Today's Stupidity Award goes to Jim Coleman Cadillac, which is trying to lure Toyota Prius owners into trading in their energy-efficient hybrids for new cars that average 15-20 mpg. The supposed hook? "$1,000 over Kelley Blue Book fair value." Anyone who thinks...
I recently reviewed proposals for a federal agency. It was a worthwhile use of my time for six key reasons: 1. I got to see examples of well-constructed proposals and some that were not so good. In the process, I picked up some tips I can apply if and when I...
Sales people are always trying to sell something. That's what they do. I know one terrific salesperson who could sell you the Brooklyn Bridge and convince you that you could move it into your back yard. Great, until you find out the promise and the reality don't mesh....
No one wants to be fired, but the consequences of staying in a bad job, including loss of confidence, inertia, and fear, are worse. So why do most bosses do such a lousy job of severing ties? All that does is make an unhappy employee even more unhappy. And...
To do business, you need to know who you want to do business with. Chances are you have some idea about the organizations you think are a good fit. This is likely to change as you hone your value proposition--but having that first list of prospects offers comfort that...
My Independent Thinking column on business development Web 2.0 is out: It's a Web 2.0 world. Just this week there have been articles in my local newspaper about start-up news aggregator Mixx honing in on Digg's space, and Google's efforts to enter the social...
Thought-provoking piece by Diane Coutu in the Harvard Business Review editors' blog on how Google may help make us smarter. She also links to some of the earlier discussion on the topic of Google, multitasking, and how we think and learn.
Once you have defined your value proposition (Starting a Business: Step 1), the second step is to make a list of all your contacts. Most of us have a large stack of business cards and many more contacts in our Microsoft Outlook files. These should include people...
Brett Favre seems to have forgotten that the NFL is a business. And, from a business perspective, he's quickly developing the wrong kind of reputation. Favre has made three key business errors: 1. He bad-mouthed his employer. It's not acceptable, and generally...
Interesting observation by John Tozzi in Business Week's New Entrepreneur blog about how start-up companies are engaging their fans to raise money. We've seen a number of companies set up online forums to tap into their customer base for product or marketing...