Recently the Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal published an article titled “Debunking the elevator speech.” I respectfully offer a differing opinion in support of this vital business tool, based on my thousands of sales calls over the 25 years I have been selling. Recently named the top salesperson in my company for the second year in a row, I attribute part of my success to the “Elevator Speech.” read more »

Some of you might be fellow fans of Tom Peters, who introduced us in the 80’s to the concept of striving for “excellence.” He almost single handedly set the bar higher for companies to improve every facet of their operations. read more »

I had the wonderful opportunity to tackle a turn-around job on a seriously struggling industrial company. Initially, this outfit looked like a disaster in the making with serious safety, quality, production, inventory, sales and morale issues.

As the new general manager, I was charged with cleaning up the mess and returning the branch operation to profitability. To achieve success would tap all of my leadership skills and then some. I knew that somehow I had to manifest a major paradigm shift in everyone’s minds, especially my key managers. read more »

I always find it interesting that, despite so much of the literature to the contrary, many employers still believe salary is the foremost thing that motivates employees. From my twenty years in the business world, much of that as a hiring manager, I can tell you it isn’t so. Understanding what does make your employees tick will give you a decided edge in finding, hiring, motivating and retaining good people. Given that human assets are your most valuable business asset, getting this right really pays off. As a true bonus, many motivational tools cost little or nothing to implement. read more »