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Category Archives: Growth and Strategy
Sales and Marketing in a Time and Attention Starved World
In today’s over-saturated world of twenty four hour media, advertisement, and promotion, we are drowning in too much data and too many messages. Our brains are full, and our attention span is depleted. Paradoxically, despite this flood of information, we … Continue reading
Posted in Growth and Strategy, Sales and Marketing
Tagged Attention Starved, Customer Service, Growth, Marketing, Sales, Selling, Time Starved
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High Impact Selling – Timeless Sales Advice
My re-reading of William T. Brooks’ 1988 book, High Impact Selling: Power Strategies for Successful Selling, reminded me that the keys to successful sales have been known for years. They just need to be implemented and followed. Fundamentals of High … Continue reading
Posted in Growth and Strategy, Sales and Marketing
Tagged Customer Service, Sales, Sales Coaching, Sales Success, Sales Training
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Lessons from a Customer
Over the last month, my family and I have moved from Chandler, Arizona to Newport Beach, California. We sold our house in Chandler, moved ourselves and our belongings, and bought a house in Newport Beach. As so many of you … Continue reading
Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance – An Inside View of a Successful Turnaround and Culture Change
In Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance? – Leading a Great Enterprise Through Dramatic Change, former IBM CEO, Lou Gerstner, gives a first-hand account of how he led the turnaround of IBM in the 1990’s. I recommend the book for businesspeople … Continue reading
“Do You Want Fries With That?” – An Opportunity for Profitable Growth
McDonald’s employees are trained to ask all customers whether they want fries with their meal. This little question, repeated millions of times a day in thousands of McDonald’s restaurants worldwide, creates millions of dollars of profits for McDonald’s as millions … Continue reading
Grow and Win With New Product (and Service) Development
In today’s slow-growth economy, companies are struggling to find new ways to grow. All too often, current products are mature and current markets are saturated with competition. To escape these brutal facts and find a new avenue for growth, companies … Continue reading
Tuned In – Valuable Insight in Finding That New Avenue for Growth
In Tuned In: Uncover the Extraordinary Opportunities That Lead to Business Breakthroughs, Craig Stull, Phil Myers and David Meerman Scott describe the ‘Tuned In’ methodology that your company can use to find your next avenue for growth. ‘Tuned In’ creates … Continue reading
Posted in Growth and Strategy, Sales and Marketing
Tagged Growth, Market Development, Marketing, Product Development, Strategy
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Understanding Michael Porter: An Indispensable Handbook on Strategy
Published in December 2011, Joan Magretta’s Understanding Michael Porter: The Essential Guide to Competition and Strategy, is an excellent and timely book about business strategy. It discusses the ideas and frameworks from the guru of business strategy, Michael Porter. I … Continue reading
Growth By Acquisition – An Introduction
Mergers and acquisitions can be effective tools to speed the growth and development of your company. Through acquisitions your business can expand into new geographic areas, enter new market spaces, broaden product lines, develop relationships with new and growing customers, and … Continue reading
Posted in Growth and Strategy, Perform / Execution
Tagged Acquisitions, Growth, Mergers, Strategy
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How to Grow When Markets Don’t – More Relevant than Ever!
Published in late 2004, How to Grow When Markets Don’t by Adrian Slywotzky and Richard Wise (with Karl Weber) is more relevant than ever in today’s slow-growth business climate. The Growth Crisis The economy is maturing and population growth is … Continue reading
Competing in a “Low Price” World
In most industries, the business environment remains brutal: growth is slow or non-existent; and price competition is rampant. The question on the minds of many business executives is simple: How can I increase profits and grow when all my customers … Continue reading
Posted in Growth and Strategy, Perform / Execution
Tagged Competition, Low Price, Strategy
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The Essential Drucker: Insights from the Original Management Guru
The Essential Drucker: The Best of Sixty Years of Peter Drucker’s Essential Writings on Management is an indispensable read to help you enhance your business leadership and improve your business. What makes it particularly interesting is that much of it … Continue reading
How to Rake It in When Selling Your Business
For many business owners or entrepreneurs the long-term goal is to sell your company and monetize all the value that you have created. So, what can you begin working on today to ensure that you rake it in from the … Continue reading
Posted in Business Acumen, Growth and Strategy
Tagged Business Sale, Exit Planning, M&A
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The Agenda (Michael Hammer): Useful for This Decade as Well
Way back in 2001, Michael Hammer authored The Agenda: What Every Business Must Do to Dominate the Decade. Slightly more than a decade later, the thoughts and insights in this book remain relevant and worth summarizing. The key assumption in … Continue reading
To Sell Well, ‘Spin Sell’ – Sales Training for B2B Companies
Selling is all about delivering value to the customer. In B2B (Business-to-Business) sales, this fundamental is too often forgotten. Instead, salespeople: 1. Tell customers how great their (the salesperson’s) company is 2. Tell customers all the features of their great … Continue reading
Posted in Growth and Strategy, Sales and Marketing
Tagged B2B Sales, Sales, Sales Coaching, Sales Training, Spin Selling
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Move Your Company Forward in 2012
Welcome to 2012! I remain confident that this will be the year that your company once again begins to soar. To help you with that I offer up six suggestions on how you can make a substantive change in your … Continue reading
Blue Ocean Strategy
In their book, Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant, W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne outline a strategy process to create a long-term sustainable competitive advantage. While a bit too full of … Continue reading
Posted in Growth and Strategy, Sales and Marketing
Tagged Business Development, Business Strategy, Growth, Marketing
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Ahead of the Curve: Two Years at Harvard Business School
In his book, Ahead of the Curve: Two Years at Harvard Business School, Philip Delves Broughton recounts his experience as a student at HBS. It is an interesting read, especially for those planning to go to business school. For our … Continue reading
Going Global – 3 Lessons From Those Who Failed
This is a guest blog by Mike Gomez (Global Success Centers and Allegro Consulting) I recently gave a presentation to owners of American companies who were contemplating a global expansion strategy. I decided to share some lessons I gleaned while … Continue reading
Posted in Growth and Strategy
Tagged Business Leadership, Global Growth, International Business
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Are You in Love With Your Customers?
“If your business leader does not love customers and is not committed to delivering value to them, your venture will fail.” With this quote from Ken Morse, serial entrepreneur & co-founder of 3Com Corporation, I begin my guest blog at … Continue reading
David M. Shedd - Move Your Company Forward 