• The difference between Marketing and Sales

    Many business people still struggle with the difference between marketing and sales.  In reality, the differences are quite significant and unless recognized, could stunt the growth of your business. Recently, I came upon the best definition of marketing and sales I’ve seen in a long time.  Most definitions are textbook based, but this one came from a most unlikely source – the writer of a [...]

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    Customer service is more about what you don't do

    Recently my daughter ran into a problem at the car dealership where she bought her car. When closing the deal the business manager arranged financing through the bank and explained the conditions to us.  The most important issue to my daughter was the amount that she needed to pay.  When she ran into problems with the bank after a month, she approached the dealership that had provided us with [...]

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    Why do customers leave you?

    Does someone in your business ever-so-often ask, "Whatever happened to (fill in the name) and how come he doesn't shop with us any more? Several surveys asking this same question were taken through the years by (but not limited to) the American Society for Quality Control, the Harvard Business Review, U S News & World Report -- even the Swedish Post Office titled "Satsa pa kunden" [...]

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    Creativity comes in many forms

    In tough times, the extra bit of creativity could make the difference.  Here's a story you will love: An old man lived alone in Idaho. He wanted to spade his potato garden, but it was very hard work. His only son, Bubba, who used to help him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament. Dear Bubba: I am feeling pretty bad because it looks like I [...]

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    10 tips to improving your presentations

    Powerpoint has become a tremendous tool for presentations.  However, how often do you see people presenting, with the actual Powerpoint presentation becoming the ultimate focal point?  It becomes the presentation and not a tool in YOUR presentation.  If that was actually the case, you may as well just email the audience the presentation, right? So how can you make sure you don't fall into the [...]

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    P&G To Lay Off 1,600 After Discovering It's Free To Advertise On Facebook

    "Reality appears to have finally arrived at Procter & Gamble, the world's largest marketer, whose $10 billion annual ad budget has hurt the company's margins. P&G said it would lay off 1,600 staffers, including marketers, as part of a cost-cutting exercise. More interestingly, CEO Robert McDonald finally seems to have woken up to the fact that he cannot keep increasing P&G's ad budget [...]

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    Do you really understand what marketing is?

    What are the signs that you are missing the real value of marketing?  Are you only seeing part of the story and missing out on the real opportunity? If you find yourself thinking along the following lines, you may be missing the point and the true value of what marketing can and should be doing for you... (my thanks to the plethora of marketers that provided this insight on a recent discussion [...]

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    The lost sale syndrome - finding out why

    Did you ever lose a sale that you thought was "in the bag?"  You nurtured the prospect and all the signs were good, only to find out that they bought from someone else? Did a client or customer stop buying from you "all of a sudden" and you don't know why?  Very often the client may provide a reason but it really doesn't sound plausible? These situations are happening more and more often and [...]

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    Welcome and Trends 2011 - opportunities for 2011

    Welcome to our new-look newsletter that will now take the form of a Blog.  As trends go, we at Mastermind accept the new digital environment in which blogging plays a seriously important role.  And so, as we move with the times it’s probably appropriate that our most recently posted article is included with some of the newest trends that we see expanding through 2011.  Some of these trends [...]

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    Use AIDA to improve your selling process

    Every buyer moves through four simplified stages in order to reach a buying decision. If you can move the buyer along through each phase, your odds of success will skyrocket. If you miss one of the phases your sales process will come to a grinding halt. So, who (or what) is AIDA, and how come it is so important? I recently saw a very meaningful blog post: "CEOs hankering for sales results are [...]

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