Sales Archives – Page 9 of 11 – Sunwapta Solutions

15 Oct 2009

Honesty in the Real World

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:21:58-06:00October 15th, 2009|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Marketing, Mindset and Motivation, Sales|

In the last few days I have personally witnessed 2 companies (other than ourselves) deal with annoyed customers.

Honesty

In the first case (no names, my blog is not about embarrassing others), the owner of the company had to deal with a customer that was upset about a missed deliverable. This occurred while we were meeting with him. What impressed me about it was his attitude. Yes, he was genuinely upset about his company's process failure… but he was not embarrassed about it or trying to cover it up with the client or with us. Honesty goes a long way.

Too Much Success

The […]

5 Oct 2009

Your Web Presence

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:22:25-06:00October 5th, 2009|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Marketing, Sales, Technology|

Every business should have a web presence… it is a no brainer right? Maybe.

Actually, the first thing you need to decide is what you want to accomplish on the web. Whether your goal is: marketing, sales, connecting with customers, or something else….

You need to align your web presence with your company vision and strategies if you want to be sure you are not just throwing money out the window (and as a small business owner that is your money).

Don't spend any time or money developing a web site until you know what you want to accomplish.

2 Oct 2009

Sunwapta Message Update

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:22:50-06:00October 2nd, 2009|Categories: Doug's Blog, Marketing, Sales, Technology|

Our latest iteration on messaging for our website.

What We Do For Clients

Data. Innovation. Software. People. Vision.

We bring meaning and life to complex data through innovative software solutions. This allows people to collaborate more effectively and make better decisions; faster and with more confidence.

Software, knowledge and people aligned with strategic vision drives competitive advantage.

We adjust our approach based on the situation and the people involved. Large organizations are inherently different than smaller owner operated organizations, we've worked in and with both.

No matter what your challenges are, we believe there is a better way of maximizing the return on your technology […]

29 Sep 2009

Tide, Things are a Changing

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:22:57-06:00September 29th, 2009|Categories: Doug's Blog, Marketing, Sales|

I was watching the breakfast show on TV this morning. Tide had a commercial talking about how environmentally friendly their product was. Their detergent is 2x concentrated reducing plastic in the packaging by 47% and allowing them to use less diesel fuel shipping it.

Yup, these are good things right?

The only problem is that every other detergent is exactly the same. In fact I saw one that was 4x concentrated.

Yet they are implying they are different… better even.

I think the days of putting a "spin" on the routine and calling it differentiation are quickly disappearing.

If you are going to claim […]

2 Sep 2009

IMC Vancouver – Calgary Preview

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:24:10-06:00September 2nd, 2009|Categories: Doug's Blog, Marketing, Sales|

Al Dhalla and I attended a sneak preview of the Vancouver Internet Marketing Conference hosted by Anduro Marketing.

It was kind of like appetizers before the main meal. Tasty but not very filling.

The full conference should be a lot more meaty as it goes for three days rather than just a couple of hours. Looks like there are lots of good presenters too.

2 Sep 2009

101 Business Tips

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:24:14-06:00September 2nd, 2009|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Marketing, Sales|

Good compilation of business and marketing tips from various authors.

101 Tips from 50 Small Business Bloggers

1 Sep 2009

Gaining Competitive Advantage

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:24:29-06:00September 1st, 2009|Categories: Doug's Blog, Leadership, Marketing, Sales|

Today I was thinking of what competitive advantage really means and came up with a few categories or methods of gaining competitive advantage. I think it is well worth looking at how you stack up against each category periodically (anything missing?).

Capability

Essentially you have something or can do something that is significantly better than your competitors. Even better if you are the only one or there is a barrier to entry.

Speed

How quick can you deliver on your promise and how fast can you respond to change.

Knowledge

What do you know that your competition doesn't. Knowing your customer fits here and so does intellectual property.

Location

Location, […]

31 Aug 2009

Who Are You (and your Business)?

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:24:50-06:00August 31st, 2009|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Dream Teams, Marketing, Sales|

Who are you? What matters? What do you stand for? What do you want to become?

At the core, the business and owners must be in synch for long-term success.

Sure you can buy a franchise for a proven business, say a muffler shop, but if you have absolutely no interest fixing cars it is going to be a long painful ride.

I've been running Sunwapta Solutions for over 9 years now and we never clearly defined this for ourselves… until now. Luckily strong ethics and doing good work were part of our core make up without thinking about it regularly.

If you just go with […]

19 Aug 2009

Those Pesky Customers

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-03T12:25:05-06:00August 19th, 2009|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Leadership, Marketing, Mindset and Motivation, Sales|

Ever have one of those days where customers (internal or external) keep derailing something you want to get done?

If only they would go away, life would be simpler and you could accomplish all your projects.

Yup, no customers would be perfect.

No customers, no distractions… no revenue… no business.

POP!

The trick is not in making your customers go away. Unless you have no intention of growing you actually want more happy, satisfied customers receiving something they need. Your business depends on it.

So the trick, is setting up your business so you can do both; and I don't mean working 16 hours a day.

You need to […]

15 Aug 2009

Quick Update on Website – 2

By Doug Wagner|2017-04-06T12:24:38-06:00August 15th, 2009|Categories: Current Events, Doug's Blog, Marketing, Sales|

In my last post on this subject I mentioned how fun it would be to do a parody of a normal website. Then I said I didn’t think I had the courage to be taking that kind of risk.

A few people have challenged me to not put out a standard (serious and boring) tech website.

Of course, they are not the ones that would be taking the risk so it is easy to say “Jump!”.

I am thinking that the parody version would not be right for me. Fun, but not really what I am about and certainly not what Sunwapta […]