What do the month of May, the 50th anniversary of the Pill and a pending big bill for rental tuxedos and pretty dresses have in common? If you guessed the Prom, you’re about half right — and, some would say, maybe a little morally jaded. But if you have a news announcement that can somehow …

Is Direct Response Marketing still a powerful concept in the digital age? Marketing in the digital world is a race for the most current information, the best technology, and the fastest implementation. David Ogilvy remains one of the most famous names in advertising and one of the handful of thinkers (Raymond Rubicam, Leo Burnett, William Bernbach, Ted Bates) who shaped the business after the 1920s.

The benefits of having a business plan include: Helping you to clarify your vision and deciding whether or not to forge ahead with the idea. Determining if your product and/or service has a sufficient market to support it and whether or not it will be profitable. Providing an estimate of your start-up costs and how …

Many social enterprises in the US come from the nonprofit sector, and a common way to measure nonprofit social enterprise is through earned income. Generally earned income refers to selling goods or services in exchange for a quid pro quo payment. In other words, you only get paid if you deliver the goods. Based on …

The Doctor Recommends Crisis Prevention:  But It’s Your Choice [Written with a healthcare industry slant, but obviously applicable to most organizations] There’s a death or serious injury due to questionable circumstances. An employee is accused of impropriety. Your company is acquired by or is acquiring another. A natural disaster occurs. There’s an investigation of your …

Years ago, I met Thomas J Leonard, the Founder of Coach University. He introduced the concept of “Tolerations” – those things that annoy you, drain your energy, and hold you back yet can be eliminated from your life. Tolerations show up in most areas – work, home, school, relationships, equipment, cars, and habits. Here are …

Sorry this is a day late, life happens – Well I promised to give some useful tools to put in your training toolbox – I had a comment on a past post and the writer suggested that “companies are choosing to use additional methods such as corporate videos for training and development opportunities (benefits enrollments …

Recently someone asked for a simple definition. As it turns out, business plans mean different things to different people. I tend to think of them as presenting the vision or goals for a business, along with a road map for achieving those goals. It can be sketched on a napkin, written on a few pages, …

The consumer complaint site, RipOff Report, has been the bane of many companies’ existence and a challenge for crisis managers everywhere. ED Magedson (yes, he capitalizes his first name), Founder of the site, agreed to a lengthy exclusive interview for my ezine, Crisis Manager, that I plan to publish on Thursday, April 29, along with …

Who Owns the Customer Experience in your Organization? Answer: Everyone Should. Who drives the Customer Experience strategy? Answer: The Leader who is responsible for providing customer service. The executive team should be 100% supportive and enabling of the necessary collaboration to establish an effective Customer Experience strategy that is the best in Delivering Service Value. …