Sales, Marketing, and Strategy
How Do You Tell Investors Why You Will Beat Your Competitors?
“They brought up companies we didn’t even know existed,” Mike, the managing partner of the venture capital firm where I was an Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR), said in our debrief after a startup pitched us. Everyone was impressed with the CEO, the company, and we decided to continue forward with the investment. Do you want…
Read MoreHow Do You Turnaround And Rebuild Your Company?
“Bring us up to your level,” Ray, the CEO of Micrel, said to me in his office. Ray was pitching me on becoming general manager of one of the company’s three business units. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. I smiled, we shook hands, and I left his…
Read MoreHow Do You Successfully Enter A New Market?
Successful companies usually have a way of doing things. We certainly did when I was at Maxim Integrated Products. Jack Gifford, our CEO, called it “The Maxim way.” [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] And our way was successful. The company grew to $1 billion/year in revenue with…
Read MoreHow Do You Know If Facebook Is Trying To Destroy Your Company?
I was having lunch with my friend Matt. Matt was, at the time, a Senior VP at Maxim Integrated Products and Maxim was our largest competitor. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. I had sold my company about four months earlier, and we were just catching up. He…
Read MoreHow Do You Get Your First 1,000 Customers?
There are some things you never forget when you’re a startup CEO, and watching my co-founder and VP Sales, “Ken,” run around the office yelling, “Hey, Hey!” after we got our first order is one of them. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. We had just soft launched…
Read MoreHow Do You Get Your Customers To Buy Again and Again?
“Brett, Tony Hsieh died,” Blossom said to me. “What?” I was just waking up, and this news wasn’t registering with me. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. “Tony Hsieh died. I know you really liked him,” my wife said to me. “How?” “The house he was staying at…
Read MoreHow Do You Build A Differentiated Product?
Have you ever heard the story of Toughskins Jeans, made by Sears? If you go back in time to the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, the jeans market was dominated by Levi’s 501 jeans. [Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here.] Sears wasn’t doing too well in the jeans market…
Read MoreHow Can You Improve Your Marketing Spending?
Years ago, I was fortunate enough to work with one of the smartest people I know, Ziya Boyacigiller. Ziya hired me when I joined Maxim Integrated Products. He was a true intellectual, almost professorial in his approach to business. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. I’ll never forget…
Read MoreHow Can You Fix Your Big Sales Mistakes
“Ken” was a great director of Asian sales for Maxim when I worked there. Ken and his team knew their accounts inside and out. In fact, Ken was so good that he became the cofounder of my company years later. The market share we enjoyed in Ken’s region was around 80%. [Do you want to…
Read MoreDo You Need to Think Big to Win?
I was recently in a new product idea meeting, and Greg was proposing his latest idea. Greg and I have worked together, on and off, for over 20 years. Do you want to grow your business? Maybe I can help. Click here. Greg has always thought big ever since we met. Today was no…
Read More