The Competitive Advantage

November 25, 2014

Being thankful… little things make a big difference.

Every year at this time, blogs, social media sites, newspaper editorial sections and e-newsletters are filled with heartfelt sentiments about being thankful. And as business owners and managers, there are certain things we should all be thankful for…

• Our clients… without whom we wouldn’t even have a business.
• Our employees and co-workers… who deliver on our promise to our clients every day and make coming to work pretty darn enjoyable.
• Our families… who understand the commitment we’ve made to our businesses and support us when we work late (far too often) or have to be away from home on business.

But beyond those three things that we give thanks for every day, there are a few other things I am thankful for in helping to make my business successful…

November 18, 2014

Giving gifts to clients… is it good business?

My son, Alex (see photo), is a senior finance major at the University of Tennessee. After interning this past summer in the wealth management division of a large bank, he stayed on and has been working there this semester. He’s been very fortunate that one of the senior executives there has taken him under his wing and been a good mentor to him.

Alex was home this weekend and we talked about his boss/mentor. A really interesting lesson that Alex took away from him was the regular giving of gifts by his boss to his clients… and not just at the holidays, but all year round.

That got me to thinking about our industry… Is gift-giving (outside of December) a common occurrence? Should it be? Does giving gifts help to build relationships? Or guarantee a client’s on-going patronage?

November 11, 2014

10 Website Tips for the New Year

At this time of year, some firms will take on the gargantuan task of rewriting and redesigning their website to help kick-off the New Year. But most won’t. If that describes you, it’s still a good time to step back and take a critical look at your website to make sure it’s as good as it can be.

To help get you started, here are 10 [pretty easy] website tips that can help enhance the effectiveness of your most important marketing tool:

November 4, 2014

Why take that meeting? Because you never know…

I took a road trip to Atlanta last week… to make a few sales calls and spend some time with two of my remote employees. I also met with a couple of industry contacts (who I know only through LinkedIn) who would never be a client, a vendor or a partner.

So why bother? Why take a meeting and spend the time when there’s no “value” in it? Answer… because you never know!

October 31, 2014

For Beginners: Should I Tweet Daily? Yes… and here’s how.

In the world of B2B marketing, Twitter ranks as the #2 social media network, behind only LinkedIn. As such, it should be an important part of your marketing initiative.

But read any article on how to best employ Twitter and one of the guidelines you’ll see from many pundits is to Tweet daily, if not several times a day!

Seriously?! Who’s got that kind of time?

Well, we might have an answer for you.  Following is an easy, 5-step process that will help you to establish and maintain a daily Twitter presence to support your marketing strategies.

October 28, 2014

Best networker ever?

I had coffee this past week with an old friend. John is a very successful management & sales consultant and trainer who works with clients around the world. We get together once a year or so to get caught up on each other’s families, businesses and so on.

And with John, it’s always the same thing… somehow, we end up talking about how he can help me – with connections, ideas, recommendations. I leave my meetings with him better informed and even a little inspired. He’s incredible.

October 22, 2014

When selling… put people first.

I have a client on the west coast who is very fond of saying, “Good things happen when I’m out of the office.” While we giggle when he says it, the fact is, when Ken (the founder) is out calling on clients, attending conferences or networking… good things really do happen. He generally comes back to the office with some sort of agreement or RFP.

Ken is a little old school… he likes and uses face-to-face more than any other tactic (and more than any other principal I know). He’s not much for email or social media… or even phone calls. He believes that for someone to want to do business with you (repeatedly), they have to get to know you… like you… and trust you. And the only way to do that is face-to-face.

October 14, 2014

Find the right ‘partner’ to accelerate growth.

I connected with an old industry acquaintance last week… he’s with a mid-sized research firm based in the U.K. After a little social “chit chat,” I asked if there was anything I could do to help his business. To my surprise, he didn’t tell me he was looking for new clients, but instead replied that he was looking to ‘partner’ with firms in the U.S. that were looking to expand into Europe.

That is, if a U.S. firm was looking to expand its footprint across the pond… his firm has the experience and contacts to help. They come together on projects and both firms benefit. What a concept!

It got me to thinking… couldn’t we all use a project-based ‘partner’ like that every now and again? To take on projects we couldn’t or wouldn’t get otherwise… to take advantage of each other’s strengths and minimize our weaknesses… to temporarily merge resources to go after ‘big’ opportunities… to share contacts so that both parties grow?