Some of you may remember the Ford slogan of the 1980’s, Quality is Job #1. That slogan was true then for businesses. And it remains true today. Yet, quality sometimes remains hard to find. For example in the last year, two households in my family had to purchase dishwashers. Two different brands were purchased but,…
A lot has been written about how market research will help you achieve business success, and many of these claims are true. That connection, however, is not a simple, direct link. Collecting information about your potential market is useful only if you take the next step of analyzing the data. Data analysis yields clues about who…
Do you have a dream of starting your own business? So what’s holding you back? For some, its not having an idea. For others, it is fearing the lose of hard-earned savings. Others think about what their friends might think of them. All of these and many of the other reasons given really come down…
A common concern among small-business owners is how to increase revenue. Often, they try to do this by finding new customers. That is an expensive way of doing it. On average, it will cost from $20 to $50 to get a new customer. Yet it only costs from $1 to $5 to expand sales to…
Stories!! They amaze. They bring out our emotions. They stop and make us think. They help us connect. All of these, plus others you might add, are why stories are so important when you are marketing your business. Having your customers connected to your business is what branding and marketing is all about. Stories turn customers…
Business owners work hard to achieve success. Yet when they achieve that goal, sometimes they are not ready for the consequences. Owners often are focused on being able to overcome all sorts of hurdles as they open and run their business. It rarely occurs to them that they also need to do some planning for…
Small-business success often comes quietly. It rarely announces itself with drums and a parade. Instead, it comes from the voices of clients, customers, mentors and employees. But it can be reached only if you, the owner, are ready to listen to these voices and capture the ideas and thoughts they offer. In general, we are…
Recently, my wife and I decided to be a local tourist. We took a couple of days to go visit local historical sites that we had never seen before. Our trip took us into some very small North Dakota towns where we decided to spend the evening. We found our lodging using a smartphone. The next…
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