What Does it Take to Become a True Leader? Lessons from MLK
How do you want to be remembered? I ask because as we celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King today, like many other people I find myself thinking of his “I Have a Dream” speech and remember when I first heard it on an old, rabbit-eared television 51 years ago. As a teenager, living in […]
Risking Failure to Succeed
We may strive to be perfect, but sometimes we fail. We can set our goals, and plan for success but fall short or fail miserably. We don’t intend to fail. We do everything we can not to go there, but sometimes it happens. In fact, it may happen many times. What do we do about […]
The Lost Market and What You Have to Gain
Everyone claims their customer service is excellent; yet we’ve all heard horror stories about how poor customer service ruins sales and loses customers. Business owners hear that too, but many will simply discount it, thinking it doesn’t apply to them. Others may just chalk off one lost sale as a drop in the bucket. But it does count, […]
Where Do You Want To Be A Year From Now?
Napoleon Hill made an apt analogy when he said ‘A goal is a dream with a deadline.’ Quite true, isn’t it? After all, yearend 2014 is almost a year away and it’s easy for the day to day to take precedence, and override the bigger picture off in the distance. After all, we have plenty […]
Only Human
That famous non-entity Anonymous once said, ‘the only time you should look back is to see how far you’ve come.’ So tell me, how did last year go for you? If experience is truly the best teacher then we can all agree that regardless of whether we ended the year in the black or […]
What My Mother Taught Me About New Year’s Resolutions
Have you stopped making New Year’s resolutions because you know they’re doomed to fail? Don’t feel bad. You’re not alone. In fact, a whopping 88% of us give up on their resolutions within the first few weeks of the New Year. If one of your resolutions is to lose weight, it may it start with […]
Why the Law of Large Numbers Doesn’t Work for Small Business
As businesses, we’ve probably heard that the greater number of consumers we target, the greater our chances are of being found. Wrong! While that may be true for big box stores, national chains and brands, small businesses don’t need to reach everyone. We just need to reach the people who matter to us and […]
The Gift of Giving
Did you know this is ‘the most wonderful time of the year’? I bet you did. Hectic as it’s been, we’ve already gotten through Thanksgiving and Chanukah. Black Friday, and Cyber Monday, (which is still in reruns), and Small Business Saturday are history. We’ve trolled parking lots at malls looking for a space, overspent (I’m […]
The Most Recognized Brand in the World
The most recognized brand in the world isn’t Disney, or Apple or Microsoft or Walmart or even McDonalds. It’s Santa Claus. So how is it that a spirited little fat guy in a red suit, with an entourage of elves and a team of flying reindeer, can earn the undying love and devotion of […]
Do You Give Your Customers Something to Talk About?
The success or failure of our businesses is directly related to the beliefs customers have about them. They’re comprised of all the interactions and experiences customers have with us, our products, and our services. Regardless of whether a customer speaks with us, or anyone else in our organization, the voice that speaks back to […]