Marketing & Sales
Are You Connected?
How often do we focus exclusively on our client in business and forget to talk a bit about ourselves? Don’t underestimate the power of finding those points of connection that will set you apart from your competitors. It can be as simple as gathering any of the following information: Where are they from? Where did…
Are You Easy to Do Business With?
At the Atlanta Home Furnishings summer market this last Friday I had an unusual experience. I had been checking out showrooms for a few filler pieces for my mountain retreat and found Go Home. It is a resource new to me, which has some great unique pieces. I asked about lead time and the owner…
High Point Market Here I Come!
High Point Market here I come! Heading to High Point Furniture Market this week for a few days. I am speaking on Relationship Investing for the Interior Design Society. I’m a board member and excited to see the new directions we are headed. Jaclyn Smith unveils her home line! While at market, I am looking…
Relationship Investing for Real Business Returns
One of the essential keys to weathering the storms and vagaries of an unpredictable economy is to develop lasting relationships with your clients and consumers. It doesn’t matter if you are selling services or product, at the high end or the low end, what matters is that you have taken the time to develop long…
The Art of Getting It Done
To truly master delegating you have to be attached only to the outcome and not to how it is accomplished. I remember in grade school getting extra points if I showed my calculations, and while necessary in accounting and record keeping, in most of life it isn’t how you get there, but that you get…
Are You Carrying More Than Is Yours?
Clients who have known me for 10+ years recommended I try Jdate recently. They are Jewish and knew that my value system and political outlook was similar to theirs and that religion wasn’t a big deal to me. I honor everyone’s individual beliefs as long as they honor my desire to be spiritual, but not…
The Keys To Good Service
Yes, it is easy, do what you say you will. But surprisingly this is rarely the case. I don’t know about you, but I find all too often vendors and providers don’t do what they say they will. Recent experience getting quotes for replacement windows has been frustrating to put it mildly. Before getting quotes,…
Building Your Business
As discussed in the last issue, it is vital to ask, ask, ask to find the best and most appropriate resources and service providers to ensure your business success. But, getting the resources and providers is only half the equation, it is building the relationships that really matters now. How do you create a long…
Seek And You Shall Find!
For the first five years following college and armed with a degree in hospitality management, I was a Purchasing Agent in hotels, including Opryland Hotel, Callaway Gardens, and Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. If you ate it, drank it, wrote with it, or slept on it, I bought it! Research was critical, and I’ve always…