Who Dresses You For Success?

“If at first you do succeed … try to hide your astonishment.” – Author Unknown

A funny thing happened to me the other day on the way to the Post Office. I was walking across the parking lot when I made eye contact with a woman. She literally stopped dead in her tracks, looked me over, smiled and said, “You are looking rather dapper today, did you dress yourself or did your wife help you?”

Now I am one of the “older guys”, so I rarely receive comments about my appearance these days from members of the opposite sex, other than my wife, so I enjoyed my brief moment in the sun. Responding to her question I just smiled back and replied, “My wife always helps dress me.” Although this isn’t true in the clothing department, it does raise a more interesting topic for discussion.

Dress for Success Image

Who dresses you for success?

In this context, I am not talking about your wardrobe or John T. Malloy’s famous book titled Dress for Success. What I’m referring to is to whom do you contribute your success? Continue reading…

Want to Win a New Ferrari?

Want to win a new Ferrari? Guess what, me too, but this blog article has absolutely nothing to do with winning a new Ferrari. It does, however, have everything to do with driving more business to your front door!

This article is about the “power of the pen” or more to the point, the power of a well written headline and/or subject line to attract the reader’s attention and help improve your business results. In order to capture the reader’s attention the headline and related sub-text needs to draw them to the copy, so a connection is made that will motivate prospective buyers to purchase your product or service offer.

Ferrari Image

One of the most effective ways to do this is through the use of what I commonly refer to as “magic” or trigger words and phrases that grab the prospective buyer’s attention. Continue reading…

What Is On Your Wish List for 2013?

The countdown to December 21, 2012 has begun. One of my social networking friends, Chanda Gunter, summed up the end of the world predictions best, “Soooo are we suppose to party today because the world ends at midnight OR do we get to enjoy all day tomorrow and then deal with the zombies? I’m so confused.”

Daniel New Year Photo

Let’s assume that the Mayan calendar predictions are incorrect and there will be a New Year to celebrate. What is on your wish list for 2013? Continue reading…

Your Business Really Does Suck

Now what??

Being an entrepreneur and a business owner presents its own set of unique challenges. Some of those daily challenges are good, some bad and some downright suck! However, when you have reached a point where it is not the daily grind, but the business itself that sucks, then it’s time for a reality check.

Hey, we have all been there. There are those days you just want to stay in bed and pull the covers over your head. But you can’t. However, if you have moved beyond this point and your business really does suck — now what? Then it’s time for you to step back and seriously explore your options.

Continue reading…

Play Your Square Yard

Some of my fondest memories are of my children playing sports. When my youngest son, Daniel, first began to play Select soccer, I remember how much we enjoyed watching the boys compete and grow together as teammates.

Several of the most competitive matches my son’s club faced in both league play and in tournaments were against a club from Mundelein, Illinois. The Mundelein soccer team was coached by a gentleman originally from Scotland. His players were very disciplined, particularly for their age group, and the transitions on the field and their overall teamwork were amazing to watch.

Recalling the memories of how well these U-9 and U-10 soccer players worked together made me think, “Why can’t business, education and government in the U.S function this cohesively?” If these 9- and 10-year-old boys can do it, why can’t we figure out how to come together to unify America? Continue reading…

Five “Bees” of Selling to Executives

One of the toughest challenges sales people face is penetrating the C-Suite and successfully selling to C-level executives. Why? According to comments directly from C-level executives, “sales people focus the conversation on their product or service, and not what is important to them.”

So, what are the five “bees” of selling to executives or to business owners you need to know?

There are five critical areas that you must address in order to “bee” successful in selling your product or service to C-level executives or business owners: Continue reading…

Business Survival Checklist

All business owners are looking for ways to improve top-line revenues, reduce expenses and increase profits in order to grow their respective businesses. However, the troubling economy and other factors have forced many of these same business owners to replace the word “grow” with the word “survive”.

The majority of business owner’s I have met with in the past all responded with the same answer when I have asked them, “what is the one thing that is critical to your business success”. The simple answer is “more customers”. More profitable customers are the life-blood for any viable business.

Every successful business has or should have a universal checklist of the things that are central to acquiring new customers, growth and yes, survival.

Here is the list of ten things that I believe should be included in your Business Survival Checklist:

  1. Business/Marketing/Financial Roadmap. What are your existing plans to deliver maximum ROI performance in the next 12-24 months, 3-5 years, 5-10 years and 10+ years? The roadmap for your business, at a minimum, should address the next two fiscal years. Don’t be too optimistic – it is much better to over-deliver on your projections than to fall short. Continue reading…

4 Words Everyone Must Delete …

It’s official, the 2nd half race to the finish line began in earnest last week. Those little internal alarms started to go off soon after the Fourth of July fireworks celebrations were complete. We now have less than six months to meet our personal, business and financial goals for calendar year 2012. This means more hard work and longer hours to get there, right?

With the prolonged economic downturn, many of us are working longer hours, much like our parents generation, in an effort to someday improve the quality of our lives and achieve our goals. However, what kind of lives are we building, really? More importantly, what values and traits are we passing down to our children and to future generations? Keep working those long hours and one of these days it will pay off for you. Well, how’s that working for you so far? Continue reading…

How Should We Respond to Change?

The only constant in life is change. Heraclitus of Ephesus was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, known for his doctrine of change. He believed that change was central to the universe, and fundamental to the natural order of the cosmos. Well, if change is central to the natural order of the universe, then why do we still continue to struggle with change in our lives today?

One of mankind’s greatest contradictions is that the majority of us seeks change in our lives daily, both professionally and personally. Yet, we fiercely resist change when it does occur. President Obama won the presidential election largely because the electorate felt he embodied the change most voters needed in our country. Now, the two political parties are tearing themselves and the country apart as a result of the changes made during Obama’s presidency. Is this an appropriate response to change? Hardly. Continue reading…

Four Keys to Going Up

Like many of you, I have had my share of horror stories over the years when it comes to working with contractors. The past two weeks in particular, have been challenging for me in attempting to schedule routine maintenance and repairs around our home.

I won’t belabor you with all the gory details. Suffice it to say that if you are a contractor or business owner and are serious about growing your business, then I hope you will find the content of this article from a customer’s perspective to be beneficial.

For businesses of all sizes, I believe there are four keys to “going up” and achieving success that are integral to sustainable business growth and will generate higher customer satisfaction ratings, referrals and more repeat business: Continue reading…