Don’t Give Away The Recipe

Fourteen states have announced they will be raising their minimum wages the first of the year. Alaska: $8.75 to $9.75 Arkansas: $7.50 to $8.00 California: $9.00 to $10.00 Colorado: $8.23 to $8.31 Connecticut: $9.15 to $9.60 Hawaii: $7.75 to $8.50 Massachusetts: $9.00 to $10.00 Michigan: $8.15 to $8.50 Nebraska: $8.00 to $9.00 New York: $8.75 to $9.00 (effective New Year’s Eve) Rhode Island: $9.00 to $9.60…

An exercise that I find surprisingly few companies doing effectively is conducting regularly scheduled staff meetings. In my experience, these businesses are letting a great opportunity go unrealized, as this is often the only hour of the week that everyone is gathered together to “get on the same page” with each other. Think of this…

You cannot listen to any successful coach motivating his team for long without hearing the phrase “just do your own jobs!” This is a deceptively simple statement that can have nearly universal impact and benefits. In sports, what the coach is saying is simply that when everyone on the team does what is expected of…

Recently I was in a self-checkout lane at a Kroger’s store while an attendant literally stood and watched me. The signage above the machines stated “for your convenience”. What am I missing here? It’s more convenient for me to be observed than it is to be assisted? Since when? The only way that a scanning…

There is a famous saying that states, “Sometimes you must lose a few battles in order to win the war”. I find that this attitude may apply when working with today’s customers as well. Let me explain. Potential customers have more information available to them than ever before. Access to this knowledge makes some feel……

As many of my readers know, I am constantly saying that we learn our best marketing lessons when we are the customer. I had a great reminder this past week. My wife, Michelle, had to undergo a rather serious abdominal surgery. It doesn’t matter how busy you may be, or who you are, such news…