Business owners: challenge yourselves on a quarterly basis
Aren’t you glad you’re not public? If you were, you would likely be thinking about your second quarter earnings release. I spent a decade working for a public company over a 24-month period about ten...
View ArticleHow to Price Your New Product or Service
Do you like pricing new product or service offerings? For many of us, it’s a stressful decision. Too high and customers won’t want the new offering. Too low and we feel as though we’ve cheated...
View ArticleWinterizing Your Business
Football season starts next week in Columbus. The election is 11 weeks away. There are fewer than 20 shopping weeks until Christmas. And the tax cliff is four months away. Chances are you need to start...
View ArticleAchieving the Flow State
Businesses have a flow state just like people do. In 1990, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi wrote his seminal book on the flow state of mind in which time seems to fly and our minds operate at optimal...
View ArticleMaking Customer Satisfaction Pay
“Why should I take the time to survey my customers when they complain for free?” This is a familiar refrain from owners who are struggling to make ends meet. Interestingly, we do not hear this much...
View ArticleTaking Stock
It’s November. With about a month-and-a-half left of 2012, let’s take stock of the year. Many of my clients, but by no means all, are saying it was better than expected. It was probably a year of...
View ArticleHow much is enough?
Fifteen percent. That’s enough. Well, that’s enough if you don’t start really questioning the challenging issues. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start with this simple question: How much...
View ArticleIf the business is getting stronger, why am I having to work so much harder?
It’s not uncommon to have a conversation with an owner that goes something like the following. Q: So how’s business? A: It’s going well. We’re growing and making some money. Q: So life must be pretty...
View ArticleCustomers are like livestock
Early in my career, I created the customer support department for a software development firm that created hardware and software systems. The running joke with the engineers was that computers were...
View ArticleTax Headwinds: How to Protect Your Business Investment
I’m sure you’ve heard about one of the many new programs out this year, like the Affordable Care Act. If you’re like most of us, you don’t know what they mean yet. Well, let me rephrase that. You know...
View ArticleWhat Place, Happiness?
Having written this feature for a year now, I thought I would reflect on a topic that may not be top of mind for business value improvement: happiness. What impact does happiness have on a business?...
View ArticleHow To Be Your Own Sales Consultant
Since we offer a full spectrum of “commercial excellence” consulting services, we wind up helping clients determine what kind of pricing opportunity they have and then we wind up assisting them to...
View Article3 Ways to Price a Product or Service
Do you like pricing new product or service offerings? For many of us, it’s a stressful decision. Too high of a price and customers won’t want the new offering. Too low and we feel as though we’ve...
View ArticleGrow Your Business by Challenging Yourself
Aren’t you glad you’re not public? If you were, you would likely be stressing about your quarterly earnings release instead of thinking about how to grow your business. I spent a decade working for a...
View ArticleAchieving the Cash Flow State With Your Business
Businesses have a flow state (cash flow, that is) just like people do. In 1990, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi wrote his seminal book on the flow state of mind in which time seems to fly and our minds operate...
View ArticleHow to Keep Clients Satisfied With Good Customer Service
One thing that top firms have learned is that clients are the most powerful sources of new sales, innovation and continuous improvement ideas, and good customer service is the key to keeping them...
View ArticleWinterizing Your Business: Financial Planning During the Cold Months
Winter is coming. It might be time to start thinking about some fourth quarter financial planning prep activities in your business. The billion dollar boys and girls are already planning their budgets,...
View ArticleHow to Protect Your Business Investments
I’m sure you’ve heard about one of the many new tax programs out this year. If you’re like most of us, you don’t know what they mean yet for your business investments. If you’re worried that they could...
View ArticleHow to Avoid Startup Burnout
It’s not uncommon to have a conversation with an entrepreneurial business owner about the topic of “startup burnout” that goes something like the following: Q: So how’s business? A: It’s going well....
View Article3 Ways to Price a Product or Service
Do you like pricing new product or service offerings? For many of us, it’s a stressful decision. Too high of a price and customers won’t want the new offering. Too low and we feel as though we’ve...
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