Tom Fuszard

B2B copywriter/content marketing writer dedicated to helping you and your business succeed. Click on the "Writing Samples" tab for a selection of my samples. Need help with your content marketing? Feel free to call or email me.

Staying in touch can pay dividends

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Customer-focused business people understand the importance of staying connected with former clients. It’s not hard but does require a concerted effort. You should be thinking of ways to stay in touch gently throughout the year. I was reminded of this value just recently. A former client contacted me for assistance on a short-term project. It helped that … Read more

Using suggestions builds, maintains morale

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Every business encounters employee issues on occasion. Any number of factors can cause tension, unhappiness and other disruptive feelings.

LightbulbThere are ways to combat this. One way to let employees know they are appreciated is to use their suggestions. This may sound obvious, but some managers apparently don’t understand.

Not all suggestions can be implemented, of course. But some can. And how you handle each situation helps determine how well your decisions sits with the employee. Here are four steps for handling suggestions:

1. Acknowledge the idea. Thank the employee for offering the idea. Emphasize that you’re pleased with the person’s interest in helping the firm improve its operations, bottom line, and so forth.

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Learn to improvise while networking

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Business networking events, like other programs, sometimes don’t proceed as planned. Or, they weren’t formatted as you thought. Do you sulk and walk away? Or do you turn the unfortunate into a positive?

traits of a leader, how to be a good leader, being a good leader, how to be a managerI recently learned of an event that I thought was open only to members of the local Chamber of Commerce. It was a pre-Grand Opening event for a new dessert place in town. I thought, Great! Check out a new business, and get in some networking. Imagine my surprise, then, when I noticed a line out front of the building. Turns out the business had broadcast the event, so dozens (perhaps hundreds) of people showed up.

Good for them. As for me, I needed to improvise.

My first step entailed scoping the crowd. I was looking for any familiar faces, particularly local business people. Didn’t see any. Hmmm.

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Be disciplined with your time

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Time management tip: Review non-productive emails after hours

If you’re like most people, you volunteer for a number of non-profit organizations. That’s great. I highly recommend it. (I’m involved with the Rotary Club of New Berlin, the New Berlin Chamber of Commerce, the southeastern Wisconsin chapter of JDRF and a Milwaukee-area ham radio organization.)

Those organizations and the volunteers involved with them regularly send out emails asking for advice, help or information. I imagine you promptly respond to each message. I have. It’s difficult not to. Due to my background in customer service and sales, I tend to react to messages quickly. That’s the problem.

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Presentation tip: Improve your presentation with pauses

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Improve your oral presentation skills by incorporating pauses in your speech. Oh, I’m sure you pause on occasion. Everyone does naturally. But for maximum effect after a particularly dramatic or funny comment, pause for 4 to 6 seconds. (You may need to count in your head to make sure you wait long enough.) Doing so will … Read more