Business Strategy Archives – Page 12 of 38

23 Apr 2013

PhD Essential for Business Success

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T11:29:35-06:00April 23rd, 2013|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Leadership|

After well over 12 years in business I have noticed that one key ingredient is absolutely essential to business success.

In fact, every single time we've run into problems (and I assure you we are not perfect either) I can trace it back to this cause.

Focusing your business on the things that matter most does not happen by accident.

Ensuring that your company stays on course to execute on its vision is not a once a year event.

Ensuring adherence to your core values and culture is not a part-time job.

Delivering your value promise to your customers each and every time is not […]

18 Apr 2013

Hatching Dragons (and Businesses)

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T11:29:45-06:00April 18th, 2013|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog|

What if you could figure out how to hatch a dragon?

It would be a cool and magical moment.

As soon as you create, the real challenges begin.

How do you feed a dragon?
How big will it get?
Where do you keep it?
What about the breathing fire part?

Dragons are dragons by nature. They are notoriously independent. And hungry.

The Strategic View

So the most important questions?

How do you ensure it doesn't cook or eat you?
Or your friends?
Or other people?

Why did you hatch a dragon?

Might be good to have a plan for this BEFORE you […]

16 Apr 2013

Trust is the Real Success Accelerator

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-17T13:42:22-06:00April 16th, 2013|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Go-Giver Coach|

“All things being equal, people will do business with and refer business to those people they know like and trust.” Bob Burg and John David Mann – The Go-Giver

The Go-Giver

At first glance the Go-Giver is a book about sales.

I agree. Following The 5 Laws will help you sell more.

The Laws apply to life and business as well.

Because they are largely about being human, building relationships and putting the interests of others first while being open to receiving.

We are focused on Joe and how […]

12 Apr 2013

Focus on What Matters Most

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T11:30:28-06:00April 12th, 2013|Categories: Books and Courses, Business Strategy, Doug's Blog|

Too many businesses get distracted and lose focus from what is important.

I am currently reading "Be The Best At What Matters Most" by Joe Calloway.

Great book. Well worth the read. Buy it.

But reading the book won't help you.

Applying the ideas to your business will help you immensely.

Manifast Your Dream Business

I started by asking two questions about our own Manifast brand:

What matters most to our customers […]

4 Apr 2013

Be Different, But Not Too Much!

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T11:30:49-06:00April 4th, 2013|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog|

Sometimes even the experts have a hard time with embracing good business wisdom and instead go with the herd by default.

Be Different Stand Out

Be Different, But Not Too Much

We are told to differentiate ourselves from our competitors. Be different from them in some discernible way.

Yet when you are too different some interesting things start to happen.

The experts tell you to be more like your competitors. And "everyone" becomes an expert.

See the problem is that our brains want to match new patterns with what […]

28 Mar 2013

Scheme or a Viable Business

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T11:31:03-06:00March 28th, 2013|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog|

The key attributes of a viable long-term business are:

Deliver more in value than you take in payment from each client,
Serve enough clients to sustain the business vision and need, and
Keep more money than you spend delivering the value to clients.

House of cards viable business success If all three of these are not true you don't have a viable business. If you can sustain it indefinitely you have a long-term viable business.

If point 1 is not true you are running a scheme. Tricking your […]

22 Mar 2013

The Business Owner’s Dilemma

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T11:31:18-06:00March 22nd, 2013|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog|

Your business is a tool to get your products and services in the hands of clients or customers in exchange for payment.

Hopefully you've also tied it to a great mission or purpose.

You need to have all of the following in place:

A great product or service
Cash Management
Marketing
Sales
Customers
Client fulfillment
People
Processes and Systems
Strategy

The dilemma for every business owner is allocating scarce resources in the proper balance.

Get it right and your business can take off. If the balance is off…

You and everyone else will be drawn to what you like to do. Or the problems (if you don't avoid them). Or where you get the […]

18 Mar 2013

The 3 Sales Books You Need Most

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T11:31:27-06:00March 18th, 2013|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Marketing, Sales|

We recently hired a Sales and Marketing professional so I asked myself, "What are the 3 sales books that influenced me the most in the last year or two?"

So here it is, the three books (well actually it is 5) that will form the core of our initial Sales training program.

The 3 Sales Books You Need Most

The Go-Giver

The Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John […]

15 Mar 2013

The Complexity of Simplicity

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T11:31:35-06:00March 15th, 2013|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Technology|

Sometimes simple is simple. Sometimes making things appear simple is complex.

Things should be as simple for your clients as possible. They already have enough challenges without your products and services adding to them.

Brain maze complexity simplicity business solutions clients customers Our Example

We recently built a complex web-based tool for a customer. We designed one of the features to be super powerful.

But that required 12 plus different buttons to control that power. We were going to have to […]

7 Mar 2013

Start with Value

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T11:31:54-06:00March 7th, 2013|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Marketing, Sales|

There are a number of times in business where you are
tempted to jump to a solution without really considering your customers first.

This is a big mistake.

Setting Your Price

Recently we were trying to figure out where to position
ourselves for pricing of some of our products and services.

The obvious first step is to look at what your direct and
indirect competitors are doing and use that as a baseline. You can then pick
the low, mid or high point and go from there. They must know what they are
doing, right?

Wrong.

Start with Value, Customer First, Business Success […]