The single most important thing that I have learned in my business career is that you need to help others unconditionally. This means that when someone calls for help it is in your own best interest to help them. This might be giving a reference for a job seeker or it might be acting as…
DetailsA British teenager who was found dehydrated and freezing after 12 wintry days lost in Australia’s wilderness said he wrote farewell notes to his family and expected to die of starvation. Jamie Neale, 19, told Australia’s “60 Minutes” television program Sunday that he was “a total idiot” to venture unprepared into the Blue Mountains, 60…
DetailsThis is the lead news story on the Yahoo! homepage which is the most visited website in the world, at least last time I checked. With the decline in ratings for television news and in the subscriptions for daily newspapers, the Yahoo! homepage is the prime news source for many people. While I will admit…
DetailsI am frequently asked to give an example of how marketing is changing and of a marketing method that is now outdated or not working as well as it should. The example I often give is yellow pages advertising. Search marketing is quickly making printed yellow pages advertising obsolete. With the “Generation Y” and “X”…
DetailsThe best advice I ever received was to slow down. Like many rookie sales people, I was anxious for success—so I worked harder and faster than everyone else. While I hit my numbers easily, I also ran out of people and companies to call. Also, I was exhausted. Watching me with amusement was an older,…
Details“It’s a small world, but I wouldn’t want to have to paint it.” – Stephen Wright Yes, the world makes for a big pond to fish in but for most of us it is just too big of a market. Marketing dollars will be quickly wasted in a global market. Instead, entrepreneurs need to think…
DetailsIt seems that many employers in the new economy expect you to work like “your hair is on fire”. This most applies to sales people. In the era of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, activity is king. Activities include telephone calls, emails, proposals, face-to-face meetings, product demonstrations, etc. The thinking is that if many sales…
DetailsAre you feeling adrift in the “new right-sized economy”? Are you tired of hearing that all decisions are frozen and that all new projects are on hold? It is easy to get caught up in the dark abyss of the current negativity trumpeted by the print and online media, radio, and TV. So, what do…
DetailsDo you have a stable network up of close friends with which you can go to for advice or for conversation? Is this network made of friends of convenience or are they handpicked? Are your friends from childhood or from last week? Sociologist Gerald Mollenhorst of Utrecht University in the Netherlands was interested in finding…
DetailsFor many products and services, the field is cluttered with similar or the same alternatives. When that is the case, marketing is reduced to a war of price and delivery—this translates into low margins and fickle customers. For example, seemingly every real estate agent in the country markets his or her self as the top…
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