Blog - Smart Thinking For Crazy Times

“Excellence is not a skill. It is an attitude.” - Ralph Marston         A study by Leadership IQ found that 46% of new hires are either fired or disciplined within their first 18 months. And in a staggering 89% of those cases, the reason for the action isn’t...

I have always been interested in how a leader creates a high growth business, either from the start or by taking an existing business or team to the next level. We’ve all had experiences with two dramatically different types of leaders. Some leaders manage to get the...

“Change your thoughts, and you change your world.” - Norman Vincent Peale  A positive mental attitude is the foundation of a successful life. Acting with gratitude and happiness is dependent upon thinking thoughts of gratitude and joy.   Your habitual and instinctive...

How many ways are there to grow your business? There are only 3, guaranteed. You can: Increase the number of customers Increase the size of transaction Increase the frequency of repurchase Most businesses, by default, focus solely on increasing the number of...

In every business transaction, someone is taking the financial and emotional risk. Good sellers understand the importance of having the client “feel certain and protected” and therefore turn the risk on themselves, in some cases, even better than a money-back...

Is it possible to capture and communicate anything of value about persuasion in a single sentence?  It is, and I'm about to prove it. A while back, I learned a gem of a theory by a gentleman called Blair Warren. I discovered this while doing research for a sales...

Are you being paid what you are worth? Do you deserve a salary increase? The chances are your boss won’t voluntarily shower you with a huge bonus or more than the annual inflation-related raise. To rectify this, you have to make the first move, and it requires skill...

The most powerful word in negotiations is “Fair”. People tend to comply with agreements if they feel they’ve been treated fairly but can also respond firmly if they haven't. As human beings, we tend to be influenced by how much we feel others have respected us....

We are in the middle of the toughest double-edged recession of our lifetimes. Your business is facing a crisis economy, one that is worse than the sub-prime mortgage meltdown created in 2008. It makes the 2008 crisis look like a picnic. One of the critical things you...