The challenge facing business owners and CEO today isn’t a lack of data to help with key decision-making processes. Instead, it seems virtually impossible to sort through mountains of information in order to find the threads that pertain to business operations,...

Forming and leading teams of employees can significantly boost productivity in the workplace. The key to making this work is accountability. Every member of the team must be held accountable for their role and engage fully in the project or initiative underway. When...

Regular team meetings with employees are needed to ensure that everyone is on the same page and to involve them with setting company goals. Here is a suggested agenda to go through during the meeting to help employees see the big picture and feel empowered to achieve...

The business landscape has changed significantly since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. More changes are undoubtedly coming, with one in particular certain to affect retail businesses in a big way. Social distancing—defined by the Centers for Disease Control and...

As business owners, we’ve been waiting to receive the much anticipated “green light” to go back to work. As this day inches closer, you’ll need to devise a plan that addresses how your business will function post-pandemic. Many of you made changes due to COVID-19,...

All businesses strive to acquire as many new customers as possible, but is enough effort being made to retain customers already on board? Remember, there’s a significant distinction in costs between finding new customers, as opposed to holding onto the ones you...

Over the last year, I have interviewed over 100 salespeople on behalf of our clients.  I asked every one of them at the onset to describe their sales approach or methodology. In over 85% of cases, the candidate replied with some form of “I am...

Every business has a target audience—a specific grouping of individuals who will respond most enthusiastically to its marketing message. This grouping encompasses both existing and prospective customers who share certain fundamental traits and behaviours. In the...

One of the main reasons why many businesses fail is due to a lack of scaling. It's not enough to just have a good idea and an excellent marketing strategy. To remain competitive, you need to find new and innovative ways to capture a bigger slice of your market and to...

In this digital world, it is perhaps more relevant today that business owners provide a prompt and “unemotionally charged” response to negative customer feedback. Customer feedback is important. It can help bring attention to areas of your business that you may not...

There is a famous Peter Drucker quote that says that "culture eats strategy for breakfast". This implies that the culture of your company always determines success regardless of how effective your strategy may be. When he said that culture eats strategy for breakfast,...

A CEO or business owner wears many hats, from “chief inspiration officer” to overseeing complex operations and development of new growth strategies. Not least among his or her primary responsibilities, however, is ensuring that the team responsible for selling the...

Assembling a high-performing sales team is challenging enough, but that’s just the start of any focused sales effort. With quality salespeople in place, the next task is determining how best to motivate and recognise the hard work they do on your company’s behalf....

Success in sales remains an elusive goal for many companies, partly because the sales process can’t be configured or engineered in a way that guarantees to close a deal with every prospect. Too many variables are involved. However, building a success-oriented sales...

Your Unique Selling Proposition Before you can successfully sell your product or service to someone else, you have to sell yourself on it. This is especially true when you have lots of competition and the need to distinguish yourself. A unique selling proposition...

There's Gold in These Twitter Tactics for Sales For business-to-business connections, LinkedIn is your best channel.  But when your InMails are credited back with no new connections or messages to speak of, it's time to try other avenues. Head back to that prospect...

Marketing need not be a mystery or expensive. For many business owners who are tightening their belts and reducing expenses, marketing expenditures are often the first to get trimmed. The truth is, marketing should always be a constant, no matter the economic...

According to Invesp, it can cost five times more to acquire a new customer than to keep an existing one. Many businesses spend most of their marketing dollars on finding new customers instead of nurturing the ones they already have. It is like filling a bucket with a...

As we touched on in our last post, the fourth industrial revolution is upon us. As a leader in your organisation and your industry, it’s vital that you take an active role in guiding your company through the changes ahead. To stay ahead in rapidly changing times, you...

As a business advisor, I have the privilege of working with leaders across a wide range of industries. Every CEO has their own unique leadership style and often the most successful leaders employ a variety of styles to help motivate and get things done. Understanding...

To stay ahead, we can’t go back to the way things were. The steam engine, assembly lines and the invention of personal computing each revolutionised the way industry operates. Now, we’re approaching a fourth industrial revolution. Rapid, system-wide innovations are...

Recently I saw a sixth grader’s social studies project on the Mayan civilisation. The student made the entire project by hand – nothing was store-bought. It showed what life may have been like around 2600 BC. There were snowcapped mountains, replicas of the distinct...

Great office culture is critical for a thriving, scalable, and sustainable organisation. In my years of working with CEOs on shaping their office culture, I’ve identified a few key traits that are important across the board. Actually, these few items make for a really...

How often are you asked, “what do you do?” Probably all the time – at networking events, social outings/parties, possibly when working to acquire new customers, etc. For me, this is a hard question. Why? First, I am naturally shy and introverted (although almost...

Business leaders of any size company all benefit from practical business tips and advice from other business owners, CEOs, and leaders just like them. That is why TAB members and business coaches submit business tips to help create our Tips from the Top newsletter....

In recent years there’s been an explosion in the growth of remote workers in the business world. According to the job site Flexjobs, the use of remote employees has grown more than 40 percent in the past five years, and an astonishing 91 percent over the past 10...

The American workforce is changing the nature of “work” as we once knew it. The days when employees absolutely had to work at a desk, in an office, are long gone. While many businesses still insist on keeping their workforce on-site, more than 30 percent of Americans...