Work relationships often settle into routines. We develop dynamics with people and reinforce them over time. In healthy relationships, those dynamics include communication, honesty, respect and collaboration. But sometimes our relationships are stuck in a less than ideal place. Even when everyone conducts themselves professionally, feelings such as tension, irritation, or … [Read more...]
Leadership Redemption
So, you screwed up. Royally. You might have let down a team member, missed a major deadline, dropped an important meeting, or lost a critical sale. You feel helpless, hopeless and confused. You just don’t know what to do, though your mind is giving you a lot of conflicting guidance. The panicked side of you wants to overreact. It’s telling you to express your emotions and … [Read more...]
Staying Objective in Sales Meetings
A dynamic that frequently occurs in sales meetings is taking a customer reaction (or lack of reaction) personally. You are sitting in the lobby and suddenly you get a rush of anxiety. You are trapped in your head and pondering what you may have done wrong. Stop! The crutch that you can always fall back on in sales is morphing into process mode. That being said, it is not as … [Read more...]
The Need for 2-in-1 Hybrid Talent
My parents worked the same job for 35 years. Chances are, so did yours! Each of their career paths, once chosen, existed in its own great silo. Once an accountant, retired as an accountant! Fortunately, that does not have to be your case. Today, career sites are replete with interesting examples of job postings that combine different streams of specialties. This new … [Read more...]
How to Get Your News Covered in a National Newspaper
So you have this awesome story that you think deserves to be included in a national paper like The Guardian or The New York Times. Whether it is a late-breaking piece of news about your business or you have the inside track on your niche like no one else, here is what you need to know (and do). 4 Tips for Pitching Your Story 1. Know the News Organizations, Their Editors and … [Read more...]
Help a Reporter Out And Everybody Wins
As you may know, journalists are seriously busy people. Between research, interviewing and writing multiple stories daily, they don’t have a lot of free time. And they certainly don’t want to spend their free time chasing down leads. In steps Help A Reporter Out, commonly known the industry as HARO. Founded in 2008 by Peter Shankman, HARO is a free online service that … [Read more...]
Make Your Own Luck
There I was---thrilled to get my very first college acceptance letter. I couldn’t believe I had gotten into the musical theater program at University of Michigan! All my life, I had dreamed of pursuing a career in theater, on Broadway, in every musical possible---and this was my golden ticket! I had worked so hard all of my life for this and felt that at 18, everything had … [Read more...]
The Future of Sales Belongs to Women — If They’ll Take It
Anita Krizsan is one of the best saleswomen in the world. She sold 11 Bugatti Veyrons in one year, which go for a whopping $2 million each. While her colleagues were satisfied selling two to three cars a year, Krizsan was building customer relationships and outselling everyone else in the company by miles. Krizsan serves as an inspiration to all salespeople, but especially … [Read more...]
5 Customer Support Apps Small Businesses Will Love
Customers are essential. They are the reason businesses thrive. Not delivering customer service well is like closing your doors to opportunity! With a myriad of tools available for easing the customer service workflow, businesses have run out of excuses like: “We're a startup. We're strapped for cash.” “We're bootsrapping. We decided to do everything by ourselves, so we … [Read more...]
Tips for Marketing to Women for International Women’s Day
When I was a small kid, all of my friends’ parents were married and few of their mothers had jobs outside the home. After my family moved to California, a place where many divorced moms had moved to start new lives, I had an up close look at mid-1970’s shifting gender roles. Fast-forward to 2015 -- while pay gaps still loom larger than they should, (in 1970, women were paid … [Read more...]