Impressions
The first and last person you meet in a good hotel is the doorman. It's important that it be a positive experience. Guests don't generally meet management on arrival. The same applies to a restaurant and the host, or the
There May Be A “Magic Bullet,” but “There Is No “Magic Software”
Of seven people I know who invested substantially in software creation for their businesses to sell to their customers and prospects, two did so successfully and one of those successfully sold her business with that increased value. Five abandoned the
The Folly of Hourly Billing
I pioneered value based fees for consultants in the late 90s and my book, Value Based Fees, (Wiley) is now in its third edition and on audible. I first published the concept in the original Million Dollar Consulting (McGraw-Hill) in
Self-Interests
Whenever you find yourself uncertain about what action to take with a client, simply ask, "What's in the best interest of the client?" You can't go wrong with that. It's not in the best interests of the client to hide
The Secret of High Fees Is No Secret
I don't mind paying top dollar for top quality. And neither do 90% of the clients and prospects I've encountered. But that means you must demonstrate top quality from the very first contact, and consistently: • Return calls within a couple of hours
Speaking Candidly
Identify yourself as an expert—a resource—not as a speaker or coach or consultant—which are commodities. The former is of great valued worth high fees. The latter three are easily comparable and highly price sensitive. Case in point: You'll hear people talk about
The Strategic Planning Oxymoron
"Strategic planning" is an oxymoron. Planning kills strategy. Planning is bottom-up, with people trying to be very conservative making estimates about growth because they don't want to endanger their bonus potential or receive quotas that are too high. Strategic is top-down,
Give Yourself A Break
A lot of us entrepreneurs are refugees from large organizations. Hell, maybe most of us. We viewed bureaucratic, hierarchical enterprises as unhealthy and unfulfilling (at least I did). To me they resemble prisons, with fixed hours, rules for behavior, penalties,
If Not You, Who?
• You're too young. • You're too old. • You don't have the right background. • You don't understand the details. • You have no experience with this. • You don't know the culture. Commonality? These are all excuses to protect someone from hearing a fresh,
Yes, But Why?
When a client's objectives are completely "internal" ask the question "Why?" to find out the business improvement ("external"). Example: The client says, "We want to improve communication among our teams." Well, you can improve communication among teams until the cows come