee satisfaction surveys. People want to know what’s going on around here. They want to know what their part is. They want to know how events, both good and bad, are impacting the company. And why shouldn’t they? After […] Continue Reading…
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
I normally begin with a “Quote of the Week,” but I wanted to talk about Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and didn’t really have an appropriate quote for that topic. So I guess this is a “Tip of the Week.”
While monthly financial statements provide vital information to the management of […] Continue Reading…
“Cash is king.”
Is it king in your organization? It should be. You should be forecasting your cash for the next thirty days, reviewing it daily, updating it weekly.
Some small business owners are unclear on the difference between “cash” and “profit.” They are totally different. You can be very profitable and still […] Continue Reading…
