Growing businesses must pay close attention to their business development plan, especially in a stumbling economy, because everyone still needs products and services. The key to coming out on top is paying close attention to [Read More]

Every day, customers fire employees by taking their money elsewhere. It is that money, after all, that pays for employee salaries, vacations, 401(k)s, rental cars, and everything else, says best–selling author Jeffrey Fox, founder of [Read More]

Thirty–six years ago, astronomer Frank Drake sent humankind’s first deliberate communication to our interstellar neighbors. We’re still waiting for a reply. Marketers have it so much easier: They need only browse the Web to catch [Read More]

Even the smartest, hardest-working entrepreneurs depend on other people — be they employees, vendors, customers, or someone else — for their success. The trouble, asserts Ty Freyvogel, founder of MakingSenseOfYourBusiness.com, is that entrepreneurs [Read More]

For many companies, responding to requests for proposals (RFPs) plays a major role in a business development plan. But it’s also a task that can hone a company’s performance and strategic communications skills and improve [Read More]

When Howard Behar first joined Starbucks as an executive in 1989, the company had just 28 stores, but its employee handbook spoke volumes. “Up until page 4 or 5, it never mentioned a word about [Read More]

When Fortune 500 companies need help developing a strategic communication plan, many turn to marketing and communications guru Harry Beckwith. As founder and director of Beckwith Partners based in Minneapolis, he has helped clients like [Read More]

Dealing effectively with dissatisfied customers requires special skills and behaviors. To help you maintain calm when others are out of control, Lydia Ramsey, a relationship marketing expert and the author of Manners That Sell: Adding [Read More]

In the early 19th century, guerrillas, soldiers who used unconventional marketing tactics to combat their enemies, were instrumental in defeating the French dictator Napoléon. Today the term has attached itself to marketing — unusual, fresh, [Read More]

When a company seeks to define and attain its goals, a mission statement is often at the heart of that effort. The concept may sound simple, but summing up the essence of a complex organization [Read More]