Once upon a time there were three businesses. They sold the same types of products in the same geographic area. But there were big differences in the way they presented themselves to their prospects.

One positioned himself as the “high price / high quality / high personal service” vendor. His company became known as the expert in the selected market niche of satisfying customers who liked feeling extra-special and were willing to pay for it. He dominated that portion of the marketplace while repelling the customer who was looking for bargains.

The second business was positioned as the “low price supplier” offering limited service, limited selection, and “Low, Low, One-Time-Only-Discount-Pricing.” The company specialized in the highly promotional end of the market and they dominated it. If you wanted first-class service and amenities you went elsewhere. If you wanted “cheap” or even the perception of “cheap” this is the place you went.

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If you have ever had the pleasure of attending classes in the fine art of making sales, you will remember that a very important section is “Overcoming Objections.” In class the trainer gives students two lists; frequently used objections and scripted responses for each objection. The trainee is required to memorize the responses and parrot them back whenever the trainer throws out an objection. I attended this type of class in a previous career back when I was a door-to-door encyclopedia salesperson on summer vacation from college. Some vacation! Read more

For an online entrepreneur what matters most is the value he can derive from his website or blog. In the last 7 years I have probably associated with everybody from Fastclick (now valueclick) to the most of the newer ones. From ads to links to just about everything I have tried it all. As far as revenue generation from website is concerned I haven’t seen anybody better than Linkworth. I have also used their competitors and till date nobody has the kind of transparency Linkworth has. They have been extremely fair with the payments which is something worth noting. Besides I have really seen them grow from a tiny network to such a huge network now with thousands of quality websites. Read more

A frustrated business owner was grousing over lunch because a long time vendor he has depended on for a commodity service has recently had some quality issues.

“Look, he said, “I live a complex life. My business is complex, my personal life is complex, I often feel pulled in many directions at once. All I ask of my long-term vendors is that they give me good service, fair pricing, and no mistakes. That way I don’t have to spend the time and energy to replace them and I can work on other, more important things.” Read more

A business, no matter whether a one person company or a multi-national conglomerate, is a complex assemblage of people, tasks, products, services, inventory, and equipment with many components or departments that together create a combined whole. The departments do not stand alone. Each is dependant upon the others for their form and their relationship to the whole. As an example, think of the Accounts Payable department. All alone, by itself, it has no reason for existence without a Purchasing Department creating the purchase orders and the Receiving Department checking the accuracy of incoming shipments so invoices can be paid. The same dependency relationship exists with all departments and tasks within the company. Read more

If you have ever tried to introduce a new product or service, even one that your customers need or want, I’m sure you have found it to be a stress-inducing, difficult process. Unless yours is an industry that relies on new products like the fashion apparel industry or you are introducing a very inexpensive item, your prospects, even those who have purchased from you in the past, will be weighing the risk / reward ratio. In fact, many new products have gotten off to a very slow start or never reached a sustainable level of sales because the target market felt there was too much risk associated with purchasing an untried, new item. If your prospects don’t see the balance between risk and reward as highly skewed towards the “reward” side, they may not purchase in the beginning, when it is crucial to get it out in the marketplace. Read more

An essential element of keeping clients coming back to purchase more from your company is the use of a database. Depending on the size and complexity of the business, a customer retention database can be as simple as a shoebox filled with 3” x 5” handwritten cards or as complex as one used to keep the records of an airline’s “frequent flyer” system. A database designed for retention is not a “one size fits all” proposition. It is also much more than just a customer list. It is a customer list on steroids. Read more

A couple weeks ago I watched some grade school kids getting back-to-school supplies and, for some reason, remembered that first-day-of-school-assignment: Write a composition “How I spent the summer.” I wonder if that is still the first day assignment? Read more

Almost all of us love to play games. Toddlers are intrigued by games of manipulating colorful shapes. Seniors crowd bingo halls. Every generation plays games of skill and games of chance from chess to backgammon to tic-tac-toe. Games can be social events, team events or solitary challenges. We watch games filled with vicarious thrills on reality TV. Games are part of the fabric of our lives and have a place in business also. Read more

Last week a disgruntled salesperson told me about a long-time customer who stopped buying from her. “Gosh, I thought we were good friends; we even went out together socially. I never thought I would have to worry about losing her as a customer.” As soon as I heard that last sentence, I knew that I had discovered a new business-medical condition, “SCS.” Salesperson Complacency Syndrome! Read more