Are Incentives to Blame at Wells Fargo?

Are incentives to blame at Wells Fargo? The news gives us a couple of narratives regarding the Wells Fargo Fake Accounts scandal. In case you’re unfamiliar with the details, the fraud centered around employees at the bank cutting corners and opening deposit accounts and credit cards for Wells Fargo customers without their knowledge or permission. […]

Strategy and Planning are Different

Strategy and Planning are Different This article originally appeared in Amalgamate: A Mix of Ideas for Your Business, Winter 2016 Consider the term Strategic Planning as an oxymoron. This was presented to me by Alan Weiss, PhD. in his book, Best Laid Plans. His point: strategy points you there and planning gets you there. This fall I […]

Deep Down, We’re All the Same

Deep Down, We’re All the Same This article originally appeared in Amalgamate: A Mix of Ideas for Your Business, Winter 2016 “My industry is different.” I hear this regularly in response to my advice. “That may work for them, but our industry/people/ prospects/offer is different.” That’s true. That’s why, ultimately, you have to make it work for […]

Selling and Robots and AI and Doctors

Selling and Robots and AI and Doctors Bleep boop. News from the Chambers Pivot ticker tape. IBM’s Watson and Salesforce’s Einstein are getting together to make us smarter. It comes as I’ve been immersing myself in sales and marketing software. Researching dozens of the thousand plus startups promising to make selling automated. It’s a trend. A vision of the […]

Short Story: Leave No Doubt

Short Story: Leave No Doubt (something I’ve been working on) Leave No Doubt “Can you believe it?” Sam raised a glass of champagne. His wife smiled to herself as she typed a message into her phone. He continued to hold the glass up as she put the phone in her purse and surveyed the restaurant. […]

How to be a Great Sales Manager

How to be a Great Sales Manager You’ve seen me list the differences between the two roles here. 

Teleseminar: Measure Twice, Act Once

Measure Twice, Act Once: Simple, effective sales and marketing metrics How will we know it’s working? What if I told you that is a loaded question to ask a consultant? This teleseminar will identify communication traps that slow marketing campaigns and business development efforts to a crawl and then offer some advice on what works best when establishing […]

What is Management?

What is management? WorK, with a hard K, is trading your time and talent for treasure. That’s why it’s called work. You’re supposed to contribute to the company and make a profit. Management requires you to reward top performers and move the bottom performers out. That’s it.

Fake News, Advertising, and Programmatic Buying

Fake News, Advertising, and Programmatic Buying In December, the New York Times ran an article about fake news and advertising networks, “Advertising’s Moral Struggle: Is Online Reach Worth the Hurt?” It’s a story about the challenges of algorithms picking ad placements in networks based on following prospects wherever they might roam online. What caught my […]

The New AMALGAMATE Booklet is Here

The New AMALGAMATE Business Booklet is Here The Winter 2016 Edition of AMALGAMATE is ready for download.