Make Your Voice Mail Stand Out in the Sea of Sameness

By Jeff Beals Because of the rapidly increasing clutter and excessive communication in today’s marketplace, the world is now suffering a serious epidemic. It’s the highly contagious disease of blowing off and completely ignoring voice mails and emails. Are you frustrated about the lack of messages you leave that are never returned? If so, you’re [...]

Tons of Room at the Top: The Attitude & Altitude of Success

By Jeff Beals Psychologist Abraham Maslow changed the social sciences forever when he developed his hierarchy of personal needs. Maslow argued that in order for a person to achieve greatness, or full potential, he or she must have certain needs met. The needs can be ranked or organized into a hierarchical pyramid. At the base [...]

Put Big Mama’s Picture on the Business Card

By Jeff Beals When Patricia Barron first became a grandmother, she wasn’t ready to be called “grandma” or “granny.”  Such labels were way too old fashioned for her.  After all, she still felt young and had a lot of dreams left to pursue.  In some African-American families, the name “Big Mama” is affectionately used to [...]

Use Button If Additional Flushes Are Necessary

By Jeff Beals Communication is perhaps the most important ingredient of success. When done properly, communication facilitates business transactions, makes learning possible and greases the operational wheels of any organization. Not only can teams not function without it, you could argue teams don’t even exist without it. It’s so important, that companies spend big dollars [...]

Sales Secrets from Baja California

To unearth the age-old secrets of sales and marketing, I journeyed 2,600 miles to Cabo San Lucas on the extreme southern tip of Baja California Sur. Actually, it was just a vacation. But during what was a carefree trip spent mostly on the beach and in margarita bars, I inadvertently received a Mexican marketing lesson [...]

The Rule of Thirds: How to Truly Listen

By Jeff Beals “Let a fool hold his tongue and he will pass for a sage,” wrote Publilius Syrus more than 2,000 years ago in ancient Rome.  Such wise advice from ages ago has never been more relevant. In the modern professional world, we are suffering from a listening crisis. Actually, it’s a “lack-of-listening” crisis. [...]

Merriment & Festivity Need Not Derail Your Progress This Holiday Season

By Jeff Beals The holiday season is in full throttle, so let’s keep this week’s advice on the light side. Whether you’re enjoying eight nights of Hanakkuh, celebrating the joy of Christmas or simply hoping for a raucous good time on New Year’s Eve, the holidays are a demanding time of the year. Very demanding. [...]

10 Ways to Realize Hidden Opportunities

By Jeff Beals “Great moments are born from great opportunities,” said the late Herb Brooks, one of the world’s most famous hockey coaches.  Brooks certainly seized opportunity during his career.  He agreed to coach the 1980 U.S. Olympic team that beat the “unbeatable” Soviet Union in Lake Placid, New York during the famous “Miracle on [...]

Turning Employees into Portals of Profit

By Jeff Beals “As Walgreen Co. pushes its army of pharmacists into the role of medical care providers, it is bringing them out from their decades-old post behind the pharmacy counter and onto the sales floor.” That was the lead sentence of a recent New York Times article that caught my attention.  What is so [...]

Managing Your Online Brand in the World’s Best & Worst Marketplace

By Jeff Beals “Had a very long day today. Got into an argument with my boss and a client. All I want to do is drink a glass of wine and take it easy, but I have to do laundry tonight. Arrrgh!” This is the text of a post I once read on a friend’s [...]