Posts Tagged ‘business’
Choose Your Market Or Craft It? Or Both?
By MARK RIFFEY - Sometimes you choose your market, and sometimes it chooses you. Today, we get a little of both.... more
Tourist Season is Coming. Are You Ready?
By MARK RIFFEY - It's almost tourist season. Are you ready? Is your facility ready? Here are some steps to help you make tourist season better than expected:... more
Business Rules of the Road
By MARK RIFFEY - While they vary from person to person, our values are the central driving force in our everyday lives. It's worth considering where your rules come from and how you use them.... more
Customer Relationships – Do Yours Mature and Adapt?
By MARK RIFFEY - Why do our companies, software, processes, communications and systems so infrequently adapt to the state of our customer relationships?... more
Breaking Through Business Frustrations
By MARK RIFFEY - What things about your business are you fed up about? Sometimes it might be everything or the biggest things, but at other times the tiniest of things.... more
Where Does New Business Hide?
By MARK RIFFEY - Are you monitoring the sales thermometer? If you're not, how can you consistently produce new business from existing and new customers?... more
Prevent Lost Customers With These Five Words
By MARK RIFFEY - Small businesses are always interested in getting more new customers, but sometimes forget that keeping existing customers is less expensive than the cost of replacing them.... more
Pivots Make Customer Service Personal
By MARK RIFFEY - In customer service, the pivot is that little thing you do to transform what could be a customer-losing experience into one that almost guarantees they'll be back.... more
Win On Low Price, Lose On Low Price
By MARK RIFFEY-Do you depend on having the best price to win business? If so, are you sure that's really how you want people to choose your company? ... more
Your Business Culture is Embedded in Daily Conversation
By MARK RIFFEY - Here are a few commonly-used phrases in business conversation that raise the hair on my neck: 'Industry Norms', 'Best Practices', 'Human Capital' and 'Innovation'.... more
What if You Actually Followed Up?
By MARK RIFFEY -Does your business follow up with your clients and prospects like you should? Consider what "like you should" means, before deciding whether you follow up properly or not.... more
They Really Aren’t Very Good At Marketing
By MARK RIFFEY - One of the most common marketing mistakes I see is focusing solely on new clients and doing so in a way that annoys everyone else who has (or had) a relationship with your business.... more
Habit Forming: What Do You Do Every Day?
By MARK RIFFEY - Having a routine, a ritual or habit is a good way to start the day. Not only does it go well with coffee, it signals your mind that it's time to switch to "work mode". ... more
Everyone is Someone’s Hero
By MARK RIFFEY -What if you could leap tall buildings, throw balls of fire or swing from webbing that shoots out of your wrist? What's your superpower? Does anyone know about it?... more
Put Your Mask On First
By MARK RIFFEY - Flight attendants ask us to put on our oxygen mask first, then help others, because we can't help others if we're unable to breathe. What about your business mask?... more
Doing Ahead vs Thinking Ahead
By MARK RIFFEY - Quite often, I talk with business owners about thinking ahead. But I'm concerned that small businesses are thinking ahead, but stopping there. And here's why that concerns me:... more
Which Customer Wants to be an Insider?
By MARK RIFFEY - This past weekend, I checked off two to-do list items with one coffee stop. I was looking for a good place to sit, sip and write. I got more than I expected.... more
Famous Last Words: ‘We Can’t Afford to Market Our Business’
By MARK RIFFEY - Marketing is steady, don't ever stop kind of work. If you don't have a bunch of cash to invest, here are some frugal yet effective ways to market your new business.... more
Is Your Work Important? How About Meaningful?
By MARK RIFFEY - (VIDEO) Why spend your life doing work that doesn't interest or motivate you? Why work at a place that doesn't value what you do?... more
Would You Like Some Flirting with that Coffee?
By MICHAEL MALLORY - “Hey, Hun! What can I make for you?” says the half-clothed young lady waiting at the window of a bright red coffee stand off South Russell Street.... more
Are They Proud Of Their Work? It Will Show
By MARK RIFFEY. Just because it is "grunt work" doesn't mean it isn't valuable. Your employees' work and personality at 2:00 am is the face of your business to many customers.... more
Why They Don’t Answer Your Calls Or Read Your Email?
By MARK RIFFEY. Do your customers and prospects let your calls go to voicemail? Do they open your emails? It's time to get relevant and engage them in THEIR context with you – not as total strangers.... more
The Scariest, Most Painful Business Conversation
By MARK RIFFEY. The most painful (and scary) conversations I have with small business owners are about marketing.Commonly it involves how another company "stole" their business with "more aggressive" marketing.... more
Business is Personal: What’s a Core Story?
By MARK RIFFEY - One of the more common things you'll see from a business that's differentiating themselves using things other than price is their use of a unique selling proposition (USP), and a "core story" t... more
The Most Expensive Advertising Ever
By MARK RIFFEY. Are you wasting those carefully planned advertising investments? The most expensive investment we can make is one that's wasted.... more
View Marketing as an Investment, Not an Expense
By MARK RIFFEY.When something is viewed as an expense, your instinct is to reduce it to the smallest possible amount. Doing this to your marketing is not unlike choking yourself.... more
Simple Advice for Acquiring and Retaining Customers
By MARK RIFFEY. Some of the simplest advice I give is the most powerful: "Do at least one thing today to get, or keep, a client."... more
Let Your Customers Turn On the Lamp
By MARK RIFFEY -What's the first thing you do when deciding which lamp to buy? YOU TURN ON THE LAMPS. Give your customers the opportunity to see your products in a place that makes it easy for them to buy.... more
Starting a New Business – What’s Your Plan?
By MARK RIFFEY - Let's talk about business startups. Before you order those business cards, buy those supplies, determine your costs and set your prices...you need to research your market.... more
What Does a New Business Owner Do First?
By MARK RIFFEY - Let's talk about business startups. The overwhelming load at startup can freeze you in your tracks.... more
Why Much of the Internet is Blacked Out Today
By MARK RIFFEY - What is Intellectual Property? And what's it got to do with much of the Internet being blacked out this week? Mark Riffey of the Flathead Beacon explains.... more
A Letter from Georgia
By MARK RIFFEY - We almost didn't open it, thinking it was junk mail. Why would the University of Georgia send us mail way out here in Montana?... more
Business in Montana: Here’s Your Sign
By MARK RIFFEY - To connect with customers, you need to follow the signs. Some signs you must seek out, while many are buried in your existing business data.... more
What’s With the Funny Square Bar Codes? (i.e. What are QR Codes?)
By MARK RIFFEY. You may have seen those odd-looking square bar codes in newspapers and magazines, on product boxes, etc. What are they? Read on. . .... more
Differentiation in Business: Promotion Tips to Prevent Generic Marketing
By MARK RIFFEY. One of the things you have to be careful about is making your business too generic. Lesson: Business is Personal.... more