I spoke with Mikaela Hunt of the Columbus Chamber of Commerce on the #CBUZZ podcast about how many online marketing tools are designed to coerce customers into clicking and buying. The problem is businesses must continue to crank the volume for those tools to work. Here’s an example using LinkedIn on how to make sales… Continue reading
Some people know better than others that maintaining authentic, human relationships can be critical to the success of a business. Frank Agin is one of those people. He invited me to his Networking Rx podcast where we shared some networking dos and don’ts and explored the often-underestimated value of people we already know. For the… Continue reading
When I was younger, I dreamed of being Douglas Adams, writer of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. He is one of the most innovative and entertaining storytellers I’ve ever read and I relished his sense of humor. One of my all-time favorite Adams lines was from his 1992 book Mostly Harmless. It was the… Continue reading
In my previous article, I talked about how the many organic variables involved in playing golf make it a lot like trying to navigate business relationships. The article struck a chord with many readers and I heard from several avid golfers who suggested more ways in which the two are similar. So it’s time for… Continue reading
With the warm weather of summer, a lot of business owners find time (or would love to find time) to hit the golf course. Golf season always reminds me of a great analogy I heard from Frank Agin, owner of the business networking company AmSpirit. Frank explains that building and nurturing business relationships is a… Continue reading
In a conversation with Christopher Cumby and Allan Wich, the hosts of Think Bold, Be Bold, I reveal the “Emperor has no clothes” moment that sparked the genesis of the Clicksand concept. It was this tipping point that evolved into a campaign to help business owners escape from Clicksand and have the confidence to stand… Continue reading
One of the assumptions I hear from business owners every day is that individual business relationships are old-fashioned and outdated…a romantic notion left over from the pre-digital era. The feeling is that A) today it’s all about getting noticed and positioning yourself with the best keywords, and B) this trend will only grow in the… Continue reading
The problem with selling to companies? Companies don’t buy anything; people do. The founder of The Sales Evangelist, Donald Kelly, and I talk about how common it is for businesses to forget that a person who bought from them at Company A might move to Company B and could potentially buy from them again in… Continue reading
I’m sure you can tell from your in-box that one of the latest tricks marketing pitchmen are convincing business owners to use is the “faux personal” email. As more and more people see the online marketing pitchmen for what they really are, the wolves are attempting to hide by putting on sheep’s clothing. The “faux… Continue reading
I continually run into companies that are tool-driven rather than customer-inspired. They’re so enamored with the idea of the latest social or marketing gimmick, that they change their business to fit that tool. Geoff Nicholson and I talk about how online tools can get in the way of building an online empire. Here’s a preview:… Continue reading