Customer service can set your business apart, or sink it
Posted On April 13, 2023
Business owners spend a lot of money getting customers to come in the door, creating marketing campaigns and buying advertising. Why is it, then, that so many of them send those same customers right back out the door with poor customer service? “Bottom line, it’s respect,” Pam Denham, one of Alabama’s leading customer service trainers, said of its importance. “It’s really not that hard to do these things and be set apart from other businesses because so few people are aware of it.” Denham, who joined us in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” has run her… Read More
Categories: Blog, Podcast, Training Industry, What's Working with Cam Marston
Another important thing to remember about retirement: Don’t wait too late
Posted On April 9, 2023
We’ve discussed the importance of succession planning many times in this space with a lot of people who are well versed in the art. One of them added an important caveat recently: Don’t wait too late. Scot Hunsaker sold his swimming pool company at 49 and now counsels other business owners thinking about their futures through the Ardent Group. He’s also delved into his passions, traveling with his wife up the Eastern seaboard and into Canada on their 66-foot boat, and then taking a trip to Australia and New Zealand. It was on these travels that Hunsaker came to a… Read More
Categories: Blog, Podcast, Succession Planning, What's Working with Cam Marston
With fraud rampant, risk management is essential in banking and payment processing
Posted On April 2, 2023
Few of us write checks regularly anymore. They’re primarily used for things like insurance payouts and the like. But while the use of checks continues to fall each year, instances of fraud involving checks continues to rise. “Even as the number of checks reduces 10 percent year over year,” said Rusty Pickering, President and Chief Operating Officer of Ingo Money, “the amount of check fraud attempts that we see is going up something like 30 percent annually.” Pickering’s firm is a payment processing company based in Alpharetta, Georgia, but a large part of his job is risk management – managing… Read More
Categories: Blog, Financial Services, Podcast, What's Working with Cam Marston
If you want to succeed in sales, relationships aren’t just a buzzword
Posted On March 28, 2023
What’s the secret to sales? You’ve probably heard enough people say “relationships” by now that it sounds cliché. But a relationship isn’t just providing service to your customers, and it doesn’t stop with the sale. Angelo DePaola, The Coastal Connection, says it goes beyond that. “I know everybody talks about relationships, but relationships run both ways and they last over a long period as time,” he said. “When people ask me what I do, I’m in the relationship business and we leverage that into real estate sales.” DePaola, a realtor based in Orange Beach, was our guest in the latest… Read More
Categories: Blog, Podcast, Real Estate, What's Working with Cam Marston
Why creating a strong workplace culture should be your top priority
Posted On March 5, 2023
We’ve talked a lot in my podcasts about workplace culture. It’s always been an important piece of a successful business, but as we’ve emerged from the pandemic, it may now be the most important factor to long-term success. Our guest in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” certainly thinks so. Richard Jolly is an associate clinical professor of management and organization at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Jolly, who is also a Director of the consulting firm Stokes & Jolly Ltd., says creating a positive workplace culture is more than a desire or a goal for… Read More
Categories: Blog, Podcast, What's Working with Cam Marston, Work, Workplace
Is virtual banking the wave of the future?
Posted On February 24, 2023
What is a virtual bank? And when might one be right for you? The short answer, Megan Owens says, is that it’s a bank that doesn’t have brick-and-mortar branches. And if you’re a small business owner looking for a loan, Owens has just the bank for you. “The way of branch banking is going by the wayside,” said Owens, who works in Mergers & Acquisitions for Live Oak Bank, a completely virtual bank that specializes in Small Business Administration loans. “We see internet banking, virtual banking, coming to our customers’ offices, as the wave of the future.” Owens, our guest… Read More
Categories: Blog, Financial Services, Podcast, Succession Planning, What's Working with Cam Marston
Revolutionizing the home renovation industry may be AnotherStory
Posted On February 15, 2023
“Build a better mouse trap, and the world will beat a path to your door.” It’s a phrase commonly attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson and, while his exact words were a little different, the point holds: Everybody’s looking for the next big thing – if it works. The world may be soon beating a path to Ben Strout’s door in Birmingham. Strout, an architect and contractor, doesn’t build mouse traps. He and his company, AnotherStory, renovate houses, and they’ve found a better way to do it. “AnotherStory is really an answer to an age-old question that people didn’t even know… Read More
Categories: Blog, Entrepreneurship, Podcast, Real Estate, What's Working with Cam Marston
When optimization becomes the enemy of strategic planning and vision
Posted On February 12, 2023
We’ve all heard the phrase “not being able to see the forest for the trees.” Many of us don’t realize how we’re actually guilty of it, however, particularly in business. The focus on short-term success, optimizing our processes and production, can ultimately hinder the longer view, our planning for a better, perhaps transformative, future. Our guest in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” has written a book about just that – and the steps to avoiding it. Marty Strong is a former Navy SEAL who has become a sought-after consultant, speaker and author, as well as the… Read More
Categories: Blog, Podcast, What's Working with Cam Marston, Work
How to create an award-winning workplace culture
Posted On February 2, 2023
Building a strong workplace culture within your business has always been an important element of success. It may even be more important now, in a competitive job market where potential employees have the luxury of finding a workplace that best suits them. Our guest in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” has shown a proven talent in building a strong workplace culture. Patrick Werrlein is the president and owner of Swagelok’s sales and service center in Birmingham, and his company was recently named one of Business Alabama’s Best Companies to Work For in Alabama. Swagelok specializes in… Read More
Categories: Blog, Podcast, What's Working with Cam Marston, Workplace
Avoiding the pitfalls of entrepreneurship
Posted On January 29, 2023
While the COVID-19 pandemic has been a difficult hurdle for many small businesses to clear, that apparently has not kept fledgling entrepreneurs from wanting to jump in feet first and give business ownership a shot. “In the past three years, we’ve been inundated with people coming in, looking for help to start a business,” said Mel Washington, Regional Director of the Small Business Development Center for southwest Alabama. Washington, our guest in the latest episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston,” says many of those new would-be entrepreneurs are Baby Boomers, looking for something new to throw their efforts into,… Read More
Categories: Blog, Entrepreneurship, Podcast, What's Working with Cam Marston