It’s ok. We all did it. When things got tough, our mindset got pretty tactical. We weren’t thinking about taking over the world anymore – we were thinking about making it through to lunchtime. Instead of looking for where we wanted to go, we started looking for how we could survive. Before, we were building…
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that, for the first time in 15 months, more workers quit than were fired or laid off. Over the last year and a half, the economic uncertainty has held most employees in their existing jobs. They didn’t feel confident to make a move no matter what the situation, creating…
We talk a lot about budgets at Anchor Advisors. In fact, we sell them so much you might think we stand to make a commission on them! “This budget here … it’s the answer to all your financial woes. Look at all the bells and whistles. It can keep your business on track by helping…
Now that we’re getting settled into 2010, the economic climate is starting to change – slowly, but it’s changing. The intense pressure is off and business owners feel like they can breathe (a little) again. Many have realized they didn’t lose as much business as they thought they would, and some are seeing their businesses…
If your business survived 2009, good job! As business advisors whose mission is to help businesses grow, we never thought there would be a day when we would congratulate business owners for just surviving. But 2009 was tough! We’ll give you that. Some of us had to make radical changes to our businesses in 2009,…
When I was a corporate drone, I hated budgeting. It seemed like a charade, a game where we all had to guess what answers the big boss wanted. We inevitably failed, and the big boss would send back a budget that had nothing to do with what we had just spent hours slaving over and,…
I love to ski. But, much of skiing is not even skiing; it’s waiting in line and riding the lift. So, you learn to find enjoyment in those down times. When I’m riding the chair lift, I spend my time watching other skiers on the slope below. My eyes are usually drawn to the skiers…
How is Hooters different from other restaurants that serve wings? Do Hooters’ wings taste better? Do they have low prices? No? Then why do people go there for wings? Hooters built a whole business around the one thing they know their target market – twenty-something men – likes. (And, it’s really not wings, is it?)…
When I talk to business owners, I often ask them how they got into their business. More times than not, they tell me they ended up in their industry almost by accident. It wasn’t because they spent time trying to find their ideal market or they knew there would be great growth opportunity … it…
One of the most common representations of the sales process is a funnel. We don’t expect all of the prospects that go into the top of this so-called funnel to turn into sales. In fact, a good sales process has a systematic way to determine early on which prospects will likely to convert into sales…