From the category archives:

Entrepreneurs

Your Social Presence Sucks

by Justin McCullough September 3, 2010
082757

I want to tell you something. Please listen to this.

You’ve taken the time to get yourself on all the popular networks:

Facebook
Linked In
Twitter

You even updated your:

Google Profile
Business Card2.com

…And you’ve got a website and blog or both.  You’re actively engaged with people and your just tweeting and facebooking away, making all those high quality, authentic connects you [...]

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Weakness Turnaround

by Justin McCullough August 27, 2010
FlickrIMGTimParkinson

When it comes to sales, tactics are plentiful and it’s easy to follow someone else’s suggestions on tactics.  This approach works and it is especially effective for fundamental sales tactics, but it can also fall apart when it comes to your individual style.
Lets reflect on you for a moment on your weakness and how you [...]

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Like vs Trust

by Justin McCullough August 13, 2010
FlickrIMGTimParkinson

The rather old school idea of having people like you as a part of your selling skill has changed. While humans will always consider who they like they will no longer allow this to be the deciding factor.

Why? Because buyers want homeruns and shortcuts. They want problems to go away. They want [...]

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Being a Sellout

by Justin McCullough July 6, 2010
jesse757Flickr

The unknowing peers, fans, pundits, and friends tell us when we’ve sold out.  They will tell us on the streets, on the phones, in email, online and everywhere else.

They are all wrong.

“You’re on Myspace! Dude, what are you, a 12 year old girl?”

That’s what my friend of 25 years said several years ago when I [...]

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The Invincible Boom

by JC Hewitt June 30, 2010

The internet as a social force is poorly understood. Only 15 years ago, commentators pooh-poohed the potential of the internet. Even now, many expect a completely web-enabled global society to be largely similar to what came before.

It’s not the same.

Geography, costs, and information scarcity used to enable small cliques to gain power and influence over [...]

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Pre-Call Planning w/ Social Media

by Justin McCullough June 22, 2010
FlickrIMGTimParkinson

In sales, the smartest thing you can do is pre-plan your sales call. No matter how much experience you have, no matter how many times you’ve pitched your products, no matter what your attempts-to-close ratio is, pre-call planning is a must.

With pre-call planning you study up on the prospect, their current efforts, how they [...]

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Analytics: How to Spin a Blog Into Gold

by Mark Brimm June 21, 2010
Golden blogger

Social media can be tracked with an array of metrics tools that provide building blocks for actionable data. This article is the first in a series that will take the reader through ROI on little or no budget. It’s like Christmas in June!

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Linchpinning Off a Steep Cliff

by JC Hewitt June 16, 2010
Crash and burn

The dangers of mandatory linchpinning as part of a ‘business strategy’ are many. As JC Hewitt opines, being a linchpin, if not kept within bounds, can become the downfall of a company, instead of the intended saving grace that Seth Godin envisioned.

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What Makes a Company Valuable?

by JC Hewitt June 9, 2010
Startups & Brand Equity Likened to Marathon Readiness

Many companies consider that most of their strength comes from their brand. But traditional branding has come under criticism. It used to be possible to label a commodity like potato chips with a brand name strengthened by television, print, and radio advertising and mark up the products considerably. Generating that brand strength is no longer as easy as it used to be. And it’s impossible to measure.

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Static Vs. Social Brands

by Mark Brimm June 7, 2010

Many corporations and organizations still don’t really get social media, perhaps because they are operating in a former mode that denies social media realities. Many organizations, on the other hand, are using new media to connect in a with the public in a positive manner. Mostly, however, this doesn’t go beyond having a profile on [...]

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