Competitive Advantage: A Fleeting Fancy

Competitive advantage is the favorable position an organization seeks in order to be more profitable than its competitors. It involves communicating a greater perceived value to a selected market(s) than the competition currently provides.

In effect, competitive advantage occurs when a company acquires or develops an attribute or attributes that allows it to outperform its competitors. Notice the words perceived value and currently have been underscored above to make a point. A competitive advantage can be short-lived because of three critical factors – market perception, innovation and time.

Competitive Advantage

Now, there are a plethora of ways to differentiate your product/service or company from competitors in order to gain a perceived competitive advantage. Some of the more common ways include: Continue reading…

Is Social Media the Next ISDN?

“The stench of vaporware hung heavily in the air.”

This past year the Telco’s unceremoniously laid the Integrated Services Data Network (ISDN) to rest after more than 25 years of failed promises and lackluster performance. Will social media for business suffer a similar fate in the not too distant future?

Social Media

The comments above will no doubt raise a few eyebrows from my friends in the social media community, but it is a question worth considering further. Continue reading…

5 Days ’til Christmas Countdown

7 Days of Christmas

Happy Holidays Everyone! Yes I know, it is hard to believe that the Christmas shopping season is rapidly coming to an end.

Whether you have been naughty or nice this year, you are eligible to receive a special gift during our 5 Days ‘til Christmas Countdown.

Check out the special promotional offers below for my course, “Discover YOUR Formula for Success,” during the five-day period that begins Friday, December 20th.

 

DAY 1 – December 20th. The first (10) participants who register for Discover YOUR Formula for Success on December 20th will receive the course for FREE ($37 Value). Limit of (1) FREE registration per person. COUPON CODE: BLSFREE

DAY 2 – December 21st. The first (10) participants who register for Discover YOUR Formula for Success on December 21st will receive the course for ONLY $10. Limit of (1) $10 registration per person. COUPON CODE: BLSLIVE

DAY 3 – December 22nd. The first (10) participants who register for Discover YOUR Formula for Success on December 22nd will receive a copy of my book, Globalization: America’s Leadership Challenge Ahead for FREE ($14.95 Value). Limit of (1) per person. COUPON CODE: BLSBOOK

DAY 4 – December 23rd. The first (10) participants who register for Discover YOUR Formula for Success on December 23rd will receive 3o-minutes of business coaching for FREE ($125.00 Value). Limit of (1) per person. COUPON CODE: BLSCOACH1

DAY 5 – December 24th. LAST DAY!!! The first five(5) participants who register for Discover YOUR Formula for Success on December 24th will receive 6o-minutes of business coaching for FREE ($250.00 Value). Limit of (1) per person. COUPON CODE: BLSLAST

Here’s how it works … identify your favorite one-day offer, then register for my 7 Days of Christmas2online course via this link: https://www.udemy.com/discover-your-formula-for-success. You must register on the designated availability date, in order to be eligible to receive the special promotional offer of your choice.

Keep in mind these are limited availability, one-day only offers, so don’t delay! Be sure to include the appropriate Coupon Code when you register.

NOTE: These limited-time special offers cannot be combined with any other discount programs, promotions or offers available from Tres Coaching Services™, Udemy.com or its affiliates.

Have a Merry Christmas and Happy, Prosperous New Year!

John

 

COPYRIGHT © 2013 John Carroll

Make Continuous Improvement a Priority

Where does continuous improvement rank on your list of priorities? If it is not at or near the top, then it should be.

Continuous improvement is essential to growth in all of the critical ‘Five F’ areas of life – faith, family, finances, fitness and fun. However, for this article, let’s focus on continuous improvement within the context of the business community.

Start out by asking yourself this question, “What would your business look like if Jack Welch, or Warren Buffett, or Bill Gates were running it?” Continue reading…

Marketing Secrets for the New Economy – Part 1

Marketing Secrets for the New Economy – Part 1 overviews the opportunities we have as entrepreneurs and business owners to dramatically increase revenues and profits in the ‘new economy’. Part 2 will address the importance of globalizing your business for sustainable long-term growth.

We have all heard many times over that most millionaires have a total of seven income sources. In the first part of the article, you will see examples of how you too can systematically create multiple income streams for a business around your greatest asset – YOU.

The image below reflects what these multiple income sources might include for a typical emerging business. I refer to this chart as the “Circle of Life” because it also provides an evolutionary path for scaling a growth business through the various life-cycle stages.

YOU

Now let’s explore each of these potential revenue streams in a little more detail, so you have a better idea of how applicable they may be for your particular situation. 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…

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…

Want to Buy a Toothbrush?

Traditional sales and selling techniques have changed dramatically over the years.

Fading fast are the door-to-door canvassers, dinner-hour telemarketers and transactional salespeople who appear to be interested in only making a quick sale and then moving on to the next one. The so-called  “trickster” sales companies who rely upon sleight of hand selling approaches and gimmicks to entice you to buy are also dying out as consumers become better educated and informed about the products and services they choose to purchase.

One of my favorite stories from sales lore reflects the progress we have made over the years in changing the dynamics of the buyer-seller relationship. It’s the timeless story of a toothbrush salesman who consistently failed to meet his quota and was told by his boss at a trade show that if he did not achieve his sales goal for the event he would be fired. After delivering his stern ultimatum, the salesman’s boss left for a series of meetings, but told him he would return in a couple hours to check on his progress. Continue reading…

What Differentiated Value Is Really About

Recently, I had the privilege to moderate a Focus Small Business Roundtable: Strategies to Achieve Business Success. The Focus Expert Roundtable members included Mirna Bard, Jill Konrath and John Spence who all offered their insights on a variety of relevant subjects that I have summarized into a single topic for the purposes of this 5+ minute video.

 

 

 

I sincerely hope that you find this video to be informative and useful in addressing some of the daily challenges you encounter in successfully growing your business or practice. If so, please feel free to share this information with others.

Enjoy the journey!

John

 

COPYRIGHT © 2011 John Carroll