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Posts Tagged ‘Leadership’
Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010
How do you learn what you don’t know, but can ultimately help - or hurt - you and your business?
After taking July off, it’s time for me to get back to the keyboard…and share with you the TEN great business success stories we’ve encountered this year….
from Gateway Ticketing to Eastern Technologies to Superior Tube and Spike’s Trophies…
..with an eye towards giving you some helpful hints - about what to do AND not do to manage a successful business in a “slow growth” economy.
From now thru December, I’m planning on sharing their “keys to success”…the challenges they’ve had to overcome, the strategies they’ve designed and insights they’ve had as well as the solutions they’ve discovered.
Some great best practices that these small companies have put “into” practice! And you can too!
So stay tuned!
Tags: Add new tag, Enlightened Executives, Entrepreneurial Excellence, Executive Roundtables, Generating Revenues, Leadership, Overcoming small business challenges, Small business advice, succeeding in a down economy
Posted in Entrepreneurial Excellence, General, Leadership, Strategy | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 29th, 2010
As 2010 hits the halfway mark, I’d be remiss to not recognize these additional Pearls of Wisdom - and the people who have contributed so much to my own business growth and learning and entrepreneurial expertise over the past six months…
1) Recognize when it’s time to get stuff off your plate - and onto someone else’s
Courtesy of Aldonna Ambler, aka “The Growth Strategist” and one of my advisors who said over a year ago that it was time to find a marketing assistant, and that an intern might be a good place to start. Took a while, but I’ll never go back to not having this position filled. Having good marketing help is critical in this economic landscape.
2) Never hesitate to reach out for help
I’ve had some difficult organizational transitions to make over the last few months, and I am deeply grateful to two of my colleagues, Ted Lebow - who has been a wonderful sounding board and crisis helper and John Gerber - who had stepped up to the bat for me when I required legal advice and counsel. It’s been great having people like them in my life. Their support has been invaluable! Thanks guys!
3) In economic times like these, be willing to experiment with new marketing and sales tactics
We’ve certainly been experimenting - a lot! From blogging about our story - thanks to Kevin Daum and his advice and counsel back in January…to utilizing the telemarketing services of Corporate Call Centers (thanks to another advisor - Claudia Timbo - and her great marketing right hand person Jean Dilley) - and getting their assistance running our first lumpy mail campaign…to having the opportunity to speak at Square 2 Marketing’s University last week, we’ve been strategically reaching out and “touching” people. And it’s keeping us in the game!
4) Find partners with sympatico - and form strategic alliances
The relationships which we’ve forged with Jim Devine and his crew at the Mid-Atlantic Employers’ Association as well as Karen Marsdale at the Greater Reading Chamber of Commerce have been key to expanding our reach in the Greater Philly area. We’ve really enjoyed partnering with both organizations - and our partnership has resulted in more business for all of us!
5) Define (and discover) your ideal client
And there’s no way that we could have done what we’ve done without the help of our clients. From giving us feedback on our value prop, to participating in video interviews, and even taking the Caliper Profile (thanks to Dave Griffith of Modern Group - another informal advisor) who suggested that we use the profile to more closely identify our ideal client - Great idea!
So that’s some of our “pearls”. What are yours? What have you learned and to whom have you reached out this year? Drop us a line or give us a call if you’d like to learn more at ckuchler@ceothinktank.com ….
u’d like to learn more… ckuchler@ceothinktank.com
Tags: Enlightened Executives, Entrepreneurial Excellence, Executive Coaching, Executive Roundtables, Leadership, Personal Development, Small business advice
Posted in CEO Peer Groups, Entrepreneurial Excellence, General, Leadership, Personal Development, Personal Management | No Comments »
Friday, June 11th, 2010
For those of you who missed the fun…and the education – thought that I’d share seven pearls of entrepreneurial wisdom from the Co-Founder of Jiffy Lube, Philadelphia University’s President, Steve Spinelli, from Tuesday’s “Dining with the CEO”…
· Entrepreneurs need Hearts on Fire and Brains on Ice.
· Never forget the wisdom of the great World War II General, George C. Patton, “Untutored courage is useless in the face of educated bullets.”
· Thought to an entrepreneur without action is frivolous. Action without thought is dangerous.
· Entrepreneurship is opportunity obsessed, holistic in approach and leadership balanced.
· The Field of Dreams was wrong. If you build it, they may never come.
· Get VERY CLEAR on your market demand, market size and structure and your margin analysis but…
· Be careful that you don’t get so complicated that you work yourself out of a great business model.
And if you’d like some more “tidbits” about what it took to grow one of the most successful franchises ever…drop me a line at ckuchler@ceothinktank.com and I’ll share the rest!
Tags: Awesome Experience, Entrepreneurial Excellence, Leadership
Posted in Enlightened Executives, Entrepreneurial Excellence, General, Leadership, Strategy | No Comments »
Monday, May 24th, 2010
“It’s the small daily brush strokes that create the painting, no matter how large the canvas.”
That’s the quote that I continue to remind myself of as I work with our Marketing intern Alessandra. Bringing a new person into a company takes time, commitment and planning - but not everything can happen at once - so…one brush stroke at a time.
I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the need with new employees - with every employee actually - to be clear about expectations. Now we’re working on the next part of the canvas.
So what are three Key steps to creating an “engaged employee”:
1) Making her my priority - Too often new hires aren’t given the time that they need with their hiring manager. I’ve worked hard to clear my own schedule since she came on board - at least a 1/2 day a week - more at the beginning to have the meetings and answer the questions that all new employees have.
Spending time with her each week is one of my top 5 priorities each week. And touching base at least once a day - even if it’s just a quick email - when we don’t meet. Not necessarily easy - but absolutely necessary if I want to get the most from my investment!
2) Helping her to clarify her priorities - I’ve only got Alessandra for 20 hours every week. She’s naturally organized - something that I looked for when I hired her - so I asked her to come up with monthly goals and priorities (which we reviewed) and then we’re breaking them down by week.
The benefit of this to me? She’s staying focused and on track and knows what she needs to do even if she gets ahead. Last week she got done everything that she was supposed to do in two weeks in one week - so we came up with another list! Very cool!
3) Asking her what she’s learning - and having her document it too! This is a Gallup question by the way that will help you to measure the level of employee engagement in your company.
“In the last year, have I had opportunities at work to learn and grow?” And there’s another one too about having someone at work who encourages an employee’s development.
Have your employees set learning goals for themselves and debrief with them about what they’ve learned and how they’ve grown. And if you have them document the information, you have a ready-made training manual for the next person who comes along!
Intrigued?
If you’d like to meet Alessandra, she’ll be at our next “Dining with the CEO” event on June 8th with Philadelphia University President and Jiffy Lube co-Founder Steve Spinelli! Plan on coming and I’ll introduce you! Click here for more info and to register!
Hope to see you there!
Tags: Awesome Experience, Business Coaching, Enlightened Executives, Entrepreneurial Excellence, Leadership, Sales and Marketing
Posted in Enlightened Executives, Entrepreneurial Excellence, General, Leadership, Marketing | 3 Comments »
Friday, May 14th, 2010
Why am I so excited to have Steve Spinelli at our next “Dining with the CEO” on June 8th?
1) He’s got a wealth of knowledge and experience…
From his early days (he was just 24) when he co-founded Jiffy Lube International and went on to become the chain’s largest franchisee to his tenure teaching future business leaders entrepreneurship at Babson College (he’s even worked with Verne Harnish) to his current role as President of Philadelphia University.
2) He’s a great example of someone going for the gold - throughout his career.
After Jiffy Lube, he went on to get a PhD in Economics at the University of London. Then, during his entire tenure as the Director for the Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship and the Chair of the entrepreneurship division at Babson College, U.S. News and World Report ranked Babson number one in entrepreneurship.
3) He’s also willing to share his mistakes and his lessons.
In an interview last year with Bloomsberg Business Week, he shared the following thoughts:
 · What has he learned about being an entrepreneur?
Never get cocky! “We were doing so well [at one point], we started having this mentality: “This is easy. If we build it, they will come.” If you start thinking that way, jump in a pool, cool off. That is a huge mistake.
How important is education – and a good business model - to an entrepreneur?
“I don’t think you necessarily need to be in college to do this. But you need to be a lifelong learner to survive. I think you will have to evolve your business model five times - and maybe five times in 5 years!”
Intrigued? Me too! So join us on Tuesday, June 8th to hear him – from 5:30 to 8:30pm at the Union League in Philadelphia.
And get a chance to ask your question!
p.s. And if you missed our last “Un-Marketing” event with Kevin Daum, checking out his presentation, “Creating the Awesome Experience”.
Tags: Business Coaching, Enlightened Executives, Entrepreneurial Excellence, Leadership
Posted in Enlightened Executives, Entrepreneurial Excellence, Leadership, Personal Development | No Comments »
Friday, April 16th, 2010
Well I’ve taken some time off from blogging to recover from our March 9th event with Kevin Daum. His ROAR book is finally out! (I know that some of you have already purchased it and are applying the concepts so Congrats! And good marketing!)
For those of you who signed up early for that event, your copies are on their way. For those of you who didn’t, you can get a copy by clicking here.
For those of you in the Philly area, you can still see Kevin this weekend at the Go Green Expo on Saturday.
And - if you’d like to take a gander at the Sales and Marketing Summit, there’s a webcast of Tom Sant’s keynote on Wednesday, April 21st from 4 to 6pm Eastern Time. He’s the author of Persuasive Business Proposals, Language of Success and The Giants of Sales. Here’s the link to sign up! (Courtesy of Verne Harnish…)
Will let you know how the conference goes, what I learn and what’s up with us for the rest of 2010 which I get back!
Tags: Enlightened Executives, Leadership, Marketing, Sales and Marketing
Posted in Business Improvement, Enlightened Executives, General, Leadership, Marketing, Sales | No Comments »
Thursday, March 4th, 2010
 Well I did it! Made the time last week and crafted our revised Value Prop - finally. Clarified the Pain We Solve and what the Best Solution is to solve that pain…but most importantly defined what made us the Best Solution Provider. Kevin Daum helped me to scribe in a few short bullet points how what we do and how we do it separates us from everyone else and…assisted me to answer the question: ”What do we do that others don’t?”
So what did I learn in this process? Or re-learn as the case may be?
# 1: How incredibly important getting information from your customers, prospects and others in the market place is - including people who aren’t in your space at all. And the latter are often the most critical to talk with bringing in the fresh and new ideas - like Dave Griffith of the Modern Group did for me. Dave’s question? How could we make our membership criteria more selective and therefore add more value to our Think Tank Groups for our members? (Great question - more to come on that one…)
# 2: A reminder that creating a strategy is certainly not rocket science but it’s not always easy - and definitely takes work. And - in the end it’s just good solid business fundamentals - the kind we often say are common sense, but just not common practice!
And # 3: The value that outside coaching brings when you’re going thru this process. It really helped to have Kevin involved with us. I especially appreciated his perspective as a marketeer and a successful Inc 500 entrepreneur. He’s got his own unique value prop as well!
So come next Tuesday to our Growth Strategies Breakfast and meet him as well as the other Enlightened Executives who are part of our community. We’ll be talking with Kevin about our own process as well as having him share his expertise so that you too can learn to create your own Compelling Message in 2010!
See you then!
And let me know your thoughts on this process and how it’s helped - or hasn’t helped you in your business. A special thanks too to Heather Chandler of Seal Strip for some of her feedback in the last few weeks!
Tags: Business Improvement, Enlightened Executives, Leadership, Sales and Marketing
Posted in Enlightened Executives, General, Marketing, Sales, Strategy | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
That’s what I discovered last week - had every intention of telling you more about what I’ve been doing on my journey to “Create a Compelling Message” but other things got in the way…
I actually suspected as much when I looked at my list on Sunday before the week started. That’s how I organize myself and keep focused. I actually start looking ahead the Thursday before - which I found out one of our clients at Gateway Ticketing does too - so I don’t feel completely OCD. There are others out there like me.
I knew that with three days basically dedicated to clients and one day that I was taking for some personal time and reflection, there really was no way that I was going to get my weekly blog done, let alone complete the homework that Kevin Daum had assigned me which was:
” To use the information that we gathered in our marketing research to come up with the 25 words or so that describe the Pain that We Solve and the 10 to 15 words that say what the Best Solution is for that pain.”
So what to do? Well - chalk it up to the fact that sometimes Murphy intervenes and other more important things do require our time - like spending time with clients who are struggling to grow their businesses using the best practices that we teach and taking some personal downtime for me to recover a bit from the fast pace of the last few weeks - AND
That doesn’t mean that I don’t get back on track this week…and get my homework DONE!
So look for that next week - I’m making sure that it’s done by then.
And if you want to learn more about Kevin’s methodology for “Creating an Awesome Experience”, we still have a few more books available for those of you who register today for our March 9th event - or you can pre-order directly from the website.
Looking forward to seeing you then!
Tags: Business Improvement, Enlightened Executives, Executive Coaching, Leadership, Personal Development
Posted in Business Improvement, Enlightened Executives, General, Leadership, Personal Management, Sales | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 10th, 2010
So you  know that I”ve been telling you how Kevin Daum is helping us to prepare for our March 9th “Un-Marketing Event”, and working with us to create our Compelling Message over the last few weeks.
But who is this guy that I’ve been writing about and why all the hype? Why do we think that with all of the meetings and conferences and seminars that are out there you should come and hear Kevin?
With 3000 distractions a day, how will your message get heard? According to Chet Holmes, author of Creating the Ultimate Sales Machine, the average person in the U.S is exposed to 3000 messages a day. Yes, that’s right. 3000. So how will Kevin help you ensure that you get your message heard…?
Well… here’s three things you might consider…
1) As the National Columnist for Smart Business Magazine, Kevin Daum is inspiring people to get above the noise by pursuing the Awesome Experience. He brings real-world Inc 500 CEO experience to help you create a compelling message for your company.
2) Promoting your business can and should be fun. You can tell from Kevin’s ROAR! video that he lives his message of creating the convergence of Need, Entertainment and The Unexpected.
3) His book is exactly what we as business leaders need right now to get our sales and marketing on track. No need to take my word for it. You can download the first 2 chapters that explain how to develop your own Value Proposition - using the same format that I’ve been sharing with you these last few weeks.
Oh - and it’s a fun read as well.
So make a plan, bring a friend, come on March 9th! And stay tuned for more on my own journey to get our message heard…
Tags: Awesome Experience, Business Improvement, Enlightened Executives, Leadership, Marketing, Sales and Marketing, Strategy
Posted in Business Improvement, Enlightened Executives, General, Leadership, Marketing, Sales | 1 Comment »
Friday, October 23rd, 2009
“The best leaders don’t always know the answers. But they are really good at coming up with the right questions.”
So said Jim Collins earlier this week at the Fortune Small Business Conference in Dallas.
Here’s three sets of questions for you to consider as you think forward to 2010. Questions that you should be asking your key constituents: your customers, your employees and yourself and your management team…
1) For your key customers - and pick a few that are your most demanding - What have they valued most about your products, services and relationship this year? What’s the one thing that they would have you change or do differently going forward to make things even better?
2) For your employees - What’s the best form of recognition or reward they’ve gotten from you or someone else in the company over the past year? What’s one thing that you’ve done which has de-motivated them? What’s the number one improvement they would make to the business to drive revenue, improve service to your clients and increase your bottom-line?
3) For yourself as the leader and your management team - If we were our competition, how would we beat us in the market? Where are our vulnerabilites? What cracks exist in our strategy that we need to fix or eliminate?
And if you don’t like some of the answers that you get to these questions, give us a phone call or drop us a line. We’d love to help you to get answers that re-ignite your business - and set you up for success.
Tags: Business Improvement, Enlightened Executives, Generating Revenues, Getting ready for 2010, Leadership, Sales and Marketing
Posted in Business Improvement, General, Leadership, Marketing, Strategy | No Comments »
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