“We are not retreating – we are advancing in another direction.” Douglas MacArthur A good business plan makes a great compass to guide a firm’s daily decisions but you must be flexible about reviewing the goals and initiatives associated with them. Just because you wrote, sold, and implemented the plan doesn’t make it “right” or…
“In order to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe.” – Carl Sagan, Astronomer Creating new products can be complex but it is not as complicated as the above quote suggests. Rather, I think new products need to withstand a feasibility test, also known as a concept test. This feedback…
Marketing campaigns, sales quotas, and sales awards are soon forgotten. Yet, your reputation seems everlasting—it is the essence of what others remember about you. How will you be remembered? Mark Twain said, “If you tell the truth you won’t have to remember anything”. This adage makes sense to me. I don’t want to have to…
Franchises fail at an alarming rate. Yet, your likelihood of start up success increases when you buy a franchise, but franchise failure rates are higher than you’d think. Research on franchising in the US by Timothy Bates, a Wayne State University Economist, suggests that a franchise is not a safer haven over raw business start…
The business trade press has published volumes about how selling requires intense strategy and calculated thinking. I think this is mostly hogwash. Stop trying to out-think your customers. Instead, try to understand the customers’ wants and needs—then act accordingly. Selling is a lot more like checkers than chess. Being understood by your customer may be…
Months ago I wrote an article called “The New Millennium Marketing Mega Trends”. It described how the retirement of the “Baby Boomers” (people born in the US from 1946-1964) will change our landscape and will create new opportunities for marketers. Little did I know that this trend would impact the available space at cemeteries (and…
So, what is marketing strategy? Marketing strategy is all about analyzing business opportunities and attempts to answer the following basic questions for a business: what might we do, what do we do best, and what must we do? Thus, marketing strategy is the commitment and the plan for what you must do given the definition…
Book titles play a huge role in a book’s success. I need your help in naming my next book which will be a follow up to “First, Best, or Different: What Every Entrepreneur Needs to Know About Niche Marketing”. The new book will continue the exploration about how to successfully market products and services in…
Selling on the phone can be drudgery, but this is how the money is made in sales. It all starts with a phone call. Whether you are a full-time telemarketer or CEO selling the company’s vision, the telephone is the most potent tool in the sales tool bag. Here are ten simple rules for selling…
Why do I Blog? I get asked this question a lot. Yes, it takes a lot of time and brain cells, both of which I have a very limited supply. To blog regularly requires tons of research, fact checking, writing, and editing. It is hard work. I don’t blog for the money—my blog is free.…