Picture this: you’re at your job, working on a typical day’s work. Your boss comes over and says that something major has happened, and the company needs you to take on an extra task. What do you say? There isn’t much opportunity for you to say no – in a very real sense, your job is to simply do what your boss says. Neither is there much opportunity to negotiate...
For all of our American friends, let me start off by saying a belated happy Thanksgiving to you all! Thanksgiving being yesterday means today is one of the most important days for retailers in the US (and now in Canada), Black Friday. Traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year in the US, today is the day on which many businesses turn so much of a profit, that in a...
Ever wondered why big budget blockbuster films always seem to come out in the summer or winter, while horror films are generally autumn fare? Why entertainment media in general tends to release in the holiday window, or in the three months directly following? The reason for this is simple. The various companies responsible for their release have tracked when they do well and when they don't, and adjusted their release...
Everybody loves doing a good deed. I don't think any of you out there can think of a single time where you did something for someone for altruistic reasons and didn't feel great about it after. Well what if I told you that altruism could also help your business? As we talked about earlier this week with cross-promotions, a little bit of a partnership can actually end up being a...
They say two heads are better than one, and in most cases this is true. In the world of business, it can be especially true. Marketing can be a tricky business, especially in today's world. You need a big, creative hook. Something that will draw people in, and then most importantly, keep them coming back for more. So you've got a solid marketing campaign, and you're doing alright for yourself,...
Crisis management is a topic that has come up in several forms on my blog before. We've talked about using great customer service to avert disaster, how to properly deal with debtors, building rainy-day funds, and even creating time buffers. All of these are important skills to have should a crisis arise. But there are always more skills to learn on this subject, which is why we're discussing it again....
So you've been in negotiations with a prospective client for some time (and hopefully been making use of the advice I gave here and here), and you're just about to put signature to contract and seal the deal. Now comes the hardest part. If any of you have ever worked in telesales (which is an absolutely dreadful job, if you're currently in this industry I highly suggest reading the rest...
There comes a time in any business, where circumstances will arise that will warrant you making a change to what you're charging your clients. A pricing change is a fairly common occurrence in any business. Just look at McDonald's and their "dollar" menu (which is in many places actually over a dollar), or the recent trend in "everything for a dollar" stores suddenly charging prices that are definitely not a dollar....
We've talked before about the need to build your company out so that you're doing more earning, and less working. One of the most important factors to consider when choosing a business venture that will quickly get you where you want to be is the notion of scalability. Originally an electronics term, scalability is the capacity of a system to handle increased traffic - to "scale up," so to speak. It's...
Every second of every day, the world around us is changing at what can only be described as an alarming rate. In the world of technology, for example, the common household items of today were the stuff of science fiction only a decade or two ago. Don't believe me? Look at the prevalence of touchscreen interfaces, tablet computers, and smartphones. Now go watch a few episodes of Star Trek: The...