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Ram Charan wrote the best selling book Know-How – 8 Skills that separate people who perform from those that don’t. I see entrepreneurs struggling with know-how every day. You know what you know. So I’ve assembled 20 laconic tips acquired during my 30 years in business. I hope they help you. Read More

I was chatting to a good friend the other day who leads one of the leading Sandler Sales Training Practices in the US. His key takeaway from the last 5 years – sales professionals have lost the art of prospecting! This post suggests 15 tips that will change that. Read More

We’ve all been touched by incentives at one time or another. Sales commissions, fixed bonuses, a prize, an earn-out deal when you sold your business. You might have received a bonus as part of a team achievement. So why don't they work? Read More

Last weekend sitting watching my daughter Emily graduate from St Joseph’s University in Philadelphia I had many thoughts going through my head but two stayed with me. One came from Dr Elizabeth A. Hagen Under Secretary for Food Safety the Commencement speaker and the other a general point. Read More

Sir Alex Ferguson announced his retirement yesterday. At the same time the WSJ published a great article – When the CEO Burns Out. Reading about Sir Alex’s retirement and the WSJ article reminded me of the pressure and expectations placed on today’s leaders. And the pressure mounts. Read More

Scaling a business is not the same as growing a business because there’s more to it than that. Otherwise everyone would scale! Scaling implies alignment, control, predictability, fast growth but with safety. I highlight in this post the reasons why owners fail to scale. Read More

It’s not everyone’s cup of tea but presenting in public is an acquired skill and an essential one if you hope to influence people. So many great authors are average public speakers. So it’s not about the words, it’s about how you make the audience feel. Here are 16 quick tips worth considering. Read More

We are awful at meetings. They are often too long, unproductive, not fun, and have lost their reason to exist. So let me help you with 10 quick actions to transform them. Read More

I attended a very interesting discussion group last week on Storytelling organized by the American Marketing Association. This blog post summarizes the takeaways worth considering. Read More

The WSJ headline article screamed off the page. IBM results had disappointed. The shares dropped 8%, that’s $19billion in real money! The main reason sighted for the disappointment – sales staff failed to close a number of valuable software and hardware deals. What could they have done differently? Read More