Does your company have a unique capability? Something that only you can do or that few competitors do? If so, perhaps that is a unique differentiator for your brand. Let me give you some examples: A Call Center has the capability to specialize in the healthcare industry (which has very strict regulations about collecting payments) […]
What is it that makes your company special? How are you different? Why should a customer buy from you rather than from someone else? Learning to express your distinct value proposition is a key requirement for growing business with bigger customers–especially if you are a small company going after customers that are significantly bigger than […]
Whenever you hold the position of “the best” for a period of time, you become vulnerable to many kinds of attacks. You can’t afford for your team to become complacent about your #1 position.
It’s not a good thing if you don’t have any competitors; it means you don’t have a market. What can you do about it?
Each month we do our Expert Series call focused on growth and sales for small and medium sized businesses. This month, on July 20th at 12pm Eastern, we’re doing our free call with Compendium CEO, Chris Baggott .
Back in 1995, smiling and dialing was expected. A sales person was supposed to get names from trade shows, Thomas Register, Harris, etc. Then they were supposed to start calling. I swear, salespeople taught buyers to not answer the phone. I honestly believe bad sales tactics had a lot to do with the internet boom. Buyers desperately wanted a way to get product information without a pushy salesperson.
Many managers (whether in small, mid-sized or large businesses) who survived the very difficult last few years are working hard to come back strong. You may currently be: restructuring, hiring new talent, revitalizing your marketing plan, becoming more creative with staff resources and how best to maximize them, all while making the best of technology from the Internet to mobile to social media and various data analytics tools.
My advice if you would like to transcend the competitive landscape is to think about Intentional Growth™ and create a plan to establish, highlight, and promote how you are unique as you grow into the future. The critical word here is “grow” and the focus of this post is how your USP (Unique Selling Proposition) will support and fuel that growth.
Once upon a time, businesses everywhere searched high and low for the right big account. They marched through the forest and didn’t see the trees. They scoured the earth and met with saber-toothed tigers and vicious lions that sent them scurrying back to their caves. They set out day after day with great optimism only to return home with little or no luck. Until one day, they looked out across the wide ocean and asked, “How do the ancient traditions of sea-faring nations feed and clothe their families during the long and arduous winters?” And they discovered the key of Whale Hunting!
A lot of small companies adopt a mantra of “Think Big, Act Big” as a way to motivate everyone towards growth. It’s an amazingly common attitude. Donald Trump claims he invented the “Think Big” phrase. New Zealand thinks their prime minister invented it. It’s the title of a really bad movie. So I don’t really know where it comes from, […]
I received a very disconcerting email this morning from amazon.com. It was the typical occasional email that amazon.com customers receive, recommending books that I might enjoy.
Amazon, of course, is known for its ability to understand its customers’ taste and to make recommendations on that basis. The entire system is technology-based, not human-based. That is to say, amazon.com doesn’t really know me at all; it creates the illusion of knowing me by crunching data about my browsing and buying habits on its site.
There is nothing more enjoyable than being in comfortable surroundings. In the show Cheers, I am quite certain it wasn’t the just beer that brought Norm to the bar—though it was a nice bonus. Rather, it was the comfort and comradery that he felt at the bar. Norm could be himself and not really give a care. If you remember, the entire group in that bar was extremely open, frank, and much braver within the group than outside of it.
Whether you are a die hard whale hunter or follow some other sales methodology, success in sales really comes down to following a defined sales process. I am not going to get into the specifics about any one process, but I would like to talk about the value in pairing your process with the right technology. I look at technology as a tool and not an end in and of itself. Like any tool, when it is used correctly, it can help you do great things.