I accept American Express in my business, as well as other credit cards. Some of my clients like to use their AMEX card and I want to accommodate them, of course. So I got a piece of snail mail just a few days ago from AMEX that promoted November 26, 2011 as “Small Business Saturday, [...]

What do I mean – “educate your customers.”? Well, consider this: many businesses focus solely on attracting new customers, but you NEED to spend a good chunk of your time retaining current and former customers. These are people you already know to be a good sales potential…they’ve already bought from you! In fact, they are [...]

I always love when one of my clients gets some great publicity. My long time client, Alisha Navarro, owner of 2 Hounds Design and Wiggles, Wags & Whiskers, has one of her gorgeous dog collars featured in the holiday gift guide of this week’s People Magazine.

You prospective customers and clients are unconsciously looking for any reason to say “no” to what you’re offering. Even though they may deeply need or want what you’ve got. Yesterday I was about to make a purchase when my browser suggested there was somewhat of a problem with the security of the shopping cart. Now, [...]

As someone who has been providing small business consulting services to small business owners for the past eight years, I have had the privilege of seeing what works and doesn’t work in many small businesses. Not to mention the 20 years I spent in small business before that, owning and running companies. In order to [...]

It’s easy to find companies making a multitude of business mistakes so I am happy when I find an example of a great business. A few months ago I wrote about my experience contacting a potential dentist after I moved to a new community. (If you missed it, you can read it here.) The very [...]

Here’s a quick story about how not understanding the long term profit value of your clients and customers can cost you dearly. Make sure you’re not doing this in your business! Prior to our move back to North Carolina, I did some research for a progressive dentist who uses digital X-Rays and non-mercury fillings. I [...]

I scoped out a pet boutique in my new hometown of Brevard, NC and found out they’d only been open since the first of the year. It’s great to see evidence of the indominitable American entrepreneurial spirit – opening a retail store in the midst of a bad recession. I did my part to support [...]

Many of my clients and all of my coaching & consulting colleagues asks me: Does Twitter deliver results (as in bottom line results – profits!). And if so, how do you use it wisely and efficiently. I just read a great post on this very topic which gives a definitive “yes” to whether Twitter can [...]

I was on a business trip last week. Driving through the great state of Kansas on I-70, I approached a rise and suddenly saw the beautiful, huge blades of dozens of wind turbines. These amazing machines create electricity from the blowing wind. While there’s no perfect solution for generating power, these babies rate pretty high [...]