Business Success Center

Proven programs that grow great businesses for great people who care.

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The Right Stuff: Success Traits That Encourage Funding & Sales

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Do you have the right stuff to attract money, customers, and employees? It’s more than just having a good product or service. It’s about who you are and how you think.

Take this little 50 question self assessment and see.

Business Owner’s Success Traits Assessment

Don’t second guess yourself. Choose the answer that you most agree with.

The questions are based on the traits we have found are invaluable to building a successful business along with thoughts of experts E.M. Prince, author of 3 Financial Styles of Highly Successful Leaders, and Bernstein and Rozen, authors of Neanderthals at Work.

This is not meant to be statistically significant, just to get you thinking about your style of small business management from the 40,000 foot view.

Prospects will buy if they complete the 7-Step Buy- In Continuum™

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The hard road to success

The buy-in continuum™ is a hard road for any prospect — especially business prospects who have a lot to think about besides what you sell.

Before anyone buys anything, they have to complete their own buying or Buy-In Continuum™, process. This is true whether they are from the government, a non-profit, a consumer, or another business. From your point of view, you want them to accomplish this process and in a specific order. If they do, your sales cycle will shorten. It will result in a win-win for you both or you will be able to cull them as a prospect with a clear conscience that this was NOT the sale for you. [Read more…]

Stakeholders Gone Wild

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

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…]

What’s the best customer attitude & point of view for your business success?

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Your road to success

Use the right customer attitude and point of view to stay on the right road to success.
Image by maxmihal from IStock Photo.

Your customer’s attitude is your guide to how you sell and how you market. It also helps you make decisions about adding to or changing the services and products you offer. Attitude is not all about a customer’s wants, desires or needs. It is about their point of view (POV)— at least as it relates to what you have to offer them. The good news is you can choose what is the best customer attitude and POV for your business success from three options. Then you can focus on attracting customers who have the right attitude match. This will make your business a lot better for everyone.

[Read more…]

Inspiring 5-Star Holiday Business-Related Films

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You can be entertained and inspired at the same time this holiday season or any time of the year with these business-related films. What a combination.

Even your family and friends will enjoy them.

So will your employees. You might want to have a movie party or film festival  instead of what you usually do to celebrate the season.

Some of these holiday films are old and some are new but they have one thing in common: they will leave you with ideas, a smile and maybe a happy tear or two. Best of all none of these are snarky. The people really care about each other, instead of trying to rip each other apart or outdo each other. These are all 5-star!

1. Holiday (1938) is all about vision and sticking to your guns. Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn show that money doesn’t mean everything and that being true to your vision — even if it’s unorthodox.  We know, and the characters know, that making your vision come true can be painful but rmore rewarding than following the herd and what is expected.

2. Miracle on 34th Street (1947 Maureen O’Hara & John Payne) is what good customer service should be all about — giving people the opportunity to buy if it’s the right choice for them. It’s about believing in yourself when others don’t. Yes, I believe in Santa Claus (or at least what he stands for.)

3. Desk Set (1957 Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn) is a tale of  trade secrets and technology that can backfire good intentions. It demonstrates the need to recognize the employee grapevine we all have — even if we only have one employee. Every well-meaning owner should watch it if they are planning major changes to their business. And, remember what they learned!

4. We’re No Angels (1955) Humphrey Bogart, Aldo Ray, and Peter Ustinov become temporary employees and use unusual methods to help out a well-meaning business man. Think about what your employees do for you and be thankful.

5. Other People’s Money (1991) Danny De Vito and Gregory Peck point out the good and bad of corporate takeovers. Darker than the rest of the films listed and not holiday-driven, it is highly relevant today as current businesses struggle with the issue of what is good for employees and what is good for shareholders who are also employees. It’s a thinking movie that lends itself to discussions between employees and management and even other stakeholders.

6. The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017 Dan Stevens & Christopher Plummer) is not just about creatives like Charles Dickens. Most owners go through business blockages from time to time and live with businesses that always don’t cooperate. They can be messy and inefficient. Downright unprofitable and scary. When you go back to your roots and use the resources that you are exposed to, great things can happen.

We hope you will add to the list and watch some of these treasures. Be sure to share them with others.

Bosses Who Blab Can Kill Their Business

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Do you know a boss who talks too much? Artwork by Matt Devicious.

Do you know a boss who talks too much? Artwork by Matt Devicious.

Bosses who talk too much or blab can hurt their businesses more than any cyber security leak ever could. The results can be disruptive enough to kill sales, drive away staff, prevent being granted a patent, or potentially kill the company.

They can also be harder to stop because frequently the boss doesn’t realize they’re doing it.

Big Mouth Examples

Here are eight of the worst blabbermouths and what happened (or could have happened) to their businesses. See if you recognize these or maybe you are guilty yourself.

• Sharing Secrets

The food manufacturer responded to a simple question from someone she just met by revealing her secret way to solve a major production problem. She was too proud of what the company had done to keep quiet about it. Good product but the idea of protecting trade secrets was foreign to her. [Read more…]

Measure Sales Value 4 Ways

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CEO Jan Triplett talks to owners about sales value.

There are good, better and best sales. You may have thought all sales are equal.They’re not if you are trying to build a successful business that is sustainable, profitable and transferable.

 Focus on Sales Value

Sales people (even if it’s the owner) need to concentrate on finding and getting sales that add the most value to the business. This requires a sales process that doesn’t just look at the dollars coming in from this sale.  It also can’t include only the costs — money going out, time to get and manage the sale, profit level, and any “hassle” factors.

4 Ways to Measure Sales Value

The value of each sale must also be measured by:

  1. Its ability to add to the reputation of the business and the product or service
  2. How it affects company image,
  3. Its ability to attract customers of the same or higher value to the business,
  4. How well it supports brand and company positioning.

Sales commission, bonus, and career advancement should be based on the salesperson’s ability to bring in good sales and to prevent spending time and effort on bad sales.

Use Sales Value to Prioritize

I have seen it written that 50% of all sales leads are not followed up. That sounds bad. What I don’t know, because they don’t say, is how many weren’t followed up on purpose. Maybe they were right!

Choose sales opportunities at your own risk. Choose wisely and succeed. Choose poorly and there are long term consequences.

Use Sales Value to Allocate Resources

Don’t go after every sale equally. Evaluate and prioritize those new leads, upselling opportunities, or repeat sales in terms of those with the highest value.

Also, make sure your sales process gives you and your salespeople a way to quickly identify bad sales opportunities that should not be pursued or only under restricted circumstances.

The less the sales value, the more likely it’s a bad deal or at least should not be given the same time, effort and resources.

In  the end, it’s the quality of each sale, not the quantity of sales that matter.

Here’s to your success!

Moving Thanksgiving

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Screen Shot 2014-10-30 at 10.35.39 PMI love Thanksgiving but it’s got to go. Growing up, it was my favorite time of year —  even better than Christmas because it was all about friends.  My mother would invite the family but also anyone who was alone and had been granted titles of “uncle” or “aunt”. We dressed up ourselves, the table and the house. There were special dishes I got to make at first with her, then by myself. Conversation was the order of the day and sharing and being thankful for what we have. How wonderful!

I want that BACK! With all the troubles, hate, and anger in the world, I think we need to take time for Thanksgiving for sanity’s sake if nothing else.

Thanksgiving Has Had Options Before

It wasn’t President Abraham Lincoln’s fault. How could he know when he established the 4th Thursday in November in 1863 as  Thanksgiving Day and a federal holiday, that we would make All Hallows’ Eve (Halloween) as big as Christmas with lights, costumes and parties, etc. and the day after, Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year? He was just following in George Washington’s footsteps. Washington was the one who encouraged a national celebration of thanks in 1789. Then, of course there were those pilgrims who regularly celebrated thanksgivings (not just the three-day feast in 1621).

My solution suggested by my friend Anne: let’s move Thanksgiving to a different date. If we do something about it now, there is a full year to get organized.

Potential Consequences of Moving Thanksgiving

Here’s why: time is too short and precious. Do you celebrate Christmas (25th), Hanukkah (starts the 6th), Kwanzaa (starts the 26th), Mawlid un Nabil (23rd)  Boxing Day (26th), Winter Solstice (22nd), or other holidays in December? I think there’s not enough time between Thanksgiving, any of the above, and the end of the year. Let’s enjoy Thanksgiving by moving the date; not rush through it to get to some other event.

Moving it may cause retailers some angst or they may rejoice because they can legitimately merchandise and advertise for Christmas. They wouldn’d have to deal with “Nay Sayers” like me who wonder what happened to Thanksgiving. The schools will have to keep kids in class and parents won’t have a couple of days off to shop but they will survive. Football fans can still have their Thanksgiving games, but they will be just Thursday games. Travel should be safer if we don’t have to cram it all in so close together.

Life-Work Choices Owners Make at Thanksgiving

If you’re a business owner, it’s even worse. You have to get ready for everything that’s due this quarter or has to be closed out before or by the end of the year. Do you find yourself agonizing over what to do? What do you do?

  • Get work done for pay or get work done to keep connected to friends and family? Shopping, decorating, and card writing is work, too.
  • Focus on fun, family and friends, giving donations of time or money or both to causes you support or be professional and concentrate on end of the year business stuff – closing out the books, preparing for next year, making final sales quotas, finishing projects or reports?

What do you say? Would you vote to move Thanksgiving? Let’s do something so we won’t  start the new year exhausted, stressed, or burned out.

One Thanksgiving Recommendation You Can Implement Anytime

Look at your city and state. do you know not just its history but those who have made it so special? The Institute of Texan Cultures in San Antonio Texas reminds us to be thankful to all 26 cultures that came before and are still here and vibrant. If you live in Texas, spend a day or two there. If you live elsewhere visit it or visit your own thanksgiving sites and be grateful.

Photo courtesy of ryanjunell.

My Web Presence – Blog, Twitter, Facebook, Google+

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social-media-423857_1280For the past few years, it has been my custom to create what I call a “web presence.” I would write a post on my website, use http://bit.ly to create a short URL back to that post, use http://twitter.com/xplorenewmedia to notify followers of that post, use the same text with perhaps a few extra descriptive words and post to http://facebook.com/exploringnewmedia.

My “web presence” has not been very productive in terms of getting people to comment on my blog post. I am using a service called Feejit to tell me about each visitor to http://exploringnewmedia.com. You can see how it works if you visit the site and check out the sidebar for “Who’s Looking at Me Now?” The last 10 visitors’ locations are shown. None of those visitors commented.

About a month ago, I became more interested in Google+ as yet another social media platform and I’ve been very excited with it. I’ve been using Facebook primarily to see pictures and comments posted by the parents of my 3-year old grandson. I’m not sure why I’ve continued to tweet. But with Google+, I’ve selectively added people that I want to follow based on their posts and how interesting they appear on their profile pages.

I won’t try to compare Google+ with Facebook or Twitter and I won’t forsake them. I will add Google+ to my social media toolbox as an addition to my web presence.

I’m taking a course on Google+ from PlusYourBusiness. I’m midway through it and will wait until I’m finished before describing what I’ve learned.

Do you have a web presence? How do you use social media? What more would you like to know about Google+ that you can’t or don’t want to Google to find out? Think about that last sentence.

Make Time for Writing

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startup-593322_1280As business people, we need to have good writing skills. One of those skills is the willingness to sit down and write: reports, business plans, requests for proposals, office procedures, emails, tweets, etc.

Scheduling your writing may be difficult. You get to the office and the phone is ringing. UPS is making delivery. Your Internet connection is acting up. Lots of things are vying for your attention.

Try this. Get up a little earlier each morning and free write. Set a goal for yourself and write until you meet it. My goal is 750+ words a day. First thing. Every day. In my home office or at the dining table. Write, write, write. This is a good way to clear your mind as well as to bring important to do items to the forefront of your mind.

I started writing this way in September 2013 and since then I’ve written over 600,000 words which I have posted at 750words.com.

I start my writing by talking about my scheduled appointments for the day and anything of interested associated with them. Then I write about what I’d like to do if I have time. Then I write about anything else that comes to mind as I’m doing this. Usually in 20-30 minutes, I’ve surpassed my goal.

Take a look at today’s post on my Exploring New Media website for more details.

Did you make time to write today?