Business Improvement

Ghost Competitors Are Out to Get Your Sales

February 28, 2014 By Jan Triplett Leave a Comment

Photo by Adam Kusmierz from flickr.com

Ghost competitors. They come out at night. They come out during the day. They come when you are awake. They come when you are asleep. They come when you are at work or at play. They are always there. Lurking.

There are four of them; like the four horsemen of the apocalypse. They ride down on you. You can’t fight them so you need to be vigilant and get out of the way. They seem harmless or well meaning. But, beware!

Who are they?

Your worst nightmares:

Government
Non-profit and tax exempts
DIYers
DNAAs [Read more…]

Repositioning Makes Old Products New Again

November 6, 2013 By Jan Triplett 2 Comments

Dogs have slept with humans for years. Now it’s used as a repositioning reality™ for Serta. Photo from Commons at flickr.com

Repositioning helps customers think of your product or service in a new way.

Sometimes it works. I grew up with $10 tennis shoes. Nike told younger generations they were “training tools” (with appropriate tool and endorsers names) not just shoes. Nike got it right and made big profits. [Read more…]

Wasting Time: Good & Bad for Business

November 1, 2013 By Jan Triplett Leave a Comment

A little time wasting goes a long way. Photo by Cleaver.

No business can afford to have employees waste time or effort. No manager can expect employees to be 100% efficient either. Some time wasting activities can actually be rejuvenators according to an article on finding a productivity sweetspot by NICE Systems. [Read more…]

Stakeholders Gone Wild

September 22, 2013 By Jan Triplett 1 Comment

Stakeholders can be useful to you but can go wild as well. Photo by cone_dnm

Stakeholders: can’t live without them and sometimes can’t live with them.

They are customers, providers, allies, employees, colleagues, the government, the media, competitors, influencers and many, many others. After reviewing a stakeholder map example that had 105 entries, I came up with at least 50 more. [Read more…]

Small Businesses New Favorite Target of Cyber Terrorism

September 17, 2013 By Jan Triplett Leave a Comment

Is bank robber Willie Sutton the inspiration of cyber criminals who are targeting small businesses?

If you thought only big business and infrastructure were at risk from cyber terrorism and cyber criminals, think again.

Small and medium-sized businesses are the new favorite targets of cyber criminals. This is according to Verizon’s 2011 Data Breach Investigations Report. That makes it something that affects every company of every size. It causes destruction and disruption and it has to be stopped. [Read more…]

Making Good on the Employer-Intern Pact

August 31, 2013 By Jan Triplett Leave a Comment

Help interns learn the difference between their time & work time.

An intern isn’t just an employee. He or she is a student exploring this world you’ve created, ready to learn.

Even though many companies treat them as cheap labor or a part-time worker, that’s not living up to the pact between an employer and an intern. That’s bad for both parties and can lead to big problems, bad feelings, and worse. [Read more…]

7 Golden Sales Rules for Small Business

June 3, 2011 By Jan Triplett Leave a Comment

GoLocal, a great rewards program, based in Austin, Texas, to encourage people to buy locally.

I have just finished a five-hour sales training session for Go Local an Austin, Texas company that is licensing its program nationwide to encourage people to support their locally owned businesses and buy locally. This is a great marketing tool for businesses and reward system for new and existing customers. Even though some of the licensees had sales experience, their questions and concerns prompted me to put together this list of sales concepts that I consider critical to success.

It starts with agreeing with the first “golden rule”. [Read more…]

Best Pricing Practices: 3 Right & 3 Wrong Ways to Price

January 12, 2011 By Jan Triplett 4 Comments

Price right & reap your reward. Cartoon by Roger Stewart, Porthole Productions.

I have proposed a topic, “Best Practices in Pricing”, for ProductCamp Austin. If you’ve never been or ever heard of it, it’s a great day of free business information for product managers, business owners, and those thinking of starting a business. Attendees select the topics the day of the event so they get to hear what they are most interested in that day.

Although the session has sold out, there is a waiting list. I encourage you to get on it. For more information on Austin Product Camp, go to http://productcampaustin.org. For information on my session on Pricing and the 39 other great sessions, go to http://bit.ly/e6chc0. [Read more…]

Why Lefties Make Better Salespeople

January 10, 2011 By Jan Triplett 4 Comments

Left-handers rule!

My brother gave me a copy of A Left-Handed History of the World by Ed Wright for Christmas. As my husband, Daniel, said, that’s much better than a previous gift of 101 Uses for a Dead Cat by Simon Bond. Others found it amusing, as a cat lover, I did not.

I am left-handed. It was interesting to read about other prominent lefties. Some of my favorites include: Queen Victoria, Charlie Chaplin, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Madame Curie, Henry Ford, Ramses the Great, and Joan of Arc. Several US presidents (Reagan, Ford, George W. Bush, and Clinton) were on the left – when it comes to hands at least. [Read more…]

Scary Business

November 5, 2010 By Jan Triplett 1 Comment

I was just interviewed by Patricia Rogers of the Austin Business Journal . Ms. Rogers is the List Director for ABJ, writes the Growth Strategies and does some wonderful profiles. She asked me a lot of good questions and I learned something about her. She’s from Houston, we share a love of animals especially horses, and, luckily for Austin, she didn’t follow the advice of her uncle to stay out of journalism (he was a journalist in Houston).

What’s your scariest business moment. Mine? No one would show for a seminar I was giving. Photo from Flickr by Aunt Owwee

One question she didn’t ask was about a scary moment in business. Mine was scary and the most fun. Last March I did a program for SXSW “Networking for Introverts”. Why was I concerned? What if no one showed up? That didn’t happen. As a matter of fact the room was full to overflowing.

I wondered if they would participate. Not good for a speaker when everyone is silent. No worries here either. I found that if you give an introvert an opportunity to talk, they’ll take it. They came up with good comments and questions. It was a blast that I wish I could repeat. [Read more…]