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Charlie Alter

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Principal, Bentbrook Advisors LLC

347 points

30 years consulting to manufacturers of all sizes with a focus on smaller, family owned firms. Specialist in Profitable Growth, Innovation, Strategic Planning & Execution, Certified Executive Coach with 10 years experience. Change Agent and passionate supporter of my clients

yesterday

2 people recommends this answer by Satish Mehta

Why do you feel most companies/people are stuck in the status quo?

Jay,
I believe you mean faster decision making process is essential. Skilled leaders achieve that with strong negotiation skills. In many instances, especially in privately held companies, employees are not motivated to even be creative when they see an autocratic leader on the top who ... more

Status Quo Strategy

April 20, 2012

Charlie Alter and 2 other people answered this question

What is the best way to get leads in a sales organisation?

Redesign the company website to customize it for distinct markets and the buyer personas that represent them. Then develop content these personas value and give it away to them for free. Make your message compelling in term of the benefits your product provides - i.e., ... more

Lead Generation

April 12, 2012

Charlie Alter and 4 other people answered this question at this roundtable

Sell More and Save More of What You Sell [4/11 @ 1 pm]

Is cold calling still a viable method of generating new business or more of an interruption to the decision makers day?

Personally, I don't think Cold Calls have ever worked very well - sort of the old story of a blind squirrel miraculously finding a nut. What does work is doing your homework on the company and key decision-makers on the target list.
At that point, ... more

Online Strategies

Sales Enablement

March 30, 2012

Charlie Alter recommends this answer by Cale Helmer

Why do baby boomers managers have little to no relationship with their employees?

Interestingly enough I just attended a seminar on this similar topic yesterday. The presenter theorized that Baby Boomers have trouble establishing relationships with their employees because of the following reasons:
1) They were raised by the Traditionalist generation who, while understanding the importance of work, ... more

Human Resources

Corporate Culture

Employee Relations

Feb. 13, 2012

Charlie Alter and 1 other person answered this question

What tools and/or methods do you use when researching a new product / service idea?

I use McKinsey's Three Horizons of Growth approach with clients. It's a great way to understand what it takes for a new product/service to progress in a systematic way to become a part of the core business. The dilemma is that many companies don't recognize ... more

Market Research

Product Development

Feb. 10, 2012

Charlie Alter and 3 other people answered this question at this roundtable

How Not to Coach Your Salespeople [2/16 @ 1 pm]

What are the necessary outcomes of coaching and how do you ensure you achieve those outcomes?

Coaching is a process focused at evaluating a problem or an opportunity and then taking action. Good coaching requires a trained coach and a person willing to be coached and then to take action. And coaching is all about the client dealing with her/his own ... more

Performance Evaluation

Feb. 6, 2012

Charlie Alter and 3 other people answered this question at this roundtable

20 Years of Selling—A Discussion of Truth [2/3 @ 11 am]

With so many channels, what is the most effective method to reach B2B prospects today (phone, Focus, Facebook, Twitter, etc.)?

Permission Based Marketing strategies is the best way to meet B2B prospects now. This means largely abandoning the Interruption Based marketing strategies used in the past, such as: cold calls, email blasts (Constant Contact), direct mail, etc.
This is upsetting to many traditional marketing/communications professionals ... more

Marketing Technology

Jan. 31, 2012

Charlie Alter recommends this answer by Belldon Colme

To better serve customers, what do companies absolutely need to understand about their customers?

There are three things that must be understood.
1-- You can and should tell your customer what they need and why they need it. There would be no i-(insert product here) if Apple had not informed everyone on earth that i-products were not only cool, ... more

Customer Service

Customer Experience

Customer Service Development

Jan. 30, 2012

Charlie Alter and 4 other people answered this question at this roundtable

Content Marketing: Vendors as Publishers [1/26 @ 11 am]

What will change in content marketing in 2012?

Content marketing will become more balanced in 2012, with particular attention to understanding the learning styles of readers who are being targeted with blogs and marketing materials on the web. This means understanding the Buyer Personas a company is targeting much better and mixing Right ... more

Jan. 20, 2012

Charlie Alter is now following Debbie Laskey MBA and 1 other person

Jan. 19, 2012

Debbie Laskey MBA selected a best answer for

What are 3 pieces of advice or traits to help a manager become a leader?

Human Resources

Management Training

Jan. 16, 2012

Charlie Alter and 5 other people answered this question at this roundtable

Improving Landing Page Conversion Rates [1/12 @ 1 pm]

If I’m a technology firm, should I promote content for download or a free demo or trial?

The whole point is Who the technology firm is trying to sell to. This is why Buyer Personas are so important: be very specific about who you are trying to reach, what their problems are and what they want from your company.
Then make the ... more

B2B Lead Generation

Conversion Rate

Dec. 27, 2011

Charlie Alter recommends this answer by Simon Therrien

What is the #1 book you would recommend to young entrepreneurs?

First of all, you need to know how to manage your money if you are bootstrapping your business so I recommend "Richest Man in Babylon" from George Clason. Should be a mandatory read after finishing high school. Your business and personnal life shall be forever ... more

Entrepreneurship

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General Management

Sales Enablement

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