It makes sense, right? The person that makes the first offer loses? Not always. In fact, the opposite can be true. Negotiation truisms, like most truisms, started out as rules of thumb and then somehow became accepted fact. Following are 5 things you need to know about negotiations that may give you an edge. 1. It can be advantageous to make the opening offer. Here’s what the experts say. First of all, most negotiations don’t start with an offer, they start with somethin

Organizations that are using new and new-ish marketing tools effectively have mastered them. If you’re like every other person trying to keep up with the flood of new marketing options it should come as a relief to know that your greatest success is going to come through mastering 2-4 tools, rather than trying to keep up with the 20+ that you think you should be using. Very large organizations, like Target Corp., have the resources to fully leverage every marketing tool ava

Google analytics is a highly underutilized marketing tool mainly because many people find it overwhelming and can’t even begin to figure out where to start. If so here are the 6 most important reports to review: The Dashboard: This provides a quick overview of traffic patterns, includes any auto alerts for unusual activity, and makes predictions based on current site activity. The Dashboard is succinct enough to check every day. The Map Overlay: This shows the geographic area

I’m all about efficient and effective marketing. For my own business and B2B clients, there just isn’t the time to do it any other way. Your market There are dozens of social media choices, but the big 5 are: Facebook LinkedIn Twitter YouTube Blogs What the research says A recent Hubspot report says that 5 p.m. is the most active time of day for Twitter users; noon and just after 7 p.m. are the most active times for Facebook users. The obvious implication is that people are n

It’s nearly impossible to predict when an industry will mature, but when it does, it’s impossible to ignore. Here are a few hallmarks of a maturing industry, notice how many of these apply to the tech industry now: Slowed industry-wide growth and stiffer competition for market share Companies are increasingly selling to sophisticated, repeat buyers. The buyer’s choice is no longer whether to purchase the product, but rather which brand to choose. Competition shifts away from