Casual Articles - Business

Unique Selling Proposition - If You Don't Have One You Won't Be In Business For Long
“When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight” “We’re number two. We try harder.” “Like a good neighbor_____ _____ is there”If you can name the companies that belong to the above Unique Selling Propositions than you can see the importance of having your own, it works!Simply stated a Unique Selling Proposition differentiates you from your competition. If you don’t have something different to offer, you better find something

e trainer ask questions for the purposes of guiding a conversation in a particular direction without disclosing that direction in advance and giving participants a choice about whether they want to go there.

My colleague Sue McKinney and I explored this subject in

Business Idea & Opportunity Evaluation
In analyzing your business ideas you must be able to pass them through a test to determine if they truly are valid opportunities. All of your ideas must have a demonstrated need, ready market, and ability to provide a solid return on investment.Is the idea feasible in the marketplace? Is there demand? Can it be done? Are you able to pull together the persons and resources to pull it off before the window of opportunity closes? These questions must be

"Asking questions can be a means of establishing authority, fulfilling leadership functions, and ensuring effective learning. In fact, asking questions is probably the most subtle power you have for controlling people. The person who asks questions always controls the conversation... if we could discipline our minds to ask questions instead, we could lead any conversation to wherever we wanted it because the other person would still be wrapped up in thinking what he or she wanted to say next...One of the rights you have as a trainer is to ask questions and expect answers. This is why question-asking is such a powerful tool. It challenges and avoids confrontation at the same time."

Mitchell, Garry, The Trainer's Handbook: The AMA Guide to Effective Training, Amacom, 1998, p 63.

If you deliver training, odds are you reduce participants' learning and enthusiasm through manipulative questions - like the ones Garry is advocating for -and that you're unaware that you're doing this. I label Garry's approach to questions as manipulative because they require that the trainer ask questions for the purposes of guiding a conversation in a particular direction without disclosing that direction in advance and giving participants a choice about whether they want to go there.

My colleague Sue McKinney and I explored this subject in d

How Managers Hit PR Paydirt
As a business, non-profit or association manager, you’ll know it’s PR paydirt when you’re able to persuade your key external stakeholders to your way of thinking, then move them to take actions that lead to your department, division or subsidiary’s success.Proof of the pudding will be outside stakeholder behaviors like increasing repeat purchases, more inquiries about strategic alliances, new specifiers of your components, more membership inquiries, o

nversation... if we could discipline our minds to ask questions instead, we could lead any conversation to wherever we wanted it because the other person would still be wrapped up in thinking what he or she wanted to say next...One of the rights you have as a trainer is to ask questions and expect answers. This is why question-asking is such a powerful tool. It challenges and avoids confrontation at the same time."

Mitchell, Garry, The Trainer's Handbook: The AMA Guide to Effective Training, Amacom, 1998, p 63.

My colleague Sue McKinney and I explored this subject in

Sales for House Washing
In many parts of the country people wash their house twice a year with the pressure washer. Many people know that they need to clean the roof to keep the mold off and also the sides of their vinyl siding house.In other parts of the country such as out West in Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico and many parts of Texas people have stucco on their homes and they seldom wash them. Nevertheless out West you will also find manufactured homes and mob

to ask questions and expect answers. This is why question-asking is such a powerful tool. It challenges and avoids confrontation at the same time."

Mitchell, Garry, The Trainer's Handbook: The AMA Guide to Effective Training, Amacom, 1998, p 63.

My colleague Sue McKinney and I explored this subject in

So, Where is the Greener Grass?
Twenty years ago when I left the Ireland, known as the Emerald Isle, I was looking for the place where the grass is greener. We all know that faraway hills are green, and back then I was searching for my greener pastures so I looked faraway.With a few detours, I arrived in Australia; the Sunburnt country, dry, arid and drought ridden, looking for prosperity. I was looking for the good life of beaches, yachts and barbeques.When I had left Irelan

training, odds are you reduce participants' learning and enthusiasm through manipulative questions - like the ones Garry is advocating for -and that you're unaware that you're doing this. I label Garry's approach to questions as manipulative because they require that the trainer ask questions for the purposes of guiding a conversation in a particular direction without disclosing that direction in advance and giving participants a choice about whether they want to go there.

My colleague Sue McKinney and I explored this subject in

Steps to Evaluating Your Business Idea
Whether you want to start an online or offline business, the first thing you need to do is find out whether your product or service will sell. The first step to finding that out is to research the supply and demand of the market. Ideally you want a product or service with high demand and low competition. There are many resources with which you can accomplish that. But, before we get to that, always remember that a business idea is NOT a business opportunity

My colleague Sue McKinney and I explored this subject in detail in "The Facilitative Trainer" chapter of The Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook. Today I hope I can help you identify how, if at all, this is happening for you, and offer a way of using questions that avoids the negative consequences above.

When I began my work as a trainer, I often resorted to subtly manipulative questions to achieve my goals in a training session. For example, I'd ask questions I already felt I knew the answer to in hopes that participants would get the "right" "Ahas". Trouble was, this was significantly limiting learning for everyone in ways I couldn't see.

Chris Argyris' research and our client work lead me to believe that this kind of questioning gets people defensive; they don't know why you're asking the questions, they guess, and their guesses often contain negative judgments about you or the training design. All this reduces your credibility and their learning.

I used the following four methods to dramatically reduce this kind of manipulation and increase my effectiveness as a trainer; I continue to use them with colleagues

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Have you lost it? Your career I mean... Well it's time to find it and take control to create the excitement, fulfillment and success that is meant for you!

For the entrepreneur who is opening a dollar store cost reduction is an ongoing challenge. It is a challenge that needs to be addressed in every aspect of the business. One of the most important areas of focus is payroll.

Conducting a SWOT Analysis can be quite a challenging task when you are not so experience. this article is written as an alternative way to conduct a SWOT Analysis. It illustrates the What? When and How? It can be done in a simplistic way.

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