Here are our suggestions to help you change your fortunes
I’m one of the worst people you can have buying you gifts. I tend to be one of those guys who shop on Men’s Day at the mall, which is more generally referred to as Christmas Eve. When I was in retail, I would be tired after weeks of selling others gifts and helping them…
No one just buys stuff. You need a concrete sales model based on what the product does, what its advantages are and the values it brings to the marketplace
My first sales experience was in high school, selling chocolate bars door to door as a fundraiser for a school club. Not much interested in the club but interested in the prizes for top sellers, I hit the pavement. Each day after school, I knocked on doors and sold chocolates to starving mothers and their…
To be successful, you need to determine what causes your fear and figure out whether that fear is holding you back or pushing you forward
The day I got married was the scariest day of my life. I walked up to the altar shaking like a leaf. At 31, I would have thought I was too old to be afraid of getting married. But I was afraid. Each month, I talk to a business owner who expresses their fears to…
It was all fun and games, with a class of kids having an outdoor adventure while playing a game of trust when the accident happened. The game involved one child leading the other, who was blindfolded, around the campground, letting the blindfolded one try to figure out what they were encountering while avoiding danger. Unfortunately,…
Setting a pricing policy and regularly reviewing those prices and strategies allows you to price for profit and success
Have you ever bought something and thought that there’s something not right about the price? Maybe it seemed too cheap or you felt you were getting ripped off. Pricing is tricky and a stressor for many business people. Are we too high and scaring away customers? Our competitors are priced lower than us, should we…
Taking a breath allows us to be more resilient when chaos looms
The circle on the screen kept spinning. I stared, slowly feeling my heart rate rise as my mind raced with anxious thoughts: “How do I undo this update? What if I’ve been hacked? I’m not a tech genius!” With deadlines looming in the morning, 9:30 p.m. was not the time for my laptop to stop…
Puppies have been at a premium since the start of COVID-19. This has driven the prices for dogs way up, yet there’s a whole new breed of dog owners and dog parks are filled with young pups. COVID-19 has changed the business landscape as well. We’ve had to adapt our traditional business models or fail.…
Some people are extraordinary salespeople. But it's not because they have an innate knack
How many times have you heard someone say, "He's a born salesman"? Or, "She has a gift for sales"? Unquestionably, some people are extraordinary salespeople. But it's not because they have an innate knack, or because there is a genetic component behind the skill. It's simply because they worked hard at honing their skill. At…
It’s all about making a connection with your customers and building a relationship by giving them what they need in that moment
I recently gave a customer service session to the employees of a store called Great White Toys. Having seen in the news that Toys ‘R’ Us has filed for bankruptcy protection and that many other retailers are also in trouble as a result of online competition, I was surprised to hear from store owner Cameron…
Map out your strategy, use a scheduling platform to post content and build an ideal customer avatar
Most business people I meet stall out with their social media efforts about six months in if they haven’t seen the results they were hoping for. It feels like you’re posting to no one and it’s not working. You don’t have as much engagement as you had hoped and now you wonder if you should…