Becoming A Thought Leader Post COVID

“Thought leadership” has officially found its place in the content marketing buzz word hall of fame. With more brands trying to become thought leaders, there are now countless resources on how to become a thought leader (some better than others!). But what many of these resources fail to address is why thought leadership is so important these days and how to rise above the noise.

Topics: Networking Customer Service Excellence Business Development Professional Development Inbound Marketing Thought Leadership

If You Are Going to Do Anything... Make an Impact

In the first few minutes at a recent meeting of the Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club the speakers said a few things that got me thinking. To summarize what they said:

For whatever we do (business, personal, charity, etc.) we need to not consider the actions, the money, or anything else other than the impact we make.”

Topics: Leadership Customer Service Thought Leadership

Pros and Cons of Professional Gift Giving (and Gift Ideas)

Gift giving can be a challenge. While some say, "it's the thought that counts" with a gift, you want to avoid being the subject of a statement along the lines of, "What were they thinking?"

With the holidays approaching, you may be faced with the annual conundrum of figuring out who you should send gifts to and what the appropriate parameters are for gift giving. You aren't the only manager struggling with this issue.

Before you start shopping for those client and associate gifts, here are a few of the pros and cons of professional gift giving as well as some tips that can help you make the right choices this year. We've thrown in a few professional gift ideas to get you started.

Topics: Customer Service Customer Relationship Management Business Culture

Sales vs Marketing - From the Customer’s Point of View

Customers have a unique perspective in the classic sales versus marketing battle because they are what both teams are fighting over. However, instead of feeling honored that both teams want to win their favor, the battle has a high probability of turning them off and driving them away. 

Paradoxically, pulling on a customer from each side only serves to push them away from both.

Topics: Customer Service CRM Sales vs Marketing

How to Get More Clients Back

Too much time, energy and money is spent searching for potential clients. In the new world of media, getting found via search engines or social media has become an additional expense.  Wooing and winning new clients is more difficult as they have information and resources available with a click on their mobile device and set up systems to guard from pesky sales people.

Topics: Sales Customer Service

Top 3 Ways Executives Can Improve B2B Sales

Our culture has evolved, and executives are required to be more elastic in their roles and wear many hats. One of the essential roles is selling, including "non-sales selling". Daniel Pink refers to this type of selling as “Moving others” in his bestselling book “To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others.”

Topics: Sales Customer Service