Not going to conferences, trade shows, visiting customers? Make a difference now for when you resume business as usual. Smart Advantage can help you find your differentiators and competitive advantages remotely. You never have to leave your office; we don’t have to come on site! Make this worldwide Down Time pay off for your company. Arm your sales…

After reviewing the marketing and sales messages for hundreds of companies, one thing has become glaringly obvious:  there is little or no consistency in the messaging from any one company.   Often messages are drowning with clichés.  Clichés that are replicated on the websites of their nearest competitors.  No one stands out, everyone is generally…

I am beginning to think that if we answered every single customer satisfaction survey we got after virtually each purchase, we would have to give up all our discretionary time to provide feedback to companies.  You get a survey after you stay in a hotel, fly on a plane, order flowers, buy anything online, make…

  Now that the holidays are behind us, did you notice how many days are named for shopping? Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Small Business Saturday, and Super Saturday are all special ways to shout – SALES.  As if these designated shopping days aren’t enough, there’s no shortage of last minute specials with their blow out…

I was recently in a local retail store with a big sign announcing “Closing Sale, everything 70% off.” It was enough to get me to enter the store and ask the clerk why the store was closing.  The clerk, who happened to be the Assistant Manager, said “Internet prices are killing us.”   I tried to…

If you have ever bought a new house or made any big purchase decisions, you likely did some comparisons. Most of us do that even when we think we know what “we want.” We are looking for that tie breaker. What will help me make my choice? Which stands out and why? Is there anything…

How often do you challenge your salespeople, and yourself, to clean up your company’s sales pitch? We have worked with hundreds of companies to help them build a compelling data-driven pitch. The key to success for any new sales pitch is that it must be a consistent presentation of your company’s value. And the goal…

Companies throw buzz words around like pillows at a preteen sleep over.  Value Proposition, value marketing, cost benefit, cost justification, value chain – you’ve heard them.   Too many are adopted by company leaders to create the internal “vision” of what the company must focus on in their corporate culture and sales and marketing efforts.  …

I will confess, I am a big fan of Judge Judy. I love how she cuts to the chase and doesn’t let folks ramble on with their “feelings,” just goes for the facts. What a concept! But most of all, she tells plaintiffs and defendants alike: “I don’t want to hear that, I don’t care…

Peter Drucker said “90% of information used in an organization is internally focused and only ten percent is about the outside environment. This is exactly backwards.” This may be one of the most telling business quotes of all time.   We often see companies that are wrapped up in themselves. Their self-image – who they…