When It Comes To Growing Your Business, Stick To Knitting
“To do two things at once is to do neither.” – Publilius Syrus (Moral Sayings, 1st century B.C.) In a recent article in Newsletter on Newsletters, marketing pro Betsy Morris identifies “nine ways to market your product line on a shoestring.” Some of her ideas include using feedback forms (comment…
READ MORECapitalism 101
“The cement in our whole democracy today is the worker who makes $15 an hour. He’s the guy who will buy a house and a car and a refrigerator. He’s the oil in the engine.” – Lee Iacocca (Iacocca: An Autobiography, 1984) I ate breakfast this morning at a greasy…
READ MOREDevelop Your Advertising Like A Blockbuster Movie
“Less is more.” – Ludwig Mies van der Rohe If you want to come up with breakthrough advertising ideas, it can help to practice a technique filmmakers use to develop blockbuster movies. The technique — which is applied to the movie’s essential idea — is called “high concept.” A movie…
READ MOREEach Customer Service Call Is A Sales Oppurtunity
“Common sense is as rare as genius.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson (Essays, 1844) Most business owners mentally divide their work in half. On the one side, they put sales and marketing. On the other side, fulfillment and customer service. Often, these activities are separated physically, with different managers and divergent…
READ MOREWhat’s More Important: Invention Or Imitation?
“We ought not to be over-anxious to encourage innovation in cases of doubtful improvement, for an old system must ever have two advantages over a new one; it is established, and it is understood.” – Charles Caleb Colton (Lacon, 1825) If you are lucky enough to work in a creative…
READ MOREHow Much Of Your Profits Should Go Into Your Pocket — And How Much Should Go Back Into Your Business
Sooner or later, you will run into the sticky problem of executive compensation: How much should a CEO/owner get paid? You might have to face this question if/when your business gets going. And you might face it if you invest in a business. Fortune Small Business magazine did a story…
READ MOREYou Can’t Run A Profitable Business By Making “Fun” A Priority
“The fly that prefers sweetness to a long life may drown in honey.” – George Santayana (Dialogues in Limbo, 1925) Inc Magazine says Doug Hall is “America’s top new-product idea man.” Hmm. I thought I was. One of Doug’s most popular “new ideas” — the basis for the book that…
READ MOREHow To Get Unstuck When A Big Job Stymies You
I hope you have considered what we talked about Monday the enormous impact price has in any market, in any business situation even in any personal situation. And I hope you figured out your life goals yesterday. Today we are going to talk about something just as important a…
READ MOREDirect Mail Will Work for Anybody
People sometimes say, “Jay, I’m not a retailer or a mail order company I don’t see how in the world I could possibly use direct mail.” To which I reply: “Nonsense-you can use it, and you should use it, because if you don’t think you can use it, then chances…
READ MOREThe Seven Mandatory Rules Of Advertising Design
DG frequently points out that when you are running a middle-to large-sized business, you often forget that the newer employees may not know many of the basic rules that make the business work. He puts it this way: “When its just you and a handful of trusted colleagues, everyone understands…
READ MOREWhy Do New Managers Fail?
According to a report I read somewhere, four out of 10 new managers fail in their first year. The primary reason, the report said, is that they are not able to build a good support system. That corresponds to my own experience. When you take over a new job, you…
READ MOREBecome a Marketing Genius By Asking Flattering Questions
“Mountains of gold would not seduce some men, yet flattery would break them down.” – Henry Ward Beecher (Proverbs From Plymouth Pulpit, 1887) There is a businessman I know, SP, who is considered by some to be occasionally bombastic, if not arrogant. And even from my braggadocian perspective, he sometimes…
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