- 12 Strategic "Grow Goals" To Grow Your Business, According To Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
Any time is a good time to think about how to grow your business. The last month of your calendar year or fiscal year is a very good time to think about and plan for the growth of your business. Companies need to think strategically about the coming year and what "grow goals" they should establish to grow their business. For the purpose of this article, I am going to presume that you are near the end of your fiscal year or your calendar year and are ready to plan for the growth of your business in the coming year. And with that in mind, I want to share twelve (12) strategic "grow goals" to grow your business in the year ahead. - 13 Proven Lead Generation Tools For Service Businesses From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
Is your lead generation tool kit well stocked or almost empty? Or are your lead generation tools rusty and no longer work? What lead generation tools are you using? And are the tools you are using producing results? It has been my experience that the more lead generation tools you use, the more leads, clients and revenue you will generate. But, you must use productive and proven lead generation tools that give you a good ROI (return on investment). Reflecting on what have been successful tools for me in the past, your Strategic Thinking Business Coach identified thirteen (13) proven lead generation tools to apply to your service business. And here they are in no priority order. - A Business Coach's Top Ten Tactics for Marketing Professional Services
Marketing professional services is a real and difficult challenge. The challenges of marketing professional services are different from those of marketing products. Two major reasons for the differences are that clients cannot see or touch professional services before they buy them and the professional services are often produced and consumed simultaneously. And another reason is that marketing professional services is split among marketing, sales, professional and management staff instead of a dedicated marketing and sales force. Based upon my research and my own professional experience, I developed a Top Ten Tactics for marketing professional services. - A Good Recipe For An Ad to Produce Higher Yields? A Bakers Dozen Ingredients For Effective Ads!
What ingredients make an effective ad that produces higher yields? After thinking about this, I thought of thirteen (a bakers dozen for the non-bakers in the audience) essential ingredients for an effective high yielding ad. Here are the thirteen ingredients. - A Positive Look at Media Interviews and A Prescription For Successful Media Interviews
As you read the headline, I can almost hear some of you asking, "How can there be anything positive about media interviews? I would rather go for a painful visit to my dentist than participate in a media interview". Well, I want to tell you that in more than 35 years of media interviews in my professional career, I remain positive about media interviews and will share some thoughts with you. And just in case you might believe that all those media interviews were fun & friendly, I can assure you they were not. Here is a prescription for successful media interviews. - A Strategic Action Plan For Recession Resistant Marketing
As the U.S. and the global economies move up and down, there is always some talk that arises about concern of a worldwide recession. Let's acknowledge that we are sometimes over-run by pessimists. When the pessimists start talking up a recession, people start to worry, get scared and begin to develop contingency plans. So what would a strategic thinking professional do to make his or her business recession resistant? There is one thing that must be crystal clear - you must never stop marketing! If you stop marketing, your business will fail. Using a strategic thinking and business coach approach, here is my recommended strategic action plan for recession resistant marketing. - A Strategic Approach To Planning For A New Business Year - Ask Your Clients Questions
A new business year has begun and hopefully your strategic thinking and planning has been underway for some time. A strategic thinking business coach suggests that asking clients some probing questions will be very beneficial in your planning efforts for the new business year. The strategy of asking these questions is to gain insight for developing the best solutions for your clients' problems. Asking questions will help you gain needed information from your clients; build rapport with your clients; increase the clients' comfort level; understand the clients' needs; and discover the clients' concerns, frustrations and fears. You can begin by asking questions that will let you know what is going right with your clients and hen transition into areas where problems may have occurred. And it is always important to initially focus on your client, rather than you and your client. - A Strategic Approach To Produce A Strong Professional Services Brand
A professional services firm, just like other types of businesses, needs to develop a strong brand and a favorable impression in the minds of prospects, clients and stakeholders in their business. In smaller professional service firms, there are limited financial resources for advertising as a primary branding vehicle. Therefore, as strategic approach is imperative to maximize the impact of available resources to rand your professional services firm. How do you influence your market in a strategic way that produces a favorable image of your firm in the minds of your prospects, clients and stakeholders? Your strategic thinking business coach recommends the following strategic approach. - A Strategic Approach To Setting & Achieving Your Goals For The New Year
The end of the calendar year or the end of the company's fiscal year presents an opportune time to review the performance of the past year and to develop some solid business goals for the new calendar or fiscal year. Using some strategic thinking, here are a few tips for setting and achieving your goals for the new year. - A Strategic Look At Do's and Don'ts of Board Meeting Minutes
Do you serve on a board of directors and experience significant inaccuracies and inconsistencies in board minutes? Do you know that board minutes are really a very important resource to governing boards? Minutes of board meetings provide evidence that a board has exercised care in decision-making. The minutes also substantiate that a board is operating in accordance with its Bylaws and other documents and rules. Although there is recognition that board minutes are important, many organizations continue to have inadequate records of board meetings. One of the most common mistakes made in board meeting minutes is the tendency to record too much. This may take the form of casual but inconsequential statements made during the meeting to the ultimate mistake of recording every spoken word. Your strategic thinking business coach offers some guidance on board meeting minutes by providing a list of the DO’s and DON’Ts of board meeting minutes. - A Strategic Look At Email Subject Lines From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
What are the first things you look at before you open any of your emails? And what two items will determine whether or not you will open the email? You will most likely view the "from" email address first and then look at the "subject" line next before deciding to open you email. The "subject" line is really the equivalent of a newspaper headline and it is a very important factor in a person's decision of whether or not to "read on" or in the case of email, "to open." There is a significant challenge to writing a great "subject" line or a great headline. The truth is that you have a few seconds and only a few words to make your "subject" line compelling and urgent enough to get the reader's attention and then "open and read on." - A Strategic View of Changing Customer Complaints Into Customer Compliments
When someone complains about their experience with your business, how do you view those complaints? Do you encourage people to complain if they are not satisfied with your product or service? Do you have any type of procedure to handle complaints? Do you have any idea of the value of complaints? Did you know that 70% of dissatisfied customers will return if their complaint is resolved favorably? Did you know that 95% of dissatisfied customers will return if you resolve their complaint on the spot? Complaining customers are really a treasure. That means there is great value in resolving complaints. Here are some actions to turn complaints into compliments. - Achieving "Swift" Vision for Your Business or Organization
At first glance you may have read the headline of this article and immediately interpreted "swift" as fast, quick, hurried, rapid, etc. But, the "Swift" I am referring to is Jonathan Swift. And one of my favorite quotes related to strategic thinking and planning is from Jonathan Swift, who said, "Vision is the art of seeing things invisible." And that very succinctly describes what I do everyday on personal and business levels and what I guide and facilitate others to do also. The strategic plan model I use includes a vision statement, a mission statement, a list of core values or guiding principles and short and long term goals. And the entire model begins with "vision." And let's face it, the vision is invisible at first. Over my career, it has been very important for me to develop the art of seeing things invisible. This has been true in the visioning of buildings from an owner's description in words to the visioning of a dream of what a person’s business could be. - Another Client Success Story
It is always a pleasure to hear good news and to receive feedback about what you have done to positively impact someone's life or business. In continuing our tradition of celebrating success and sharing positive stories about our clients, I want to share another client success story with you about the coaching side of our business. - Are You Building or Demolishing Trust In Your Business or Organization?
Do you believe that trust is important in your business? Many of you probably answered yes and in fact many experts believe trust is perhaps the most important element of an efficient, cooperative, collaborative and unified work environment. I strongly believe that trust is not just important – it is critical - to creating a great work environment. Almost every one of my client focus groups during the first stages of strategic planning will list trust and the lack thereof as a challenge, frustration and issue in their workplace. And so the management team wants to know how they can build trust in the workforce and how they can avoid losing it. The first part of the answer is that it all starts at the top of the organization, where the CEO, President and top management set the example. So I ask you – are you building or demolishing trust in your business or organization? Here are five (5) questions to ask to verify if you are building trust in your business. - Best Ways To Identify Your Ideal Clients & Customers
As a business coach, I strongly believe that it would be great if all businesses today would know who their ideal clients and customers are. If I asked each of the readers of this article to tell me who your ideal clients are, could you tell me? Have you ever taken time to truly identify your ideal clients and what they are like? I suspect a majority of readers of this article answered NO to these questions. Too many business owners and managers cannot identify their ideal clients and customers and as a consequence they continue to "chase" any prospect and sell to everyone. By doing this, they work harder, not smarter, waste valuable time & resources, and they fail to grow their business. Worse yet, too many business owners and managers find it absolutely impossible to "walk away" from any prospect even when they know the prospect is not the right fit for their business. - Bringing The Power of Passion Into Your Business
Do you recognize where your passions lie in your business? What are you truly passionate about in your business? Are there additional ways that you can bring passion into your business?I believe that caring about your work and taking personal pride in whatever you do in your work are qualities that are essential to achieve. Working hard, doing one’s best and being ready to accept new challenges are what probably 80% of people do. So what makes some people stand out, way above this 80%? What is it that differentiates Steve Jobs and Lee Iacocca from others? I say it is PASSION! If you are wondering how to bring the power of passion into your business, here are a few tips to do so. - Building A Better Brand in the New Year
The new year is well underway and many of us have been using the start of the new year to review, refine and-or restart various things in our businesses. For this article I want to concentrate on writing to encourage you to seize the opportunity to look at your branding for this year. First, let's define branding. Branding is the process of building a favorable image for a product or company that differentiates it, in the minds of prospects and end users, from other competitors. Secondly, I hope you will agree that branding is strategically important to you and your business. And thirdly, if you have not thought about branding, I hope this article will cause you to start thinking about it for you and your business. - Building An Environment Of Ethical Behavior Ten Tips From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
Business ethics has become and has remained a popular news topic in today's world thanks to Enron, Tyco, WorldCom, Adelphia, et al. We have read and heard about the "waiving of the ethics code or standard" and where compromises were made to ethical standards for business advantages. And now we hear about zero tolerance for unethical behavior. It now seems as though the pendulum is swinging strongly in the direction of zero tolerance for unethical behavior based upon the reactions to ethics misconduct cases across the corporate landscape. Good business leaders have ethics, character and integrity. To lead and operate an ethical organization, you have to create an environment for your people that allows them to operate in an ethical manner. Here are ten (10) tips from your strategic thinking business coach on how to build an environment of ethical behavior. - Building Up Or Selectively Demolishing An Image Through Customer Service
Is your customer service building up a positive image for you as a builder or is it selectively demolishing your image? Do you simply talk about good customer service or do you provide and promote a daily customer service commitment? And is customer service really important to individual builders and the entire building industry? The answers are crucial to you specifically as a builder and to the building industry, in general. - Business Coaching Tips For Effective Supervision From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
In today's workplace there are daily examples of dysfunctional and ineffective supervision. Many people in supervisory roles have not been given the necessary training to be effective supervisors. Here are ten (10) tips from your strategic thinking coach to share with the supervisors in your businesses and organizations. - Business Ethics Guidelines - An Ethical Action Test From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
Each of us is ultimately responsible for our own actions. Although in today's business world, I imagine many skeptics would take exception to that statement because there is evidence that people are not held accountable for their actions, even when they are unethical. And even more disturbing, some are even rewarded for unethical actions. Each of us makes a choice to act ethically or to act unethically. It is essential that we know what is ethical and what is unethical. But, more challenging and difficult than knowing what is ethical, is knowing what is right and then doing what is right. Always doing the right thing is required for long-term success in your business and personal lives. So what advice and guidance are available to check if the action is right before implementing a decision to act? Well, your strategic thinking business coach has a set of questions to provide guidance to you for ethical decisions and actions. - Business Ethics Must Be Presented, Preserved and Promoted
Business ethics are an almost daily topic in the news, in business schools, in the workplace and in our homes. I pay close attention to business ethics and what is written about them in my daily life as a strategic thinking, planning and business coach. I am still astounded at the remarks of major corporations a few years ago when they said they "waived or suspended" the ethics code or requirements. I am still at a total loss at how anyone can "suspend or waive" ethics. While I may not be able to explain the suspension or waiving of ethics, I do hope to provide some solid advice on what business and other organizations need to do today to present, preserve and promote ethics in their organizations. - Business Ethics-What's Happening Where We Work?
The National Business Ethics Survey (NBES) provides an overview of ethics in the workplace and the 2005 version indicates that ethical misconduct is increasing. And this is after Enron, et al. The NBES included more than 3,000 American workers and their survey showed that more than half of American workers have observed at least one type of ethical misconduct in the workplace. Yet, employee reporting of the misconduct they observe is down by 10 percent. This is cause for alarm, in my opinion, and more businesses need to be aware of what is happening with ethics at work today. - Business Mentoring - Add It To Business Coaching For A Powerful Combination
In today's competitive and challenging business world, everyone looks for an edge, an advantage over the competition. In many cases, business people look to business mentoring or business coaching to give them a competitive advantage. But, I ask the question of why choose one or the other when you can choose and use both! The combination of business mentoring and business coaching provides some very awesome power to those who use both. - Can Your Business Be Attractive to Investors? Thoughts From A Business Coach
If your company is at a point in its history and experiencing solid growth where you are considering looking for outside investors for your capital needs, then you want to know if your business will be or can be attractive to investors. If you plan to search for equity investors, you should know that they will expect a significant return on their investment (20% to 50% is not uncommon) and many times within 5 years. These investors will look carefully at the candidate company to characteristics that include, but are not limited to: a solid and proven management team; potential company growth; solid business plan; and evidence of strategic thinking and planning in a strategic plan with vision, mission core values and short term & long term goals. - Change Is Here To Stay - Thoughts From A Change Agent
"The trouble with the future is that it usually arrives before we're ready for it." Arnold H. Glasow Whenever someone refers to me as a "Change Agent," I accept it as a real compliment because that is a very accurate description of what I am. Since change is here to stay, I wanted to share some thoughts about change and some strategies on dealing with change. - Clearing Up The Myths About Strategic Thinking and Planning
I continue to be amazed at the amount of misinformation and the number of myths that exist about strategic thinking and planning. During my entire career, I have heard business owners, senior executives and not-for-profit board members and executive directors utter “mythical” statements about strategic thinking and planning. And I have observed that these same people truly believe that these myths are reality. My purpose in writing this article is to share what I believe are the 5 biggest myths and also provide some insights into what I believe are the 5 biggest “realities” of strategic thinking and planning. - Coaching Solutions For You
Let's be honest! Do you ever feel overwhelmed, stressed, tired, stuck in the same old rut, unorganized, underappreciated, lacking direction or focus on your goals, bored with your work and/or without balance between your time working and your time spent with family and friends? Remember, I did say be honest! If you answered truthfully, you said YES and I can tell you that you have lots of company. So, is there a solution to be found that can change these negative feelings? Yes there is and it may be time you discover that coaching is a solution that more and more people are turning to in order to change and improve various aspects of their lives. In today's business world coaching is being recognized as one of the major methods of developing people's skills and helping solve problems in the workplace. - Coaching to Success in 2006 and Beyond
Business and personal coaching, in addition to the athletic coaching I have had over my career have played a monumental role in my development, personally and professionally. If I reflect upon more than 35 years in my professional career, I would offer the following as what I believe are some golden keys to unlock your potential for achieving success in business and life. - Communications Tips From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
"The Greatest problem in communication is the illusion that it has been accomplished." George Bernard Shaw The great quote by George Bernard Shaw confirms what I have experienced in my 35 plus year career. And in my past 23 years in my own business, I cannot think of a single instance where "communication" was not listed as a problem, challenge, frustration, irritant, etc. in the focus groups, discussion groups and other strategic planning endeavors I have conducted. Communication is a challenge. And it is an opportunity for very positive impressions if one works at doing it effectively. - Creating An Environment of Trust, Support and Teamwork In Your Business
One cannot hear or read about any success story without a reference to teamwork, trust and support. I believe that teamwork, trust and support are paramount to every business success. And I also know that most business owners and managers agree that they are still struggling to achieve a respectable level of trust, support and teamwork in their businesses. - Crisis Communications Planning or What To Do Before-During Or After It Hits The Fan
Do you have a crisis management or crisis communications plan for your business or organization? Do you believe your business or organization is too small to need a crisis communications plan? Or do you believe that crises only happen to others? If you are like the majority of businesses and organizations today, especially small to medium sized ones, you answered NO to the first question and probably YES to the second question. And I hope you answered NO to the third question. Well, I cannot emphasize too strongly that no matter how big or small you are, every organization should have a crisis management and crisis communications plan. - Crisis Management Planning - What's Happening Where We Work?
Crises continue to be in our newspaper headlines and the lead stories on radio and television broadcasts. And crises continue to affect businesses in many forms and continue to occur without notice. But what's happening where we work in response to this continuing trend of crises? Are businesses preparing for crises by developing crisis management plans? Do you know if your company has a crisis management plan or a business disaster recovery plan? Do they have a crisis communication plan? The American Management Association did a survey in August & September 2005 and what that survey revealed is summarized below. - Critical Qualities To Achieve Credibility, According To Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
Achieving or earning credibility is something all of us need to strive for in business and in our personal life. Achieving credibility means gaining the ability to be recognized for one's capabilities and knowledge. In today's business world, credibility is a critical attribute for everyone. There are a number of qualities that need to be mastered in order to achieve credibility. Here are twelve (12) of those critical qualities, according to your strategic thinking business coach. - Demonstrating Effective Leadership By Learning How To "Walk The Talk" One Step At A Time
In businesses and organizations today we hear a repeated complaint that leaders say they want change and continuous improvement, but their actions speak louder than their words. If a leader wants to create real changes in a company’s values, culture and/or employee behavior, they must commit to learn how to "walk the talk." Here are some tips from your strategic thinking business coach to illustrate how to "Walk The Talk" one step at a time. - Do You Control Your Email or Does Your Email Control You?
Recently while discussing time management issues with my business coaching clients and others, the topic of email and the amount of time we all spend dealing with business (and non-business) email at work. Those discussions gave impetus to this article. Do you ever wonder how many email boxes are in use by organizations all over the world? 100 million? 200 million? According to statistics I read in a recent article, there were an estimated 225 million email boxes in use by organizations in use in the world. Did I hear someone say WOW! We all need to manage our email activities in an efficient manner. Here are 6 tips to help you manage your email activity. - Do You Know What You Say Before You Utter One Word? The Importance of Your Body Language
Think about all the face-to-face encounters you have each day, each week, each month and each year. And then think about how the success of any of these encounters all begins the instant someone sees you. Do you realize that one of the first things people notice about you is your aura or that distinctive atmosphere that surrounds you? You create that aura and you are responsible for what it says about you and whom it attracts. Why is this important? Look at the article title – Do You Know What You Say Before You Utter One Word? Well, let me remind you that 55% of your personal message is conveyed by your body language, 38% by the tone of your voice and 7% by your words. This should tell us that sensitivity to and an understanding of body language are very important to us. - Do You Know Where Your Disaster Recovery Plan Is?
Disasters of major magnitude are major news again after the Gulf coast region of the United States was hit by 2 major hurricanes. So it is very timely for me to ask each of you: "Do you know where your disaster recovery plan is?" "Do you even have a disaster recovery plan or crisis management plan?" "What business contingency plans do you have?" I am very concerned that in too many cases the answers would be "No" "No" and "None!" The plain hard truth is that if your business is going to continue to perform at a profitable or administratively adequate level when a crisis occurs, crisis/emergency planning is imperative. You must have a properly prepared disaster recovery plan in place and have the appropriate staff fully briefed on their responsibilities. - Do You Know Where Your Succession Plan Is? And Do You Know What To Do If You Can't Find It?
Many business people detest thinking about succession planning, let alone actually doing succession planning. It becomes another one of those items to be done "tomorrow". The enormous risk in putting this off is that without a succession plan in place, the continuity of the business and its future direction could be totally lost. And it is important to impress upon you that succession planning is needed earlier in your life of your business, not later. In many instances, people have great difficulty in handing over the controls of their business and it is very painful to do so. However, if you use good solid strategic thinking and planning you can develop a well designed succession plan. Time after time I see and read about an owner getting very sick, injured, dying or plain "burned out" without any system in place to see that the business continues and the owner's family is taken care of in the future. - Do You Want To Become A Rainmaker?
During my 35 year career, I have had the privilege of being referred to as a "Rainmaker" in several news articles and stories during interviews with some of my clients. I take that as a very kind compliment. Some may ask, what is a "Rainmaker?" The American Indian tradition would say that the Rainmaker used magical powers to bring rain to nourish crops to feed the people of the tribe. Today, the most common and simplistic definition I can offer would be this: A "Rainmaker" is a person who brings the most revenue into a company or organization and the revenue or money is the rain. Today's "Rainmaker" makes things happen, generates the most new customers, new business and takes the art of the doing business to new levels. - Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is - In Our Businesses Today?
The title of this article is derived from the title of a very popular 1960s song by the band, Chicago. It is also a question that needs to be asked in our businesses today. Do you know what time it is in your business when it comes to how much time is wasted in business each year? - Dysfunctional Planning of Goals Facilitates Failure
That age old adage, "If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail" may be more true in today's business world, than at any other time. I have been truly amazed at how many clients I have that will tell me that they never had any kind of business plan, marketing plan, financial plan, strategic plan or any kind of plan, until they met me and starting working with me in a business coaching relationship. And they all shared various forms of challenges, frustrations, issues, etc. with their business. Well, honestly, in the absence of planning or in the presence of dysfunctional planning, the diagnosis is simple as to the reasons for the struggles. - Effective Business Communication Tips
Do you consider yourself to be an effective business communicator? Have you honed your skills when communicating via E-mail and voice-mail messaging, in addition to the more traditional formal business writings? Could you use a little help improving the effectiveness of your business communications in each of these forms? Regardless of how you responded to my questions, I am going to say that I believe each of us can always use some help in improving the effectiveness of our business communications. And I want to assist you and guide you in finding ways to do just that. And I will start with the more formal or traditional written business communications form. Tina Miller is a freelance writer who’s been published in Corporate & Incentive Travel and the Milwaukee Business Journal and she offers the following tips: - Eight Key Characteristics For A Strategic Planning Facilitator
Selecting a professional strategic planning facilitator is very important. Facilitation of your strategic planning process involves working with groups of people and requires that the facilitator be tuned in at all times to what is happening. The facilitator also must be able to suspend or change the direction of the process when necessary. An experienced professional facilitator used in your strategic planning process will greatly increase the probability of a successful process and strategic plan and will also enable the participants to leave with positive feelings, a stronger cohesiveness, a sense of accomplishment and a stronger team. In selecting a professional facilitator, your strategic thinking business coach suggests that you look for the following key characteristics. - Eight Powerful Strategies To Retain Clients, According To Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
Do you practice strategic thinking in your marketing efforts? Do you develop client-retention strategies, in addition to strategies to gain new clients? If you answered NO to these questions, you may want to rethink the way you are doing your marketing. My experience indicates that a strategic approach to client retention is underutilized and therefore a great deal of energy, time, talent and money is being wasted in marketing efforts seeking new clients and ignoring or giving “second rate” efforts to retaining existing clients. Do you practice strategic thinking in your marketing efforts? Do you develop client-retention strategies, in addition to strategies to gain new clients? If you answered NO to these questions, you may want to rethink the way you are doing your marketing. My experience indicates that a strategic approach to client retention is underutilized and therefore a great deal of energy, time, talent and money is being wasted in marketing efforts seeking new clients and ignoring or giving “second rate” efforts to retaining existing clients. - Eleven Strategic Steps To Success - According Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
Are you the best you can be? Are you realizing the degree of success that you want? Do you know what you really need to do to achieve your ultimate level of success? I will presume that there are a lot of NO answers to my questions and that you will have an open mind while reading these articles. Your strategic thinking business coach offers eleven (11) strategic steps for you to follow to achieve your ultimate level of success. - End of Year Thoughts From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
As each year closes, we often wonder where the year has gone, how quickly it has passed and what we did or did not accomplish. He end of each year finds us thinking about holidays, gifts, parties and friends, as well as the closing out of another business year. The end of the year is a time to look back on the previous year and look forward to the next. And while reflecting on the past year, a strategic thinking business coach would like to suggest that you take time to remember and to give thanks for the great things that happened in your business. And to build on all of the positive things that you accomplished this past year and carry that positive momentum into next year. The end of the calendar or business year is a very good time to look at the lessons learned from any mistakes that you might have made and apply those lessons learned to correct past mistakes. - Essential Habits and Principles for Great Leadership
You have probably heard it said that many people are born leaders. However, the ability to lead is an art and requires learning a powerful set of skills and principles and then honing those skills and practicing those principles to the highest level. The legendary football coach Vince Lombardi said this about great leadership, "Leadership rests not only upon ability, not only upon capacity; having the capacity to lead is not enough. The leader must be willing to use it. His leadership is then based on truth and character". So, what are some of the essential habits and principles that will help you and your clients grow into great leaders? - Essential Ingredients For An Effective Ad
We are literally bombarded with advertisements every day and in many forms. Each of these advertisements is competing for our very limited attention. One can say the competition is fierce. Therefore, your ads must be well thought out and have certain key attributes or what I choose to call "ingredients". Here are the essential ingredients I believe are necessary for an effective ad. - Five Deadly Decisions in Business and How to Avoid Them
Think about this for a moment - Thousands and thousands of business decisions are made every day. Many of those business decisions can be and are deadly! And think how very difficult it is to avoid making some of those deadly decisions. Here are five examples of some of the most common deadly business decisions. - Handling Customer Complaints With Class
If you currently do not view customer complaints as a valuable opportunity, you are ignoring a very effective strategic tool for success. In more than 35 years of professional experience in marketing, I can assure you that the effective handling of complaints and a good service recovery strategy are very valuable marketing opportunities. The sad news here is that many businesses simply do not accept this and squander many opportunities to grow their business. I suggest a way to view complaints is to look at the complaints received and then develop and implement an effective means of managing complaints to produce positive outcomes for the customer and your business. Here are 10 things to do to manage complaints in a classy manner. - he Awesome Power of Testimonials For Marketing Your Business
One of the most extremely powerful marketing tools that we have in business is the testimonial. Yet many times we use the excuse of being "too busy" or "I am not comfortable asking" to not actively request testimonials from our clients and customers. Well, I want to tell you that testimonials can have a tremendous impact on people deciding whether or not to do business with you and your company. And why is that true? People feel more confident about doing business with you if they know there are other satisfied customers. Frankly, the use of testimonials is one technique that is virtually guaranteed to increase your business. - How Clear Is Your Vision For Your Business? Is It Time For A Business Vision Examination?
When was the last time you really examined your vision for your business? As the calendar year or the fiscal year draws to a close, this could present perfect timing for an examination of your vision for your business. A vision is dynamic and it requires periodic examination in order to retain your strategic focus in business. Here are ten (10) questions from your strategic thinking business coach to use to perform an annual examination of your business vision. - How Professional Service Providers Can Break Through Resistance to Requesting Referrals
One of the most powerful strategic marketing tools is referrals. Are you resisting the opportunity to request referrals? If you answered YES you are resisting, why are you resisting? In doing some research on this subject I learned that many, if not most, professional services providers resist because of fear. Strategic marketing principles and experience show that your best source of new business comes from your existing clients. So, if you ignore this fact and permit fear of asking for referrals from your clients, you will be missing a tremendous opportunity. So, what can you do to break through and overcome this resistance? Your strategic thinking business coach has eight (8) suggested "break through" strategies for you to consider. - How To Be More Media Savvy and Less Media Ignorant. Tips From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
Too many people in business today are not media savvy and continue to make one mistake after the other in their dealings with the media. It is important for business people to become more media savvy and less media ignorant. There needs to be a commitment made to learn more about working with the media in a positive way. Based upon more than 35 years of experience in working with the media, your strategic thinking business coach created a list of ten (10) tips on what to avoid doing when you work with the media in order to foster more positive media relations. Here is the list of actions to avoid: - How To Benefit From The Awesome Power of Two Simple Words –Thank You!
Two simple words put together as "Thank you!" have awesome power that binds and builds relationships. Think of the times you received thanks verbally or in writing and you will have sensitivity to this power. "Thank you” confirms that something positive and special has happened and also provides the opportunity to return some very positive emotions back to the giver of thanks. So you are asking how can you benefit from this awesome power of thank you. Here are seven (7) tips on how to do that from your strategic thinking business coach. - How To Brand Your Business Using Ten Action Items
In the world we know today, business is becoming more and more competitive. And, small business is the fastest-growing segment of business in most parts of the world. The competitors we face are no longer just the businesses in our own community. The competition now comes from businesses in other communities, in other states, countries and possibly from somewhere halfway around the world. One of the most valuable assets a business, service, product or individual can own is their brand, their reputation. Recognition and value of your business, service, product and yourself determines marketing potential. So, branding must be an integral part of building your business. You need to have customers & clients remember your name, service, product so they can easily refer you to others and so you can build loyalty for repeat transactions. What are some action items you can take to build your business brand and become a "household" name? - How to Build Successful Strategic Alliances
A strategic alliance is a partnership, a collaborative agreement and/or a relationship between two or more companies or organizations formed to pursue a set of agreed upon goals while remaining independent companies or organizations. Strategic alliances exist in a variety of shapes and sizes and include a wide range of scopes of cooperation levels. Strategic alliances usually are most effective when the entities involved have complementary strengths. Here are the ten (10) suggested actions to take to build successful strategic alliances. - How to Go From Dreams & Vision to Reality
Do you have a dream or vision for your business or organization? Do you have a personal dream or vision? How many dreams or visions have you had in your life that you did not act upon? How many did you pursue? And what happened? If you have a dream or vision now, do you know how to turn that dream and/or vision into reality? In my multi-disciplinary multi-faceted professional services practice, I deal with dreams and visions of clients as a facilitator, guide and coach. I love my work, especially when it involves helping people achieve their dreams and vision. I want to believe that you do have dreams and vision and so I want to share some thoughts with you about how to turn them into reality. - How To Hone Your Strategic Thinking Skills To Plan For The New Business Year
Strategic thinking is always important. The initiation of planning for the new business year is an especially important time for strategic thinking. In businesses where strategic thinking, planning and actions drive the company, the business owners and management team need to hone their strategic thinking skills to begin the planning for the new business year. Here are ten (10) recommended ways to hone your strategic thinking skills. - How to Identify The Real Leaders Out There Among Us
How can you know a real leader when you see one? What do real leaders do that define them as leaders? Many people may consider themselves leaders, but in reality do not demonstrate principles of leadership and are not leaders are at. In today's world that are many imposter's posing as leaders. In order to assist you in identifying leaders in your company or organization, I have selected seven (7) actions that I believe real leaders take that define them as "real leaders." Those seven (7) actions are: - How To Identify Your Marketing Barriers
Do you have a strategic marketing plan and process? Are you satisfied with your marketing results? Have you taken time to review your marketing program and determine what barriers are preventing the achievement of a successful marketing program? I believe I know the answers to these questions from too many businesses today. I too often hear a resounding NO to each of the questions. What questions might you ask to define your marketing barriers? Here are ten (10) questions to help identify the barriers that stand between you and a successful marketing program. - How To Recognize Your Ideal Client, Tips From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
Do you know how to recognize your ideal client for your business? Do you have any idea of the characteristics of your ideal client? Have you taken time to select criteria you will use to decide whether you will do business with someone or not? The honest answer from too many of you will be NO to these questions. And the sad truth of this is that too many businesses try to be all things to all people and believe that anyone that breathes or has a credit card is a prospect. This approach is definitely not strategic. My suggestion to you is to take a more strategic approach. And this means that you must define your ideal client. What questions might you ask to define your ideal clients? Here are ten (10) questions your strategic thinking business coach suggests you can use to help identify your ideal clients. - How To Strategically Develop Referral Network Tips From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
Positive word-of-mouth endorsements, referrals and testimonials are extremely effective and powerful means to help grow your business. And in my experience it seems that solid strategic referrals are the most powerful. Therefore it would behoove you to include the development of a powerful referral network as one of the key elements of you strategic marketing plan. Your strategic thinking business coach heartily endorses developing a strong referral network and offers ten (10) tips on how to do that. The ten (10) tips are- - How To Strategically Develop Your Ideal Client Profile - From Your Strategic Thinking Busines Coach
It seems to me that if one takes the time to strategically think and plan a list of characteristics to define an ideal client and then uses that as a "filter"to evaluate prospects, the probability of success in their marketing efforts would be enhanced over the non-strategic efforts of thinking everyone is a prospect and chasing too many non-productive leads. You are basically spending some time "pre-qualifying" suspects and prospects before you begin your efforts to approach them. The characteristics of the ideal client will also provide information so you can strategically design your marketing message, contact method, call to action and follow-up. This is a very popular and passionate topic with my business coaching clients and I have developed a list of the types of characteristics (which is certainly not meant to be all-inclusive) you may consider in defining the profile of your ideal client. Here is a list from your strategic thinking business coach to assist you in your efforts. - How To Strategically Raise Your Warm List To Your Hot List In Five Steps With Strateegic Thinking
How strategic are you in your marketing efforts? Are you using strategic thinking in the development of a strategic marketing plan for your business? Are you still frustrated by having too few "hot list" prospects? My experience indicates that there are too many businesses that are not being very strategic in their marketing and therefore are wasting energy, time, talent and resources. Recently I have read and have been hearing about "warm lists" for prospects. From my perspective, I would rather talk about "hot lists" for prospects. So let's not forget or dismiss the "warm lists," but let's look at how to strategically raise the "warm lists" to "hot lists." And the method to do that involves strategic thinking and planning with the use of your definition of your ideal client profile and a series of questions that may have been used to generate your "warm list" of prospects. Here is a suggested 5 step approach. - How to Transform Your Time Spent in Business Meetings From Time Wasted to Time Well Spent
How many of you reading this article has suffered through very dull, inefficient, and unwarranted business meetings that wasted your valuable time? And how many of you wished it was possible to transform the wasted time into time well spent? If you answered YES, please pay attention to the dozen tips I am sharing with you on how to transform time wasted into time well spent in your business meetings. - How Valuable Are Your Ethics or What is Your Price to Compromise Your Ethics?
Everyone in business will eventually face a real crisis of conscience at some point or points in his or her career. Before you face that critical choice, I believe most people would say it is easy to think that they will act ethically, no matter what the personal cost. However, what will you really do when you are faced with the personal cost of losing the job you love (or desperately need) and placing your family's welfare and your own self worth in jeopardy?Is your personal respect and integrity negotiable? It is probably safe to say that all or certainly most of us have encountered situations where there was a bending of the rules; the special person, client or coworker who gets special consideration; the dishonest deal; the telling of a blatant untruth; and so on. Do you have an ethical compass in good working order to guide you in resolving these ethical dilemmas? - If You Have Business Challenges-Issues & Opportunities-Get Strategic Thinking Business Coaching!
Looking at today's businesses, the business owner and their management team, I see many challenges, issues and opportunities they face every day. In fact, I help the owners and their management teams deal with business challenges, issues and opportunities, as a strategic thinking business coach. Let's see if you are dealing with any of these challenges, issues or opportunities by answering the following questions: Are you dealing with any of these business challenges, issues or opportunities? - Immunizing Your Business Against Recession By Using Marketing Tools
One of the hot topics of discussion in the fall of 2005 is the concern about various types of flu and how people, especially those in high-risk categories, should get immunized. And I also note that there are some people talking about a possible recession in the world. So I thought we should look at immunizing our businesses against recession by using marketing tools. In researching for this article, I turned to one of my talented marketing strategy sources, Steve Hackney, the "Service Business Profit Wizard," of Hackney Marketing Ltd. located in the United Kingdom. I have learned much from Steve and I most strongly agree with his advice "DON'T STOP MARKETING! in any economic situation, good or bad." Steve developed what he calls "recession proof service business marketing tools." I happen to believe these tools work well for other businesses too and I want to share them with you. Here are Steve Hackney's 8 Recession Proof Service Business Marketing Tools- - Increased, Irritating, Invasive, Inconsiderate, Insensitive, Interruptions of Cell Phone Users
My personal experiences the past few weeks have provided "up close and personal" confirmation of people becoming more and more rude with their cell phones. And the personal observations are backed up by many polls, which indicate such findings as: cell phone rudeness is the #1 complaint of diners (Zagat Restaurant Survey); the most abhorred uses of cell phones (according to USA Today) are over dinner (86%), in a meeting (88%), in a movie (96%) and at a funeral (98%); and the worst cell phone habit is unnecessarily loud conversations in public places (Spovate market research). Here are my suggestions for some simple guidelines for cell phone etiquette. - Insight Into Incompetence Of Managers And Executives From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
One of the most common topics of conversation in today's workplace is the incompetence of managers and executives. And there does not seem to be any evidence that this subject is going away anytime soon. In addition, the managers and executives are very fearful that their subordinates will discover how really incompetent they are. And again, this fear of being "found out" is actually well founded. What is the magnitude of failure among managers and executives? According to research conducted by Manchester, Inc., a leadership development firm located in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, 4 out of 10 newly promoted managers and executives fail within 18 months of starting their new jobs. In the research, failure was defined as being terminated for performance, performing significantly below expectations or voluntarily resigning from their new position. Think about this – that is a 40 PERCENT FAILURE RATE! Your strategic thinking business coach offers a list of ten (10) top reasons for failure. - Insights To Become More Client - Focused, According To Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
We hear many companies and individuals claim that they are client-focused. And we hear that clients will leave if we do not focus on their needs and if we are not providing better services and products than others. If we pause for a moment and think about this, could it be that the client-focused concept we often hear about is almost always about the benefits to the provider of the services and products? Do you really want to serve our clients with the best service for their benefit or for your benefit? Here are ten (10) insights from Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach to assist you in becoming more client-focused. - Just Say No – Loudly & Clearly – To Unethical Clients!
Have you ever been asked to do something unethical by one of your prospects or clients? Have you ever been pressured by a supervisor, manager or owner at your business to do something unethical? Have you ever observed unethical behavior by a prospect or client? In today's business world, there are daily instances of unethical behavior occurring all around us. What a sad commentary on business and society today. - Keys to Getting Past The Gate-Keeper In Business
Savvy business people understand that one of the critical factors in developing a successful business and successful business relationship is getting past the "gate-keeper" that stands between you and the key decision maker you want to reach. - Lessons Learned From Strategic Marketing From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
Businesses need to be strategic! There are too many businesses that have failed to recognize the value of being strategic in their thinking and planning and have limited themselves to less than optimum results. Today, I want to present some thoughts about strategic marketing plans. I continue to be amazed at how many businesses have no marketing plan at all, let alone a strategic marketing plan. The truth is that the only marketing plan some businesses have is one on "the seat of their pants." Over the many years of working with business owners, their management teams and employees, there have been many opportunities to experience and capture the "lessons learned" from heir endeavors. - Major Benefits of Business Coaching for Individuals and Their Companies
Business coaching continues to grow and the benefits of business coaching to individuals and their companies are being realized and recognized. I want to share some of the major benefits I believe are being realized and have listed them below. Major benefits being realized from business coaching on an individual basis and their companies include - Major Benefits of Using An Outside Professional Facilitator
Are you and your team, task force, committee, or any other working group struggling with issues and divergent viewpoints? Do you attend meetings that take up hours of your time but do not produce actionable plans at the conclusion of the meetings? I believe a majority of you answered YES to both questions. - Major Characteristics of A Strategic Thinker
Let's begin with a definition of strategic thinking so we are all on the same page before reading the article. Strategic thinking is the way people think about, assess, view and create the future for themselves and others. - Major Communication Tip For Successful Strategic Planning – Define Strategic Planning Terms First
One of the key elements in any endeavor is clear communications. This is especially true when doing strategic planning. So, my major communication tip to ensure more successful strategic planning efforts is to first provide basic definitions of major terms used in the strategic planning process. Having written definitions to hand out to all participants at the start of the process will help ensure that everyone knows the meaning of the terms being used throughout the strategic planning process facilitates this. Here are the definitions of major strategic planning terms that have served me well in all of my strategic planning efforts over more than 25 years. - Managing Your Time - 20 More Tips
Every day we hear someone say, "I am so busy. I just don't have enough time to get things done!" And I imagine each of us has fallen into that same feeling from time to time. Are you a good manager of your time? - Manners Always Matter
Business manners always matter. And hat subject has a high priority with me and my professional practice. The highest compliment ever paid to me about manners was in the following quote from Pamela Hillings of Hillings Enterprises. "I have been in the business of 'Business Manners' for over twenty years and I have never worked with anyone who is the perfect example of professionalism except for Glenn Ebersole. I have been engaged in several business dealings with him and every single time he has been detailed, punctual, polite, follows up and is extremely professional. He could easily consult my clients on an appropriate business image. Glenn is also excellent at communication and public relations. We worked on a national survey together and he was on top of the project at all times in terms of national exposure and contacting me. I would highly recommend him to anyone- you won't be disappointed." Here are some of my favorite manners tips from Pamela Hillings. - Mobile Manners – Cell Phone Etiquette Tips From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
Cell phones are all around us every day and they produce numerous experiences of obnoxious behaviors. And to make matters worse, there is an onslaught of new ways to use our cell phones. The annoying behaviors range from annoying ring tones interrupting movies, meetings, and other places to people talking loudly on their cell phones in meetings and public places. So where are the boundaries, the guidelines and the etiquette for cell phone use? Here are ten (10) positive etiquette rules for cell phone users. - More Business Coaching & Strategic Planning Success Stories
It is a real great feeling to be able to share additional affirmations of success in someone's life or business. This month, In the spirit of continuing to celebrate success and sharing positive stories of success in what we do, I want to talk about Darek Potter and Harbor Engineering, Inc - More Business Coaching Tips and Results – Why Hire A Coach?
In today's competitive business world, one needs to be at the "top of their game." The pressure of business can be overwhelming. Where can business owners, senior executives, executive directors of not-for-profits and others turn to handle the pressure and be powerful performers? My recommendation is to hire a coach! And your question back to me is why hire a coach? - More On Strategic Thinking
On February 20th, I returned from St. Augustine, Florida, where I attended the 7th Annual Meeting of The First Tee (www.thefirsttee.org) and was a featured speaker on Strategic Thinking and Planning. It became clear from the reception and comments I received after my power point presentation, that I had accomplished my goal of sensitizing the attendees to the benefits of strategic thinking and planning and getting many of them to commit to starting the strategic planning process soon after they returned home. - More Public Relations Advice from the PR Doctor
The reputation of a company or organization is an intangible asset, but it is an extremely important and valuable asset. Some people believe and have written that a good reputation is an organization's most priceless asset. Unfortunately businesses face inevitable crisis situations with the potential to seriously damage a good reputation. - Motivational & Inspirational Quotes To Guide Your Visions & Dreams
Owning and being in business can be a tremendous joy and an enormous amount of work. There are times when one can become overwhelmed with the day-to-day activities and lose sight of the big picture, the dream, and the vision. One always needs to be strategically focused on the vision, the mission and the goals of the business and be reminded to work "on the business" and not just "in the business" as Michael Gerber would tell us.But how does one do that? I love quotations and recently found a dozen quotes that I have used to help motivate and inspire me to keep focusing on the vision and the dream. Here are the dozen quotes that help guide your strategic thinking business coach. - Networking Tips for Introverts or How to Break The Ice Without Fear of Falling Through
Do you "freeze up" when you are in a room full of people with some great networking opportunities? Are you timid, shy, and bashful around people at business and social gatherings? If you admitted that this description fits you, please understand that you are not alone. Introverts are one group of people that are really affected by this freeze up. Mention "networking" to introverts and the introverts may freeze up and become the "ice" they need to "break" in networking. What can be done to address this situation? I thought about this and developed some tips I would give to introverts on networking. Here are six tips on networking for introverts to prevent "freeze-up." - Networking Tips from the Networker's Networker
One of the best compliments related to networking that I ever received was when a highly respected chief executive introduced me to speak as "The Networkers Networker." Networking is a very powerful marketing tool and one that can be very positive and valuable if done properly and very costly if done improperly or not at all. In thinking about what tips to share with you, I decided to think back over my own personal experiences and what has worked well for me and my clients. What I have developed is called my MVP (Most Valuable Professional) Networking Tips. Here they are. - New Year, New Intentions, New Stress, Ten New Opportunities To Manage The Stress of Change
The new year resets the calendar and it is a good time to look at managing the stress of a new year and the changes it will bring. A little stress is actually something positive until it elevates itself into being overwhelming. So, How can we manage the stress of change so it does not become overwhelming? Let's look at just how busy we are on a daily basis. Look at how much we try to "cram" into a single day. Is it a surprise that many people are stressed? So, if we agree that stress is something that is almost impossible to avoid, here are ten (10) tips from your strategic thinking business coach on how to manage the stress of change. - Nine Commitments That Emphasize Business Ethics & Company Core Values Are Extremely Crucial
In the last few years, business ethics and company core values are among the most critical discussions I facilitate during strategic planning and business coaching endeavors. My encouragement to clients is to go "public" with their core values and ethical standards so it becomes known what the company stands for and how the leaders will conduct business. Many businesses also will use the core values and ethical standards for guidance in making critical decisions, to create an ethical corporate culture, to attract high quality employees and to differentiate themselves from competitors. Based upon my personal and professional experiences and research, I would recommend making the following nine commitments. - Non-Disclosure-Confidentiality Agreements-Don't Hire Anyone Without Signing One
If you are not worried or concerned in the business world we live in today, then I suggest you become concerned now, not later! Technology and business information have continued to expand exponentially in today's business environment. Employees and contract workers are more likely to be exposed to a significant amount of proprietary information and therein lays a potential threat to your business. It would be very naive and not very "business savvy" to believe you can automatically trust an employee or contract worker with trade secrets, innovative ideas, and other confidential information. The threat or risk is higher today because of digital cameras; cell phones with built-in cameras and flash drives used to snap a picture or download documents. - Power Marketing Advice to Grow Your Business
It is important to understand that power marketing begins with leadership from within. It means knowing yourself, having a vision, having passion and taking risks. Power marketing is an extension of who you are as the source, the force and the power behind your marketing. - Powerful Business Etiquette Tips
Have you observed social gaffes and just plain inappropriate behavior at business meetings? Have you ever seen someone make a fool of themselves in a business meeting? Do you feel comfortable in knowing what to do as proper business etiquette in a business meeting? It is very important to know proper business etiquette because it is very critical to your image and the relationship building process. In my business career and in particular, during my business coaching endeavors, I have learned some very powerful tips to help avoid mistakes in business etiquette that are so easy to make. Here are ten (10) of my favorites. - Powerful Communication Tips For Managers & Supervisors
Recently I read about a study conducted in 2001, which included approximately 20,000 exit interviews. A major finding in the study was that poor communications skills of supervisors were a leading factor in poor supervisory behavior, which caused people to leave their jobs. - Powerful Negotiation Tips
Each day we face some opportunity for negotiation. Let's face it, negotiation is a part of our every day life and dare I say that almost everything is negotiable? So being able to acquire powerful negotiation skills so you can negotiate effectively and successfully can make a big difference in your outcomes. The use of strategic thinking is a natural fit in negotiations and is critical to successful outcomes. - Powerful Strategies For Meeting And Greeting People
Every day in every businesspersons life, there are many meetings and greetings. And many of those are an initial contact were you want to ensure you make a strong positive first impression. Still others present great opportunities to enhance existing relationships. So if we think strategically, what simple strategies can we use to ensure successful meetings and greetings? The ten simplest and most effective strategies for meeting and greeting people that I have discovered and used are: - Powerful Tips To Remember Prospect and Client Names – From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
Have you ever confused someone for someone else? How often do you find yourself struggling to remember someone's name? It is very important to remember a prospect or client's name because it is very critical to the relationship building process. There are some very powerful tips to help you remember names and your strategic thinking business coach wants to share ten (10) of my favorites.
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