Author Archive

How to track progress  in your sales process

You may be among the thousands of people who work hard to plan and execute a clear sales process. You prospect, qualify, approach, present, respond, close and follow up. You know the process and you do the process. How’s it going? If you’re not sure, you’re in good company. Here...

Is spontaneity underrated? The changing face of impulse buying

Adding a pack of gum or a magazine to your shopping cart has helped retailers make a crucial few extra dollars for decades. A recent survey by CreditCards.com found that 68 percent of U.S. consumers said their primary location for making impulse buys was “in person in a store.” Thirty...

Need business referrals? Ask for help

Occasionally, a customer will take the initiative to refer your company to a contact because of the good work you’ve done for them.  That’s fabulous.  They may need a nudge, though, and it’s important to ask your customers to openly acknowledge how important your company is to them. #34 of...

13 Ways to Build Better Business Relationships

All successful businesses–regardless of what they do or sell–have one thing in common: their people know how to build and maintain relationships. The truth is that business leaders too often get caught up in the details of the kinds of products or services they are selling to notice how critical it...

Surprise Me!  7 Tips for Inventing New Ways to Reach Customers

Marketing success depends, at least partially, on creativity. Creativity helps you stand out in a world bombarded with advertising, it helps differentiate you from your competitors, and it makes you more memorable in your customers' minds. The solution is easy: come up with more creative ideas! That, of course is...

5 Keys to Successful Outreach

Here are five of Valcort’s 35 Keys to Business Growth that address the challenge of reaching out to your publics. Take a look. Making the Best of Customer Touchpoints # 5 Have a fully coordinated, customer sales approach, drawing a customer into an engaging relationship at every point of contact. Executing...

The Top 15 Iconic Marketing Campaigns in History

The Top 15 Iconic Marketing Campaigns in History Every day, companies and causes of all types and sizes try to get your attention and to persuade you to buy their products, embrace a category, shift your impression of their company, support their cause, or vote for their candidate. Over the...

The Keys to Successful Corporate Communication

Communicating is simple. Right? Well, expressing yourself may be easy, but effective communication can be mind-numbingly difficult in settings from friendships to marriages, politics and religion, and business. It’s strange that although we all have been communicating since our infancy we still face communication problems all our lives. We often find...

The Value of Being Creative

For the last three years, we have been exploring Valcort’s 35 Keys to Business Growth--specific practices to advance your business, five each in seven VALCORT disciplines: V—Values and Vision A—Assets and Associations L—Lens on market, customers, and competition C—Creative O—Outreach R—Relationship T—Tracking Here are links to all five articles on...