The Competitive Advantage

April 2, 2019

You Can’t Fully Understand Your Business Without These 3 Sales Reports

All owners and managers look at their sales reports each month. Of course. And the most common top-line measurements are: Revenue this month, Revenue year-to-date (YTD) and Revenue YTD vs. Last YTD. All important information.

But, if my conversations with clients – a lot of them – are any indication, the sales analysis, too often, stops there. And it shouldn’t. There are a few other sales reports – easy to set-up in your accounting software – that will give you deeper insight into what’s really happening in your firm. And once you have a deeper understanding of your business, the more effectively you can plan as you move forward.

March 26, 2019

Memorable marketing doesn’t have to be expensive!

In the past couple of weeks, I’ve had a ‘front row seat’ to two very unique events. I bring them up because they both show that a with little clever thinking – and not necessarily a bunch of money – you can take something from ordinary to special.

March 19, 2019

5 Questions Your Website Has to Answer for Prospective Clients

Visitors to your website – especially those who might become clients – are there with a purpose. An agenda. They have a number of questions that they need answers to… and if you don’t answer them properly (or answer them at all), the visitors will simply move on to the next potential vendor.

To make sure that doesn’t happen at your firm, here are the 5 questions your website must answer:

March 12, 2019

When Building Awareness, Drive Your Prospects Where You Want Them to Go

I was doing some reading this past weekend on building awareness for brands and was overcome with the realization that nearly every one of the marketing experts who wrote one of the articles I read was WRONG!

March 4, 2019

8 Ways to Leverage Existing Relationships to Grow Revenue

How many clients and potential clients do you know? Before you answer… think about it. Consider all of your current clients and prospects, all of your past clients and prospects (those old names in your CRM), everyone you’ve ever chatted with at an industry conference or networking event, people you’ve connected with on LinkedIn and so on and so on. I’ll bet if you add all of those up, it’s a pretty impressive number. Hundreds? Maybe a couple thousand? And that’s great!

So, what are you doing with all of those ‘relationships?’

February 26, 2019

Don’t go it alone! An Advisory Board can help with growth (and loneliness).

Many small business owners are often gripped with the fear of “being alone.” Of not having anyone to bounce ideas off of or share concerns with.

In larger firms, there may be key employees or colleagues to share with… but not so much in smaller firms. Masterimnd groups seem to be very popular, but are often full of competitors. And most businesses are too small for a formal Board of Directors. So, what’s the solution?

According to Rachel Crenshaw, founder of Strategy Sourcing Solutions, “Every small business owner could benefit from having an Advisory Board.”

February 19, 2019

11 Smart Marketing & Sales Tactics to Try in 2019

Is it going to be a good year for you and your firm? Kind of hard to say, as this point, isn’t it? But one thing is sure… you can’t just sit back and hope that something good will happen. You need to grab the bull by the horns and make it a great year!

To help get you started down the path of being proactive, here are 11 proven ideas to consider…

February 12, 2019

Want to hook a new sales prospect? Create a “wow experience” for them!

I was sitting in my office earlier this week when the UPS deliveryman walked in with a box. A big box! And I wasn’t expecting anything.

When I looked at the label to see who sent it, I saw that it was from Fracture, the ‘photo on glass’ people. Ooh… my daughter is sending a new photo of our granddaughter, I thought.

I was wrong.