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The Competitive Advantage

tag: strategy

August 12, 2014

Whoever said ‘Innovate or Die!’ was right!

franklin2My wife and I just got back from a walk around Franklin, Tennessee… one of this country’s great small towns, founded in 1799. It has the traditional, quaint Main Street (yes, it’s actually named that), lots of unique shops and restaurants and is jammed with visitors (both out-of-town tourists and locals) every weekend strolling the sidewalks. We’re lucky to live just 15 minutes away.

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August 6, 2014

How do you respond to, “That’s just too expensive!”

priceOoooh… the dreaded, “I like it – but it’s just too expensive.” Or “It’s not in our budget.” Or “Your competition is 35% less.” Or some other legitimate – or not-so-legitimate – excuse.

How do you respond?

If you’ve done a good job of presenting your services, deliverables and value, then there are really only 3 ways you can respond…

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July 2, 2014

Great business quotes #5 – on taking charge of your business.

hope2Thanks so much for all the positive feedback on the first four posts in this series on great business sayings… I appreciate all of the comments and ‘likes.’

Here’s a quick recap of the first four great sayings:

Our fifth – and final – saying is…

Hope is not strategy.

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May 28, 2014

“Should I advertise?

I got an email from a client last week. In it, she said that an industry magazine had reached out to her about advertising in an upcoming issue with an editorial theme that tied in nicely with her services. And her question was, “Should I advertise in that issue?”

I wish the answer was a simple one, but like everything else in Marketing… it depends!

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May 14, 2014

Have a client that’s a pain-in-the-a**? Fire them!

Trump You're Fired_1I was visiting a client recently in Southern California… a fast-growing firm with an interesting variety of clients. One of our conversations focused on the fact that several of their smaller clients (company size, not necessarily project size) were much more difficult to work with than any of their large ones.

Sounds backwards, doesn’t it? But that seemingly reverse logic is actually very consistent across most firms. Are you dealing with it?

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May 6, 2014

Get out from behind your desk!

dinner1As I write this, I’m flying home from several days in Southern California, after working with a couple of clients. In both cases, there were just a few people sitting around a table, collaborating and working toward a common goal.  We did some planning, talked strategy, bounced ideas off of each other and, in the end, left with To-Do’s for each of us as we move forward together.

But more importantly… we also shared a meal, laughed, talked about families and discussed summer vacations. It was real human-to-human interaction.

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April 9, 2014

Is “giving away” work a good idea?

freeI’ve been nurturing a relationship with a particular sales prospect for a little while now and he recently asked me to give him my comments on a press release he had written.  I reviewed it, rewrote some of it… and I did not charge him for my time.

There are many who say to NEVER give away any work – that doing so diminishes the value of what you do.

I’m in the other camp… I believe that there are times (not all the time, of course) when building some good will by giving away a small project might lead to bigger things down the road.  Here’s my rationale…

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March 19, 2014

If you build it, will they come? Not necessarily!

cup_of_coffeeAs I write this, I’m sitting in a coffeeshop that opened about 3 weeks ago.  It’s in a fairly busy shopping center along a well-traveled road, has the latest barista tools and they even roasts their own beans in the back of the store.

And I’m the only one sitting here.  OK, it’s Sunday morning at 8am, but even when I’ve driven by at “normal hours,” I’ve never seen more than one table full.  Good location… good product… even a unique POD (Point of Differentiation) – the roaster.  So, why is that?

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