Would You Pay An Employee That Doesn’t Show Up?
In my meetings with business owners, I will often ask if they would hire an employee for $40,000 a year and then never check to see if they accomplished anything or even showed up to work. They usually look at me as if I have three heads, and say "Of course not!" Then...
The Power of Priorities
As a business owner, you'll never have enough time to get to everything done. Since you can’t create more time, the real challenge lies in the ability to think ahead, and to have the discipline to do things in order of importance. Using the power of priorities makes...
Thank Goodness It’s Monday!!
How often do you hear your employees say "Thank Goodness it's Monday!" Not too often, I bet. We spend most of our waking lives at work, so why not make it a place where people look forward to coming - especially Monday. When you provide an environment that...
9 Ways of Marketing on a Budget
How can you do great marketing on a budget? If you find yourself cutting back heavily on your marketing budget because of the need to reduce costs, it does not mean that you also need to cut back on your marketing activities. Marketing is paramount in times of...
Eight Ways To Turn Customers Into Fans, part 2
Eight Ways to Turn Customers into Fans, part 2 So how did you do this week with turning your customers into raving fans? Are you connecting with your audience on social media? Did you set aside time in your calendar to explore ideas? Did you spend any time thinking...
Eight Ways to Turn Customers into Fans, part 1
How do you turn customers into Raving Fans? Like it or not, we live in the fast paced, high stakes world of social media. Make a mistake with a customer and the world will know about it instantly on Twitter, Facebook, Yelp, Pinterest and the like. How do you stay...
What Are the Secrets to Success for Your Business?
What are the secrets to success for your business? The first secret is there are no secrets to success. There are however tried and true principles that successful people everywhere use. So today I would like to share with you the number one key that separates...
Facebook Fans: A Game of Hide & Seek
We live in a time and place where our relevance and popularity can be measured by our number of Facebook fans or social media followers. As a business owner it looks and feels better to have 500 Facebook fans instead of 50. With that said, have you ever wondered how...
Is Your Pricing Sound?
In more than 25 years of making pricing decisions and of observing others making pricing decisions, I have come to the conclusion that there is no single business decision that you can make more quickly, but which deserves more cautious consideration than the decision...
I’d Rather Work at McDonalds Than Make Cold Calls!
"I would rather work at McDonald's than make cold calls!" Mary said. Thinking about this conversation... In speaking with Mary, a financial planner who was talking about her business - or lack of it - she explained that because of the weak economy and the bottom...
Why 99% May Not Be Good Enough, But 1% is Amazing!
Many improvement books, seminars and articles have focused on why a 99% performance metric is not good enough. The statistics of what would occur if 99% WAS acceptable illustrate the reasons it isn’t good enough. Here are some commonly used statistics that stand out....
3 Reasons You Get Bad Employees
Do you think you can’t get great employees? Can’t get them to do what you need? Can’t get them to stay? Before you blame your Team, remember that old adage: “You get the employees you deserve.” Let’s start by taking a look in the mirror. The most common mistakes that...