Posted: May 09, 2013 in Business, The Bottom Line by Mike & Blake
In 27 years as UCLA’s basketball coach, John Wooden led his players to ten NCAA national championships, 88 straight wins, and four perfect seasons. No wonder ESPN named him a “Coach of the Century!” He was one of only three people to be inducted into the basketball hall of fame as a player and a coach.
Great coaches like Wooden exhibit many of the same traits as business visionaries like Jack Welch, Jim Collins, and Larry Bossidy. Although there is no guaranteed path to greatness, people who...
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Posted: May 08, 2013 in Business, The Bottom Line by Mike & Blake
All leaders dream of piloting their organizations to soaring productivity. Creating healthy, productive workplaces, however, requires engagement from employees and management alike—something many workplaces lack. Citing a Towers Perrin study of 90,000 employees worldwide, a 2010 Harvard Business Review analysis noted that “21% felt fully engaged and nearly 40% were disenchanted or disengaged. That negativity has a direct impact on the bottom line.” The study also found that “companies with low...
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Posted: Apr 18, 2013 in Personal, The Bottom Line by Mike & Blake
Traveling abroad enriches the mind, body, and soul. It allows you to taste new foods, interact with different cultures, and see where history was made. We have visited a good many countries, and Italy is our favorite due to its beautiful sights, great foods and wines, and friendly people. Most Italians speak English, as do citizens of many other countries whose economies rely heavily on tourism. Despite what you may have heard about France, our second favorite place to visit, the people there...
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Posted: Apr 05, 2013 in Personal, The Bottom Line by Mike & Blake
Download travel checklist here
Having flown more than 1 million actual flight miles, we’ve seen the insides of hundreds of hotels, rental cars, airplanes, trains, and cruise ships. We’ve had a lot of fun—and have made just about every travel mistake you can imagine! Our travels, including almost 30 trips to Hawaii alone, have taught us valuable lessons on flying, packing, and making our way around foreign countries. In this article, we’ll share packing strategies we have learned to help you...
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Posted: Mar 14, 2013 in Business, Social Media, Technology, The Bottom Line by Mike & Blake
Newspapers, radio stations, and other media outlets are seeing advertising revenues dwindle, and where those dollars are headed is clear: the Internet. As more and more people obtain their news and other services through electronic devices like smartphones, the web has taken over as marketing’s new frontier. Most businesses have reacted accordingly, shifting their marketing budgets from print, radio, and television ads to websites and social media strategies. As we outlined in the first part of...
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Posted: Mar 13, 2013 in Business, The Bottom Line by Mike & Blake
Read the attorneys' letters and legal complaint mentioned in the article below (PDF - Click Here)
If you’re like us, you’ve probably received countless misspelled e-mails (and even letters!) from foreign scammers promising $10 million in return for your bank account information. There are also the phony Yellow Page offers and invoices for supplies you never ordered—if you make the mistake of paying, thieves copy your checks and write more from your account! Scams are so plentiful right now...
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Posted: Feb 04, 2013 in Business, Social Media, Technology, The Bottom Line by Mike & Blake
For most people, the Internet is a part of daily life. The World Bank reports that more than 75% of US citizens use the Internet—a number that grows exponentially each year—and around 70% of South Carolinians do, according to our discussions with the US Census Bureau. Users go online for reasons as varied as dating, entertainment, research, and shopping. In fact, major news outlets like USA Today have reported that many brick-and-mortar stores, like Best Buy, are feeling the pressure from...
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Posted: Jan 08, 2013 in Business, The Bottom Line by Mike & Blake
No organization likes hearing negative customer feedback. However, companies are run by humans, and we all occasionally deliver less-than-stellar products or customer service. Some multibillion-dollar companies can get away with ignoring complaints due to the sheer size of their customer base, but for the average business, this is not an option! Our reviews of several customer complaint-related studies found that most customers leave a business because of poor customer service or mishandled...
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Posted: Jan 08, 2013 in Business, The Bottom Line by Mike & Blake
As the American economy slowly rebounds, scores of new businesses will join those that were strong enough to survive the recession in the recovering marketplace. To thrive in spite of increased competition, existing businesses must practice excellent customer service, beginning from their first contact with clients and lasting throughout the relationship.
Thus, how businesses’ staff members interact with customers in meetings can mean the difference between winning lucrative client contracts...
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Posted: Nov 13, 2012 in Business, The Bottom Line by Mike & Blake
We live in an age where new technologies and innovations are constantly being developed. Yet attempts to make life easier have led to major headaches for unhappy consumers. When we call a company to express our dissatisfaction with a product or service, we must go through a menu of endless options (many of which have nothing to do with our problem) on a computerized system that doesn’t understand our speech. When we finally reach a person, they usually sound like they’re in a rowboat 5,000...
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