Leadership Development: How to Promote and Grow Your Management Team

According to several independent studies, 80% of leadership positions have no formal training at all. If you run a mid-sized business and promote your management team internally (as the majority of the organizations out there), you likely fall into the majority of the businesses that grow organically. Management, along with leadership, is often taught “on the job”—without an MBA degree or background in economics to help you move forward. Leadership training can help people. Your staff will become more aware of their weaknesses and strengths. Communication skills—along with other critical soft skills for leaders—are improved by learning to clearly express… Continue Reading

Strategies for Differentiating Your Business and Standing Out in a Competitive Landscape

Can you invent an "irresistible offer" (or a "godfather offer") that is killing it on every landing page? I can't!  Are you struggling to differentiate yourself from the competition and create a compelling offer? WordPress retainers have changed the game for our company over the past 8+ years, even if they are not easy to use. How does a WordPress retainer work and what is it? In a nutshell, it's the most effective method for growing an engineering team. Our all-encompassing solution includes intricate projects developed over time, the consistent, long-term use of agile development principles, continuing support and maintenance,… Continue Reading

The 18 Core Topics Businesses Need to Evaluate and Refine

Working with 400+ consulting clients involves handling various recurring problems and pain points. Some of the 6-7-figure businesses I have been consulting on generate $750K to $50M in annual revenue (I charge $6K - $20K for 4-12 weeks of advisory.), and having been immersed in actual work as a corporate business advisor, I know first-hand that most of the business problems are around the following: navigating recruitment managing technical teams handling operations running successful agencies building distributed teams employer branding (to name a few). scaling their operations automating processes growing digital presence Producing high-quality content  In particular, these are the… Continue Reading

16 Most Important Soft Skills For Success

From the time we wake up to the time we sleep, we’re surrounded by people. Whether you’re an extrovert or an introvert, whether you like it or not, you have to interact with people. That’s when soft skills come into the picture.  Soft skills are personal attributes that enable a person to interact effectively with others. I’ve worked under and together with managers over the past 20 years. While “hard skills” are crucial for execution, management is impossible—and unpredictable—without the right soft skills in place. We have promoted less skilled people to management roles if that’s what it takes to… Continue Reading

Mastering the B2B Sales Process: How to Effectively Reach Decision Makers

Budget and timing are the two major reasons why businesses and salespersons lose B2B deals. This is according to a report from Chorus. This gives emphasis to the fact that the B2B sales process is a long one and it needs strategic approaches not only in budget and timing but also in other key aspects. To be successful in B2B sales means to have a deeper appreciation of B2B processes and sales stages, determining and reaching the decision-makers, and knowing how to go through the sales process efficiently. Understanding the B2B Process The B2B process takes longer than B2C since:… Continue Reading

6 KPIs Your Hire Needs to Hit to Pass the Probation Period

Regardless of whether you enforce a probationary period or not, you need to ensure that your new hire has completed the onboarding process successfully and fits the organizational culture. Even the best recruiters out there can't gauge employment efficiency during the interview cycle. And several studies, including a recent survey by Checkster Research, show that 78% of applicants misrepresent themselves. While we continuously refine and improve our recruitment process, certain metrics can't be deducted over the course of an interview or two. Speed of execution, working in a team environment, and attention to detail are some of the common denominators… Continue Reading

How to Make Different Business Leadership Styles Work (With Case Studies)

Several thought leaders have referred to 2020 as the year of great reset. But if you want to be really strict about it, most of the biggest business shifts started way back at the onset of the 21st century.  Traditional business leaders who are banking on traditional business leadership styles in this new century needlessly risk losing their businesses to unhealthy age-old leadership practices. The pandemic just helped reiterate the need for business leaders to change the way they approach business problems primarily due to the following reasons: New technologies Pace of change Changing demographics and employee expectations Changing customer… Continue Reading

15 Personal Branding Hacks To Boost Your Online Presence

Personal branding is the holy grail to skyrocketing your business and unlocking new opportunities for revenue generation. Developing your own brand through blogging, industry events, networking, social media activities, and email list building will boost your influence status (and bring some organic leads your way). As a strong supporter of HubSpot's inbound marketing strategy, I'm all about doing sales without actively selling which is the purpose of branding. People who invest in their own personal brand are known to have “a lot at stake” and therefore would likely be committed to whatever they undertake as a challenge. This is incredibly… Continue Reading

8 Things Entrepreneurs Need to Know About Running a Business and Landing Customers

We certainly live in the most entrepreneurial era since the inception of humankind. Starting a new business endeavor gets more prominent thanks to mass media, startup accelerators, venture funds, and digital opportunities to launch quickly. The premise of "being your own boss" is a tempting solution to giving entrepreneurship a shot. How to Run a Business? The entrepreneurship wave combined with the demanding millennial rules of freedom and results-driven business models will break the norm in the corporate world over the next decade or two. Entrepreneurs need to know how to join progressive organizations and handle separate departments using shared… Continue Reading

10 Factors to Consider Before Scaling Your Business Towards Growth

While the global corporate community world aims for rapid growth, scaling your business towards growth does not come easy. In fact, not everyone is suitable for growth. This is the main paradox the startup community faces when it comes to venture-backed businesses. For instance, angel investors expect a profitable exit within 5 years of the founding round, preferably sooner. Different VC studies report anywhere from 4 years to 6.3 years on average. This requires a business growth plan that scales really, really fast, even at the expense of generating loss over the first couple of years. Loss is accumulated due… Continue Reading