Lots of Scout troops from out of state visit Glacier National Park every year. Some of them use our local Scout camp property as a “base camp” for a week or two of treks they make into the Bob Marshall, Glacier Park and elsewhere. One thing they depend on us for is referrals to quality […]

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that there were some “numbers you might care about“. Examples included figuring out the costs to obtain both new leads and customers. In prior discussions, I’ve also suggested that you need to be thanking your customers, following up, tracking referrals, making sure purchase intervals aren’t abnormal and so on. […]

Last week, a Beacon reader sent me a nice note, and while doing so, posed a question. He said “One thing I am dying to read from you, is how do you get rid of a pain in the butt client – or a pathological recreational shopper — or the perfectionist from hell — without […]

Whether you love what you do or chose it for the money, the math that makes the business work…actually has to work. It’s more complicated than how much you spend and how much you make. How’d you come up with the prices for your stuff? If you’re a retailer, you probably had someone tell you […]

Recently NY Times’ “You’re the Boss” blog had a piece about the 10 reasons small businesses fail. It’s a laundry list of pretty fundamental stuff, much of which we regularly talk about here: a business model whose math doesn’t work, owners who can’t get out of their own way out-of-control growth poor accounting insufficient cash […]

Recently, I stopped into a niche retail business for the very first time. They’ve done a nice job with it. Hasn’t been open long, so some of the obvious things I’d suggest to make the place a real customer magnet weren’t in place yet. I think they’ll get there over time. What worries me most […]

As the Montana legislature kicks into gear, the air is heavy with rhetoric and of course… talk of new jobs. While I don’t agree with all that our various governments do, I can’t think of a single time that any of them have prevented me from getting a new customer, hiring someone or for that […]

This photo wasn’t taken in Chernobyl or in some abandoned Montana ghost town. It’s in downtown Detroit, a few blocks from shining skyscrapers. Credit: Rick Harris Everyone in the US should look at photos like the one above and imagine what this place once was. The meltdown of the US economy has many looks. Have […]

Jeffrey Gitomer sums up a lot of important stuff when he says “People don’t like to be sold but they love to buy.” Do you make it easy for them to buy? Are the things you sell displayed to make it easy for your customers to buy? After the untimely and tragic death of our […]

My wife’s birthday was a weekend or so ago, so as a last bit of her gift (a weekend at Schnaus cabin), our youngest son and I took her to one of our favorite restaurants in the Valley. As we sat down and started to catch up on our youngest’s just-finished first semester at college, […]

One of the things I’m always pushing clients to do is expand their education. This education expands well beyond your line of business, because there are valuable lessons from every industry. Likewise, there are processes in almost every industry that you can learn from, modify to fit your needs and thus use in a completely […]

As I read the story about the success of logger James Stupack’s new business, I was quite pleased to hear of his creativity and stick-to-it attitude. It’s easy to give up. He didn’t. He added value. I’ve spent a lot of time talking to folks on that topic. Sometimes it comes in the form of […]

One of the reasons that smart phones (iPhone, Blackberry, Droid) are so popular is that they provide options for a much better means of getting notified about any number of events, appointments and so on. Your customers’ desire / need to be notified is a critical aspect of your customer service planning. In fact, these […]

Much noise has been made of the mess that has become airport security. The recent introduction of TSA’s high resolution body scanners and the “pat downs” (formerly known as “getting to second base”) have stirred up a hornet’s nest of grass roots discontent. As you might expect, there has been much hand-wringing in political circles […]

Jobs. Politicians talk about them. Some own businesses that created jobs. The trouble is, it’s not just any-old-job that needs creating. According to author Richard Florida, 45% of US jobs today are service-sector jobs. In other words, often low-paying jobs as retail sales clerks, customer service staff, food prep workers, personal health aides, and so […]