Create a Customer Satisfaction Survey that Gets Results
Crafting a customer survey that gauges satisfaction with your business isn’t as easy as it looks. If the survey is comprised of misleading questions, or comes burdened with too many instructions, chances are potential respondents will ignore it entirely. At the other...
How Do You Set Your Business Apart From Your Competitors?
Article written by Phil Spensieri, TAB York Region I’m surprised by how many times a business owner can’t name their competitors. Why is this the case? Aside from when businesses bid for the same opportunity, there really isn’t a situation when owners come across...
Turning Loyal Customers into Brand Ambassadors
Gaining loyal customers is just the first step in an effective growth strategy. For many companies, the hunt is on for individuals who are so taken by their products or services that they are willing to serve as brand ambassadors for that business. Such individuals...
Visionary Leadership
A leadership style to get your team aligned toward achieving your vision Visionary leaders forge new roads. They inspire greatness in those around them. They take chances, fail miserably and try, try again. Visionary leaders are people who have touched us in business,...
Succession Planning
Planning for successful succession in your family-owned business Families in the process of transferring their business to the next generation have a number of complex challenges to overcome. Maintaining the viability of the business enterprise is foremost. This...
Marketing for the Minimum: Low Cost Marketing Tactics
[column_wrapper][two_thirds] Low cost marketing tactics to help your business achieve development goals. For most small businesses, highly effective marketing is a make-or-break necessity. Each year thousands of businesses fail—not because they lack effective...
Are You Looking to Expand Your Business?
Article by Phil Spensieri, TAB York Region Over the years, I’ve coached many business owners as they’ve worked to expand their business. Whether it’s the physical expansion of your office space, expanding your workforce, or investing in new equipment or technology,...
4 Simple Visuals That Can Help Customer Support In A Big Way
Article written by Ryan McCready Visuals can help even the most confused customer figure your product out and they can explain a complex process in a very consumable way. I mean, think about how many images an IKEA instruction manual uses! However, many support teams...
Organisational Alignment
Don’t underestimate the importance of organisational alignment in your business! Alignment is the side-by-side working relationship that makes great results a daily reality for both business owners and those who report to them directly. Learn how improving...
4 Tips on Creating a Customer Experience Strategy
In your company, how much thought is given to the quality of interactions between your customers and your business? The experience your customers have when interacting with your brand can make all the difference between a one-time, non-repeat customer and one who...
What is a ‘Buyer Persona’ and How Can It Boost Your Sales?
These days, it’s virtually impossible to lump all customers together and try to market to them the same way. Thanks to e-commerce and other consumer-empowering changes in the marketplace, the audiences you aim to serve have moved from one large, undifferentiated mass...
Your Best Employee May Not Have Industry Experience
Article by Chuck, The Alternative Board Worldwide I remember when I joined my TAB board in 2003, one big question I had concerned how business owners from unrelated companies could be helpful to me in my business. I quickly learned that insights from outside my...
Want to be a Great Boss? Here’s How
As CEO and/or business owner, you’re technically “Boss-in-Chief” for your organisation. Of course, you can’t supervise everyone in the business – that’s why you have managers in critically important positions – but where you do have hands-on “boss...
5 Customer Service Blunders Made by Small Businesses
Is “quality customer service” part of your brand promise? If so, you’ve made a commitment to deliver an outstanding buying experience each and every time a customer (or would-be customer) interacts with your business. It’s a commendable goal, but not one easily...
Improve Your Phone Communications for Greater Customer Service
Everyone in your business is a salesperson and the impression – positive or negative – each person makes is an advertisement for your business. This can add up to hundreds or thousands of advertisements delivered each day. Have you ever taken a negative...
Automate Small Tasks and Stay Focused on the Big Picture
A sizeable portion of business operations involves tasks that are repetitive, annoying to those charged with handling them, and fairly easy to automate. In case you’re wondering which tasks fall into this category, here’s a (by no means comprehensive) list: Invoices,...
Who Do You Turn to For Business Advice?
Article by Phil Spensieri, The Alternative Board York Region It’s helpful for any business owner to have someone they can turn to for business advice. In my experience, I’ve found that discussing your business issues with a person, or in a group of like-minded...
How Business Visualisation Tools Help You Persuade and Communicate
There are two fundamental truths about information and human nature that CEO’s and business owners should probably come to grips with: We are drowning in data. Humans process information through images more effectively than through words alone. Recognising these...
3 Tools for More Effective Communication with Employees
Business owners and CEOs should never forget that their employees are a key constituency in the organisation. Just as forthright, transparent communication with customers is of paramount importance, so, too, is the need to share information as much as is judiciously...
What Kind of Boss Are You?
As you probably already know from experiences managing and being managed by others, there are a lot of different leadership styles — and not every style works with every employee (or every boss). There are different ways to motivate people: Sometimes, all you have to...
Is Poor Leadership Damaging Your Company Culture?
As the CEO or business owner, your job is crucial in setting the tone for your company culture. These five pitfalls can lead to discontent, high employee turnover and a negative culture. Your role as CEO or business owner goes beyond planning for the future and...
3 Steps to Keeping the Right People in Your Organisation
Article by Phil Spensieri, The Alternative Board York Region With many business owners experiencing challenges in locating skilled labourers, the number of possible job candidates seems to be decreasing. For small business owners looking for that “perfect” employee,...
How A Sales Performance Plan Can Help A Struggling Rep
Article by Joe Zente, The Alternative Board Austin Whenever a sales rep isn’t performing, it is time for swift and decisive action. Let’s say our rep (we’ll call him John) is falling short of his goals. Depending upon the extent to which John’s performance is lacking,...
How Print Can Use Technology to Enhance the Marketing Experience
There are many advantages to using print and direct marketing in this digital world. By combining print with technology, companies are implementing forward thinking solutions to deliver exceptional marketing experiences. An expert in innovative marketing solutions,...
Filling Your Sales Funnel With Online Lead Generation
In this Webinar we will explore how Online Lead Generation can provide an alternative or supplement to telemarketing, cold calling and LinkedIn Sales Navigator. Jim Burris of Burris Creative, will explain how it works and what structure companies need to have in place...