Business development Archives - Page 5 of 83

Stop: Don’t hide the bad stuff

By Jim Connolly | January 25, 2026

You’re reading about a product or service.

It sounds amazing.

Then you spot it!

You spot the dreaded *asterisk. And your heart sinks.

You know you’re about to be disappointed. You’re about to discover the exclusions, restrictions, omissions and conditions, which means that offer isn’t as good as they said it was.

They could have told you the truth without hiding it behind the asterisk. However, they deliberately chose not to. They intentionally concealed it from you, hoping you wouldn’t dig deeper. And in a split second, they’ve totally changed how you feel about them.

You wonder what else they’re hiding from you.

Your guard is up.

Your trust is diminished. Perhaps totally diminished.

The asterisk risk

If a business owner feels they need to hide something behind an asterisk, there are always better alternatives.

The most effective alternative, is to make the product or service as good as you said. This eliminates the need for an asterisk. Plus, it simultaneously pumps more value into your offering, making it more attractive and giving you a huge competitive advantage.

Another powerful alternative is to openly state, in honest and clear language, exactly what you’re offering. And include whatever would have been behind the asterisk, out in the open. Here’s an example of what that could look like.

Imagine it’s an introductory deal, offering your service at a reduced price for the first 3 months. Rather than quote the introductory price (and hide the fact it increases after 3 months, behind an asterisk), tell them up front. Let people know that you’re so confident they’ll love your service, you’re offering it at a super-low discount, so they can discover for themselves, why it’s outstanding value at the regular price.

There’s another reason for adopting a transparent approach to your marketing.

And it’s a biggie, too.

Social networks give your prospects a powerful voice. That voice can either be used to tell everyone how great you are, or how disappointed they are. Thankfully, you get to choose the kind of experience that’s being shared.

Not only does transparency start to work immediately, it’s also a proven way to build an outstanding reputation in the long-term.

The ‘from-to’ shift: How to sell what your prospects actually want

By Jim Connolly | January 21, 2026

Photo: Nick Fewings

The world’s top restaurants don’t waste much time marketing their food. If you think they do, prepare for your eyes to be opened. And for your marketing to radically improve.

Every business provides a product or a service, which solves a problem for the customer. In order to solve their problem, it needs to create a change. To move the customer from something to something.

For example.

From worried to confident.
From vulnerable to safe.
From broke to wealthy.
From discomfort to comfort.
From bored to entertained.
From struggling to succeeding.
From confused to clear.
From sad to joyful.
From scruffy to glam.
From lonely to connected.
From loss to gain.
From ignorant to informed.
From stressed to relaxed.
From pessimistic to hopeful.
From lost to guided.

You need to figure out the change your prospective customers are looking for. Their ‘from what’ and their ‘to what’.

Now, here’s the part almost every small business totally screws up (and how to avoid it).

The answer is not obvious

The biggest danger here is believing the answer is obvious. It almost never is.

Seriously.

For instance, no successful coffee shop focuses on changing you from thirsty to quenched. None of them.

They change you by creating an attractive atmosphere. An atmosphere, where you can go from stressed to relaxed, or from tired to restored, or from lonely to connected, from stuck to creative or from bored to entertained.

The world’s top coffee shops know this. It’s what their marketing focuses on. It’s why we see very little emphasis placed on the coffee beans used, yet huge emphasis placed on the welcoming, positive atmosphere.

Here’s another example.

The world’s most expensive restaurants don’t focus on taking you from feeling hungry to feeling full. You can go down the street and get the same number of calories at a burger joint for pennies. Instead, these restaurants focus on their exclusivity. They take you from feeling normal to feeling like a star.

You get the idea.

Your product or service

Determine what change or changes your prospect is truly looking for.

Focus on the ‘from what’ part. Your marketing message needs to meet them right there. It needs to talk to their current situation. It needs to address the discomfort they’re feeling. This means your message will be on the very same wavelength that they’re on. This dramatically and profoundly increases the sales impact of your marketing

Then focus on the ‘to what’ part. Your marketing needs to illustrate how your product or service transitions them to their end point. To the very thing they desire… and will happily spend money on.

Like every marketing tactic, idea and tip I use, this is an example of a quick and easy improvement you can make, which won’t require you spending a penny on marketing.

A marketing budget is the price you pay, for being just like your competitors. I’ve been telling small business this for over 3-decades. Marketing is about attracting high-profit clients or customers. This is an example, which you can put into play today.

The biggest lie in marketing isn’t what you think it is

By Jim Connolly | January 18, 2026

Photo by Singkham on Pexels.com

The biggest lie in marketing is almost certainly not what you’re expecting.

Here it is.

If you ask the average small business owner about marketing, they will tell you the following: “I don’t have enough time for marketing”.

That’s an unintentional lie.

They have the time. And they’re marketing their business all day, every day.

And here are over 30 examples to prove it

In no particular order.

The level of enthusiasm you demonstrate, when speaking about your business.
The way you and your team dress.
The way you speak — from the words you use to the warmth of your welcome.
The flexibility you show when a client or customer has a unique challenge.
The range of services you provide, especially in relation to how similar they are to what your competitors offer.
The eagerness you demonstrate for helping your clients or customers.
The cleanliness and age of your company vehicles.
The experience you give your clients or customers, which they share with their friends.
The way you handle phone calls.
The causes that you or your business publicly support.
The prices or fees you charge.
The reliability your business provides.
The confidence you inspire in people when you connect with them.
The type of offers you use to attract new clients.
The way you respond to email enquiries, both in the speed and tone of your response.
The content you use on your website.
The places you choose to advertise.
The type of advertising messages you use.
The groups your business belongs to.
The energy you have for your business.
The way you connect with people on social networks.
The time it takes you to make a decision.
The quality of the photos and other graphics you use.
The type of clients or customers you choose to work with.
The type of clients or customers you choose not to work with.
The leadership you demonstrate.
The guarantees you offer.
The consistency of the products or services you provide.
The professionalism of your marketing copy.
The working atmosphere you provide.
The way you communicate with your clients or customers.
The way you handle problems, both internally and external (client) problems.
The regularity with which you achieve deadlines.

It’s all marketing

Everything your business does is marketing.

That’s to say, it’s giving people a story about your business. It’s setting their expectations. It’s building confidence in your services or creating doubt. It’s telling the world what your priorities are.

In short, if you run a business, you are already engaged in marketing. And you’re doing it all day, every day.

So, the question is never if you market your business or not. The question my friend, is whether you’re doing it effectively or not.

Stability through impact

By Jim Connolly | January 16, 2026

Photo by Eva Bronzini on Pexels.com

There are 3 ways you can guide the direction of a business.

You can aim for stability.
You can aim for impact.
You can aim for stability through impact.

Here’s how those 3 options pan out, and why one of them gives you the best chance of fully unlocking the maximum potential of your business.

Primary focus on stability

Business owners with a primary focus on stability, plan and act with a safety-first mindset. This often blocks them from making the improvements they need, even when their business isn’t growing. If something ‘kind of works a little’, they’ll hold onto it tight.

They do this rather than try something new, which has vastly greater potential.

Primary focus on impact

Business owners with a primary focus on impact, plan and act with a mindset that’s driven by the desire to make a meaningful difference. They have a vision of the impact they seek to create and are motivated by the desire to see that vision become a reality.

Within this broad group are business owners who are well-prepared, with a thoroughly researched idea, which they are passionate about.

However, this group also contains business owners who have a deep belief in their idea, but their idea hasn’t had the necessary rigour applied. There’s little or no demand for it. The numbers don’t stack up.

We see this all too often, when a new business opens with an expensive launch, lots of bold claims and in no time, they’re gone. It’s heartbreaking.

Focus on stability through impact

The business owner whose primary focus is stability through impact, understands something that the vast majority of people totally miss.

They’ve figured out that a balance needs to be achieved.

They know that hunkering down, avoiding change and hoping things will magically improve is a terrible strategy. You can’t hope your way to the top. Or to the middle.
They also know that stability is essential. If you’re only focusing on making an impact, without ensuring you have a stable foundation, you’re very likely to fail. Nothing of value can be built on flimsy foundations. You need that stability. It’s a must.

So, what do they do?

They decide what impact they want to create. In other words, they choose the thing that they want to be known for — the difference they want to make to their marketplace or the world. Then they do the research, create a strategy and put a plan together. A realistic, costed and robust plan.

Then, they get to work.

With the stability of working to a solid plan, and fuelled by the motivation of making an impact, you can fully activate your maximum potential, whilst minimizing your risk.

Business success. In six words

By Jim Connolly | January 10, 2026

Photo by Clark Tibbs

It’s simply this: In business the winners get moving.

Here’s why those 6 words are foundational to your success.

Every business owner is presented with opportunities to succeed.
Every business owner can steal ideas.
Every business owner can choose to be a leader.
Every business owner can instigate, rather than wait for someone else to move.
Every business owner encounters problems.
Every business owner can choose to have zero competition.
Every business owner can give their business the resources it needs.
And every business owner has the same 24-hours available to them every day.

It’s what we do that determines our success.

Not our intentions, our network of business contacts, our cutting edge technology, our plans, our targets, our qualifications, our competitive edge, our ingenuity… or our skills.

Intelligent action always precedes success. That’s why in business, the winners get moving.

How the winning minority of small business owners are planning for 2026

By Jim Connolly | December 30, 2025

The vast majority of small business owners are making plans for the totally wrong things in 2026. Here’s how to avoid it happening to you.

The winners play to win

The small business winners in 2026 will all have something in common. They will be looking at the year ahead and planning for the right things. You know? Like how to make a lot more money, with bigger profits, and maintain their outstanding cash flow position. That kind of stuff.

They’ll then invest in their business accordingly. So, they plan for success and invest for success and guess what? They achieve the success they’ve planned and invested in.

The majority

The majority will plan for the wrong things. This is regardless of their industry. They’ll look at 2026 and consider it as a success, if they manage to make a marginal profit. Some will see survival as a victory.

They’ll then invest in their business accordingly. So, they plan for borderline survival and invest in borderline survival and guess what? Yep… they get borderline survival.

Your 2026 plan

If you’re in that winning minority, well done. You’ll find lots of great ideas over on my creative thinking website.

For everyone else, here are a few suggestions.

De-Commoditize

This is the main suggestion. By itself, it can massively increase your profits and revenues. Decide to make your business meaningfully different from its competitors. Then find someone who knows what they’re doing to create it for you.

You’ll never need to compete based on price ever again.

Don’t shoot for survival

This suggestion seems obvious, yet many small business owners unconsciously make the mistake, anyway. Don’t focus on struggling, or plan for mere survival. Important: Miss your survival target by 1% and you fail to survive!

When sharing this with groups of small business owners, I ask them to consider the following: If you were focused on enjoying your best business year ever, and planning for it to happen, would your thoughts and plans look the way they currently do for 2026?

Ponder the full cost of lowering your wage bill

When laying-off staff members or reducing their hours, a lot of employers forget to weigh up 2 potentially massive costs.

Firstly, morale and motivation can plummet. This results in a poor working atmosphere, which can also get picked-up by your clients, customers and contacts.

Secondly, remaining employees may start looking for a stable job elsewhere. And it’s not the least valued who are quickly snapped-up, it’s your most valued. So, there’s the potential to lose your super-stars.

You’re in control

Our results in 2026 will be determined by.

What we do
What we choose to ignore

Not outside factors. Not the economy.

That’s because we already know that in 2026, some will have their best ever year. Other’s in the same industries, in the same areas, with the same economies, selling to the same profile of client or customer, will struggle or go broke.