Flourishing in Business: An Introduction “Sustainability” has become a highly popular, perhaps overused, term in business today. Often it refers to environmental issues. Today, I want to apply it to people – particularly those that will take your place in leadership in ten, twenty or thirty...
Proud Capitalists From time to time, when I give the “elevator speech” about what we do at Tenacity, people will respond by asking how we ever got into the business of client retention in the first place. A witty, but not entirely untrue, reply is that...
“The Top 10” We have to give David Letterman the credit for inventing, or at least popularizing, the “Top 10” idea. In many endeavors, it really is a sound discipline to thoughtfully list out and prioritize the reasons that you may want to do something –...
eHarmony® and “Right Clients / Right Terms®” – Strange Bedfellows? Perhaps you’ve heard the new ads – Dr. Neil Clark Warren, the dignified and kindly founder of eHarmony.com, has returned to the company as CEO. This is great news! I (Steve) know Dr. Warren and hold...
Selling From the Inside The second of the three keys to profitable growth is to sell more to the clients that you already have. Many acquisitions are pursued and consummated with the belief that a firm’s existing base of clients presents a ready marketplace for new...
The Only Value That is Relevant Do you remember Sales 101? One of the first lessons is the difference between features and benefits. Here’s a quick review: Features are the elements of an offering, e.g. “We have the most sophisticated purchasing program in the industry.” Benefits, on the...
A Bottle of Water or a Handful of Diamonds? You’re lost in the desert – for days. Who knows how many? The temperature is soaring, the hot sun unrelenting, the sand choking. You have no food or water. Onward you walk, unsure if you might be...
Where Did That Expectation Come From? Occasionally we’re asked: “Tell me about Clients for Life®”? One answer would be to say that, Clients for Life is a formal process of client retention. At its’ heart, however, Clients for Life is an expectations-based, value creation model. We...
Exceed Expectations by How Much? Your firm is positioned right where you want it to be. You’re leaving a wonderfully successful Expectations Meeting with an important client. All members of the Web of Influence®, on both sides, were in attendance. You had very good news to...
The 3 Keys to Profitable Growth – The Outcome So back to last week’s blog – yours truly is on the hook for roughly triple my net worth as a participant (twice-removed) in a management buyout - having outbid the modern day iterations of Gordon Gekko...