Cornerstone Business Solutions > Articles by: Chris Hunter

Computer Attack: Do You Need a Firewall?

by | Feb 24, 2016 | Viruses

Computer viruses, hackers, worms, spam, spyware, adware – isn’t a computer safe anymore? The sad fact is that any computer linked to the outside world via a network or an internet connection can be attacked. The computers in your business must all be considered a...

Crazy Marketing Ideas

by | Jan 19, 2016 | Marketing Plans

Some of the most lucrative businesses have been built on what on the surface appears to be a completely irrational idea. Maybe it’s best not to be too sensible when it comes to marketing. When pet rocks were marketed in the United States in the mid-1960s some people...

Create Better Online Forms

by | Jan 31, 2016 | Web Sites & E-Marketing - Part 1

The growth of eCommerce has helped to convert many of our formerly paper-based activities into electronic functionalities. Early attempts at putting forms onto the Internet usually required downloading a form, filling it out, then faxing it back to the website owner....

Creating Random Text in MS Word

by | Mar 22, 2016 | Microsoft Word Tips

There are times where one needs to quickly generate text in a document to fill a column or to test a layout and you don’t want to cut and paste from another document.  Well there is a solution. Here’s how to generate random text in Word: On a blank line in...

CRM – The Comeback King

by | Nov 3, 2015 | Customer Relationship Management

Customer relationship management, or CRM was once touted as the way of the future for all businesses. If the customer was truly king, CRM would be the way we courted royalty and retained their support. But when the anticipated gains didn’t materialize many...

Customer Loyalty – A New Look

by | Nov 6, 2015 | Customer Satisfaction

What’s happened to customer loyalty? There’s an increasing trend for customers to drift away no matter how much we spend to keep them faithful. More and more they’re making their ‘buy’ decisions on the basis of price and other factors like convenience rather than...

Danger Signals from Your Clients

by | Nov 7, 2015 | Customer Satisfaction

Every business relationship has its ups and downs, and in most cases both parties work to overcome conflicts and get things back to normal. We like what we’re used to and especially in professional services relationships there’s a lot of value placed on...

Defining the Family Business

by | Nov 11, 2015 | Family Businesses

We often use the term “family business” without having a clear definition of just what a family business really is. Coming up with such a definition is more difficult than it might at first seem, but it would be helpful for any number of reasons. A...

Develop an Employee Retention Strategy

by | Jan 1, 2016 | Retention

The Herman Group of Greensboro, North Carolina are business advisers specializing in issues concerning the workforce and workplace trends. They tell us that “an estimated 75 percent of American employers do not have a dedicated employee retention...

Dishonesty in the Workplace

by | Dec 29, 2015 | General - Human Resources

Dishonesty in the workplace takes two main forms – lying and stealing, and both are more common than many of us would like to think. Everyday examples of lying in the workplace include embellishing the truth on personal resumes and company track records; suggesting to...

Do You Need CRM?

by | Nov 3, 2015 | Customer Relationship Management

Among the many new buzz words to spring into the business lexicon over the past few years is CRM, which stands for Customer Relationship Management. CRM can be described as a business philosophy, a software product, or as both. As a business philosophy, CRM is the...

Due Diligence Explained

by | Nov 9, 2015 | Buying a Business, Selling a Business

You may have heard about “due diligence” when a business is being sold or taken over and wondered what it meant. If you want to sell or buy a business of your own you’ll certainly need to know just what due diligence means and how it’s applied....
E-Mail Archiving Essentials

E-Mail Archiving Essentials

by | Mar 25, 2016 | General - Operations

The increasing incidence of electronic discovery requests during lawsuits as well as the requirements of legislation such as the Sarbanes Oxley Act means that any company with an e-mail server should consider the acquisition of an email archiving system. There is a...

Easy Time Management

by | Dec 29, 2015 | General - Human Resources, Leadership

Every person in every organization is well aware that by adopting even the most basic time management techniques they can become more effective, and hence more productive. Even if they don’t actually do it. For professional service firms it is especially...

Effective Delegation — It’s an Art

by | Mar 28, 2016 | Delegation, Leadership

Almost every business owner has too much to do and not enough time to do it in. But there is a solution – let your team members take some of the weight off your back by learning how to delegate effectively. Are you taking work home every night? Do jobs pile up...

Employee Selection:  The Interview

by | Dec 28, 2015 | Interviews & Onboarding

One of the most critical elements in the team selection process is the interview. If it’s handled correctly you get the team members your company needs. The interview gives an employer the opportunity to find someone who will “fit in” with the organization. The...

Empower Your Team Members

by | Mar 28, 2016 | Delegation, Leadership

“Empower” is one of those words we see a lot of these days, but what does it really mean to a business owner? It doesn’t mean giving up your authority. It doesn’t mean shuffling off all the responsibilities of ownership onto the shoulders of...

Ethically Gathering Competitive Intelligence

by | Jan 23, 2016 | Market Research

It’s not just your own product or service which determines the success of your small business – what your competitors offer is just as important if you are trying to establish a profitable company. So, it is important that you know as much as possible about your...
Ethics and Credibility — What Now?

Ethics and Credibility — What Now?

by | Mar 29, 2016 | Ethics

A series of scandals in the corporate world — Enron and Andersen being just two of the leading examples, now seem to have been put behind us. Sarbanes-Oxley and similar legislation in almost every country around the world has been enacted and for a while at...

Examine Your Firm’s Packaging

by | Jan 26, 2016 | Branding, Packaging

Packaging applies to professional services firms as well as consumer products. Your firm has a package that includes its letterhead, its name, its logo, its business cards, its website, its marketing and even the way your telephones are answered. This package is what...

Feedback Should Be Clear and Actionable, Not “Nice” and Vague

by | Nov 6, 2019 | Coaching & Soft Skills, Communications & Performance Reviews, General - Personal Growth & Leadership, Human Resources, Leadership

This tip is adapted from “Are You Sugarcoating Your Feedback Without Realizing It?,” by Michael Schaerer and Roderick Swaab Many managers sugarcoat tough feedback, either to avoid retaliation or to protect employees’ feelings. But research shows that managers tend to...

Fees in Professional Service Firms — Two Views

by | Jan 26, 2016 | Pricing

Business people are pretty efficient when it comes to negotiating prices for goods and services when they purchase them from others. However, when setting their own level of fees for professional services many firm owners do not know how to begin the process. Fees for...

First Impressions Count — Add Them Up

by | Nov 8, 2015 | Image

To everyone out there, you and your business are inseparable. Every time you meet someone and every contact you have is an opportunity to make a good impression for your business. Make a good first impression and both you and your business will be seen in a positive...

Get the Buzz in Your Marketing

by | Jan 24, 2016 | Marketing Strategies

Marketing is anything but a clearly defined science. What worked ten or fifteen years ago will now be seen by consumers as irrelevant and outdated. New generations are out there with unprecedented demands and new channels of communication; to ignore them is to invite...

Getting Value Out of Sponsorships

by | Jan 31, 2016 | Sponsorships

How can you evaluate the proposal and give your client the right advice? After all, the money could just as easily go into advertising, a charitable donation or simply remain on the bottom line. Consumers generally value sponsorships highly. They see most of them as...

Grooming the Successor in a Family Business

by | Nov 16, 2015 | Family Businesses

The majority of businesses in most countries are classified as family businesses. A family business is any business is which a majority of the ownership or control rests within a family. It might be that just one member works in the business while others serve as...

Guerrilla Marketing — How Does it Work

by | Jan 24, 2016 | Marketing Strategies

They’re a kind of metropolitan phenomenon. A large duck holding a sign saying “Pizzas today – $5 each”, or Superman leaps out into the street carrying a placard promoting a sale in a nearby store. In the depression era of much earlier times it was someone...
Haggling Makes Business Sense

Haggling Makes Business Sense

by | Mar 25, 2016 | General - Operations

Whether it’s buying or selling, dealing with customers or employees, business owners have to negotiate virtually every day. Yet many may not view it as a separate skill, such as bookkeeping or time-management. Successful negotiating is both a science and an art,...

Handling Sales Objections

by | Apr 1, 2016 | Closing Sales

Just because a prospective client objects to your proposal is not a signal to fold up your tent and quit. Your response may be what closes the sale. The feel-felt-found technique is easy to apply in overcoming an objection. A prospect may tell you that they cannot...

Help the Community and Your Firm

by | Jan 24, 2016 | Marketing Strategies

Most of us have a charity or other worthy cause that we support. This lets us help others and in turn gives us a genuine feeling of sharing with those less fortunate than ourselves. By serving as volunteers we’re able to make a contribution that is perhaps even...

Hold the Price & Keep the Customer

by | Jan 26, 2016 | Pricing

When it comes to setting prices the majority of businesses are followers, not leaders. It they raise prices it’s always with the fear that customers will be offended, but they’ll lower prices to keep a customer or get a new one. They’re usually more...

How Charities can Help You with Your Marketing

by | Jan 31, 2016 | Sponsorships

It’s called ‘cause related marketing’ in popular parlance today but it actually began in 1982, with an American Express campaign that helped restore the Statue of Liberty. The campaign raised $1.7 million in funds and fuelled a 27 percent increase in card usage. With...
How Harley-Davidson Got Back Basics

How Harley-Davidson Got Back Basics

by | Mar 24, 2016 | Change Management

If there was ever an American icon of the highways it’s the Harley-Davidson motorcycle. 2003 is the year the company celebrates its 100th anniversary with a series of motorcycling events around the world. The company also announced record revenue and earnings for its...

How to Advertise on the Radio

by | Jan 4, 2016 | Advertising & Advertisements

Radio advertising can be a very effective way of shifting your goods or services. But like a lot of advertising, that gives the appearance of being simple, there are many factors that need to be considered. Since potential customers listen to the radio at home, at...

Chris Hunter, MBA

Chris’ combination of academic credentials, career experience and temperament ideally suit his calling as a business development advisor. Clients say he has a mind for business and a heart for service.
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