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premise Tagged Articles
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Unmasking the 'people-love-to-buy-they-just-hate-to-be-sold-to Myth
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| It's almost conventional wisdom these days that people love to buy, they just hate to be sold to. Perhaps this is being spun by trainers who want their programs to stand alone from the thousands of selling courses - who knows. But I disagree with the premise, here's why.... |
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Listen to the Voice of the Customer?
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| A great tool is the Kano Model that measures three types of Customer needs. Its premise is that if you only do what the customers tell you to do, you are only meeting one-third of the equation. You also have to address performance needs and excitement needs. It is great tool to use so that you can address these issues in step two of the process below. |
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Lesson #5: Build a Great Team
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| “Good employees will energize you and your business,” says Stewart. With over 650 people working for MSLO, Stewart has become a bonafide expert in the realm of human resources. Some have been with her from the very beginning and some have joined along the way, but all of Stewart’s employees share the talent, energy, passion and optimism that Stewart herself has for her businesses. |
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Lesson #2: Develop a Customer-Focused Philosophy
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| “Let’s say you decide to buy a car – red, two-door,” says Dell. “All sold out – four months to get one – but a really convincing salesperson talks you into the blue, four-door and probably the rust-proofing too. The salesperson gets a nice commission, when she actually sold you a car you didn’t want. Then, the dealer sends a signal back to the factory that blue four-doors are selling really well – build some more!” Contrary to this, Dell’s philosophy is that, “We’ll listen, and we’ll respond…It’s about the customer. It’s that simple.” |
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Lesson #3: Nice Guys Can Finish First
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| In creating eBay, Omidyar began with five basic values: “We believe people are basically good; we believe everyone has something to contribute; we believe that an honest, open environment can bring out the best in people; we recognize and respect everyone as a unique individual; we encourage you to treat others the way you want to be treated.”
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Lesson #1: Don't Follow the Crowd or the Market
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| “When there is a crisis, that’s when some are interested in getting out,” says Helu, “and that’s when we are interested in getting in.” |
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Lesson #5: Make It Count
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| “Work is futile if we cannot utilize the experience we collect in one life in the next,” said Ford. |
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A Mental Model For VC Investments
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| A reader asked me the other day if – in the words of Charlie Munger – I have a “mental model” for investing in early stage companies. I do, but I’d rather give examples of the two best approaches I’ve heard of from other people. |
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Experience vs. Education
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| I talk a lot about education because I think a good college education can really take you far in life. At the same time, however, some people are incredibly book smart but are clueless when they deal with the real world. Others are street smart but can’t handle anything other than what they’re accustomed to. |
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Celebrate Your Victories
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| Q109 is over. The numbers are starting to roll in. After all the gloom and doom at the end of 2008, I’m very pleased with the performance of most of the companies in our portfolio. As I mentioned the other day, some struggled, but many met or exceeded their Q109 plans, and several of them destroyed them (sandbaggers, how I love thee.) |
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I Want More Information, Not Less
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| I spent the last two days at the Defrag Conference. It was awesome on so many levels including the content, the venue, seeing a bunch of great friends, and meeting a bunch of new people. |
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The Least Common Denominator
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| I have always believed and often teach the virtues of hiring the best person for the job. My naivety has also led me to believe that most "right-minded" managers agree with this simple premise. Organizational talent is the foremost indicator of long-term success in the game of business. The team with the best players will win the most games. Blah, blah, blah!
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If Your Salespeople Can't Prospect They Will be Marginalized
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| That's according to Ken Edmundson, my guest on yesterday's edition of Meet the Sales Experts.
He said that business as we see it today is the new normal and that for most companies, taking business away from the competition is the only avenue for rebuilding sales and growth. |
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How to Manage Change - Tell Your People Why the Need For Change
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| How to manage change - and at the speed of change? How to deal with the turbulence? This is challenging and of all the current strategies for managing change it's a perspective that is increasingly relevant in the current climate. |
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Hosted VoIP- An Option
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| “Using a hosted system means you don’t have to worry about maintenance on ‘that box’ in the storage closet. If the system goes down it’s not your system to worry about.” |
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How to Write Compelling Article Titles that Get Your Articles Read
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| Compelling article titles can mean the difference between an article that gets read and an article that gets lost in cyberspace. Learn about three types of article titles that will help increase your chances of getting your articles read. |
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Selling Isn't Rocket Science
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| Much like rocket science, when it comes to making the sale, the littlest thing can mean success or disaster. |
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Rule online marketing with the power of keywords
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| The single most consistent topic you will hear over and over in online marketing is the word keywords. That magic little word is the secret sauce to successful online marketing. |
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5 Virtualization Strategies for the Budget Challenged and Reasons to Start NOW!
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| Virtualization is a technology finally hitting its stride, but there are still some companies that don't know how or why they should use Virtualization. Some challenges with virtualization are reviewed as well as 5 strategies that can be used to help make it affordable even with tightening budgets. |
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What's the "Thing" You're Known for at Work?
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| What's the "Thing" You're Known for at Work? |
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Anatomy of a Financial Fraud - Part II
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| The author,John Franczyk, discusses general principles which businesses can follow to avoid becoming victims of fraud. |
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Accentuate the Positive
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| We can choose to break free of fear. We can seek out new approaches that power innovation and opportunity - and share them with our audiences. We can focus on helping our customers find new opportunities, improve current practices and solve the problems they already recognize and care about. We can trust that our innovation and expertise will shine through the FUD. |
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It's What's Inside That Counts
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| Too often, we forget that, like a spring providing a continuous stream of water, we are continuously pouring out what is inside of us. Some days, everything is fine. Other days, we wonder how we could be so far off course from the goals we want to reach. Since consistency is the key to peak performance, and consistency comes from knowledge of self and the application of our skills through awareness, it is obvious that better results can be guaranteed by knowing what is inside of us. |
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MLM Marketing versus Attraction Marketing -- Who Wins?
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| In traditional MLM companies, the marketing program hasn't changed in years.
People who join an MLM opportunity are instructed to contact family and friends
to "convince" them that this new opportunity is the answer to all of their
financial problems. Next they are told to make a list of "acquaintances" - at
LEAST 100 or more people - and present this new goldmine opportunity to them.
The acquaintances will then eagerly hand over their hard earned money to become
part of this money making endeavor. |
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Happy Independence Day
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| Random Thoughts on Life and Entrepreneurism |
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Effective Business Communication Counts On Lean Writing Skills
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| In a business communication world saturated with near-instantaneous electronic messages, I start with the premise that the people you're writing for are too busy to absorb massive clots of verbiage. I'm talking about numbers of words as well as the length of the words themselves. Any thesaurus can give you a multisyllabic replacement for a lean word that hits the spot. Likewise, any bureaucrat or consultant can pile jargon-choked paragraph on top of ponderous paragraph. But to what end?
In a way that might not have occurred to you, effective written communication is really about tone. The best advice I ever got about business writing skills can be summed up this way: "Be yourself, warm and personal. You're writing to real people, not an organization." Another take: "Write as if you're conversing with an intelligent friend."
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Using the Law of Attraction to Achieve Success
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| An article of 1233 words describing techniques to use in order to achieve greater success in life and business. |
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The Dog Whisperer
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| We have been watching The Dog Whisperer on the National Geographic channel. You may be thinking: if I'm not having problems with my dog, or I don't have a dog, what does this have to do with me? Well, the Dog Whisperer is not really about dogs at all.....but about how your beliefs impact everything (and everyone) around you. |
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Authentic Business Recession Busters
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| Authentic businesses have a few advantages when a recession comes along - but they still need regular business discipline. Here are some recession busting ideas... |
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The Last Blog Post
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| There’s a group effort for bloggers to post their “last post” today. Here’s the premise: If you had one last blog post to send out, what would you say? This is based on The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch.
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Successful Networking Strategies
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| Ever go to a networking event and don't know how to "break the ice"? Here's practical tips for becoming more confident and comfortable. |
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Top 10 Tips for "Team Building" Success
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| The Apprentice television show revolves around the premise that a stable of young talent is trying to get a job with Donald Trump. In their endeavors they are challenged with weekly assignments. Be a leader. Sell product. Manage people. Ultimately, their goal is to win. But along the way the most successful candidates also learn something else. And that is without a team, your personal success is limited at best. |
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Brand Immortality How Brands Can Live Long and Prosper Book Review
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| The British advertising community studied more than 100 brands to see which lived, which died and why. |
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From Founder to Leader – Building a Company From an Idea
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| “Right now it's only a notion, but I think I can get the money to make it into a concept, and later turn it into an idea.”
-- Woody Allen
Much has changed since Woody Allen came up with this line in 1977 – but the basic premise remains – any entrepreneur has the ability to bring an idea to fruition with the right backing. However, it takes more than money to make it work, and one of the main points of pain in building a company is making the transition from founder to leader. It’s a tough transition, and one that many startup founders fail to make.
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Taking Control of the Fear
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| “Successful salespeople know what to do. And they do what losers refuse to do.”
Why is it that in any sales organization, a small number of sales people out sell the rest by a substantial majority? The average sales person does not do what the peak performer is willing to do. It’s all about action! |
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Good help is hard to find. Retain the best, improve the rest.
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| The single most valuable asset any business has is its employees. Finding good people is always tough, even in times when unemployment is high. Even then, finding a good match of skills and culture for your business is tricky at best. And labor laws give leverage to the employee in most states. Therefore, before your employees have a chance to go stale, look for the best and recognize them. And take the rest and make them better! This article talks about how to do this, and why it is so critical to the long term stability and profitability of your organization. |
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Close the Funnel, Open the Tunnel to Win More Sales
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| Do you think of your leads as going into a funnel? Now is the time to switch that paradigm an embrace the 21st century strategy of a tunnel that works with relationship selling and education based marketing far better. |
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Education Based Marketing A Case Study Where $50 Delivers $5,000 Sale and a Free Lunch
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| The tried and accepted sales rule is never give anything way for free. In today’s global market place, this rule is now defunct, irrevelant, kaput! Read this case study and learn how $50 turned into a hundred fold. |
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Book Review: Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo From Maslow
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| I read this book a few months after presenting my webinar (Can You Take The Crisis and Turn It Into Gold?) and was struck by how the the same ideas that I applied to marketing to consumers (based on Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs) is also relevant within a company, for the customer experience, and for business investors. |
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Permission Based Marketing: The Holy Grail Of Marketing That Ensures You Capture Your Customers Attentions Guaranteed!
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In an effort to help you in your direct sales marketing and increasing home party sales, I thought I might share with you some simple yet effective marketing techniques that every direct sales rep and home party consultant should have under her/his belt!
What Is Permission Marketing?
Permission Marketing is many things.
It is a method of marketing also known and the 2 Step Direct Sales Marketing Method.
It is also a book written, by the marketing demi-god himself, Seth Godin. |
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Staff Management – the Effective Way to Get Things Done by Other People.
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| Staff management is "getting things done by other people". Although you must remember that you, as the manager have a part to play as well! |
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Entrepreneurs – Don’t Sell It, Give It Away!
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| You’ve worked really hard, your product is at last finished, so why on earth would you give it away? Well because it works – here’s why. |
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Free Sales Content - Use at Your Own Risk
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| I can't count and may not even know about all of the portals now on the web that feature subject matter experts, content, free downloads, articles and tips from people like me. It's generally a good thing, at first, until someone like me loses control of his intellectual property - the articles I write. |
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Extraordinary Success
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| When we think of extraordinary success we often think of the multi-million dollar companies with multiple branches covering many cities. Many times we forget that the key to all major successes is people.It takes people to sell products and it takes people to get results.
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SO WHAT’S ALL THIS ABOUT BRANDING?
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| I get a little nervous when the subject of "branding" comes up because it's often a case of over-sold and under-delivered. |
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9 Signals Foreshadowing Rejection
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| If you’re at all normal you don’t like getting rejected. Sometimes it’s over quickly and other times you think things are going well until…wham you get clobbered. With the way things are now you’re getting rejected more often and more quickly than ever before. |
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Clear Vision
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| You are what you believe! |
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The Last Bastion for Free Thought
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| Current trends point to a reduction in entrepreneurial start ups in the brick and mortar small business world. For the Entrepreneur, all roads point to the Internet for expansion including sales and marketing. Read on and find out if free enterprise is in jeopardy for the Entrepreneur, or is the choice Internet expansion. |
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What’s up with Personal Branding, and why you should consider it
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| In recent years, the concept of personal branding has been getting more and more attention. The basic premise of this is that over the course of your career, you would benefit from creating “Brand You” as a way to differentiate yourself from other jobseekers, business developers, vendors, and people in general. |
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A case for rebranding - catalysts for brand revitalization
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| Rebranding, whether a product or an entire brand, is a serious endeavour. The overall need for rebranding is based on the basic premise that just as people change their style of clothes, hairstyles and home decorating, so brands need to keep up with the times and changing market and consumer dynamics. At the same time, rebranding can be undertaken to fix errors made earlier in a product’s development, to create new consistency across products, or conversely, to take advantage of the benefits of product differentiation and market segmentation. |
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Helping Others Achieve Extraordinary Success
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| When we think of extraordinary success we often think of the multi-million dollar companies with multiple branches covering many cities. Many times we forget that the key to all major successes is people. Ordinary people, who are inspired, motivated, trained, and encouraged to live up to their full potential. It takes people to sell products and it takes people to get results.Billy Cox shows you how to help yourself by helping others achieve extraordinary success. |
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3 Simple Actions to Increase Sales
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| If you could increase sales, by just 3 simple actions, would that have value for you? Learn what those 3 actions are. |
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The Socially Responsible Procurement Practice: Moving Beyond Social Consciousness (enterprising non-profits Profile)
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| “The question this raises is quite simply what set of circumstances will elevate green procurement from a nice to do “boutique” status to a more meaningful (and essential) element of a sound purchasing strategy? At the risk of answering my own question, I do not think that green procurement in and of itself will achieve this status, nor do I believe that it is a reasonable goal. |
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Hire the Best Staff - Part Two 'Selection'
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| "Hire the Best Staff" is Part Two 'Selection' in an integrated approach to human resources management. Behavioral interviewing will help identify qualified candidates that 'fit' your organization. People that fit well are more productive. Part Three 'Involvement'. Part Four 'Development'. Part Five 'Compensation'. |
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I'd Love to Do That for YOU!
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| I was sitting at my mom's cabin this weekend asking the Universe to give me the perfect idea to write for this newsletter. Nothing came, so I watched a movie titled, "It Could Happen To You." Of course, the premise of the movie was the perfect topic! |
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Want A Meaningful Life Get a Balanced One
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| You want a great life, and you want it now. A balanced life seems like a good idea for 'someday'. What if the former depends on the latter? |
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Call to Action, Reader Response and Conversion!
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| There is a fine line that separates those who continually dial in the pulse of an industry and can summarize and provide value and pique the curiosity of their readers vs. someone who for lack of better terms fails to hit their target.
If you are clueless about the pages with the highest traffic and reader retention in your site, it may be time to parse your server logs or take the time to set up analytics software to glean the needs of your audience and get the gist of what they enjoy about your content. |
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I think I want to downsize my Boss but is franchising right for me
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| In this second article of the series we consider the question; is franchising is right for you? We are all individuals with strengths and weaknesses. How do you know if franchising fits your strengths? This question must be dealt with openly and honestly before one considers a step into the "franchise zone". Join us as you answer 5 questions that will help you focus on this important question. |
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Get Rid of Half Your Sales Force - Now!©
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| Most sales people spend the majority of their time in customer service. Most companies want to grow the customer base. This is a conflict that management needs to address in this economy. |
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Turnover, what does it cost?
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| Reducing turnover is a critical step in improving your resiliance during tough economic times. However, Retducing turnover isn't enough, you must retain the right employees. This is the first section in a four part white paper on reducing employee turnover. |
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COACHING IS NOT ALWAYS COACHING
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| Coaching is a distinct discipline with a definite skill set, some of which are not easy to master. Without using those skills, what might pass for coaching is actually a manager giving instructions and evaluation to a team member. |
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Private Equity Lessons for the Startup or Entrepreneurial Company
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| The November issue of the Harvard Business Review poses a tough question to the management of public companies: “What If Private Equity Sized Up Your Business?” The question comes on the heals of recent revelations that public companies are facing increased scrutiny by Private Equity funds both favorably as, for example, an acquisition target or adversely, as a mismanaged and underperforming asset in need of reform. The article goes on to identify five trends that develop when Private equity gets involved.
The purpose of this article is to highlight the premises upon which these five trends are based. Understanding this premise will lend valuable insight and strategic fodder for Start-up or Entrepreneurial companies as well as seasoned businesses.
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Dont Just Show Me the Money-Bless It
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| “Hi! Welcome to our networking group,” I said to the guest, a tall gentleman in a business suit who had introduced himself as a financial planner. “I’m glad you could join us this morning.”
“Thank you,” he replied with a smile.
He should have stopped there..... |
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What is the Value in your Supply Chain A PI Q and A
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| Member Question:
What is the difference between Supply Chain and Value Chain?
My Response:
To begin, the reference to supply or “value” chain is a misnomer in that it implies a sequential architecture. This is a term that is on its way out as an organization’s supply “practice” is actually centered on the synchronization of diverse stakeholders sometimes spanning multiple supply networks. This is an important distinction given the impact that real-world synchronization has on theories such as value chains.
That said the concept of the value chain was first introduced by Michael Porter in 1985 in his book, Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance.
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Book Review - A Whole New Mind by Dan Pink
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| This is a great book for leaders to read, digest, and start working on with their teams. Left brain prowess is no longer enough - you need to also sharpen your right brain! |
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How to attract more customers
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| Attracting new clients, also known as “prospects” or “leads,” is the number one priority of almost every new and existing business owner. From sole traders to small and medium-sized businesses, large corporations, and global companies, every business owner aims to increase their customer base.
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ATTRACTING INVESTORS: A Compelling Executive Summary in 10 Items or Less
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| Attracting an investor is like attracting a mate—you want to pique the investor’s interest without showing all your cards at the outset. The perfect vehicle for achieving this delicate balance is the Executive Summary. The goal of an Executive Summary is to whet the appetite of the investor by presenting a compelling premise, an irresistible hook. Your short (5 pages or less) document is meant to give a potential investor every reason to say “yes” and little reason to say “no” to a face-to-face meeting.
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LSI And Semantic Indexing
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| LSI, or Latent Semantic Indexing, is literally the indexing of documents based on related or semantically related keywords. Google, in particular, is widely believed to use LSI or a similar form of topic based indexing when compiling and ranking web pages. |
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Get Rid of the Toxins in Your Life
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| Negative energy can pull you down faster than anything else. If you have negative people in your life, you need to get rid of them or, at the very least, insulate yourself from them. |
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Making A Difference In Your Business - Ten Steps To Get You Going
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| We are all busy people. Our businesses depend on us and they require our full attention. Yet sometimes, it's of value to reflect on the bigger picture of purpose. What is a way to lead and yet, make a difference in your wake. |
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100 Days of Sodom
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| Public Works Minister Thoka Didiza is considering importing an Indian employment model that will guarantee every household the right to 100 days of paid work per year. Didiza, as a representative of the state, is promising people the right to a job based on the premise that not having a job is sufficient reason to get one. |
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A Simple Formula to Guarantee an Instant “Virtual Team” Return on Investment
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| Would you like to hire a team but aren’t sure if you can afford to? Use this simple formula to discover how you can afford to hire right now. |
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How To Increase Website Conversions
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| Many Webmasters and e-store owners get so caught up in trying to increase traffic levels that they almost forget to track conversions. However, the number of conversions, and the conversion rate of your site are among the most important figures to monitor. |
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When Marketing Goes Viral
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| Viral marketing is an extremely appealing concept to many marketers. Whether it is online or offline viral marketing we refer to, it is the very concept of having your product or service trip off the tongue of all would-customers without having to spend a small fortune. |
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Grameen Bank - Alternative Microfinance Approaches
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| Grameen Bank operates on the premise that the poor remain poor not because they do not
have the skills or do not work hard, but because the institutions created around them keep them
poor. |
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Thought Power
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| This article is exploring the power of our thoughts or to put it another way, be careful what you wish for, you just might get it! |
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