Lisa Bichsel

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Here's how to humanize the funnel conversion rate and win at relationship building.  Whether you are a seasoned business owner or just starting out in the market, it's important to realize that if you want your company to grow and have relevant longevity, you need to put the needs of potential and current customers first. It's not always about making a quick buck on the next sale or convincing your current clients to sign up for add-on products and services in the rush of the moment. Sometimes it's more appropriate to sit back and continue to get to know them even better. Figure out how best to find a solution that is the right fit for the client and not all about promoting how much your company can do for them. To help you begin an alternative approach to doing business and become more successful at retaining customers who may be willing to provide positive bonus referrals, 15 Fast Company Executive Board members chime in to share their best practices.

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The cold call pitch isn't dead, but it does have to be done the right way to get the best results. Cold calling can be awkward at times. You only have so many minutes to get the strongest points about your product across, and you're always at risk of your prospective client hanging up. But in the modern digital era, calls shouldn't ever be "cold." Connections are easier to make when you start with common ground, and that can be easy to establish with a quick Google search of your target client. Below, a panel of Fast Company Executive Board members shares the best ways to warm up your cold call and make your pitch successful. 

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If you want to keep morale high and avoid a slump after the holidays, here's how to encourage positivity and cheer among your team. During the holiday season, employees are often excited about seeing their families, taking time off and relaxing before the start of a new year. It's difficult, however, to carry this spirit into the new year when employees have to go back to a normal work schedule in January. Leaders can take the initiative to change this mindset by doing small things to support employees, such as supporting their personal goals through company-sponsored gym memberships or having more frequent happy hours. To help, Fast Company Executive Board members shared some effective ideas for encouraging cheer and positivity post-holidays and into the new year.

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A poorly-crafted social media post can quickly spiral out of control, so it's important for leaders to have a strategy for moving forward. Before posting something under the company's name, it's important to ensure that the tone and message of the post are in line with what you want to communicate. Enlisting the help of a PR professional or reading posts out loud to a group are great ways to make sure that the message you're trying to communicate is the right one. But even then, it's possible that a leader's message can be taken the wrong way or accidentally miss the mark. When this happens, leaders must take immediate action both internally and externally. Below, nine Fast Company Executive Board members shared the first action leaders should take under these circumstances and how to avoid similar situations in the future.

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Writing informative content can set you and your organization up as experts in your industry—but only if it provides real value to your audience. Gone are the days when producing business content simply meant writing copy for ads. With today’s broad variety of 24/7 media outlets, organizations have the opportunity to create messaging that will not only give them top-of-mind awareness but also showcase their expertise, boost their brands, and help them build real, meaningful relationships with their target audiences. By producing content that shares their knowledge with the public, a leader and the organization they represent can show that they’re genuinely interested in serving the public’s needs, not just in making a sale.  It can seem like an intimidating task to develop smart, meaningful content, but it doesn’t have to be. You and your team have plenty of valuable information to share; you just have to learn the best ways to uncover it and get it out there. To help, the members of Fast Company Executive Board have shared ways leaders and their teams can brainstorm and create content that not only demonstrates their expertise but also provides real value for their audiences.

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You’ve caught the attention of a new prospect—now you need to convince them you can really deliver what you’re promising. Across industries, marketing teams of both B2B and B2C companies employ a variety of strategies to catch the attention of new prospects. It can be a difficult hill to climb—particularly in today’s global, digital marketplace—but even when you succeed, your work may be only half done. The new prospect knows what you claim to offer, but they may not be sure—yet—that you can back it up. To complete the sale, companies need to close the “credibility gap” that may be keeping prospects from making a final decision in their favor. To help, 15 members of Fast Company Executive Board have shared ways companies can convince potential clients and customers that they are capable of and committed to following through on their marketing promises. Follow their advice to establish your expertise and land the deal.

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Customer retention may be cheaper than new lead generation, but you need the right strategies to successfully earn repeat business. One of the first lessons business owners learn is that it’s cheaper to retain an existing customer than to engage a new one. However, that doesn’t mean it’s easy—and failing to retain current clientele can lead to detrimental consequences for an organization. Fortunately, there are several simple strategies that businesses can use to help retain and engage their existing customers. Not sure where to begin? Start with these 13 tried-and-true tricks shared by the members of Fast Company Executive Board.

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It's never been more important for leaders to show their team members their appreciation than in the past several months—and there are many ways to do it. The past year has been a challenging one for everyone, both professionally and personally. From instituting remote work arrangements to temporary layoffs, businesses had to make adjustments—often without warning—to stay afloat. Those businesses that have weathered recent storms could not have done so without the loyalty and hard work of their team members. That’s why it’s more important than ever for leaders to show those team members their thanks and appreciation. Indeed, a little extra love can make a huge difference in employee morale and well-being at any time, but particularly when teams are working remotely and lack the usual in-person interactions. Below, 15 members of Fast Company Executive Board share how they’ve shown their staff their appreciation over the past year and why this approach has been effective in lifting their team's spirits.

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If you want to build a brand that lasts, start by creating a community of like-minded consumers and advocates of your product or service. With multiple social media outlets and a vast online marketplace, consumers have unprecedented access to information about companies, allowing them to make informed decisions about who to do business with. Consumers tend to put particular trust in—and therefore seek out—other consumers’ opinions. This transparency can also work in the favor of a business, which can use the same media to share information and build a community around their brand. While it starts with a good product or service, there’s more to building a community than that. If a company works to reach out to its target audience through content, shared values, and stories, happy clients and customers may turn into faithful fans who spread the word and help the brand grow. However, businesses may not always be sure of how to begin building this sense of loyalty and shared community with their current and potential audience. To help, 16 members of Fast Company Executive Board share strategies any company can use to start building a community around its brand. Follow their recommendations to plant the seeds of avid brand advocacy among your customer base.