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It is normal for most people to project their values onto their customers. For example, when the topic of "How often are you emailing your list?" comes up I get answers ranging from "once per month" to "a few times per year." When I suggest emailing a MINIMUM of once per week, the pushback is immediate and forceful with the business owner often questioning my mental status and telling me "there's no way my clients want emails from me that often!"

You've done the SWOT analysis and identified your business's Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. 80% of business owners consider the exercise complete having identified a "snapshot" view, and file the analysis away into a drawer never to be seen again. But the savvy 20% use the information they've gleaned as a starting point to plan for future growth.

A SWOT analysis is a strategic planning technique that helps you to identify your core strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The technique leads to fact-based analysis, fresh perspectives, and new ideas and works best when multiple voices within an organization are free to provide realistic data points rather than "prescribed messaging."

3rd Party Data is dying... But what does that mean to your business and why should you care? Simply put, the vast amounts of data that we used to have access to through Facebook and Google to run our ads is slipping away. This means that marketing your products and/or services will not only become more difficult but will also become more expensive. But why did this happen? Simply put, Apple decided

Metrics... Just because they’re easy to measure doesn’t mean they matter. When I visit a new client or when I do some investigation for a prospective client, I often see something that looks like a useful metric but isn't. It happens because they often appear in easy, round numbers and are easily compared to other round numbers. Facebook "Likes" is one I see often. But when you start to think about it, how does

When I first came to America, I was shocked at the cultural differences.

Everything was different from attitudes to the way people interacted with each other in daily life, even how they shopped. But the most interesting thing to me was how businesses marketed and sold their products and services. India – like much of the third world - has little marketing. Business owners in third-world countries focus on sales and negotiating. Mostly, this is because people in third world countries buy products and services they need. Conversely, in America people buy what they WANT.

"Open Door Management" of your business is a two-edged sword. Yes, you should absolutely have times when your staff can access you directly. But when that time is unlimited, your ability to function as a leader or manager is seriously compromised.

Have you ever had someone say, "I didn't get your email." yet you know with 100% certainty you sent them an email?

Most businesses fail to create an image of their ideal client - an "avatar" that gives them a crystal-clear picture of "who" they are marketing to. As a result, the marketing

Parthiv Shah shares his system for growing his business using the phone to prospect.