The Competitive Advantage

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.

February 6, 2019

Self-Funded Research… an Amazing Marketing Tool!

The following post is from an interview with Anne Beall, PhD, Founder of Beall Research in Chicago.

Henke: Anne, let me get this straight… you designed, implemented, managed, measured, reported on and paid for a full-blown research study as a marketing strategy?

Beall: Not quite. It was actually two studies! Seriously… yes, we did create and execute a full study for our own purposes – partially to support our marketing efforts and also to help us study and bring to market a new model around brands and emotions.

Henke: Where does an idea like this come from? Many firms that I’m familiar with would wait to find a paying client to help underwrite something like that.

January 29, 2019

Human-to-Human… The New Old Way to Be Successful!

Texting, social media and email are not enough to build real working relationships.

Last week, I participated in the Insights Association’s CEO Summit in Miami… a sold-out industry event attended by nearly 100 C-level executives from throughout our industry. And during the three days, one over-arching theme became crystal clear… while we all work in a B2B environment, we all still live in a Human-to-Human (H2H) world. That’s not just me saying that… everyone I talked with about that idea at the Summit whole-heartedly agreed.

January 23, 2019

Don’t Treat Your 2019 Revenue Goal Like Your New Year’s Resolution!

Raise your hand if your New Year’s resolution is to “lose weight!” It is, by far, the most common option for that annual tradition of ‘personal goal setting.’

While I don’t know the actual statistics, I’ll bet well over 90% of those with that goal don’t achieve it. Maybe 95%!  And there’s a pretty simple reason why that happens…

You can’t just ‘lose weight.’ You can’t will it to happen. You can’t stand in front of the mirror and hope that the fat will go away.

January 15, 2019

I’ve Got an Accountability Partner… and You Should, Too

One of the primary responsibilities of a business owner is ‘accountability’… to make sure our employees are doing their jobs and making progress toward company goals. We hold our project teams accountable by getting feedback from clients. We hold salespeople accountable by monitoring selling activity and – of course – tracking revenue. We hold our financial team accountable by requiring timely completion of P&Ls, balance sheets and AP/AR reports.

But who holds us – the owners – accountable?

January 8, 2019

Marketing & Sales for ‘Old’ Business Owners, Part 5

“I don’t have the money!”

Edging out “I don’t have the time!” as the primary reason ‘old’ business owners are not actively engaged in marketing & sales is “I don’t have the money!” Or “it’s too expensive.” Or some other money-related ‘excuse’ – yes, it really is an excuse!

For these owners, I have a few thoughts…