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Recent Posts
When the Founder Is the Rainmaker: How to Scale Without Losing the Spark
In many founder-led businesses, the founder isn’t just the leader—they’re also the best (and often only) rainmaker. They land the big deals. They have the trusted relationships. They know the pitch inside and out because they are the pitch.
It works—until it doesn’t.
As the business grows, this model creates a bottleneck. Every new opportunity depends on one and only person. And it’s the same person every time. But there’s a downside. When that person is also responsible for running the business, mentoring the team, and shaping the vision, something eventually gives.
Big-Brand B2B Executives Finally Opt In to Email Marketing
Thu, Feb 25, 2016 — It’s no secret that email marketing is a top driver for sales and customer growth. A vast majority of marketers say that it is their primary channel for lead generation. And despite the many claims that “email marketing is dead,” it continues to not only dominate, but also reinvent itself as new tools and technologies allow it to remain more relevant than ever for businesses of all sizes. Even more surprising is the fact that many large business-to-business (B2B) brands have not yet tapped into the potential of email marketing. From what we’ve experienced across our client base, some of these firms are finally turning to email to breathe new life into their marketing initiatives. However, what these newcomers are finding is that breaking into the “king” of all marketing channels is way more complicated than it seems on the surface. And that may be one factor that keeps some businesses from getting started.
Marketing…the big “M” and the little “m”
Mon, Feb 22, 2016 — When it comes to understanding the function of Marketing, there are often common words that enter the equation like “website”, “brochures”, or “sales collateral”. While these are tools that typically originate from the Marketing department, they only scratch the surface of what Marketing encompasses in total. A wise person once characterized the poorly understood function in the terms of “there is a big 'M' in Marketing and a little 'm'”. Wow, that is profound. So, what do we mean when we say the big “M” of Marketing?
How to Brand the Service Component of your Business
Thu, Jan 28, 2016 — In the two previous posts I discussed the concept of branding a service delivery process and some of the benefits of pursuing this approach. Then I offered some real-life examples of effective service and discovery process brands. In this final installment, I will present steps to guide you as you create your own service process brand. In the simplest terms, it means standardizing and naming an existing process, then promoting it to customers.
Branded Service Processes Create Value and Profits for these Companies
Thu, Jan 21, 2016 — In my previous post, I introduced the concept of branding a service delivery or discovery process and outlined some of the benefits of pursuing this approach. In this installment, I will share some real-life examples of service process branding to give you a better idea of how it works. Below are three examples of branded service delivery. The third is explained in greater detail to more fully illustrate execution of the concept.
Brand Your Service Delivery Process to Grow the Business
Thu, Jan 14, 2016 — In this post and the two that follow, I’m going to share a straightforward approach to increasing profits that most of the companies I encounter fail to exploit. Implementation is within the reach of small and medium sized companies and the potential rewards should grab the attention of CEOs.
How to Build a SaaS Company
Wed, Dec 16, 2015 — I was recently engaged to help a software company, Atera, prepare to launch as a global SaaS provider. Having operated for some time, the company sought to remake itself by adopting a new business model. Since new opportunities often emerge from ongoing business activities, this type of transformation is not unusual. I would like to present here some of the critical elements and steps in the process of getting the Atera SaaS product to the point of launch.
Automating Ourselves: A New Era of Productivity
Mon, Nov 30, 2015 — Today’s Automation Tools are Designed to Make Your Digital Tasks Flow More Smoothly I recently hired Danielle, an administrative and marketing assistant, to help me with my workload. Since I haven’t been able to use technology to fabricate more hours in the day just yet, Danielle helps me to optimize the hours that I do have – as a crucial piece of my team, she assists me with administrative support, the management of my business schedule, and various marketing projects.
Nine Billion Company Names – The Economist on Naming Companies
Mon, Nov 30, 2015 — I love marketing and being a marketer. Working with a CEO to propel a company forward is exciting. Having the CEO see the excitement one creates from great marketing can be wonderful. Knowing that you helped fill a need, solve a problem, or even satisfy some craving can be fulfilling for the marketing team and the business. CEOs expect this.
Five Steps to Creating Customer Lifetime Value
Mon, Nov 23, 2015 — As we approach the end of the year, it makes sense to think about keeping those customers your team has worked so hard to land this year, and building CLV – customer lifetime value. We’ve long heard about the costs of keeping clients vs. obtaining new ones. The common belief is that it’s 50% easier to sell to existing clients than to new prospects. According to Bain and Co., a 5% increase in customer retention can increase a company’s profitability by 75%. Gartner Group says that 80% of a company’s future revenue will come from just 20% of its existing customers.