Jim Blasingame's Blog, page 32

Listen for the song of Hope

There comes a time in the life of every small business when we’ve done everything we’re supposed to do: developed a plan, worked the plan, stuck to the budget, focused on the fundamentals, and we’re still not absolutely sure we’re on the right track toward success. So what keeps us going?

Hope.

Webster says hope is “to desire with expectation of attainment”. Hope is the emotion we feel between the time we take that courageous entrepreneurial leap, and when we know the results of our actions–whe...

It’s The Age of the Customer—the rules have changed

For 10,000 years, customers refined their search for products and services down to a couple of semi-finalist sellers based almost entirely on the classic competitive value proposition: price, product, availability, service, etc. I’ve termed this period the Age of the Seller.

That was a nice trip down memory lane, wasn’t it?

The new, prime differentiator today is no longer the competitive model, but rather a customer’s appraisal of how relevant a seller is to them, often before they even know if...

Video: Disregard the “Nu-uh!”�� Effect at your own peril

In this week's video I explain how User Generated Content can produce a "Nu-uh!" effect against your small business.

Disregard the “Nu-uh!”�� Effect at your own peril from Jim Blasingame on Vimeo.

SBA Poll Results: How is the economy looking for you?

The Question:

With two months of 2014 behind us, how is the economy looking for your business?

5% - So far, 2014 sales are great and expect this to continue.

34% - We’re seeing improvement over last year.

42% - So far, this year is trending no better than last year.

18% - This year is looking worse than last year.

My Comments:

When we asked you about your instincts about the new year in our online poll the first week of January, 60% of you said you were either positive or very positive. Alas, as you...

Focus On Your Gauges

In his book, This Is Your Life, Not A Dress Rehearsal, Jim Donovan said:

One of the chief characteristics of virtually all highly successful people is that they make decisions quickly, and rarely, if ever, change them.

This might seem like a rigid, perhaps even arrogant attitude - to refuse to change a decision - but there is something else at work here.

One of the keys to success is to be able to make things happen. In order to do this, you have to make a lot of decisions. If you know what you...

There is no handshake in “the cloud”

“In the clouds” is an aviation term pilots use to describe flight conditions. Or you might have heard this term in a parent’s lament about where their teenager’s head is. Recently, it has found a place in the marketplace vernacular.

“Cloud computing” is the availability of incremental processing power that resides on an application provider’s servers, instead of your hard drive. For example, community-building technology resides “in the cloud,” like the social media platforms that have taken p...

Video: Are you practicing Age of the Customer prospecting rules?

In this week's video I discuss the importance of shifting from the Age of the Seller to the Age of the Customer.

Are you practicing Age of the Customer prospecting rules? from Jim Blasingame on Vimeo.

SBA Poll Results: Are you finding qualified applicants for jobs?

The Question:

What is your experience in finding qualified applicants for your job openings?

57% - We have openings but it’s difficult finding qualified applicants.

13% - We’re finding qualified people when we have an opening.

30% - Doesn’t matter-we’re not hiring and don’t expect to this year.

My Comments:

As you can see, 87% of our small business respondents are not hiring, with the largest group reporting they have job openings but can’t fill them with qualified employees. Indeed, research indic...

Enjoy the whole trip

The richest person is the one who is contented with what he has. - Robert C. Savage

I like that statement, but I can see how it would trouble those who are goal-oriented.

It’s important to have goals. But if you are goal-oriented, that almost precludes being contented with what you have, doesn’t it? So how do you reconcile Mr. Savage’s sage observation with being goal-oriented? I think you do it by recognizing success in many different forms in your life.

You say, “I want to grow my company to $...

What is a blog and why should small business care?

At this point in The Age of the Customer, many people would think that defining a blog is an elementary task tantamount to explaining the wheel. But here in the real world, where Main Street small businesses live, some folks actually still have un-Tweeted thoughts. Consequently, since a blog for most small businesses is at once a powerful yet under-used customer connection tool, perhaps a little background and illumination would be beneficial.

Describing his online journaling, early Internet a...