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Do you treat your customers the way you would like to be treated? Try turning the tables to figure out how effective your customer communications really is Read More

The famous phrase "The Buck Stops Here" was popularized by President Harry Truman, who had a sign with it on his desk in the Oval Office. Stopping the Buck means taking action, making decisions and then (most importantly) taking responsibility for those actions and decisions. Every business owner and manger must see themselves as the ultimate buck stopper. If it happens in your business, it is your fault. period Read More

I'm often asked the following questions by clients and readers:

"How can I set myself apart from my competitiors?"

"How can I define myself in the market?"

"How can I reach out and bring in customers?"

My simple answer to all of these, and similar questions, is Relationship Building.

We aren't talking 'customer service' here, customer service is how average businesses deal with customers....we are talking about creating an environment where your customer sees you as their friend. Where you build a level of trust, credibility and respect, and your business becomes part of their worldview.

This is Relationship Building, and this is how exceptional businesses communicate with customers Read More

Surfs up kids! It's summer are your ready? Better yet, is your business ready?

Summer is simply a different time of year, kids are out of school, people are on vacation, the atmosphere is more laid back in some ways and more frantic in others. Summer is the best time of year for some businesses and the worst time of year for others. Regardless of where your business fits in that spectrum you need a plan of attack to make sure you either maximize opportunity or minimize damage Read More

I have been a solopreneur for 17 years, offering marketing, communications and coaching services. My focus is working with aspiring and new solopreneurs—I love their enthusiasm and their passion for learning. My advice is unique to each client, of course, but below are the 10 tips that I’ve probably given out the most in the past year Read More

Generally you have less than 30 seconds to tell a new acquaintance what it is you do? Who your business serves and why they should care. Do you have your sound byte ready? You must be pity, on point, compelling and directed, otherwise you'll lose your audience and lose an opportunity to spread the message of your business Read More

Every business owner has those moments where they realize they can't keep doing it all, some thing needs to be sacrificed in order to maintain the quality of the rest. You can try to do it all, but my philosophy is that it is better to do what you do FANTASTICALLY, then do everything AVERAGELY. So where do you cut? How do you decide what you need to focus on and what you need to put to the side Read More

Perhaps it is because so much of our communication is done over the internet?

Perhaps because we deal with many faceless 'business relationships' in our web 2.0 world?

Perhaps because we are flat out lazy?

No matter what the reason, the fine art of follow through seems to be disappearing from our communication strategy. Not only is this bad business, this is rude. Read More

Most business owners developed a fairly sound strategic plan before opening their businesses. This plan analyzed who their prospective customer base was. Most likely it is broken down into fairly specific demographics, i.e. "College educated, women, between the ages of 25-43, living in a suburban environment". After pinpointing their 'ideal client', the rest of their marketing and business plan developed to best serve that customer Read More

Overview of criteria I use when deciding what communications roles I have my business owner clients fill and which ones I do myself. The following are a few quick guidelines I tend to use when makin Read More