Growing up in New York, Yogi Bera was one of my favorite characters. He was a good player but even more of a philosopher (well, sort of). Some of his most famous "Deep Yogi Thoughts" include: * "It ain't over 'til it's over." * "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." * "It's like déjà vu all over again." * "You can observe a lot by watching." * "Baseball is 90 percent mental and the other half is physical." * "You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I'm...

When you think of unicorns, I am sure the first thing that comes to mind is a mythical and colorful horse with a single horn. Although there are no living, breathing unicorns that I have ever seen, I know unicorns are REAL! Real unicorns in business refer to an elite privately funded startup that has crossed the $1 billion valuation mark, usually in the technology field. When you think of business leads, I am sure the first thing that comes to mind is a real-life person who needs and wants...

One of the most recognized sounds computer lovers remember is the dial-up connection and AOL's announcement that says, “You've Got Mail!” It was like a sugar high whenever you heard that sound. Nowadays, most of us feel like we have the stabbing pain of a cavity when we hear our Outlook or Gmail inbox notification saying, “You've Got Mail!” What changed? The biggest difference is that many (if not most) of the emails we get today have one goal: to sell us something. Some of that is subtle,...

Let's face it. We are living in a world that is overwhelmed with information. * 380 new websites are created every minute, and over 500,000 new websites are added every day * 7 million blog posts are published across the internet daily * 300 BILLION emails are sent per day (85% spam) * 720,000 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube (30,000 days' worth of video content) per day * AI-generated content creation will double those numbers in less than a year Getting your messages in front...

Mulch is made by shredding trees. Finer shredding improves the soil over time. As organic mulches decompose, they can add nutrients and organic matter to the soil, enhancing its quality. Mulch is not only decorative but also functional. It helps plants by regulating soil temperature, retaining water, and preventing weeds and erosion—all from recycled trees. I think of creating content as an ecosystem, just like a tree. It starts with an idea or a seed of thought. It grows and builds roots...

You may not think about it, but we are surrounded by messages and ads all day long. In today's digital age, the average person encounters between 6,000 and 10,000 ads daily. We are bombarded with billboards, snail mail, radio, and TV, not to mention all the social media content, spam emails, and robocalls. All of that noise has one goal: to get you to spend or give your money to them. The never-ending battle for your attention and dollars is waged relentlessly daily. This works because we...

If you have been involved in online marketing in any way over the last 10+ years, you have been fed a steady diet of more. More followers equals more sales. More hits to your website equals more sales. More social media engagement leads to more sales. Almost nobody would argue that more sales are bad, but people have conflated more with better. I am here to say that better is worth more. In the world of relationship marketing, sales begin at connection. A connection can come in the form of...

Trust has to be planted and grown. It is a seed planted through a personal relationship. It needs to grow roots and be nurtured through light and water to produce fruit. Trust must be watered by honesty, warmed and fed through the light of integrity, and rooted in consistency. Strong roots and branches provide shade and shelter in the stormy weather of doubt. It would be great if there were a way to measure trust. You can calculate the number of people who know or connect with you. You can...

Going from Know to Trust requires a stepping stone, and that’s called a Like. You can try to jump over that stone, but it leads to a transactional two-step. You may make a sale, but it will not build a relationship. Relationships are key in the B2b world because businesses need to be reminded that you are there to serve them when needed and that they can continue to trust you. Like is a connection. Online a connection is a follow, friend request, or whatever a social platform says its...

Know is a beautiful word. People ask, “You know what?” They text IYKYK (meaning if you know, you know). Know can also be a derivative of knowledge. Know is a two-way street when it comes to marketing. You want people to know about you and your business. You may also want to know who knows about you and your business. Knowing who knows what is almost like the old Abbott and Costello bit, “Who’s on first.” Or, what came first, the chicken or the egg? Just because someone becomes aware of...

The concept of “Know – Like – Trust” has been around for a while. It is commonly attributed to author Bob Burg (Endless Referrals and The Go-Giver). Another person attributed to the concept is sales trainer Michael Goldstein, who talked about buyers needing to experience “confidence, affinity, and empathy” before making purchases. No matter who originated it or how you phrase it, it’s undoubtedly a foundational process to making a sale. When I say process, it’s one foot in front of the...

Networking has been around for a long time in business. Some of the names you may recognize (Benjamin Franklin, Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, and John D. Rockefeller) were prolific advocates of networking. As we know it today, networking started taking hold in the 1970s. More formal groups like BNI (Business Networking International) started in 1984. Tradeshows, associations, and even chambers of commerce are all forms of networking. One of the best philosophies I have ever learned about...

One of the foundations that's stuck with me through the years is, “Businesses do not do business with other businesses. People do business with people.” There has never been a corporation that has ever paid cash or written a check. People do that. Yes, companies try to put you on autopilot by making you subscribe to things, but it still takes a human to enter the data and make the initial purchase. What had been the Horatio Alger dream of the Nineteenth Century, starting in the mail room and...

What’s your image? Top view on pan with fried egg with bacon Babies are cute, puppies are cute, and bacon is not cute, but I bet your mouth watered a little bit. What if someone recently lost a baby? Maybe they are a cat person? What if they are an animal rights activist or vegan? Then, those first statements could not be any farther from the response you had hoped for. Brands, like cute, are in the eye of the beholder, but as a business, our brand is our image. Branding is complicated....

You can’t control change; it controls you. Chances are, you are in one of two camps: 1) Those who embrace technology or 2) Those who are overwhelmed with all the change. Now, you may still be a damn the torpedos, I am going to use my printed Franklin planner and Palm Pilot Blueberry thingy kind of person, but I want to try and help you understand what change matters and what may not when it comes to you and your business. My goal here is to help you better understand how to...

I've spent more than forty-five years in business. During that time, business has experienced many changes, innovations, breakthroughs, revolutions, and upheavals. I’ve had the chance to see the birth and evolution of the personal computer, and I worked at the company that pioneered the cell phone. Then I watched the “brick” phone transform into a computer that fits in your pocket. I’ve watched and evolved with the growth of the internet. I’ve experienced the world before browsers, email,...

It’s been 10 years since I wrote my first and still my favorite book. I was faced with the challenge of deciding if I wanted to write a new book or update the original. This is the beginning of that journey... What follows is the prologue form the new book Sections Include: * So here we are! * The Birth of B2b * The Teacher * The Birth of this Book * Fast Forward 10 Years * 10,000 Hours Relationships that are fundamentally built on trust are what have...

Here are the top five New Year's sayings or cliches: 1. Out with the Old, In with the New 2. New Year, New You 3. Another Chance for Us to Get It Right 4. See You Next Year 5. A Frest Start Now, I don't want to become a Captain Buzzkill or minimize the significance of what the New Year may mean to you. We should all be proud that we survived to make another trip around the sun. We should enjoy all of those yearly retrospectives of what happened last year and revel in what lies ahead....

Mark S A Smith: Working in the world of technology since 1982, Mark uses systems thinking to help organizations successfully bring new, disruptive technology to market by orchestrating compelling, strategic conversations with executives. Mark’s authored many books including include his latest Pivot to Profit from IT Disruption, Security in the Boardroom, Linux in the Boardroom, Guerrilla Negotiating, Guerrilla TeleSelling, & Guerrilla Trade Show Selling. Forthcoming: Selling Disruption...

When I was a kid, I did not have to walk to school uphill, both ways, in the snow! But it was before you could buy calculators and computers in the dollar store. I am trying to remember any algebra, trig, or calculus that I actually use today. Much of it was based on formulas and principles. I know it's used in science and computing, but I'm in sales, marketing, and advertising. Most of the math I do today is primarily in accounting and spreadsheets. There is a bit of geometry involved in...

Ely Delaney is an Automated Systems Strategist and the co-founder of Purple Knight Marketing, an education company designed to help entrepreneurs go from surviving to thriving in any economy. He’s an Amazon bestseller with his two books “Marketing Tidbits” and “Networking Tidbits” With a passion for connecting people, his best selling training course “Networking Like A Rockstar” has over 1350 students registered globally. Ely helps speakers, authors, and coaches automate their follow up to...

This is the time of the year when there tends to be a heightened sense of humanity, spirituality, and morality in the air. Business slows down, and we start to think about something more than ourselves while being thrown into the mix of chaos, hustle, and short emotional fuses. Now, I don't want to go all holier than thou on you because I am as flawed of a human as anyone else, but it's good to take a breath and inventory how we may be different people in different circumstances. If you...

Mike has more than 20 years of experience in advertising and marketing, and his ability to understand and connect with an audience is the hallmark of his career. The approach he shares is what taught him how to understand an audience and deliver his message in a way they will not forget. Mike spent 13 years in the agency world as a client services specialist before joining Hasbro Toys and Games on the global marketing team, where he developed marketing and retail programs for brands like...

At the beginning of 2023, businesses were facing the possibility of rising inflation, a recession, and workforce shortages. Then, the tech business community added some spicy Artificial Intelligence into the chaos soup. While the Bitcoin Bros were trying to pass themselves off as ChatGPT prompt writing gurus (making $100K or more), sales teams were tasked with using AI tools to identify prospects. 2023 was an unhealthy serving of fear mixed with technology, creating a cold-call gazpacho...