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Articles by Alan Gillies

• Six ways to motivate your team in this recession
  As if business was not hard enough, along comes a recession. All the challenges that face the business owner or manager are now magnified exponentially. Morale seems to jump to the top of the list, as it affects everything, including motivation and spirit. At times like these, the owner needs to turn to a business coach for guidance and support.
  Published 13Aug2009, viewed 167 times

• Recessionary times call for great negotiating skills
  It looks like we're in the biggest recession since the Great Depression of the 30s. History will tell, of course, but this cycle is giving small business everywhere additional challenges and hurdles which they must overcome to even survive, let alone prosper. As many business owners and managers turn to executive management coaching, they're looking for advice.
  Published 10Aug2009, viewed 157 times

• Negotiate a compromise
  One of the issues faced by an organization with a dynamic team at its core is disagreement. Whenever a significant issue is addressed and discussed, you can expect to find people who do not see eye to eye. This is a good thing, as any business coach will tell you. You want to encourage innovation and different points of view, as this is, in overall terms, a good thing for your company and its life blood.
  Published 06Aug2009, viewed 101 times

• Make Complaint Resolution Everyone's Business
  Let's face it, human beings make mistakes. Companies are run by human beings. It therefore goes without saying that every business on the planet is going end up making a mistake at some stage. How you deal with mistakes is going to set you apart from your competition. Your business coach will tell you that you should handle every complaint that you receive in a professional and productive manner. Above all else, never ignore complaints!
  Published 01Aug2009, viewed 153 times

• Everyone Is In Your Sales Funnel
  If you listen attentively to your business coach, you will hear him say that everyone in business is involved in the sales process. So where does this sales process begin and end? Many people like to use the analogy of a sales funnel, with the widest part of the funnel at the top and the narrowest part at the bottom. Prospects travel through your funnel by travelling from the top to the bottom.
  Published 27Jul2009, viewed 273 times

• Coaching For The Professional and Personal Life
  Coaching as a means of education is quickly gaining acceptance and credibility, as our day-to-day lives become more and more complex. It seems that there's a lot to gain from a business coach, executive coach, career coach or life coach, as we integrate all elements and all aspects of our day-to-day existence.
  Published 25Jul2009, viewed 222 times

• Business Coaching Sessions Go Mobile
  In these especially difficult times, business owners are looking for any advantage that they can get. It is a poorly understood situation, but the typical business owner has to juggle so many problems at one time and has such a full agenda that they barely feel that they can function. A typical business owner has to wear an innumerable number of "hats" and take on different roles and multiple personalities throughout each day.
  Published 24Jul2009, viewed 256 times

• You're Fired: Saying Goodbye to a Valuable Client
  Many people might think that you, as a business owner, would be crazy to actually want to get rid of a client! But sometimes it is the right course of action to take. A business coach might suggest to you that an unwelcome, unruly or disruptive client is bad for morale, productivity and the bottom line. It is up to you as a business owner to decide if and when it is time to actually go ahead and fire that client.
  Published 22Jul2009, viewed 168 times

• How to Achieve Your Goals through Business Coaching
  Whether starting a business, retooling it, expanding it, or trying to stay the course, business coaching is a smart investment. Having a business coach that can plan, advise and support your business objectives can benefit your company in so many ways. The key to success is establishing goals and working with your executive coach to achieve them.
  Published 11Jul2009, viewed 136 times

• Self Motivational Tips for Business Success
  Being motivated in business translates into success. If you're unhappy with your job, it shows in how you present yourself, how you conduct your job and also carries over into your personal life. To stay motivated, business consultants recommend implementing self motivational tips, among them achievement, responsibility, advancement and recognition.
  Published 09Jul2009, viewed 190 times

• Are You Ready for a Business Coach?
  Business consultants can be a valuable asset to your business. But before hiring a business coach, executive coach, or taking executive management training, it's time to do a self assessment to see if you are ready to open up to business coaching principles.
  Published 05Jul2009, viewed 146 times

• Developing a Marketing Plan to Maximize Your Potential
  A marketing plan in business is essential for reaching your potential. It sets the framework for identifying your market, targeting a set customer base, instituting communication methods and establishing benchmarks. If it all sounds overwhelming, business coaching can be used to outline your objectives and goals.
  Published 03Jul2009, viewed 136 times

• The Power of Strategy in an Economic Downturn
  It's natural for businesses to cut expenses during an economic downturn. But it's also an opportune time to bring in a business coach or executive coach to recommend new strategies to get your business through bad economic times. With business coaching, you can position your company for moving forward when economic times improve.
  Published 28Jun2009, viewed 101 times

• 5 Ways to Create Business Credibility
  One area that can boost your business is credibility. Being credible so people and the media look upon you as an expert in your field is beneficial to your success. Business consultants can help you build credibility by looking at various aspects of your business.
  Published 26Jun2009, viewed 148 times

• How Positive Thinking Translates To Business Success
  Any business coach or executive coach will tell you, if you think success, you will become successful. That's the power of positive thinking, a mental attitude that is crucial in business to realize ultimate success.
  Published 21Jun2009, viewed 98 times

• Creating a Bio for Online Networking Success
  While an online profile is important for networking success, business consultants advise that it is very different from a resume. When presenting yourself online to potential business associates or clients, business coaching experts say your profile should be a brief capsule of your experience, communication skills and accomplishments.
  Published 19Jun2009, viewed 115 times

• 3 Top Ways to Find Clients through Networking
  One thing that most businesses have in common is clients. As business consultants explain, businesses need a constantly growing base of customers in order to remain profitable. The most effective way to generate client leads, says executive management training professionals, is networking, a business communication strategy that provides the best success.
  Published 14Jun2009, viewed 156 times

• 5 Ways a Business Coach Can Benefit Your Business
  A business coach or an executive coach delivers solid results and ensures the health of a company. Surveys show that executive management training leads to an estimated 545% return on investment. While managers and executives benefit significantly from business consultants, they are also valuable for the overall business. Here are five areas where business coaching and communication skills can benefit a business.
  Published 12Jun2009, viewed 99 times

• Good Communication Skills are the Key to Excellent Sales
  When it comes to landing a sale, business consultants say it's not necessarily your verbal message that makes or breaks the deal. Rather, nonverbal communication is the most effective for sales success.
  Published 06Jun2009, viewed 124 times

• How to Make the Most Out of Your Executive Coaching Sessions
  Hiring an executive coach is a sound decision if you want to reach your business goals more efficiently and effectively. Business coaching helps a business grow and become more profitable on so many levels - from improving staff performance to efficiently executing business strategies, business consultants contribute to your business success.
  Published 05Jun2009, viewed 140 times

• How to Run Effective Business Meetings
  It has been widely observed across organizations everywhere that meetings tend to take an inordinately large amount of the available working time of employees - and more often than not, these meetings fail to achieve the necessary ends.To begin with, we need to recognize the features of a successful meeting. To begin with, we need to recognize the features of a successful meeting.
  Published 31May2009, viewed 125 times

• Internet Marketing - Cost Effective Solutions
  Internet - it's a term that has made its mark everywhere in a very short span of time. It has emerged as an effective marketing tool for businesses that don't have the extra cash to spend on advertising through televisions, radio, print media, etc. The internet isn't just a great marketing tool; it has become an effective business model for businesses everywhere.
  Published 29May2009, viewed 104 times

• How to Profit From Your Mistakes
  We all make mistakes, don't we? Whether these mistakes are big or small we still have to make certain decisions in our life, and it's very likely that some of these decisions - not being perfect, won't pay off as we desire. It's human nature to make mistakes, but the best part about this is that all of these mistakes will eventually lead to a big step forward toward success.
  Published 24May2009, viewed 129 times

• How to Become a Good Negotiator
  There seems to be no limit to the material available on how to become a good negotiator. After all, you have to compromise while negotiating, and therefore it's always a case of 'lose some to gain more'. Supposing you had the opportunity to transform negotiating consistently into a "gain more" situation - and stay ahead of the competition, why wait?
  Published 22May2009, viewed 247 times

• How to Master Negotiation Strategies
  Do you consider negotiations to be tough jobs to handle? Do you spend sleepless nights where you have to get out of bed at the crack of dawn to negotiate with clients, dealers or leads? Do most of your negotiations create misunderstandings rather than improving your business relationships? Have you ever wished that you could calmly sail through a deal without being seen as unfriendly or authoritative? If your answer to these questions is YES...
  Published 16May2009, viewed 115 times

• How to Establish Effective Communication in the Workplace
  How would you solve a jig-saw puzzle if you were provided with only the pieces and not the picture that you were supposed to arrive at? This is what happens when communication breaks down. In spite of having the required information, you can't seem to arrive at a useful end result.
  Published 29Apr2009, viewed 258 times

• Selling - A Beginning or An End?
  The era when companies would strive to make customers buy their products and services is part of history now. In our current situation, the sale is just the beginning of a potential long term relationship with each customer. The transition from selling being viewed as an 'end' to a 'beginning' has been tough for the organizations; but overall; this has resulted in a much better experience for customers everywhere.
  Published 24Apr2009, viewed 108 times

• Selling Skills - Dealing With Difficult Customers
  It's a general notion that nothing can be more delightful for a business or a shop owner than the sight of a customer - but that may not always be the case. Many business owners will agree that they occasionally feel like running for cover when 'a particular category of customer' steps into their place of business.
  Published 22Apr2009, viewed 153 times

• Managing your Business in a Downturn
  As we are all very aware we are going through one of the most challenging periods for business since the Great Depression in the 1930's. Unemployment is increasing at a dramatic rate, and businesses are going bankrupt every day. When we find ourselves in situations like these, then we need to start to look closely at our business and search for ways where we can really maximise our revenues and cashflow.
  Published 17Apr2009, viewed 115 times

• How to Dominate Your Market - Regardless of Your Company Size
  Often companies believe that they can only dominate their market if they are the biggest players around, having the most money to invest or having the most customers - this is a myth. Most definitely being a big player with a lot of money to invest with a large sales team can be an advantage, and certainly a powerful positive, however it doesn't guarantee that you'll be the dominant player in any market.
  Published 14Apr2009, viewed 92 times

• The Value of Coaching
  It is well documented that Coaching is a highly effective method of managing and leading people to greater and greater levels of personal performance. Whether on the sports field or in business, the increase of the use of coaches has grown exponentially over the last few years.
  Published 10Apr2009, viewed 122 times

• Don't Judge Subjectivly - Be Data Driven
  A never ending flow of reports detailed with colourful charts, graphs and oodles of digits is the first thing that comes to one's mind as soon as we hear the word "Data". Its importance can neither be denied nor misunderstood. This is because 'Management is a Science as well as an Art' and data drives any logical and scientific basis toward findings and information.
  Published 08Apr2009, viewed 165 times

• Smart Workers or Hard Workers?
  Recently, we have all heard people emphasize a new belief that's been going round - that hard work has been replaced by smart work. The concept has begun creeping into every arena, including business. After all, "smart" businesses seem to have a tendency to thrive, while the "hard working" ones often have difficulty.
  Published 01Apr2009, viewed 252 times

• The Importance of Company Branding
  A Company Brand is a definitive way of communicating to your customers who you are and what you represent. It is specifically designed to help people immediately identify your company. It may be the logo, tag-line, slogan - or any similar thing. Brand is equally important for both major corporations and small companies. However, the path taken by these two examples is very different.
  Published 31Mar2009, viewed 133 times

• Train to Gain!
  Training has become an indispensable activity for every business, and no one can deny the incredible benefits that businesses can reap from it. Some of us might ponder on the need for investing in training our existing employees when we have the option of hiring new employees that are already highly skilled.
  Published 26Mar2009, viewed 161 times

• Top Tips for Marketing Success for Small Businesses
  Marketing is an essential aim of any organization. It keeps the balance sheets alive by bringing revenues into a business. The applications needed for the successful marketing of the organization are affected by the scale of the operation of at hand.
  Published 26Mar2009, viewed 143 times

• Why do I need a Business Coach?
  Do we really need someone to guide us each step of the way toward our goals in business? Well, the answer often lies in our individual needs and personal approach. To start with, a business coach can provide exceptional support and advice to an individual or group, helping them to develop specific skills or to achieve specific goals.
  Published 25Mar2009, viewed 128 times

• How to effectively manage small businesses
  We often come across the literal definition of leadership, which usually seems to portray the meaning as the act of a leader directing the behaviour of other individuals and groups, so as to accomplish certain objectives.
  Published 25Mar2009, viewed 126 times

• Why Investing in Training Pays Dividends
  Whether training is perceived as an investment or expenditure depends entirely on the individual's point of view. However, it is generally accepted that training is an investment - which pays dividends, on a daily basis. Is this true? Let's find out.
  Published 20Mar2009, viewed 144 times

• With Business, is Bigger really Better?
  Everyone wants to be on top - whether it's a small company or a small employee! Most people seem to have the perception that "Bigger is Better", but recently this perception has changed, and the revolutionary concept of "Small is Big" has arrived on the scene.
  Published 12Mar2009, viewed 158 times

• Adopting Innovation in Business.
  Consider this... What if instead of the compact and featherweight mobile phone that you use today, you had to carry around one of those huge phones prevalent in the early 1990's? You can heave a sigh of relief that it was just a thought; courtesy of the innovators who spent many years of their lives, designing this 'mini-world' for all of us, just the way it is now.
  Published 16Feb2009, viewed 164 times

• Communication Tips for Professionals.
  Most humans by nature have a fascination with their own voice - which often manifests itself in a desire to keep on speaking. However, there is a great deal of difference between speaking and communicating, with the latter requiring considerable application of effort. People with good communication skills know what to say at exactly the right time, at what place and to whom.
  Published 11Feb2009, viewed 220 times

• Building long lasting Business Relationships.
  Have you ever been stuck in a situation where you couldn't end an agreement with one of your suppliers despite regular delays in their deliveries? This difficulty is due to the relationship they built with you over a period time.
  Published 09Feb2009, viewed 245 times

• Effective Training Can Turn Rough Stones Into Diamonds
  What is the most important resource for the success of any organization? The unanimous answer, without question, is human resources. And when we say human resources, we mean highly skilled, knowledgeable and efficient human resources. The overall quality of the individuals in the company can either drive it to the highest peaks in the mountains of success, or let it fall into the deepest canyons of failure.
  Published 31Jan2009, viewed 141 times

• How to Acquire Significant Market Share.
  Entering the market isn't the easiest of decisions for any business. A business needs to analyse a number of factors, and every aspect is crucial in determining the strategy to be adopted for acquiring market share. Decisions such as when, where, and at what level of expense, all play a significant role in the possible success or failure of any business.
  Published 28Jan2009, viewed 159 times

• How to Win the Long Lasting Loyalty of Your Customers?
  All kinds of literature have been written about the paramount role that customers play in the success of every organization. A great deal has also been said about the tactics that businesses should adopt in order to attract and retain these customers. Do any of us really have the time to leisurely search through the ramblings of scholarly articles and research papers?
  Published 27Jan2009, viewed 170 times

• Ice Breakers: Preparing the Stage for a Successful Meeting
  Ice breakers are meant to establish a comfortable environment for proceedings to occur by making the participants feel at ease. These practices are all the more important when the participants don't know each other well enough to make a good start. An ice-breaker will make the parties involved feel relaxed and also set the right tone for a meeting to proceed.
  Published 24Jan2009, viewed 257 times

• Marketing Mantra for Small Businesses - Building Long Standing Relationships
  Increased globalization and mind numbing competition have suddenly made small business opportunities much more attractive. With many large organizations being unable to quickly restructure in our changing market, a growing number of small businesses with their inherent flexibility and capacity to adapt are acquiring a sizeable slice of the market share.
  Published 21Jan2009, viewed 211 times

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