If you own a professional-service business, pricing is probably high on your list of challenges. How can you align the value created by your work with any tangible measure? It’s not easy, but it can be done. With products, it’s easier. Look at the market price for similar or substitute products and compare the features,…
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…
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,…
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…
Marketing isn’t always a high priority for some business owners because they can feel intimidated, even defeated, by it. They understand sales – but marketing? What’s it for? Why do you do it? And when you only turn to marketing to pull you out of a slump and then it doesn’t deliver, we can see how you could feel…
It’s not often that I recommend listening to country music, but I want you to listen to this song before you continue on. Go ahead and give it a listen … it’s just time. Done? Ok. The message of this song is how important it is to spend time with your children. While I certainly…
We all know the importance of communication in business. But what if, despite our communication efforts, our staff members don’t retain the important information we need them to know? Things like: What is our company’s vision? What is our company’s mission? What are we focused on improving this year or this quarter? What is our standard elevator pitch that…
Mission Statement: We resolve to be pretty much OK. We won’t make glaring errors, so our customers will be somewhat satisfied. We want people to like working with our team, and feel comfortable working at our company. Now, there’s a mission statement – if you’re on a mission to fail. No business would ever create such…