Are sales people born or made? Can you really learn how to sell? If you want to be a success in business, you must embrace professional sales, discover your “inner sales person” and not fear selling. Sales is critical to success of any business. Without sales, there is no revenue to grow the company, pay employees or make a profit for yourself. Sales is a noble profession, but, not for the weak of heart. The Passionate Entrepreneur talks with Robert Terson, a 43 year veteran sales...

Excited entrepreneurs have a great idea that they believe will take the market by storm.  They pitch it to investors.  The have meeting after meeting, yet the investors are polite, but never pull the check book out. Where's the money? Other entrepreneurs seem to be "lucky"--they meet with a few investors and they seem to get momentum and easily raise $500,000 to a Million - or so it seems.   What  can an entrepreneur do to be the "lucky" one in scenario two? Karen Rands, the founder of...

Starting and growing a small business is a challenge in any economy. Faced with the environment of the last several years, every entrepreneur needs an edge. "Secrets to Entrepreneurial Success" gives an entrepreneur that edge. No matter where a small business is in its growth cycle – start-up, growth or near exit - the “Secrets” provide “to-the-point” advice and easily implementable solutions for key issues entrepreneurs face, every day.  People know WHAT to do but, NOT necessarily HOW to do...

Prosperity Expert Randy Gage offers the following quotes: “The old economic model is broken. Huge, household-name companies that play it safe will vanish, and emerging, upstart companies willing to take risks will prevail. AND Mobile apps, the cloud, and disruptive technology are eliminating millions of jobs, but they will also create remarkable new opportunities.”  Are you ready?  “Class warfare creates a dictatorship and entitlement programs enslave the masses.” What are the best ways to...

So you think you got the next million dollar idea? You feel you've got the next Apple or Microsoft or Google? You are saying to yourself and others that will listen to you, that your product or service is a “True Game Changer” and you are ready to dominate to the market? All you need is an investment of $1 million dollars, $5 million or $10 million.  Really?  Think again. If you need to raise money to take your business to the next level, what do you do?  What are some of the best...

Have you ever heard the saying, “It's not want you know but, who you know that is important in business”?  Most often than not, your success in business will depend on the strength of your relationships.  What's important is knowing who you are, your talents and areas for improvement and attracting the best people.  How important are relationships in business? How does your personal relationships impact your business success, sales and profitability?  Also, with the web and internet...

So you think you got the next million dollar idea? You feel you've got the next Apple or Microsoft or Google? You are saying to yourself and others that will listen to you, that your product or service is a “True Game Changer” and you are ready to dominate to the market? All you need is an investment of $1 million dollars, $5 million or $10 million.  Really?  Think again. If you need to raise money to take your business to the next level, what do you do?  What are some of the best...

What is your company's behavioral performance gap? How you and your sales and marketing employees connect and engage your clients and customers could be costing you money. It is interesting that most sales and marketing people know WHAT we should do BUT not necessarily HOW to do it. Whether it's a networking event, telemarketing call, first call appointment, teleseminar, webinar or a service appointment, do we really know how to connect, engage and enhance the client experience. The...

Are you a business owner?  Do you want improved sales and profits? Sometimes, do your business concerns keep you up at night?  Why not share your insomnia with your employees?  Why not draft and empower your employees to drive more sales and profits?  Brad Hams is a bestselling author and thought leader in creating business cultures of accountability, purpose, and profit. He is the founder and CEO of Ownership Thinking, an international consulting and training firm that has helped more than...

Success is measured in many different ways, including: Money, possessions, relationships, family and health. How we view Success, and more important, how we pursue it, has significant implications in our lives. . Success can be a lifelong quest, or a bitter disappointment. What’s worse is, you may already be successful and not even know it! Attaining success requires understanding how to set goals as well as how to handle obstacles, setbacks and sometimes even failures.  Our guest today,...

Are you “passing time” in your life or exploding into your life?  How can you change your STATUS QUO and break out of your rut?   Deborah Hill, intuitive coach and counselor, speaker and author of EXPLODE! into Life which is a self-paced interactive, multi-media experience that makes changing your life fun, effortless and exciting. Using hundreds of stunning photographs, videos, meditations, information and exercises your journey to explode will take you through 5 stages of evolution. ...

Getting your business legal!  When starting a business, it’s important to have all of your legal ducks in a row. What’s the number one thing to do?  What are the most popular business structures? What is the difference between say the LLC and the Inc? Why should someone form a business structure? What are the benefits? How does a new business owner form a structure once they choose what works best for them? What are the options? After forming a business structure, what should the...

CRM is an acronym that stands for Customer Relationship Management. It describes the strategy that a company uses to handle customer interactions Do you have a CRM tool or a system?  What is CRM?  and why is it important to your sales, profit and business success? What are the keys to choosing the best CRM system? The Passionate Entrepreneur speaks with Nick Carter, the creator and president of Address Two, a software company that provide small businesses with tools and processes to...

Too many entrepreneurs have dreams of building the next Facebook or Groupon. The problem is their skill set is not cut out for such a venture. Your website and Facebook page will be meaningless if you don’t start closing sales NOW! Stop reading, researching, and planning. It is time to start selling and generating cash flow for your bootstrapped business. Matt A. Smith is a two-time high tech startup entrepreneur. His first company Bartab.com was a Facebook was acquired in 2010.  His...

You started your business as a one man or woman show.   Now, your business is exploding and you don't have time to do everything!  Your productivity is declining and so is your effectiveness.  You need help! What do you do?  Hire a secretary or virtual assistant?  What is the best option?  And, if you choose a virtual assistant, how can you choose the right one?  How can you use a virtual assistant to increase your sales and profits? Jama St. John, owner and founder of Gulf Coast Office...

Suresh Sambandam, Founder and CEO of OrangeScape.  Before starting his firm he began his career at the young age of 19 years old.    He went to work for Hewlett-Packard at Bangalore, for TACS Mobile Phone Networks for Vodafone,  joined Selectica as software analyst,  rose to a senior position, as Director of Engineering, for the e-Insurance product division which was acquired by Accenture. After founding OrangeScape, his work has been around Business Planning, Technology Marketing,...

 If you want business success, you must learn how to connect, engage and enhance the client experience for prospects and clients alike.  It's will make the difference between being average and a world class company. Dan Stewart is the founder and President of Happy Grasshopper and a serial entrepreneur.  His entrepreneurial journey started in childhood and led him to three consecutive appearances on the Inc. 5000.  Today, it's his mission to help salespeople earn more referrals by automating...

Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google are growing at unprecedented rates and generating billions of dollars in revenue. They are the envy of many companies, both big and small. Each company has moved away from its original and core business model—often multiple times. They are sprouting in different and unexpected directions: horizontally, vertically, and even diagonally. They have entered new markets and, in some cases, created markets where none had previously existed. They are winning (to...

What is more important marketing or sales? Is marketing more about theory and less about the practical and bottom line? Marketing responsibilities are to attract prospects and sales duty to close the deal with the prospects. If marketing is ineffective, sales will not see or get a lead. Isn't all about producing good leads? How can we improve our marketing to generate better leads? And, we all hear about the power of the Internet and what we should do but, not necessarily how to do it....

Are you an expert?  If so, you might be able to profit from your expertise in a side business apart from your everyday work. How? By selling products teaching other people about your area of expertise. You may have a hobby and find yourself answering other people's questions about what you do in online chat rooms. Or you may have developed great ways to perform services in a particular business. You may be able to package what you know into an information product. It might take the form...

Are you a sales expert? What is your selling system? Interested in learning how to increase your sales in your business?  We will have a conversation on how to break out on the standard techniques that are connected with the traditional method of selling and create a entirely different sales system that is unique and compatible with the sales professional natural behavior.  However, it will take a change in mindset and attitude.  Success will depend on how to better engage and enhance your...

How can you get the edge over your competition? What can you do to gain a competitive edge and drive more sales? Lisa Minnini has the answers! Navigating Change Host, Lisa Mininni is best-selling author of Me, Myself, and Why? The Secrets to Navigating Change and internationally-recognized business/change expert on radio stations throughout the U.S., Canada, and Internet radio. She is regularly cited in major magazines: Incentive Magazine, Good Housekeeping and other nationally-recognized...

The Edge Connection is a campus community partnership with Kennesaw State University, Coles College a Business a 501 (c) (3) SBA-certified organization serving 31 counties throughout Metro Atlanta. They provide small business training, financial literacy, entrepreneur- focused technology training, teaching microenterprise best practices, and delivering essential entrepreneurial support services. We will speak with Janine Anthony, V.P. of Business Services and Leslie Sperry, Program...

The Edge Connection is a campus community partnership with Kennesaw State University, Coles College a Business a 501 (c) (3) SBA-certified organization serving 31 counties throughout Metro Atlanta. They provide small business training, financial literacy, entrepreneurially focused technology training, teaching microenterprise best practices, and delivering essential entrepreneurial support services. The Edge Connection is opening this spring the first non-profit culinary kitchen incubator in...

A small seafood restaurant attracts new customers with virtually no marketing budget. An iPad case manufacturer generates more than $1M in revenue in four months with only four employees. A voice-over company is able to connect thousands of artists with opportunities, all without expensive hardware and software. A law firm increases access to key information while dramatically reducing technology-related costs and risks. And these four companies are hardly unique. A new breed of small...