Did you know that the average person spends 40 percent of his or her job on sales? That works out to 24 minutes per hour. In a fascinating conversation with Jonathan Fields, Daniel Pink said that "the technology that was supposed to obliterate sales has turned more of...
I have a confession to make: My e-mail "system" has been a mess. Microsoft Outlook was structured to pull & store e-mail from legacy Internet companies with poor Webmail interfaces and small storage capacities. In came more and more mail, and the only way not to...
One colleague is frustrated because the forums on her membership site are getting little traction. She's set up "pull" options for people to get e-mail alerts to new conversations. She's posted notices to her LinkedIn group. She's reminded people at in-person...
Does your business need a social media checkup? We've had this conversation before: You don't want surprises and "gotcha!" moments. Instead, you want that first (in person and online) impression to be the right one. Whether you call it brand management, reputation, or...
Edelman's 2013 Trust Barometer came out earlier this month, and it has some interesting takeaways for companies and how they do business. The survey identifies five "trust performance clusters"--engagement, integrity, products and services, purpose, and...
The other day I was looking for insights into a few people I was scheduled to meet. Do you know where I turned first? Not a company Web site. Not Facebook. Not Google Search. I started with LinkedIn. LinkedIn is no longer optional. It's a must for any business...
Have you ever had someone you don’t know contact you about a project? People think this is good fortune—but it’s not. Work doesn't just drop into your lap. Good fortune comes from doing all the little things right. Successful business development is far more about...
We all know about bandwidth--the bytes, space, and time needed to get something done. If bandwidth is about physical capacity, brainwidth is about mental space. You need to have both bandwidth and brainwidth. I recently had some family stuff going on that sucked up...
A colleague recently asked me how I get referrals. It's a good question, because referrals can be a terrific source of new business. Referrals happen both deliberately and organically. Deliberate referrals are all about staying top of mind and letting people know you...
The lines were long, and getting longer. No surprise, really, as there were only two open checkout counters in the grocery store--one for customers with 15 items or fewer, the other for everyone else. As I stood there, I remembered that the last time I got stuck in...