Office Depot is a company in search of itself. New chief executive Roland Smith said the nation’s No. 2 office-supply retailer needs to develop what’s known as a “unique selling proposition” — a way to set itself apart from competitors that include Staples, Amazon and Costco. Speaking with analysts last week, the former Wendy’s CEO…
Ft. Lauderdale, FL, June 3, 2014 – Jaynie L. Smith is the newest inductee into the Florida Highway Patrol Advisory Council. Smith is the author of Creating Competitive Advantage and Relevant Selling, the CEO of Smart Advantage, Inc., and an internationally recognized keynote speaker. The Florida Highway Patrol Advisory Council is an organization comprised of…
All kinds of companies, ranging from the tiniest start-ups to the largest global organizations, have prospect and customer variations. While some sales professionals consider all sales targets homogeneous, here is a way of thinking about customers. Customers can be: • Brand new – just came on board so you’re in the honeymoon stage with them….
The new buzz words are “content marketing” and/or “content messaging”. I know there are magazines touting its importance, and articles galore attempting to explain it, yet, when someone identifies what they think represents good content, the content seems to have a “ditto” feel to it. Each year, we are exposed to scores of different industries….
So many companies do and it cost sales each day. Let me explain: There are so many things a customer expects from you in their business encounters. Often that which is most valued is taken for granted by the company who delivers it when trying to reel in the customer. When asked, “What is the…
Louis Bedigian, staff writer of Benzinga, reports on 8 Things Every CEO Must Know by interviewing Jaynie Smith, CEO of Smart Advantage and best selling author of “Creating Competitive Advantage” and “Relevant Selling.” Read the full story
Your metrics and what you might learn The Tale of Two Companies: Two companies learned from double blind research that “Quality” was the highest rated attribute by their customers. In other words, great quality was more important than anything else in their buying decision. We asked each company what metrics they had that could support…
Tips for learning what matters most. We are living in fast moving, content rich, and information overload times. We can no longer message the way we have in the past. Look at your brochures and website, along with your sales presentations. It is likely loaded with “marketing speak” aka, “blah, blah, blah.” Personally most of…
While all businesses know, at least theoretically, that differentiation is one of the major keys to success, it is often difficult to find true differentiation anywhere. Company after company offers up the same products and services, as well as the same claims of excellence, e.g., “we are customer focused,” followed by ditto mission statements. It is not…
The Economist reported that Alibaba.com handled $170 billion in e-commerce sales last year – that’s more than Amazon and eBay combined.The company is poised to become the world’s leading e-commerce business and inevitably the most valuable company… ever. As it prepares to go public, it could easily eclipse Facebook, which at the time of its own IPO was valued…
