Philippe Matthews Show Guru Advice, Author Reviews, Tech Reviews, Entertainment News

Avoid profit-killing discounts and price wars by differentiating yourself, your firm and your offering from the competition. When you're selling against a lower-priced competitor, you have two choices: discount or differentiate.

The secret to increasing your sales is to win the hearts of your sales team. At some point every sales manager watches Alec Baldwin in the 1992 movie, Glengarry Glen Ross, and dreams of the day they can deliver that iconic speech, "As you all know first prize is a Cadillac Eldorado

Stop giving it away! We asked successful young entrepreneurs to brainstorm creative ways that small businesses can spread word and boost sales without resorting to the likes of daily deals sites. The Young Entrepreneur Council asked 11 successful young entrepreneurs to share a creative way to market a business without resorting to daily deal sites

Emphasize the virtues of your product or service, rather than the price. It will keep your competitors at bay, and your customers close. As business owners, we are often tempted to discount our product or service, thinking it will somehow win us customers and drive growth.

Reviewing The Wide Lens: A New Strategy for Innovation, by Ron Adner. The book: The Wide Lens: A New Strategy for Innovation , by Ron Adner; Portfolio. The big idea: Invention used to be 1 percent inspiration, 99 percent perspiration.

Think you know all there is to know about LinkedIn? Even expert users can squeeze out more productivity and sales with LinkedIns ready-made tools

Here are four things you can do now to increase the value of your business-and give you a smoother transition out when the time is right. As entrepreneurs we are constantly putting out fires, prioritizing and re-prioritizing our most urgent tasks, and changing our schedules so rapidly that committing to lunch with an old friend next week brings a certain sense of anxiety. We run our businesses to achieve our mission and earn a profit.

Strategies every start-up and small business can take from Apple, Facebook, Google, and other leaders in high tech. Looking to model your startup or small business after the tech industry's titans? It's not just about cutting-edge technology

Entrepreneurs often think only the best product will let them succeed. But sometimes 'best' isn't what your customers really want. Ever buy and eat a meal from a lunch wagon

Incentivize your customers to pay early, and keep overhead low. Plus other advice from Rahim Fazal, co-founder of social media firm Involver.

Are you relevant? (Are you sure?) Here are the top warning signs you may be alienating your customers. It seems the more market intelligence top executives possess, the less in touch they are with their target audiences

You may be able to raise your prices, or introduce a premium price level--if you really understand what your customers value most.

Seven things you can do to convince potential customers your site isn't a fly-by-night operation. Nobody in the world hesitates about making online purchases from Amazon, iTunes, or Dell.

How to fine-tune your website to give your customers exactly what they're looking for. Many e-commerce websites focus on the same thing: the homepage. They A/B test images and messaging and layout and tweak the user experience so it's clear and compelling.