The Competitive Advantage

November 2, 2021

Take Good Care of Your Small Clients, Too!

I have been saying for years that, “All clients matter… but big clients matter more.” And I still believe that. Strongly, in fact. But that doesn’t mean you should ignore your small clients or small sales prospects.

For one thing, small clients can grow into big ones. And if you take good care of them when they’re small… they’ll remember you when they’re big.

September 21, 2021

Your Customers’ Experience (CX) with Your Firm Can Make or Break You!

I’m a bourbon drinker. But sadly, this blog post isn’t about bourbon… it’s about CX – the customer experience.

As a bourbon drinker, I have gotten into the habit of sending bottles of bourbon as gifts to clients. And I’ve been using a website called ReserveBar.com to do it.

It’s a really easy site to use… to find the particular product I’m looking for and to have it sent. But recently, I had a problem with a purchase there.

August 31, 2021

How Differentiation Can Help You Win the Competitive Battle

Do a quick favor for me and read through the following statements (taken from actual websites in our industry)…

• “Every project that comes through our doors gets senior-level attention every step of the way.”
• “[We are] committed to working with clients to identify the right solutions to their specific challenges.”
• “[We are] a full-service custom research firm that develops long-term partnerships with its clients.”
• “We know how to truly listen and collaborate – so you gain a partner, not just a vendor.”
• “We consult with Clients to translate what consumers say and do into insights and actionable recommendations.”

I’ll bet I’m not going too far out on a limb to say that your firm’s website likely contains several of the same sentiments, maybe using almost exactly the same words.

August 17, 2021

Knowing Your Competitors Can Help You Grow Your Business

There are three primary categories of information that impact your marketing & sales strategy… your Company, your Clients and your Competitors. The ‘3 Cs!’

If I were to ask you what’s going on with your Company… you’d probably tell me about your experienced team, your products and services, revenue numbers, industry trends, and so on. If I asked about your Clients, you’d probably tell me about the markets or industries you serve, how they’re using your services, who your Top 10 clients are and the buyer persona you target.

But when I ask about your Competitors… I’m likely to get a shoulder shrug. Or a comment like, “all firms in the industry are my competition,” which somehow – in your mind – absolves you of having the need for any real knowledge of what and who you’re competing against. That needs to stop.

March 9, 2021

The 3 Keys to Your Personal Brand

Last week, I wrote a blog post about how your company’s brand is impacted by nearly everything it does. Well guess what? The same thing applies to your personal brand, as well! And yes, just like a company, whether you want to or not, you do have a brand out in the markets you serve. And just like a company’s brand, the market will determine what yours is… that is, what they think of you when they see you or hear your name.

March 2, 2021

What can impact your brand? Absolutely everything!

When you hear the word “brand,” what do you think of? Most people think of logos, colors, fonts… the graphical representation of a brand. But that’s not it at all.

Your brand is determined by your buyers and prospective buyers. Your brand if what they think of when they see or hear your company’s name. You don’t get to determine what your brand is. Your brand is what the marketplace says it is. Period.

February 9, 2021

Why are there so many lousy websites?

It’s hard to believe that in 2021, I still have to write a blog post like this.

The very first website was published in 1990 – and a lot of changes have happened since then with the technology. Like most tech, it’s now a lot easier and less expensive to put up and maintain a sharp, professional website then it was just a few years ago. And yet, I come across websites every day that are just plain lousy! There are no two ways about it. So, for those of you whose website needs some help – and you know who you are – here are 6 guidelines to help get your website back to being an asset instead of a liability.

December 29, 2020

The Top 10 Most-Read Blog Posts of 2020

According to Google Analytics, there were more than 10,000 Page Views of our blog this past year. And as I do every year at this time… I wanted to do a count-down of the most-reads topics. But I did the measurement a little differently this year.

Instead of looking at the most popular posts that were written in 2020, I looked at which posts were the most viewed in 2020, regardless of when they were written. Interestingly, these “hot topics” spanned the entire life of our company… from as early as 2012 (the year we were founded) up to several from this year.

We hope you enjoy them…