• Can the subconscious drive business strategy

    Given the competitive environment today, organizations need to find ways of developing unique ways to compete. So, can strategizing at the subconscious level enable organizations to reach deep within in order to truly differentiate themselves in a compelling, relevant and authentic manner? According to Margaret Reynolds, Owner of Reynolds Consulting, LLC, Kansas City, Missouri: "What people might[...]

    Read more

    Three ways to making marketing really work (Part 3)

    Marketing is about making choices Many people feel that by just implementing a whole range of marketing tactics and activities, they are doing the right thing. Well, as Sun Tzu has indicated, that may just be the noise before defeat. Without developing a strategy, those tactics could lead to trouble. And especially if the tactics have been developed without consideration for the options or [...]

    Read more

    Dashboards

    For you to remain aware of the potential issues and changes in your business on a timely basis, your Controller (or Accounting Manger, CFO, VP Finance, or other person with similar responsibilities) should prepare a regular update of the key information and indicators for management. Many of the more sophisticated ERP and accounting systems provide a feature that will do this automatically once it[...]

    Read more

    Use AIDA to improve your selling process

    Every buyer moves through four simplified stages in order to reach a buying decision. If you can move the buyer along through each phase, your odds of success will skyrocket. If you miss one of the phases your sales process will come to a grinding halt. So, who (or what) is AIDA, and how come it is so important? I recently saw a very meaningful blog post: "CEOs hankering for sales results are [...]

    Read more

    Three ways to making marketing really work (Part 2)

    Strategic Marketing Planning = Breakthrough Marketing The whole idea behind planning is to make sure that you have all the information at your fingertips BEFORE making a decision. By doing that you improve your odds of creating marketing activities that will break through the clutter and the noise of competing messages. And one of the important things to realize is that competing messages is not [...]

    Read more

    Ratios in financial statements

    If a banker looks at the ratios in a set of financial statements to determine the health of a business, shouldn’t the management look at the same information? Management should be looking at ratios to determine operational issues as well as any issue that would affect the businesses’ credit standing. When reviewing your financial statements, regularly consider the critical ratios and the [...]

    Read more

    Three ways to making marketing really work (Part 1)

    A dairy company decided to run an exciting promotion that they hoped would increase sales dramatically. Inside some of their small milk cartons they placed a device that made a MOO sound when the carton was opened. If the consumer had that carton, they would be a winner. The promotion was going along just fine until one of the cartons was opened on an airplane and the "lucky winner" looked inside [...]

    Read more

    Preparing a business plan

    Have you ever considered the reason why almost all large businesses prepare a formal business plan and most small businesses do not? The small business owner is generally aware of the main benefits of a business plan but does not feel a need to prepare one because no one has asked for it! Also, they may not have thought of all the advantages of a business plan and assume that they are already [...]

    Read more

    Tactical risk management

    In last month's article "Risk Management", I wrote about the framework of risk management and some of the strategic issues when considering it. From my experience there are a numerous specific tactics that are often ignored, which are easy and inexpensive to implement. I hope you find some of these relevant for you to implement into your business. The most important strategy is to pause and [...]

    Read more

    Ten signs that you could do with strategic marketing advice

    There are hundreds of potential marketing advisors for a small business owner. From design agencies, PR specialists, telemarketers, SEO experts, social media bods, media planners, and on, and on. It's difficult to know who to talk, when and why. Here are ten signs that you could do with some proper strategic marketing input: You're not 100% sure where new business actually comes from - how do [...]

    Read more