As an entrepreneur, often you are your brand. Your “about” page can set the tone for you and your style and give potential clients a preview of what you might be like to work with. Here are three important steps to crafting the perfect about page. 1. Start with a hook. Pose a question to your website visitors that you…
I work with B2B companies that rely on us to bring them more leads. In fact, that’s usually the number one complaint when we first meet with a client. “We just need more leads,” they’ll say. In their minds, the only thing holding back their ascent from a $5 million company to a $500 million…
Here’s the Danny Meyer school of thought on how to make a traditional service business into an enlightened, customer-centric hospitality mecca: Put your employees first and shareholders last to create a “virtuous cycle of enlightened hospitality.” That’s lovely and all, but can it really be applied to a startup? It seems a little overwrought. When…
This week, a survey of more than 500 American employees revealed – and I’m using the word “revealed” in its journalistic sense, to mean “confirmed the staggeringly obvious fact” – that nobody’s paying attention during conference calls. Sixty-five per cent of those questioned said they did other work at the same time as pretending to participate;…
Brainstorming, in its current form and by many metrics, doesn’t work as well as the frequency of “team brainstorming meetings” would suggests it does. Early ideas tend to have disproportionate influence over the rest of the conversation. Sharing ideas in groups isn’t the problem, it’s the “out-loud” part that, ironically, leads to groupthink, instead of…
“My salespeople can’t close.” How often have you heard that line? If you’re a sales leader, you’ve probably even said it. But closing is never the real problem. Never. That’s just the symptom. The problem is that salespeople neglect important activities during earlier stages of the sales process. Unless you address the broken links in…
Editor’s note: Bo Peabody is an entrepreneur and investor, and is currently a Venture Partner at Greycroft Partners. He has founded several companies including Tripod Inc., one of the original social networks. Bo is also the author Lucky or Smart. After spending 20 years building companies, first as an entrepreneur and then as a venture capitalist, there’s one thing I’ve learned about the…
With so many different mediums of communication and so many people with whom we can connect, how does anyone manage to create an intelligent, mutually beneficial relationship? The best innovators have the answer, and their secret weapon is open intelligence. In my research with renowned business strategist Saj-nicole Joni, we discovered that there is a…
The micromanager might be one of the most common “bad boss” stereotypes, but it’s a tricky situation when you are on the other side. This week’s reader question comes from a newly minted supervisor, unsure of how to manage her entry-level employees without becoming a micromanager. For advice on how to deal with this tricky…
You want to establish solid and friendly relationships with your clients, but you have to be very careful of how far you take it. Completely letting your guard down can be a mistake, especially in the current environment where technology offers the opportunity for everybody to know everything in an instant. First and foremost, never…
