How to Avoid Setting Your New Salesperson Up For Failure
18
Sep 2017
25
Jul 2017
Does Your Business Deserve the Marketing Results You Want?
Are you holding both the business and your marketing team accountable for marketing results? Wise business leaders understand that effective marketing amplifies the message the company is already putting out – the two must be in sync.
Know What You Control
Three things that you control determine your perceived position in the market include your
- Business strategy and how well you execute on it,
- Company culture and the people who make that culture, and
- Business processes and […]
9
Jun 2017
5 Ways to Win Survivor Alberta – Business Edition
The key to being the ultimate survivor in business in an extremely competitive landscape is to have a strategic plan. These five components will help you thrive.
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Before I stopped watching television, I used to watch Survivor. One of my favourite scenes was an episode where Rupert stole shoes and other items from the other tribe, and then they used the pirated loot to trade for more useful – and untraceable – […]
2
May 2017
Change or Die: Thriving In Turbulent Times
The oil and gas industry is notorious for riding the boom and bust cycles inefficiently. When oil is over $80 a barrel, the profits are large enough companies choose to ignore innovation and spend on growth instead. The problems compound the faster you grow until you can’t survive below $70 per barrel.
When prices are low, there is a slash and burn reaction because the company was never set up to be efficient. Now, the money and resources are not there to support creating efficiencies. […]
12
Apr 2017
5 Powerful Exercises to Rehab Your Business
In rehab, you engage with experts and specialists to get through the first few stages of recovery. You can also speed it along by outsourcing to clinics outside of the public health care system.
At some point, you have to do some of the work on your own. If the exercises are too complicated or time-consuming, most people won’t do them.
So here are some simple but powerful exercises you can do to rehab your business. You will get stronger faster, by pushing the exercises […]
29
Mar 2017
If Marketing Is a Growing Asset, Would You Invest More?
For most Oil and Gas (O&G) service companies, marketing works like this. You put money into it, and if it works, you get some leads. Marketing is an ongoing expense instead of an asset. Stop spending, and you stop getting results.
Sales Assets
Sales work much the same way. The biggest difference is it is primarily composed of people. If customers are spending somewhere and you want more sales, you either motivate your sales team a little more or hire additional sales people.
There are two common types of sales people everyone talks […]
22
Feb 2017
To Win, Understand Your Buyers Better Than Anyone Else
Ultimately buyers are responsible for making wise purchases. However, they usually need help. That is your opportunity to guide them through the buyer’s journey.
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Buyer’s Perspective
When buyers don’t know how to differentiate their vendors or the solutions they provide, they focus on price.
It is easy to blame vendors for not making things clear in their marketing and sales literature. How many buyers know what questions to ask a supplier, so the important differences are evident?
To get […]
6
Dec 2016
The Mystery in Marketing
The Truth is Out There
This month’s theme (Oilfield Pulse) is about conspiracy theories. This theme immediately got me reminiscing about the X-Files television series. It is possible, that somewhere behind all the woes we are facing as a province and industry, there is cigarette smoking man who is somehow in on it.
Or, maybe the truth is more mundane.
It could be that we still don’t have those pipelines because people don’t want them in their backyard for an abstract benefit […]
3
Nov 2016
Fear, the Sounds of Silence, and Some Marketing Strategies
Like many people, I’ve been following the U.S. election. It has become nasty and full of hate. The Internet, the media, and social media are amplifying the effect. A year ago, we watched the Conservative Party try a few...
6
Oct 2016
The Hidden Costs of Failing to Innovate in Sales
What are you doing to innovate how you market and sell your products and services? If you are trying to survive and even thrive at today’s oil prices, these two functions are the key to competing and staying profitable.