Author: Maria Novak Dugan

Recently in a client meeting, I was asked by one of the sales employees what they needed to know to help them be more successful next year. It’s a great question and one that we should be asking ourselves on a regular basis, not just about next year but about next quarter and next month. Here’s what I told the salesperson and the rest of…

Determining the legal structure of your business is one of the most important business decisions you’ll ever make. This decision can significantly impact the security of your business as well as its profitability; the type of business you’re in can help you determine which entity to choose. Sole Proprietorship If you’re a single owner or a married couple just starting up, a sole proprietorship is…

Not all clients are created equal. Nor should you be compelled to treat them equally. There’s no law stating you must sell to everyone or keep servicing clients that are the wrong fit for your business. It’s as fair to say that your business has outgrown certain types of customers as it is to say that you have some customers you should have never brought…

Even when people know their value, many find it difficult to describe. When someone asks the simple question, “What do you do,” you know the simple answer but you need to convey your value, and when communicating your value proposition, you don’t want to deliver the same canned speech for every audience. What you need to do is first craft, then learn to deliver, specific…

It seems as if everyone is calling themselves a professional, whether they’re competent in their job or not. There are the titles of “Professional Marketing Ninja,” “Professional Social Media Rockstar,” and the (perhaps more common) titles of “Professional Sales Executive” and “Professional Entrepreneur.” But are these considered ‘real’ professionals? For that matter, what does a real professional look like? I believe professionalism is more than…

I’m often asked, “Why did my salespeople fail?” or “Why do I fail at selling?” (or other words I choose not to print.) And the answer is usually: It’s not necessarily sales failure, but failure to do your best or be your best, or failure to take the best actions to help succeed. There are signs that allow a sales leader to recognize failure is…

Anyone who goes online knows there is a lot of advice telling entrepreneurs to use in-person networking to build their businesses. But, in many cases, owners don’t see the necessity or they think they can just use social media, or they do not want to pay to join a networking organization. The truth is we are a society of doing business with those we know…

You’ve spent thousands of hours bringing a new product to fruition. You’ve invested energy and significant financial resources in multiple development cycles, and you’ve worked through prototypes that almost worked, could have worked, and were almost good enough. Finally, you are ready to go with a product that you are proud of and it is time to press the button on the product launch. But…

In business meetings and networking events, sales meetings and company interactions, as in any conversation, there is a current or flow. If you can’t recognize the current in the conversation, it is difficult to follow its flow. Because not every conversation is planned or prepared, sometimes the current of the conversation will take you places that you never thought you would go. Sometimes it is…

In a world where content marketing is constantly changing, it is easy to get swept away with common myths and misconceptions regarding best practices. You need to stay on top of the truths to excel in your SEO, so it is essential to sift out the false strategies that only lead to stagnant rankings. You need to plan effectively, which means you need to be…