The Weaknesses and Threats, outlined below, seemed manageable. Many of us have been dealing with them for years. On the other hand—and perhaps surprisingly—the Opportunities for innovation and new offerings are plentiful. Leveraging university press strengths to create training materials, continuing education, and internet publishing stands out for me. For example, the collaborative nature of the university press industry means that there are many opportunities to monetize open-access free content such as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) through value additions. In other words, something akin to the “freemium” model.

You can find the list from our industry SWOT mastermind discussion below:

Strengths

• Peer review of scholarship
• Acquisition of content
• Curating university publishing—quality control
• Project management and teamwork
• Content development
• University branding
  • Alignment with university mission
  • Outreach of university-branded content to communities
• Passion for scholarship—advancing the careers of scholars and developing their credentials
• Flexible business model exploration—a willingness to explore new ways to deliver content to stakeholders
• Niche market ownership
• High-quality design and production
• Qualitative data analysis
• Data management

Weaknesses

• Underfunded
• Understaffed
• Limited market reaches outside of established areas
• Niche markets
• Little to no economy of scale benefits—don’t see unit-cost declines or distribution expansion like larger book markets
• Hamstrung on projects by host institution
• Limited marketing budgets for internet publishing

Opportunities

• Agencies willing to fund specific initiatives
  • Digital publishing
  • Shared infrastructure
• Collaborative ecosystems—presses, libraries, universities, scholars, etc.
• International growth for books and other content
  • Opening of closed distribution systems
• Educational materials
  • High-level credentials and research-enhanced
  • Teaching teachers
• Training materials
• Continuing Education Credits
• Affordable textbooks movement
  • Become part of mandated system of university and legislation to provide free textbooks
  • An unfunded mandate
  • Opportunity to bundle textbooks with tuition, like certain medical schools are doing
• New audiences
• Sell our publishing skillset to university departments as a service provider
• Aligning press with host university strengths
• Internet publishing
• Restructure education organizations and accreditation to create new formats and business models
• Fundraising for initiatives from donations and grants
• Monetize non-sale content
• Open Access—processing collaboration to add value for free content

Threats

• Best-selling authors go to commercial publishers
• Piracy
• Amazon
• Role of scholars among consumers is decreasing while among scholars it’s increasing
• Library budgets shifting away from books and journals
• Confusion about library versus press publishing roles
• State budget cuts
• Internet publishing—if we do nothing
• Open Access
  • Decrease of backlist revenue
  • Revenue challenge

Now that you have an industry SWOT overview, I encourage you to have a SWOT discussion with your team. You can encourage positive change by guiding the discussion more toward your Strengths and Opportunities than your Weaknesses and Threats. The integration effect and the mutual progress toward your goals are well worth the time investment. I use this tool as a precursor to business planning processes in private industry.

I believe in the university press industry in its mission to share quality knowledge and scholarship. In the spirit of collaboration, I invite you to have a free 30-minute discussion with me to help achieve your goals and progress your mission.  We might discuss

• Feedback on the SWOT for your press
• Ways to move forward on opportunities
• Staying unstuck while you innovate
• How industry research applies to your press
• The next steps or the plan for your press
• Business therapy anyone? Just kidding.
• Other?

Send me an email at john@pioneerbusinessventures.com and let me know a couple of times when you’re free—or use my online schedule by clicking here. Thank you for choosing me as your facilitator. Here’s to planning for your success,

John

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

John J. McAdam is the author of The One-Hour Business Plan (Wiley), an instructor in Strategic Business Planning at The Wharton Small Business Development Center, an association workshop speaker, and business advisor. For more information, visit www.pioneerbusinessventures.com 

Imagine that a prospective client engages with you about the offering they need, which you provide. He or she wants to “pick your brain.” At first you talk on the telephone multiple times, then in person. The conversations flow naturally, as they should with good business relationships, and you are excited to work with this new client. Then your instincts take over and you pause. “Wait a minute,” you say to yourself. “I’ve talked to this person twelve times, but I don’t have an agreement or any hours I can invoice yet.” At what point will you say enough is enough? “I do not work for free. My time is valuable and we need an agreement before we proceed.” Perhaps you’re familiar with the Gold Rule. No, not the Golden Rule—the Gold Rule: Those with the gold make the rules. One of those rules is to get as much as they can out of you for as little as possible—perhaps even for free, if you let them. Why not? This is business. It’s not personal—at least not for them. Ah, situational ethics, it’s nice to see you again, my old nemesis. People’s business tactics reveal their intentions. How will you recognize the signs?

1. Your request for fair-value business engagement is ignored.

“We have more important things to discuss right now. Can you help me with this?” They might even cry poor. You’ve sent your proposal without receiving acknowledgement. After delivering free product samples, the professional courtesy of a response remains unmet—even after multiple voicemail messages.

2. Your instincts sense that someone is taking advantage of you.

You know the feeling, something’s not quite right. Perhaps you’ve seen this movie before. In some business environments, if you don’t know who is being screwed, then it’s you. Trust your gut.

3. Someone asks you to do something for free for which you normally charge a fee.

“Will you work for free for me?” is asked in so many glorious forms. If you find yourself providing more than a work sample, stop. Decide for yourself whether you have agreed to work for free or not. (Anecdotally, note that I’m not being paid to give you this advice!) When you are operating from a position of scarcity (that is, you don’t have enough money), the temptation becomes greater to submit to subtle demands to work for free to prove your value. It can take the internal fortitude of an NFL linebacker to say, “No, I will not do that,” when you don’t have enough money. On the other hand, when operating from a position of abundance (having more money than you need), it’s much easier to say, “I don’t work for free. You’ll get what you pay for. Perhaps it’s time for us to move on.” They might even demonstrate their respect for you by paying you—or they might not. A business friend of mine shares a useful technique for managing requests for free work. She wrote to me and said, “I actually keep a little purple plastic champagne flute on my desk– a friend’s business-promotion gift– and I put a quarter into it every time someone asks me to work for free, whether or not I consciously choose to do so. It fills up fast, and it keeps me conscious of recognizing when I’m being asked to work for free.” I must confess that I have a soft spot for my former students, readers, and audience members. I choose to work for free for them—on a one-time basis, for a set amount of time. But when I’m asked to work for free and I haven’t chosen to, you now know what I’ll say. What will you say?           ^{_{Copyright © John J. McAdam. All Rights Reserved.}}

The internet has forever changed how business relationships form. The first time someone meets you is less likely to be when you shake hands. Instead, it’ll be online.  While an extrovert like me feels lonely with an online introduction, I’m learning to accept it because it’s what people do. I admit that before I have a business meeting, I research the participants quickly online. In five minutes, I know their current business role, their work history, education level, and some of their personal interests. I’m not alone with this business habit. Yet I still find it creepy when someone I meet for the first time talks about me like my best friend, and I can’t even remember their name yet. How did online introductions become the first point of contact for so many business introductions? My guess is that online dating has forever changed the way we get to know each other—personally and professionally. In fact, some people fall in love before they even meet in person. What? It’s gotten to the point that if the Internet could enable people to procreate online—they would! I digress. Let’s accept the fact that our first business introduction probably happens online, and then we can learn how to improve our business relationships. Why did I change my bio today? I wanted to have more people feel connected with me when they read about me online. The virtual introduction has become the new normal. Note that when I’m introduced to a crowd with my formal bio, I’ve learned the hard way that I have to humanize myself in an almost self-deprecating way to even begin to engage with my audience. Otherwise, people look at me as if they were just bludgeoned by the announcer. This is the opposite of what I want and who I am. We’ve all seen these formal resume-type bios in the About Us sections of business websites. Here people brag about their prestigious degrees, certifications, and accomplishments. They’re mind numbing, because a formal bio is mostly self-centered and boring. Business people don’t want to hear about your resume; they want to engage in a business relationship that will benefit them. Business is more fun when you transact with people you like. Therefore, in my online bio, I want to give people a reason to engage with me. I want to differentiate myself by sharing my passions about why I do what I do. So I took out a pen and paper and wrote down five reasons why I do what I do. Here’s what I wrote:

About John McAdam For decades, I’ve seen the many achievements that an active business planning process yields for a business. As a veteran entrepreneur, former hired CEO, and business advisor, I teach Strategic Business Planning at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania’s Small Business Development Center. I help established business owners plan, and by doing so avoid needless financial setbacks and employee struggles. I do what I do because I have learned the hard way that I would rather make my clients more successful than become a billionaire. My life has more meaning when I can jump from business to business and play a small but powerful advisory role to help people achieve. In fact, I take more pleasure in my client’s achievements than I do my own. I see people struggling unnecessarily in business and know that I can help them—not only because of my successes, but my failures also. Both have taught me planning tips, tools, and techniques with which people can achieve.

My new bio makes me feel naked. Almost as if my audience doesn’t deserve to see my heart until they get to know me better. Can they at least buy me a drink first? My intent here is to make my bio uniquely me by making it heartfelt. When people meet me online (by reading my bio), I want them to feel close to me and have a connection with me. Being an expert in something is tricky, and admitting that I’ve learned from my mistakes humanizes me—always a good thing. Note that I will adjust the wording and have different bios for different audiences. This is a section, not my complete bio. My bio will look different tomorrow than it does today. I confess that I will take this raw text and have a professional editor and marketer refine the copy before I publish it online.  Sometimes my bio has to compete with a hundred other bios for a speaking engagement. Rather than brag more loudly and longer about my expertise, I will bring my passion into the foreground—why I do what I do—and put my resume in the background. This will improve my competitive positioning among other experts with formal bios. I will keep making refinements to improve that first impression. How about you? _____________________________________________________________________________________ I would like to thank the good folks at www.firepolemarketing.com and www.corporaterenegade.com for the inspiration to refine my online bio and the research material used herein.     _{Copyright © John McAdam 2015, All Rights Reserved.}

As the calendar turns to a new day, week, month, or year, do you ever get the feeling that you should start something new? While the need for something new might be the strongest for many of us at the beginning of the New Year, perhaps we should revisit our business goals more frequently than that. For annual goal setters who are fortunate, business transactions flow along, progress takes place, and business continues to grow. At the other extreme, daily goal setters may change their goals multiple times per day, based on who spoke with them most recently, or maybe their largest problem of the day. Is this you? I hope not. We all have to confront short-term problems eventually, but for some people this ‘priority of the day’ mentality seems to be part of their personality. For example, a creative person may inherently avoid planning or committing to a schedule because they feel it constrains freedom and creative expression. They rely on the latest emergencies to provide focus for what to do next. This is a tough way for most of us to run a small business. So how often should we revisit our business goals and establish new priorities? Rather than suggesting an optimal time interval (such as weekly, monthly, quarterly or semi-annually), let’s explore some common business disruptions that should naturally prompt us to reconsider our goals. Gaining or losing a large customer – Customers are like kids: they all eventually grow up and move away. When we lose a major customer, our business focus will logically shift to sales and marketing to replace the lost business. On the other hand, acquiring a new large customer can be just as disruptive to your business, and they often require additional attention to serve well. Key employee turnover – Losing a key employee demands our attention, for large and small businesses alike. For example, if you have ten employees and lose one employee, then 10% of your workforce is lost! When you have fewer than ten employees and lose one, the results can be even more dramatic, particularly for the remaining employees. Recruiting, hiring, and training a new employee to restore your business to normal becomes a high-priority business goal. Note, however, that an opportunity might exist to restructure, reassign, or outsource responsibilities when employees transition. A major product sales decline – Almost all products and services have a product life cycle, which means they inevitably decline. When they do, more focus is needed for extending the life cycle, managing the decline, developing new products organically, or acquiring new offerings. Industry competitor or regulation change – Having a new competitor enter your market should shake you up. Having an existing competitor make a new offering similar to yours demands attention. You should compare value propositions, since your customers will be asked to. On a similar scale, when a government agency decides to add regulations in your industry, it’s time to comply—which also affects your attention. A major operating breakdown occurs – If you make a product, perhaps the production process stops or slows. If you provide a service, the quality of delivery might not meet quality standards. Either way, both situations require more attention when they occur. Business funding disruption – One example is that sometimes our customers don’t pay us on time, which decreases our cash flow and demands that more attention be paid to managing accounts receivable. Another example might be a new customer delaying a purchase from us, which interferes with expected cash flow. Additionally, our bank might lower our line of credit when we need more funding. Any of these funding problems rightfully demand more attention than normal, which takes attention away from our business goals. It’s OK to shift your attention. You just need to be mindful before changing your business goals. Take the time to change focus and solve the problems that accompany major changes in customer base, employees, competitor offerings, industry changes, operating problems, or business funding disruption. These are all strategically important for your business. The point is, once the problem becomes less of a priority, you should revisit your business goals. Your goals might stay the same, or they might need an adjustment to accommodate a major change in your business. How often should we revisit our business goals? While the timing is not as important as knowing when it’s OK to change our priorities, we should check ourselves at a minimum of once a year. Some of the most successful businesses revisit business goals semi-annually or quarterly. I see monthly adjustments to goals when the business is new, going through a turnaround, or experiencing a major disruption like the aforementioned events. Avoid abandoning your goals just because you are experiencing business problems, because they happen. We might need to add new goals or even replace them. In all likelihood, most of us need to simply refine our goals after we manage a major business disruption. May you achieve all or your goals after a business interruption by restoring your focus and clarifying your direction.

Whether you’re operating a start-up or an established business, the small-business world can quickly become a minefield. Briefly, let’s review the more common types of business disasters faced by entrepreneurs and small business owners today.

• Neglecting your marketing and letting your new-customer pipeline run dry

If you enjoy the company of entrepreneurs, like I do, you will eventually hear complaints about the feast and famine nature of their business, particularly with solo entrepreneurs in service industries. The feast-and-famine cycle goes like this. Your business starts in a famine state, because you usually don’t have a large revenue stream from day one. You market your services for months and finally acquire a client. Then you work full time serving that client. You are now in a ‘feast’ state. Time passes and the client’s project ends. Wait a minute—you’ve stopped marketing! You spent all of your time serving your client instead of selling your services. Damn! The famine state returns. Again you market full time to acquire your next client. You eventually land a client, and the feast-and-famine cycle continues.

• Customer concentration risk

Simply put: Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. By definition, if one of your customers represents more than 10 percent of your total revenue, then you have a customer concentration risk in your business. The higher the percentage of revenue that one customer represents, the greater the business continuity risk. You have to face the difficult question: what happens to your business when your largest customer disappears? Will you go out of business? How will you manage that scenario?

• Non-customer-based funding

I worry about start-up businesses that raise equity angel funding or take out a loan too early. You can keep raising equity funding like a start-up dot-com from the 1990s, but equity funding eventually ceases if you don’t make a profit. Alternatively, you can borrow money, but it must be paid back. What, then, is the long-term funding solution? Eventually customers are the only long-term source of funding for any business. Equity and debt should be treated like catalysts and timing solutions, respectively.

• Overly optimistic sales and marketing projections

Most of the business plans that I read contain overly optimistic sales projections based on their sales and marketing efforts. Be conservative with your expectations and you can avoid this disaster. Problems surface when we spend our money before earning our sales. While it’s true that you have to spend money to make money, you do not have to spend most of your money before making any money—or at least establishing a sales trend. Wouldn’t you rather under-promise and over-deliver?

• A lack of planning

I’m amazed at the number of people that I come across who are willing to risk their life savings on a small business without a business plan. This disaster is perhaps the easiest to avoid. If you need help getting started or focused on the most important parts of any business plan, try The One-Hour Business Plan, by yours truly. Even a business plan–phobic entrepreneur can spend one hour of writing time. Other planning resources can help as well. These are perhaps the most frequent yet avoidable disasters that I see today. How to avoid them? First, maintain your marketing, even during good times—the feast times. Next, you will need more than ten customers to eliminate customer concentration risk. However, continuing to spread your business across as many customers as possible will keep you open for business. Also, remember to fund your business through customers first. If customers don’t fund the business, eventually the business runs out of money and time. It’s sad, but worth remembering. While we entrepreneurs are an optimistic bunch, creating overly optimistic sales goals and overspending is another avoidable disaster. Finally, plan something before you spend years of time and savings. These are the top avoidable business disasters that I see. How about you? _{^{Copyright John J. McAdam 2015. All Rights Reserved.}}

First of all, Investopedia defines value proposition as “a business or marketing statement that summarizes why a consumer should buy a product or use a service. This statement should convince a potential consumer that one particular product or service will add more value or better solve a problem than other similar offerings.”  In other words, a value proposition is a statement of what your business does that’s better than your competitors. How do you know if your value proposition needs a checkup?  Here’s a test. Have you ever met someone for a second time at a networking meeting, and they didn’t remember you or what you do? How do you feel? If you’re in sales, then this situation is disastrous. If you can remember them and what they do, why can’t they remember you and what you do? At a minimum, most of us would feel confusion. Others would feel frustration, or perhaps even anger. To be fair, people forget names, places, and businesses all the time, so it should come as no surprise that someone might forget about you. However, if multiple people are forgetting you and your business, then it might be time to give yourself a value proposition checkup. Other than people forgetting what you do, what are some other signs that your value proposition needs revisiting? Here are some questions that you can ask either yourself or others. An affirmative answer to each of these questions means that your value proposition is in great shape. Otherwise, a negative response indicates that it is time for a checkup.

• Could a typical businessperson repeat your value proposition accurately?
• Would that businessperson remember your typical customer?
• Is the repeated value proposition brief and clear?
• Does what they say evoke emotion?
• Do people ask you a follow up question about you or your business?
• Do people find what you do valuable, relative to similar offerings?

If you’re unsure how to go about this, then here’s a quick test for you. Ask someone you know—a friend, family member or trusted business associate—to repeat your value proposition back to you. If you’re feeling brave, then ask your friend to tell you what you do without reminding them first. Otherwise, tell a person your value proposition and have them repeat it back to you. The idea here is simple: if people remember what you do and can repeat it back to you, then you’re memorable. If you’re memorable then they might tell other people about you, which can generate word of mouth referrals for your business. Did you get a negative response to any of the questions? If so, then you have some refining to do. What should you do for a checkup? It helps to write your value proposition down, but be careful. People speak differently than they write. When you speak, you want to pay attention to the person in front of you. You don’t want to recite from a script. Our business speech and interactions need to have a natural flow and progression. If it helps, try one of the more popular value proposition exercises from The One-Hour Business Plan, called “What Do You Do?” exercise 1.2. Basically, you answer the question about what you do by filling in the two blanks in two sentences as follows: We work with people who need ___________________________________________. This benefits them by ____________________________________________________. There are other exercises in the book, but this one seems to be the most popular because it’s simple and quick. A value proposition is basically a statement of what you do that’s more valuable than other offerings. The best way to tell if you need a checkup is to objectively observe how others respond to your value proposition delivery. If someone can repeat accurately what you do, recognizes your customer, and understands what makes your offer comparatively more valuable, then you are in great shape. If not, don’t worry. Most of us need to refine our value proposition from time to time. How about you? [poll id=”6″] ^{Copyright © John McAdam 2015. All Rights Reserved.}

Deciding to hire your next salesperson is an important decision, whether it’s your first freshly minted new hire or simply your latest addition to a team. Why? A salesperson is the first impression your company makes on the outside world. A salesperson can help you expand your interactions with customers, allowing you to delegate without giving up control. Furthermore, the financial commitments are often serious—and sometimes more extensive than you originally thought. Plus, from experience, I know that working with a salesperson can be more emotionally exhausting and draining than working with your admin, bookkeeper, or operations person. I am often asked, “What do I need to think about or plan for before I hire a salesperson?” Well, here are some key issues to consider before making the decision to hire a salesperson: 1. Financial: How much time does it take for a salesperson to become profitable? Hiring a new salesperson goes in three stages: no revenue, breaking even, and making a profit. It takes time to get to stage three, of course. First, consider all major financial disbursements associated with a salesperson. This can include base salary, commissions, bonuses, payroll tax, and benefits—but don’t forget about other expenses salespeople typically incur such as travel, meals, printed marketing materials, samples, catalogs, office supplies, telephone, etc. That’s a lot of costs to consider! Now it’s time to predict your revenue. From The One-Hour Business Plan, you know your sales cycle time or how many customers you can acquire each month. Just take these monthly sales estimates and subtract them from the aforementioned monthly expenses, and you should have a reasonable estimate of how long you have to fund a salesperson to profitable productivity. 2. Customers: Are you ready to let go of your customers? As the leader of your business, you’re probably close to your customers. You have a good understanding of what they need, how they buy, and the types of questions that they might ask. Are you ready to delegate those interactions to someone you recently met? It takes courage, trust, and a leap of faith even just to begin the journey. 3. Strategic Alternatives: Do you need a commissioned salesperson at all? What are the strategic alternatives to hiring a salesperson full-time? Is a commissioned sales representative a viable option? If you can get similar results from an independent sales representative, then you’ve reduced your financial risk. Unfortunately, control over the sales process abdicates to the independent representative here. Can we reduce risk by going from full-time to part-time? Part-time to full-time employment should be considered as a viable option. Alternatively, if you are competing for the best salespeople with other employers, then offering part-time work at first might be unattractive for the salesperson you want. Either way, at least consider some strategic alternatives before making a hiring decision. 4. Your Company Culture: Will this person fit in? You know how you prefer to work, and you have a good idea of the work habits of your employees. Admittedly, any group develops a personality of its own over time. But how well will the new salesperson fit in? How well will they work with you and your employees? To develop an understanding, you can let your key employees interview the candidate. Personality tests can help predict a cultural fit, to some degree. Once the decision is made to hire a salesperson, I know from experience that orientation, on-boarding, and training programs help most new hires get up to speed with how things work (and how to fit in) much faster than with none. The Final Word on Deciding to Hire a Salesperson A salesperson’s compensation package is often one of the most expensive payroll decisions. While selling and administrative expenses make the cost of the hiring decision less predictable relative to other employees, these expenses can be estimated and controlled. From a psychological perspective, many entrepreneurs have a difficult time letting go of their customers. Consider how ready you are, in fairness to both you and the salesperson. With any key decision, strategic alternatives exist. You have options beyond hiring full-time. Are independent sales representatives or part-time employment viable alternatives? Finally, no matter how successful the salesperson might be, if he or she does not fit with your culture, then you’ll have aggravating workdays ahead. At least consider the cultural fit of a new salesperson before hiring. What factors do you consider before hiring your first or latest salesperson? Send an email to me at john at planfoundations dot com and let me know. Also, if you know of anyone who might be hiring a salesperson, you should send this to them. _{Copyright © John McAdam 2015. All Rights Reserved.}

 

• We are too busy—whether perceived or actual.
• We are inundated with emails. We cannot possibly read, respond to, or return every message—it feels like all we would do. 
• Avoiding conflict or saying “no”. Big company asks Small Company for a proposal. Small Company spends hours working on a proposal to solve problems, and then submits the proposal. Small company calls Big Company, no response. Small company emails Big Company, no response. Big Company would rather avoid the awkward conversation with Small Company than tell them that their proposal did not meet expectations.
• Low priority for the person receiving the communication, relative to other priorities.
• Annoyance—the person reaching out to you annoys you for some reason.

As the years go by, human communication in business frustrates me more and more because people meet face to face less and less. Are we becoming more introverted? As a natural extrovert I struggle at times to completely understand introverts, including my introverted friends and family members. Sometimes I suspect that introverts might be taking over the business world slowly. How? By preferring to minimize talking or meeting with people, introverts force extroverts to behave in introverted ways in the name of efficiency. I have observed a growing trend for business people to prefer to communicate more by email then by telephone, and definitely to communicate less in person.  My personal favorite communication slight is when I leave a telephone message for someone and they respond by email. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I also get frustrated by slow-to-no responsiveness in business communication.  Not only because of my extroverted communication preferences, but also because unresponsiveness or ignoring people seems unprofessional, discourteous, and slightly rude. I understand the “I am too busy to deal with this” argument when ignoring people. I find myself in that mode sometimes when I have a deadline and an unsolicited salesperson wants to speak with me. Being Ignored When You Are Selling We all sell something as business owners. Sales and marketing inevitably become one of the most critical and actionable parts of our business plan.  In my book The One-Hour Business Plan, sales and marketing is the second business-plan cornerstone for a reason. Your offering must be marketed and sold to your customer target market. It’s what drives your business. As we sell our product by sending emails, making telephone calls, and attending meetings, the person or company we are targeting eventually ignores us and our product. No returned telephone call, no email reply, or no response at a meeting. What do you do? Marketing research concludes that a prospective client needs on average between 5 and 12 contacts before converting to a customer. That means the average salesperson or marketer can expect to be ignored between 4 and 11 times before making the sale. The point to remember is to not give up. Being ignored is part of the sales and marketing process. Before You Decide to Ignore Someone How about when the tables are turned and you are the one being pursued with business communication that you want to ignore? Let’s face it; people will continue to ignore people for the aforementioned reasons. However, it might help to lay out some guidelines for ourselves to be the business people that we want to be. Here are some suggestions:

• Be aware that continuing to ignore people eventually reduces or even terminates a business relationship.
• Establish some rules and guidelines for when to ignore business communication.
• Be conscious of ignoring people in business communication to protect valuable relationships.
• Declare your communication preferences rather than ignoring someone.
•  Understand the consequences of constantly ignoring people—some people inevitably become angry to some degree. Make sure that you are OK with that.

Do you have any suggestions for managing people who ignore you during the sales process? Do you decide beforehand who and what to ignore?  Let us know.  Don’t forget to share this article with someone who might enjoy it!