Tag: strategy
Getting negotiations right
Everyone is a negotiator. Irrespective of your job title, rarely a day goes by in business when you are not negotiating something with someone,...
A guide to business development 2.0
Over the past five years, Anthill has made a point of writing about new and effective ways of conducting business. The underlying message has...
Degrees of connection: 10 ways to boost your business network
You should treat networking as an extension of your current marketing and business development efforts. Below are a few tips for making it as painless and productive as possible:
Strategy: The importance of culture
Every organisation has a culture. Spend time observing the day-to-day goings on within, say, a medical practice, a law firm, an airline and a fast food franchise, and you will notice some stark differences. While each business might have common objectives - serving clients, generating profits - it is very likely they go about these objectives in vastly different ways.
Raising capital: Catching an investor’s eye
For small-to-medium sized enterprises, it takes more than just a well-rehearsed sales pitch to catch and keep the eye of a cashed-up suitor.
Raising capital: Catching an investor's eye
For small-to-medium sized enterprises, it takes more than just a well-rehearsed sales pitch to catch and keep the eye of a cashed-up suitor.
Strategy: Effective leadership
While it may be heretical to some, I believe great leaders are made, not born.
Undoubtedly, there are those among us who inherited certain traits that naturally lead them to leadership roles. But any individual with the right character, willpower and discipline can become a great leader.
Strategy: Cash is king
While sometimes apocryphal, start-up failure rates tell a sombre story: most start-ups don't see their third anniversary. This high attrition rate has many causes, but a primary factor is poor cash flow management.
Strategy: Customer feedback loops
Being the first to react to changing customer needs and preferences is often the difference between business success and failure. Witness, for example, how quickly Sony lost its early dominance of the portable music device market to Apple, which responded faster and more innovatively to demand for digital audio devices.
Strategy: Securing your first customer
Achieving your first sale can literally make or break a start-up. Many investors will delay committing significant funds until you can identify a customer...
Strategy: Is your idea really an opportunity?
All new business ventures start with an idea. However, not all ideas can (nor should) become business ventures. Being able to efficiently differentiate between...
