The Barzel Group Blog
What Sales and Marketing Can Learn From My Mechanic
After 13 years, and over 175,000 miles, it’s finally time to say goodbye to “Big Blue”. Big Blue is our Ford Expedition, and she finally “gave up” the ghost. We came to this conclusion as the result of a recent, routine oil change visit to my mechanic. He called and said, “I think she’s done…
Love in a Business Context
Years ago, I worked with a guy who had very little patience for any lackluster salesperson who called on him. He often referred to any feeble sales rep as an “idiot” if they demonstrated even the slightest absence of sophistication, insufficient product knowledge or dearth of experience. (And let’s be honest, any of us in…
Long Term Customer Relationships
The other day, someone asked the question, “How do you keep long term relationships with your customers?” I responded by saying that I once heard a joke where after 50 years of marriage, a wife said to her husband, “We’ve been married 50 years, and I can’t remember the last time you told me you…
Social Media in 20 minutes a day
Many of my clients are either small business owners or managers of small departments. Inevitably, the topic of social media comes up, usually in the form of them asking a question like, “I’m on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook but I don’t have time to keep posting all day long. Any ideas? Oh, and I have…
Addressing Conflict? Stop Writing and Ask Questions.
My job as a coach is to help my clients get from where they are to where they want to be. In doing so, I often help them see where the impediments lie, and then help them work through the process of overcoming them. And although often times, those impediments are self induced, there are…
Don’t Be An April Fool!
Today is April Fool’s Day. According to History.com, this day’s origins remain a mystery, with some theorizing its beginnings all the way back to the 1500’s. Whatever the roots are of this crazy “holiday”, most of us take it in stride, and use it to keep the tradition of pranking alive and well by making…