Growth Strategies Articles

1). Customer Advisory Boards By : Paul Lemberg
Customer Advisory Boards are a great source of information about your market and your business. Their advice is more valuable than any management consultant's. They provide real world counsel on what you are doing right, what you are doing wrong, and most important -how to stay competitive. After all, they're the customer. They're the one's who buy your stuff.
Article Related to: advisory boards, strategy, growth strategies, strategic planning, executive coaching, valuation

2). How To Communicate Value Proposition And Return On Investment By : Paul Lemberg
As part of my continuing series on Value and Pricing, the following article shows you how to position your company's value contribution to support the highest value-for-value exchange. Too many business owners, when asked about the value or ROI of their product or service, shrug their shoulders and say, "I can't really put a value on it." If you can't.
Article Related to: advisory boards, strategy, growth strategies, strategic planning, executive coaching, valuation

3). Ten Entrepreneurial Mistakes By : Paul Lemberg
It's hard to avoid certain mistakes, especially when you face a situation for the first time. In fact, many of the following mistakes are hard to avoid even if you're an old hand. Of course, these are not the only mistakes CEOs make, but they sure are common enough. Take the following self assessment: give yourself ten points for each of these entrepreneurial blunders you are in the process of making.
Article Related to: pareto principle, strategy, growth strategies, strategic planning, executive coaching, valuation

4). 5 Ways To Beef Up Sales...Immediately By : Paul Lemberg
Last week, one of my clients—we'll call him Rick—had a demo scheduled with a prospect. The standard "show up and throw up" they typically did early in the sales cycle. Trying to shorten the sales cycle, I asked naively, "Why does the customer want to buy? What are they trying to accomplish?" Rick couldn't tell me. I asked if he thought the salespeople knew.
Article Related to: advisory boards, strategy, growth strategies, strategic planning, executive coaching, valuation

5). The Vital Few By : Paul Lemberg
Back in the 19th century, an Italian economist quantified the general relationship between a minority of producers and a majority of output. Sound familiar? The simplified version of Vilfredo Pareto's ratio, known as the 80/20 rule or the Pareto Principle, says that in most cases, 80% of production comes from 20% of producers. Quality guru J.M. Juran referred to Pareto's principle as "The Vital Few and the Trivial Many".
Article Related to: pareto principle, strategy, growth strategies, strategic planning, executive coaching, valuation

6). Tracking For Profits By : Paul Lemberg
If you can't track it, don't do it. Every high-performance venture needs a tracking system. A tracking system with well-designed metrics lets everyone know how well they are doing relative to their commitments. It is a guide to whether additional or extraordinary actions need to be taken. It is one of the first things I set up with my business coaching clients because without a clear set of objective metrics it is hard for people to be clear about their results.
Article Related to: business coach, strategy, growth strategies, business leadership coaching, entrepreneur, leadership

7). Thinking About Thinking - Part 1of 2 By : Paul Lemberg
How much time do you spend just thinking? Take a guess - how much during any given day, week or month? I'm don't mean the kind of thinking you do while driving in your car, commuting on the train, during your morning run, or even in the shower. I'm referring to the kind of thinking you do ensconced in your office, or your den, or perhaps your garden.
Article Related to: business coach, strategy, growth strategies, business leadership coaching, entrepreneur, leadership

8). Thinking About Thinking - Part 2 Of 2 By : Paul Lemberg
Like many of my clients, I am always looking for ways to speed things up - to produce more results with the same or even fewer resources. We probably agree on this. The key is certainly not about working harder; it may not even be about working smarter. But there are definitely ideas which work, and those ideas need to be uncovered. Often you can find them through analytical thinking.
Article Related to: business coach, strategy, growth strategies, business leadership coaching, entrepreneur, leadership

9). What Stops You? By : Paul Lemberg
Have you ever had a terrific idea which you didn't act on? Of course you have. I don't mean anything fancy either. Nothing earth-shattering. Just a plain old-fashioned good idea which would have made you more money. But you didn't get moving on it. Oh well. I have a friend I'll call James. James is an independent management consultant and a deep, creative thinker.
Article Related to: strategy, growth strategies, strategic planning, executive coaching, valuation, pricing

10). Equity: The Golden Handcuffs By : Paul Lemberg
Last month, I wrote about positioning your company to attract and keep top performers. One very effective way to do both is to compensate your key employees with equity. Performance pay has become a critical factor in keeping top talent; combine it with a sense of ownership and a stake in the future of the business, and you've got a powerful set of incentives.
Article Related to: advisory boards, strategy, growth strategies, strategic planning, executive coaching, valuation

11). The Benefits of Analysis! By : Jeffrey Benson
You have found a gap in the market, you have thought of a business idea that you believe will make you a healthy profit. The next stage is to conduct a thorough analysis.
Article Related to: small business growth strategies, growth strategies, business growth