If you are like me, every once in a while, you become overwhelmed. Nothing seems to work, you are not sure what task to take on next. Planning and forward thinking become cloudy. And on top of that, you feel like you need to keep a bold face on so as not to worry your team. Panic is often not far
Read MoreI taught skiing, part time, for over 40 years. And during that time, I learned so much about skiing, teaching, and people. I also learned a great deal about staying warm; standing around for hours on end in windy -25C weather coaching downhill racers is not for the faint of
Read MoreAlmost every CEO I meet complains that finding staff is hard. And those that they can attract don’t perform well and don’t stay. Every leader understands how important great employees are to the success of their team, but many are doing it backwards. Companies spend huge amounts of money on websites, lead generation, sales funnels, pipeline...
Read MoreIf your sales activity is completely or partially conducted through channel partners, here are the 8 key questions you should be asking your channel managers: 1 On a scale of 1- 10, how important are you to your partners’ business strategy? Typically, partners have many different products or services to promote, but those that are crucial...
Read MoreSometimes the best way forward is so obvious that we often overlook it. This is true with companies wanting to increase their revenues and to become more profitable (of course the two are not necessarily synonymous...) They look at new markets, new products, new partners, complicated sales promotions, advertising campaigns and so on. All of which c...
Read MoreTo my dismay it happened again. I drove to a car show in Vermont and won a prize… I joined over 500 cars at the British Invasion in Stowe, Vermont. It’s about 5 hours from Ottawa with lots of pretty and really twisty roads. I go to these shows because I like cars, especially British cars. My car is really only an excuse to hang out with a bunch o...
Read MoreOK, so you have determined that investing in a new market is the right way to move your company forward. And you have determined which is the best market segment to focus on. The next challenge is determining how you actually get into that market, in other words what is your market entry plan? Your market entry plan is going to be highly situationa...
Read MoreThere is a great analytical tool called PESTLE - an acronym for Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological, Legal, and Environmental. It is typically used to ensure a thorough scan of all external factors affecting a proposed plan of action. You use it to identify the forces working for you and against you – and your competitors – and your cu...
Read MoreThe talk about ‘recession’ has many owners rattled. Most of you reading this own small or medium sized businesses and by corollary have a small share of the markets you serve. If the overall market you serve shrinks by 1% it will have very little effect on your ability to expand. Your growth, or lack of it can’t be attributed to the overall economy...
Read MoreMost people think outward from themselves through their sales channels on then on out to their end users. That approach is wrong. It leads to a channel centric sales approach. Instead think about the ideal customer for each product or service you are selling and then think about the best way to connect with them. The channel is in fact a bridge bet...
Read More/kcl-goes-green/HeaderLogo-60x300-ID-e065fb7a-094d-4fc6-d8c1-f4f88e7523f5.png)