“While you control things such as your logo, colors, slogans, mission, vision and core values, at the end of the day your brand is what others say about you based on what they perceive it to be, or what they have experienced.”

“Most of the work can be done by an employee with the right attitude, and a bit of “upscaling” of their skills, through training or education.”

“The little things are what makes a company unique or different. From a high level, many companies might look identical or competitive with each other. But once you zoom in, what makes an entrepreneur, startup, or business owner stand out are the little things they are doing differently in the day-to-day operations.”

“Every successful cook knows that the first step in creating a masterpiece is what the French call “mise en place” (essentially, everything in place), the steps of preparing to cook, which we will adapt to preparing a pitch.”

“As we move into the new year, I encourage you to think about taking a moment to celebrate the successes.”

“We all know ideas are worthless unless you implement them. Implementation is where (as we say in Detroit) the rubber meets the road. When reality hits, you still have to adjust or adapt to make sure the product or service is meeting the customer demand or desire.”

“What I have learned is that business owners and leaders who take the time to reflect on what went well, what they could do to improve, and what might have been missed opportunities are the ones who grow at a much faster rate.”

“People who are there when you need them to keep your business moving forward positively.”

“Accepting responsibility may seem something we all do, but the reality is that most people don’t actually do it.”

“Most people start by describing what they do, occasionally telling you how they do it, and rarely why they do it…It can be hard to open up and be vulnerable, sharing your story or journey.” -Faris Alami

“Relationships change, such as when an owner-to-owner relationship becomes an owner-to-staff relationship. The same is true on the other side of the equation” -Faris Alami

“How long does it take, on average, for your customers to expand their relationship with you?” -Faris Alami

“Knowing the frequency of your customer’s purchases helps you project your revenue, predict trends, keep your pipeline full, and stay fresh.” - Faris Alami

“Start paying attention to the life cycle of your transactions, and consider how you can make that cycle easier for you and for your customer.”-Faris Alami

“Working with under-served, under-represented, or under-resourced communities for several decades now, I say that most of the time the last thing you need to start or grow a business is experience.”-Faris Alami

“When we talk about behavioral segments, we are focused on HOW the consumers behave, and how you can leverage those behaviors in your marketing strategy.”-Faris Alami

“Psychographics: WHY are they buying? It doesn’t matter whether you are selling a service or a product. What matters is WHY they are buying.”-Faris Alami

“Do what you can to learn about your customers so you can align with them in a deeper way.”-Faris Alami

“Think about how you can break your market into segments so you can dig deeper into each one to create landing pages and marketing materials that support each segment.”-Faris Alami

“The key from this discussion is to understand that good questions coupled with experience can help us create new opportunities.” -Faris Alami