Archives: October 2005

Motivate Your Customers to Stay in Touch

Posted by: Rod Kurtz on October 31

To close more sales, try motivating more prospects to contact you. The first step in generating qualified leads is giving people a reason to contact you. Take a lesson from...

Don't Let SarbOx Dampen Get You Down

Posted by: Rod Kurtz on October 28

What's good for General Motors isn't necessarily good for the U.S.A. Recent corporate "scamdals" and the resulting Congressional prophylactic -- Sarbanes-Oxley -- teach us that corporate directors are supposed to...

A Guerrilla Strike on All Possible Targets

Posted by: Rod Kurtz on October 27

Crafting an effective guerilla-marketing campaign requires reaching out to three critical targets and carefully allocating the proper amount of marketing resources to each. Your first target market is your universe...

Protect Your Intellectual Property

Posted by: Rod Kurtz on October 26

Do you own the materials created by your firm? The answer isn't as straightforward as you may think. Owning the ideas -- or intellectual property, as attorneys call it --...

Estate Plans Are Not Succession Plans

Posted by: Rod Kurtz on October 25

You don't have to die to win! So much of traditional family-business planning revolves around death issues that the plans don't answer one important question: What if you live? The...

Anticipate Negative Responses

Posted by: Rod Kurtz on October 24

All responses can be anticipated. That means salespeople who've been selling for more than a week can prepare for -- and be ready to turn around -- the vast majority...

Don't Surrender Control

Posted by: Rod Kurtz on October 21

Always be at the helm of the boat. It's your company, and until you go public, you have to be in control of it. It's incredible how many marketing and...

Unite Your Advisers

Posted by: Rod Kurtz on October 20

My best tip on getting legal advice, accounting advice, financial advice, and that sort of thing is this: Small-business owners are best served by their advisers if they use them...

"Let It Go"

Posted by: Rod Kurtz on October 19

You can't think stress away with logic. When you're feeling stressed, stop what you're doing for a minute. Get out of your head and into your body. Notice your breathing,...

Bring a Map on Your Voyage

Posted by: Rod Kurtz on October 18

I think a good business plan is critical. You wouldn't start a journey without a map. Whether it's on the back of a napkin or in a 100-page document, you...

Use Patents to Your Advantage

Posted by: Rod Kurtz on October 17

Although patentable concepts generally originate in the minds of the technical staff, the decision to proceed with a patent application requires more than a technical assessment. A patent may provide...

Perfect Pitching

Posted by: Rod Kurtz on October 14

Don't pitch business on the laurels of your client's brand, but on the specific solutions you provide them. Diversify your skill set. Offer many solutions. Don't project one process, or...

Tax Relief for the Self-Employed

Posted by: Rod Kurtz on October 13

Sole proprietors are great at running their own business, but not always so great at doing their own taxes. Tax forms are burdensome, and categorizing expenses and depreciating business equipment...

Never Limit Your Imagination

Posted by: Rod Kurtz on October 12

When Ray Kroc was a milkshake-machine salesman, he noticed that one restaurant, in California, was buying more machines than anyone else, so he went to visit his best customer --...

Be an Unrelenting Marketer

Posted by: Rod Kurtz on October 11

Marketing isn't an event as much as it's a process. It's the never-ending process of moving members of the universe onto your prospect list, then motivating these prospects to buy...

Give Your Company Some Wiggle Room

Posted by: Rod Kurtz on October 10

Don't spend your time creating marketing and new business materials in the first year -- focus instead on your client relationships. In the first two years, our company tripled its...

Make Your Pitch -- and Don't Be Afraid to Move On

Posted by: Rod Kurtz on October 07

Keep your cold calls short. Any prospecting call that exceeds two minutes is probably too long. Say who you are, say why you're calling, and suggest a specific date and...

Update Your Safety Net

Posted by: Rod Kurtz on October 06

If you're relying on a tape drive to back up your critical networks and servers, you should be featured on "I Love the '80s." Bare metal backup DPU appliances are...

Carpe Diem

Posted by: Rod Kurtz on October 05

I say don't do tomorrow what you can do today. I try to live by that. I succeed most times, but I'm not perfect. I wish more people in business...

Give Everyone the White-Glove Treatment

Posted by: Rod Kurtz on October 04

Treat every customer like they're Microsoft -- you never know where one sale will lead you. That means give advice freely, answer questions honestly, and make it easy for customers...

Be Patient and Don't Get Discouraged

Posted by: Rod Kurtz on October 03

Client relations and communication are my two most important priorities. I constantly remind myself to really listen to my clients and show a sincere interest in what they need. That...