Imagine: You're in a tense team meeting trying to defend your position on a big project and start to feel yourself losing ground. Your voice gets louder. You talk over one of your colleagues and correct his point of view. He pushes back, so you go into overdrive to convince everyone you're right. It feels like an out of body experience – and in many ways it is. In terms of its neurochemistry, your brain has been hijacked.
THE GREAT RECESSION ENDED IN 2009. Yet four years later, many businesses struggle to draw customers or attract talent to support growth. Attracting and retaining customers and talent need to be addressed together.
A STUPID GAME IS A TEAM-building activity used to teach business principles and ideas. In training and development, the games are called experiential education. Groups need to practice to perform and execute tasks. The military calls it boot camp. Theater and dance groups call it rehearsal. Sports teams call it practice. Often, however, business groups do not get it and for the most part do not practice—and typically, business groups have low group performance.
THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL media on business success is not just an overnight fad. It's now a necessary component of any marketing strategy. Ignore these stats at your own risk: 80 percent of people prefer to get coupons, promos, and discounts from brands in social media, and 42 percent of people have mentioned a brand in a Facebook status update according to Hub Spot; 43 percent of all online consumers are social media fans or followers, states Harp Social. These statistics suggest that you must have a social media presence.
INVESTING IN MARKETING campaigns can be a nerve-wracking decision for many small and medium sized businesses. CEOs and Marketing Directors know that when you have limited resources, you must be strategic with your budget, and every marketing investment has to pay off. This is why social media campaigns tend to be the first thing cut.
IN TODAY'S GLOBAL MARKET, knowledge is the primary currency. Knowledge-based organizations depend on the innovation, creativity, and productivity of their knowledge workers. Improving their productivity is vital for growth.
WHEN PEOPLE FEEL THEY belong, they give you their all. Consider the power of belonging. Teens will change their speech, dress, and behavior to fit in with their peers. Adults, too, gain much of their identity from their families, neighborhoods, schools, communities, churches, companies, professional associations, and political parties. Belonging to the tribe is a human need—yet most leaders neglect it. Few purposely make people feel they don't belong, but they're also not proactively making them feel they do belong—and that's a mistake.
WHAT CAN A 12-YEAR-OLD girl teach you about sales? A lot! If you're not familiar with Girl Scout Cookie time—with the sights, tastes, and experience of helping your daughters sell cookies—you are missing a vital education about the dynamics of sales, selling, customer service, and salespeople.
Should you promote certain current employees How can you know if they are ready for management responsibilities? In effect, you are facing the make or buy decision: do you hire employees with potential and then mentor, coach and invest in them so you have people who are ready to step up to management positions—or, do you go outside and buy the talent you need?
I OFTEN HEAR PEOPLE DECLARE, Cold calling is dead. The phrase Cold Calling itself is tainted, laughable, and for many people, even offensive. The conventional wisdom is that marketing automation, content creation, lead nurturing, trade shows, webinars, Twitter, Facebook, and thought leadership are the magic keys to a cold call free business.