No matter how successful you already are, owning a business is challenging To run a successful company, business owners and entrepreneurs have to deal with a wide range of challenges, and it can get lonely. Family, friends, and colleagues aren’t the best sounding...

Let’s assume your company employs one or more salespeople who are responsible for generating leads and closing deals. As talented as these sales professionals might be, some “blind spots” in sales always seem to crop up. It’s up to you and your team to beware of...

Any hard-working salesperson can tell you closing a sale is their ultimate goal. Short-term sale strategies emphasise the value of a clean, efficient transaction with a customer, particularly those that come to a successful (and profitable) conclusion. But since...

Sometimes even the most slam-dunk deals hit a roadblock, leaving the salesperson or business owner grappling with just how to move the transaction to a successful close. A deal that seems lost in purgatory can be hard on even the most seasoned sales professionals. The...

If, like many businesses these days, you employ a cadre of remote workers, it’s imperative to do all you can to support their offsite efforts. That means providing the best technology available so they can achieve maximum output and productivity. For example, tools...

A drawn-out sales process can be the downfall of an otherwise healthy business - or at the very least, a huge drain on efficiency and profitability. Slow sales cycles are more expensive than their streamlined counterparts and profoundly impact the cash flow and...

Terminating an employee is never fun. Even for the most polished and seasoned business owner, the process of letting someone go is almost universally stressful, unpleasant and emotionally challenging. Nobody wants to be the bearer of bad news or the person that...

In many companies, managers and other leaders assign goals to employees, then sit back and wait for results. This passive approach sometimes ends up with missed deadlines, incomplete work on projects, and a generalised disappointment in the employee’s lack of...

There are many principles for running a strong, thriving business. Key among these guidelines is this: What can be measured should be measured. The data compiled for key business metrics can, as we have said before, “say a lot about what you’re doing...

Collaboration. It seems like such an easy concept to grasp and embrace, particularly as it pertains to the teamwork required to run and grow a successful company. But then why do so many so many business owners, leadership teams and organisations struggle to foster a...

Employee development is generally aimed at improving a person’s skill at their job or expanding their range of responsibilities. Sometimes, the most promising employees are groomed for future leadership roles. But a case can be made that, in order to advance the...

Getting honest input from employees on workplace culture and conditions can be a valuable practice. But time and again, companies sending out employee surveys are frustrated by a mediocre response rate—and stymied as to what actions they should take on their...

The multi-generational workforce has truly arrived, with four generations potentially working side by side in a variety of sectors and industries. Workers over age 55 are set to become 25 percent of the workforce by 2024, which is a large jump from 12 percent in...

The effective onboarding of new employees is clearly a benefit to businesses, but some companies persist in “winging it” whenever a new hire joins the team. As we have noted before, businesses that lack a proper onboarding system in place “fail to understand the link...

Employee morale has a massive impact on the overall success of your business. When employees are happy, engaged and thriving they are more productive, less likely to call in sick and much less apt to quit their jobs. According to a recent Gallup poll, “highly...

Why do some employees stay with your company and others leave? There are several possible reasons, including financial considerations and the physical location of your workplace. But above all else, employee retention is most successful when employees...

Businesses with expert sales teams sometimes find themselves on a mystifying string of bad luck. Their sales professionals identify and qualify promising leads, even have a series of discussions with these prospects—only to end up with nothing to show for it. One...

Getting to “Yes” is every salesperson’s ultimate goal. But so many variables are involved that the process can be cumbersome and aggravating—with no guarantee that the goal will actually be reached. If your sales team is experiencing difficulties achieving this...

Finding the right candidates for your open positions is hard enough, given current labour conditions. The challenge becomes more pressing when you hire a talented individual, only to find out they lack some mission-critical skills needed for continued productivity....

The ideal employee is an individual who works hard, acts on their own initiative, seeks to be a high-quality team player, and wishes to grow in their career. If you have employees who fit this description, it’s a good bet they would welcome new opportunities to learn...

Today’s employees have elevated expectations of their workplace environments. Long gone are the days of mindlessly clocking in and out from an unsatisfying, sterile and disengaging job. Employees want more. They want to feel valued. They want to be rewarded for a job...

These days, business leaders are more focused than ever on finding ways to promote employee engagement and productivity. Although circumstances differ from one business to another, certain key principles apply in most cases. An effective starting point is looking...

Among CEOs and business leaders, the search for the best work-life balance has been going on for years. Only recently has the crucial importance of this balance become crystal-clear for everyone. Without a proper balance, business leaders face exhaustion, burn-out,...

If there was ever any question about the importance of employee health and well-being, it must be clear by now that all employers should rank this among their top corporate priorities. Why? Your company’s workforce is a key business asset. If employees aren’t in good...

Are you spending too much time managing your business and not enough time building it? You are not alone. This is a systemic problem, and most entrepreneurs succumb to the daily grind, leaving barely any time to focus on growth opportunities. As an entrepreneur, you...

It’s no big surprise that employee engagement is critical to the productivity and long-term success of your business. What might be shocking though is how often engagement is overlooked even by those organisations committed to fostering a positive company culture....

There’s a lot of focus these days on employee health and well-being, as there should be. But what about the men and women who lead businesses, either as a CEO or owner? When it comes to taking care of themselves, how do these people—nearly all of whom are saddled with...