Four Steps to Diffusing a Customer Disagreement

A client called me last week to coach her through a delicate situation with a customer. Her customer had entered into a legal agreement, and at the last minute, wanted to change the terms of the agreement without consent from the other party. This would have jeopardized the entire transaction. Furthermore, her customer insisted that she had told my client about her decision prior to signing the contract (which was not true). My client was on the hook to talk her customer out of a really bad decision, even though her mind was made up.

Four Easy Ways to Get Excited About Prospecting!

I coach a lot of small business CEOs with BIG visions. Visions of tremendous growth. Visions of huge impacts. Visions of organizations with amazing cultures. Visions of….delegating the prospecting to other people.

Four Steps to a Successful 360-Degree Hiring Process

A client asked me, “Marissa, should I involve my other employees in the interviewing process?” My answer was an enthusiastic YES. From the intern to the executive, the CEO should never unilaterally own a hiring decision.

Five Things to Do to Conclude Your Day

As a follow-up to last week’s column, “Five Things to Do to Start Your Day,” I’m sharing five things to conclude your day, and set yourself up for a fresh start the next day. Admittedly, I don’t have success every day with all of these. The idea is to Strive for Five. Doing one or two will make a huge difference in your anxiety levels, and maybe even improve your ability to get a good night’s sleep.

Want Great Customer Relationships? Know Your Deal-Breakers! Six Questions to Help You

I came across an article in The Providence Journal last month, when we were in Rhode Island for a family event. The article advised readers to identify their dating “deal-breakers” before jumping into the online dating world. The idea of “deal-breakers” came up again last week during a client coaching session, but this time I was discussing them in the context of customer relationships.

Double Vision Versus Tunnel Vision: Which One Do You Have?

Vision without execution is just hallucination.

“Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.”

“The very essence of leadership is that you have a vision. It’s got to be a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion.”

“The future belongs to those who see possibilities before they become obvious.”

Vision and leadership are two sides of the same coin. One can’t lead if they don’t know where they are going. I’m often asked how a leader can develop “vision.” There’s no simple answer.

How to Restore and Refresh for Greater Leadership Results

I’m writing this column from Bethany Beach, Delaware, which has been our family escape for 17 years. As we were packing, I checked quite a few times to make sure we had our chargers, my laptop, and my iPad which I loaded with several business books to read.

Fast forward six days… I didn’t read one business book, and I responded to less than 20 emails. Instead, I picked up a great beach read that chronicled how the lives of three very different women interconnected.

The Seven Simple Secrets to a Successful Company Launch

So you’re finally taking the plunge. You’ve had it with fulfilling someone else’s dream, you know you have a unique value to bring to the world, and you’re ready to get it out there. The problem is, you have no idea what to do first.

Here are the seven simple secrets to setting yourself up for success.

Six Strategies For Managing Toxic People

Can we be honest with each other? As much as we love our work, we don’t always love the people we work with. What happens when you encounter someone in the course of your workday that can potentially suck the life out of you while you are trying to succeed in the workplace?

In my coaching with dozens of CEOs, this issue presents itself over and over. Potentially toxic situations manifest with customers, vendors, employees, or other industry colleagues every day, in virtually every environment.

Three Ways You Can Excel in the New “Insight Economy”

I attended Matt Dixon’s presentation on The Challenger Sales Model last month, which was particularly relevant for today’s selling environment. The last few years have been especially tumultuous and challenging for many industries, and connecting with your customer in a meaningful way has never been more important.