Author Archives: Jon Stow

Your customers’ sense of belonging

Posted on December 31, 2012 by Jon Stow

  A smiling face I had occasion to go into my local bank branch yesterday. As I walked to the service till, the cashier (teller) said with a smile “Good morning, Mr. Stow”. How did that make me feel? Well, … Continue reading →

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Business, family and friends

Posted on December 24, 2012 by Jon Stow

This is a business blog, and I do not write much about family issues. Yet we cannot run a business easily without the support of our families and unless we are mostly happy. If we do not have these two … Continue reading →

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The decline and fall of a successful business

Posted on December 17, 2012 by Jon Stow

  Sun roofs Once upon a time there was an entrepreneur (except they weren’t called entrepreneurs in those days) who had a brilliant idea for a business model. He put it into action, offering a type of franchise and took … Continue reading →

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If a tree falls on your business…

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Jon Stow

Are you on top of your business finances, managing your cash flow, your sales takings ratio to money going out? Are your orders coming in well? Are you attracting new business? Do your staff have any issues? Are they happy? … Continue reading →

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More time-sheet follies

Posted on December 6, 2012 by Jon Stow

Hammering home my point about time sheets, remember how much we are selling in terms of our know-how. For those hung up on charging for time spent on each job, if you must think about time, remember how much of … Continue reading →

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Dealing with yesterday’s men and women

Posted on December 3, 2012 by Jon Stow

  Old times In 1970 the Labour Party published a poster during the General Election describing the Tory opposition as “Yesterday’s Men”. It was a short-lived element of the campaign and was withdrawn very quickly. The Labour Party lost that … Continue reading →

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My thanks to Zig Ziglar

Posted on November 30, 2012 by Jon Stow

Zig Ziglar died this week. He was described in a report in his local Dallas newspaper as a motivational speaker. Yes, he was that, but to most of us who have read his books he was the guy who taught … Continue reading →

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Content marketing versus selling, in the flesh or on-line

Posted on November 26, 2012 by Jon Stow

  Death of a Saleswoman I was at a business show the other day and saw that a well known software company was running a presentation entitled “How to increase revenue into your practice”. Naively, I thought that this would … Continue reading →

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What we can learn from big business and multi-nationals

Posted on November 23, 2012 by Jon Stow

Set aside the criticism Multinational companies have been much in the news recently over their tax arrangements. This is not the place to discuss those, but as we have heard so much criticism of Amazon and Starbucks amongst others I … Continue reading →

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Selling our knowledge as a small business service provider

Posted on November 20, 2012 by Jon Stow

  They can’t do what we can Having knowledge, an expertise, is to have a highly valued asset. It is up to us to exploit it as well as we can. If we are service providers there are two ways … Continue reading →

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