Are You Selling Vitamins or Aspirin?
We all know that we need certain vitamins to be healthy. Aspirin, on the other hand, takes away our pain. The famous brother duo of Dan and Chip Heath of Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard fame write a great piece is this month’s Fast Company about felt need. If a nutshell, if you are selling an idea,…
Read MoreMix of Business and Pleasure is Music to Your Ears
Last night I hosted an intimate and communal experience at my house. Almost 20 people partook and everyone seemed to have a fantastic time. Before you go too far in imagining what I am describing, let me stop you in your tracks. The event last night was a house concert and the artist was Nova Scotia singer/ songwriter Ian Sherwood.…
Read MoreAre You (Your business) Heading Toward Greatness or Doom?
Good to great transformations don’t happen in one fell swoop says Jim Collins. Collins uses the concept of a fly wheel (a massive metal disk mounted horizonally on its axle, 30 feet in diameter and 5000 lbs). The first pushes to turn the wheel take a lot of energy and the wheel inches forward. Add lots more energy and many…
Read MoreA Sales System to Find a True Fan, Or Many
One of my friends is dating online. Currently, she’s despondent, confused and depressed. The way I see it, online dating is like managing a sales system. You pour a bunch of suspects into the top of your funnel and take steps to weed out all but qualified leads. You talk to/ meet with the most compelling of them and through…
Read MoreAre You Digitally Disasterous or Digitally Distinct?
I am somewhere in the middle: digitally dabbling. This is according to the results of this Online Identity Calculator I used earlier today to assess my online identity. This article by Meg Guiseppi, CPBS, MRW, CPRW of Executive Career Brand (as posted on www.workbabble.com) tells you why you too should find out how you rate, and do it regularly. And while Meg focusses on executives, when you are a business…
Read MoreBusiness Experiments in the Test Kitchen of Life
I am just back from a weekend in Toronto with my dear friend and business partner Tanya (hereto forward known as Tanya with no preamble about how we are both best friends and business partners!). The working weekend was set up about a week ago when we recognized that some face time was our answer to busting through the Seth Godin style…
Read More"Ship, then test!" says Guy Kawasaki
Last night I was invited to Challenge Your World as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week (thank you, Martin Lessard!). Guy Kawasaki was spectacular as the keynote speaker. For the most part, Guy’s top 10 tips for entrepreneurs make a ton of sense. There are only a couple I dispute. My comments are in italics. Build what YOU want to use– in other…
Read MoreThe key question to determine customer loyalty
About five years ago, George Thompson, President of Headcan Health Education Media, gave me a reprint of a Harvard Business Review (HBR) article that he was exuberant about. We were focussing on client satisfaction and the article—The One Number You Need to Grow— cut right to the chase (you will have to pay Harvard Business Review if you want to…
Read MoreFrom Red Velvet Cake to Red Velvet Ropes
Yesterday’s topic was company values (see The Value of Red Velvet Cake). Today I am on to the value of having a red velvet rope to keep non-ideal clients out! Yes. You heard right. The idea belongs to Michael Port, business coach, and author of the widely read Book Yourself Solid. Port conjures up the velvet rope you may encounter when…
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