The Competitive Advantage

July 28, 2020

12 Things to Do When Launching a New Service or Product

Congratulations! With the extra time you’ve had on your hands recently, you and your colleagues decided the time was right to launch a new service. Not just a small upgrade to what you’re already doing… but something entirely new. That’s terrific news.

Probably.

April 14, 2020

With the ‘new normal,’ is a marketing & sales plan still useful?

Uhhh… no and yes!

As we all know, we’re experiencing an unusual time right now… everything in life – and in business – is changing very rapidly. And the speed of all of those changes is fundamentally impacting the way we conduct business.

One of the many questions these changes are forcing us to answer is, “Do we still need a marketing & sales plan?” Many of us spent so much time at the end of last year planning for how to tackle growth this year… is what we did then still relevant?

March 18, 2020

Stuck-at-home marketing & sales, part 1

7 low-cost/no-cost things to do with the extra time on your hands.

We’re in the midst of an unusual and unprecedented time period. Business owners simply don’t know how to deal with the COVID-19 crisis.

Some are promoting their services that can help right now… for example, offering to conduct online qual research, rather than doing in-person focus groups. Others are mentioning their enhanced healthy employee procedures. And that’s fine.

November 5, 2019

Stop the Insanity… Make a ‘Change’ to Your Marketing & Sales Efforts for 2020

For the past several years – at about this same time – I’ve written articles with tips & tricks for creating marketing & sales plans that help my readers get ready for the new year.

This year, I want to do something different.

We’ve all heard the definition of ‘insanity’… to keep doing the same things over and over and expecting the outcome to change. Sadly, that describes the marketing & sales efforts of a majority of the firms in our industry. So, maybe it’s time to shake things up.

December 4, 2018

Marketing & Sales for ‘Old’ Business Owners, Part 1

The first in a 5-part series on marketing & sales for ‘seasoned’ professionals.

I’m really lucky. I get to work with small business owners and managers all across the country. And many – if not most – are my contemporaries… same age range (50s-60s), same stage of life, same stage of business, etc.

And one of the obstacles I face is that these ‘old’ people (I’m 60 – so I’m allowed to say that!) have a blind spot when it comes to marketing & sales. They often don’t want to do it, don’t like to do it or don’t know how to do it. Yet, oddly, they do know that some kind of marketing & sales effort is important to their business.

It’s for this group that I’ve decided to write this blog series addressing the most common questions I hear from this ‘veteran’ group…

October 23, 2018

Showing signs of insanity? Uh-oh…

Here are 8 new ideas for 2019 to make sure you’re not crazy!

It’s almost the end of 2018. Stop what you’re doing for just a minute and take stock of the year that’s winding down. Have you grown like you wanted… acquired as many new clients as you hoped… launched that new service line you were planning on?

If you answered ‘no’ to any of those questions, then the immediate follow-up is, “So, what are you doing about it?”

And if your answer to that is “I don’t know,” then consider the accepted definition of insanity: “To keep doing the same things over and over… and expecting the outcome to change.”

October 6, 2018

Revenue Forecasting for 2019… It Doesn’t Need to Be a Guessing Game!

It’s getting to be that time of year when you’ll start thinking about and planning for 2019. And one of the first questions you’ll have to answer for your firm is, “What’s our revenue goal for next year?”

Traditionally – and unfortunately – this is answered in one of two ways:

July 31, 2018

Planning for 2019? It’s not too early to start.

While it’s only the beginning of August – and we’re all in the middle of the summer doldrums – now is the perfect time to start planning for 2019 and thinking about your marketing & sales for next year. Five months may seem like plenty of time to get ready… but you’ll get busy this Fall, and January 1^st will be here before you know it.

So, block of a little time RIGHT NOW to start thinking about improving your marketing & sales efforts for next year. And the absolute best way to do that is to make sure you understand all of the things going on in and around your business. What you learn will form the foundation for making smarter marketing & sales decisions next year. To help, here are 6 suggestions to get you started…