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By Dan Beaulieu

You got the order! Congratulations.  The pressure is on, however, if you’re interested in forming a long term, profitable relationship with your new customer.  Now is the time to make sure they are not only happy, but stay happy.

Here are eight ways to make sure your new customer will come back for more:

What to do when business gets slow - by Dan Beaulieu

Now that Wall Street has delivered us an economic version of 9/11, what will this mean to your business?  Will the mess on Wall Street hurt us the way 9/11 did, when some markets dropped almost  30%?   If this happens again will your industry collapse and die?

Of course not.  Yes, it could slow things down for a while.  Your industry may endure a vigorous session of Pac man -- but in the words of Gloria Gaynor – I/it/we will survive.  But you can do more than just survive in hard times. You can use them to your advantage.

I saw a piece on television the other night that said when things are down, good companies move forward.   Competent companies find ways to grab more of the market share.  I firmly believe this is true.  Those who strive to get better when times are hard, get better.  

13 Ideas to Run Engaging Rep Firm/Agency Meetings

Meetings can be either useless, energy-sucking wastes of time or a platform for lively discussion and the exchange of interesting ideas.

As we all know, because we have sat through too many of them, the first type is far more common than the second. And the blame mostly lies at the feet of the people who preside over these exercises in frustration.

Frankly, many rep firm and agency owners and managers don’t know how to manage meetings, and the lack of these skills is an expensive liability for their companies. Think about the cost of labour involved in the time people spend in meetings, and the lack of productivity when nothing is decided. Learn how to run meetings and your value to your rep firm or agency will soar.

As my editor Pat commented, “If this article prevents one more horrid meeting then it has done a great public service.”

There are three different types of meetings:

1. Sharing information
2. Learning something (a skill or a new process)
3. Making a decision

Try to avoid setting up meetings just for the purpose of sharing information. By definition, they are mind-numbingly dull. Instead, try to find alternate ways to spread the information, such as through an email, or make sure the meeting lasts no more than 30 minutes. Possibly you could incorporate an information-sharing agenda item into the other two types of meetings, but give the speaker a tight time limit.

Here are a lucky 13 other ideas to keep meetings alive and participants awake. Believe me, your colleagues will be grateful.