Free Newsletter
Let Einstein transform your business strategies
Born in Germany 134 years ago, Albert Einstein developed the special and general theories of relativity. As most people know, he won the Nobel Prize for physics. Einstein is generally considered the most influential physicist of the 20th century. Yet, still today, his often-quoted philosophies can...
A sales lesson from the Wolf of Wall Street
Scorsese’s excess-packed The Wolf of Wall Street joins a long line of films (Wall Street, Boiler Room, Glengarry Glen Ross) that cast the sales profession in its most negative light. While millions of honest people make their living in sales, they rarely make movies about them (with the happy exce...
Chef Laura predicts: Hop, skip and go naked in 2014
A fad is a flash in the pan, or in this case fryolater, like the Cronut. Part donut, part croissant, the Cronut became the “in” pastry of 2013. By the end of the year, this flaky, fried delight will have been forgotten, like twerking or Mayor Rob Ford. A trend has got some staying power. Radian...
The world’s most loyal customers
I was at a movie theater the other day, and a young guy ahead of me got $2 off his ticket for showing his VA card. So guess what I did? As an ex-Marine, I saved $2, too, that’s what. And you’re looking at a guy who feels guilty grabbing a free doughnut because someone else might need it more. Soun...
Chef Laura: RIM Café Rene’s recipe for success
René doesn’t just own RIM Café, he is RIM Café. With a thick French accent, he invites you to pull up a stool to his counter. Part mad scientist, part Marlon Brando, René uses an oversized lazy Susan as his work surface. The spinning disc mesmerizes customers as he provides endless samples of h...
Selling a home the digital way
Marketing a home has changed dramatically in just a few short years. It wasn’t that long ago that selling a property meant sticking a for-sale sign in the front lawn and taking out an ad in the local paper. Those days have changed! Real estate marketing isn’t just print advertising anymore – or radio, or […]
Speak the language of sales success
The words we speak make up about 7 percent of effective communication, but they’re almost always deal sealers or deal stealers. I’m not just referring to asking the right question at the right time, handling objections when they arise or knowing all the facts about your product or service. It mea...
Mad Men’s top four bad business behaviors
Even though I worked in advertising long after the Mad Men era, the ghosts of Don Draper and Roger Sterling could occasionally be glimpsed roaming the halls after a long day, ice tinkling, cigarettes glowing. The agencies I worked for grew in huge exponential bursts, expanding from two employees a...
Choose customers the way you choose your friends
The great thing about close friends is that you share a certain level of intimacy. You can say almost anything and they’ll understand. If you have a problem, they’ll help you solve it. If they see you headed in a wrong direction, they’ll help you set a new course. You don’t even have to ask. In fa...
Why the fence was backward
I know fences and fence-speak. She’s a nurse, and doesn’t know a knot from an owl hole. Usually, I meet the customer at the start of a job to review the details. This particular lady couldn’t meet though, so we skipped the stage where I point to something nearby and say, “Like that.” Now, you mig...
Perfect — and improving
I recently was coaching a client who has a “perfectionist” streak. I asked her, “Describe to me what perfection is?” She did. My reply was, “I’m disappointed because that description doesn’t sound perfect to me.” Of course, I was kidding, and she knew that. But my point was serious. Trying to be perfect is a […]
I got pitch-slapped
Today’s consumers don’t want to be assaulted by canned sales pitches and one-way monologues. They are sick and tired of being on the receiving end of those types of conversations. They want to be invited into a two-way dialogue where they can be heard and understood. Unfortunately, many companies...
