PPB March 2016

To this end, tomorrow’s

smart and successful entrepre-

neurs must have their bases well-

covered on these five fronts in

particular:

Transparency

. Operating

with transparency used to

be a luxury versus a neces-

sity but, now, it’s quite mandato-

ry. Millennials in particular, who

wield a tremendous amount of

influence and purchasing power,

make buying decisions based

largely on the origin, manufac-

turing processes and overall busi-

ness practices of a particular

company. Because Millennials

now comprise the largest popula-

tion in the U.S., to say that

transparency will drive how busi-

nesses are perceived is an under-

statement at best. However, the

good news is that establishing

and maintaining transparency

doesn’t have to be difficult.

Simply communicating regularly

with honesty and unequiv-

ocally holding yourself,

your staff and your compa-

ny accountable will go a

long way toward fostering

goodwill with not only con-

sumers and prospects, but

also with vendors, strategic

partners and your industry at

large.

Loyalty

It used to be

that only airlines had

loyalty programs. Now,

everybody from giant corpo-

rations such as PepsiCo to

mom-and-pop corner coffee

shops have some sort of loy-

alty program, and rightfully

so. Every industry faces new

competition on a daily basis

and customers are under-

standably price sensitive,

often buying from whoever

has the best sale or perks.

However, what loyalty pro-

grams really come down to is

AMID RECENT DATA REPORTS revealing that the

economic outlook among U.S. small-business owners is

finally stabilizing, there’s cause for entrepreneurs to be

optimistic. Whether or not that outlook begins to

uptick not only depends upon how agile, adaptable,

creative and resourceful entrepreneurs can be in plan-

ning for and reacting to market conditions, revenue

and brand-building opportunities, but also how

well they maintain a forward-thinking mindset.

FIVE WAYS SAVVY ENTREPRENEURS CAN EXCEL

By Brian Greenberg

MARCH 2016 •

PPB

• 71

THINK

MANAGE

MENT

A New Work State Of Mind