Posts tagged ‘business’

In his book “Raving Fans”, management guru wrote about having customers who became fans and raved about you…. to everyone!
And in a recent article about an iPhone accident, David Bateson of PR company NewsBusiness writes about the same concept – having a product or service that people “just want”!
So what is it that makes raving [...]

While listening to Rachael Bermingham speak this week – she is Australia’s most successful female author – I was confronted with this thought.
You see the audience had been asked to introduce themselves for 30 seconds earlier in the programme and Rachael was listening.
She then challenged us about how we described ourselves.
One of the [...]

There are numerous myths about networking! Here are just a few….
• Attend as many events as possible – more is better.
• Get as many business cards as possible – 20 or 30 is excellent.
• Exchanging cards will get you business so take plenty.
Yet all of these (and many other myths) overlook one vital aspect. Networking is about people [...]

When new members join my networking group one of the questions we ask is “how are you different from your competition” and it is amazing how many people give you answers like “we provide great customer service”.
I am sure that if we asked their competition they would say exactly the same thing. So where is [...]

In re-reading a summary of Jay Abraham’s “Strategy of Preeminence” I was struck by his first lesson – that of the need for business people to be leaders in the eyes of their clients.
And by leaders he does not mean dictatorial style; he means people who know and understand their clients and are confident enough [...]

A recent newsletter caused me to ponder how open many small to medium business people are to change to be creative.
The newsletter quoted the example of a menswear store in New York who adapted the US car campaign of “cash for clunkers” by saying that anyone who bought in their old suit would get $100 [...]

Major businesses who spend major dollars on their advertising know that the message needs to be short, sharp and memorable.
Think of the major companies who have simplified their message down to 3-6 words.
Nike – just do it.
Coke – things go better with coke
BNI – givers gain
Yet many small businesses persist in trying to tell people, [...]

We all know that networking is a great way to grow our business!
• Going to a regular networking group,
• Making new connections,
• Looking to see who may be a potential source of business
So what do you do after the networking event? How do you follow up on the people from whom you have collected cards?
One of [...]

Recently I have noticed people handing out business cards that do them no favours.
Some of the major sins are:-

1. Impersonal email addresses
Addresses like info@, admin@ and sales@ are far too impersonal. People do business with people so use your name.

2. Email addresses at the ISP address
A personalized domain name costs less than 5 cents a day [...]

One of the hallmarks of the entrepreneur is usually a strong sense of independence. And that’s a good thing… right?
Not necessarily!
Whilst being independent is a character trait that can help get and keep a business going, it can also work against you by making you reluctant to seek advice. And that can be dangerous as [...]