Image Building · 01. October 2016

Branding is something every company should be doing. Unfortunately, most are doing it poorly because they approach branding from a marketing perspective only — rather than an enterprise-building perspective — or fail to take the different levels of branding into account. The basic levels of branding are visual impression, verbal impression, physical impression and personal experience. The visual image is what you see, such as graphics, logo, colors, etc. The verbal impression is achieved...

Momentum Building · 01. December 2015

Part II of II - I find many business owners confuse a strategy with a plan, and they are not the same. A plan focuses on action and tactical activities. A strategy focuses on vision, purpose, differentiation, advantage, goals, objectives and desired outcomes.It then includes the necessary plans to accomplish these outcomes.Too many businesses do not have the necessary strategy behind their plans. The end result is either a plan that never gets implemented, is marginally successful or totally...

Confidence Building · 01. May 2015

You may have heard the cold call statistic that it could take as many as 100 phone calls to get one meeting. That statistic has been around since cold calling was in its heyday. But at a one percent return on your time investment, are those odds really working in your favor? After all, wouldn't it be better to have odds that would actually give you the probability of converting that prospect into an actual customer? Over more than 30 years working with businesses, I have tracked what I like to...

Momentum Building · 01. November 2014

Is your business implementing a marketing effort or a marketing strategy? I was inspired to write this column after continuing to see a pattern in what I would classify as the top five band-aids companies use with the belief that their sales will skyrocket or when a desperate need for sales exists. Using a "Band-Aid" to resolve any type of a problem is an American idiom for a temporary solution or something that seems to be a solution, but has no real effect. If you are frustrated by a lack of...