Skip to main content

Business

Follow Andrea Hill's Business Posts

Andrea Hill has spent her career rebuilding mid-sized corporations to recover from financial crisis and/or prepare for growth. Her breadth of knowledge and on-the-ground experience make her uniquely qualified to address business strategy and development. She is a qualified practitioner and implementer of Lean Manufacturing, Balanced Scorecards, and a variety of ERP systems, and she has developed proprietary methods for implementing strategic plans and brand strategies.

Trade Shows Are Strategic ... Stop Making Them Tactical

AI: Your New Teammate

How a Micro Management Style Diminishes Your Impact

Stop Distracting Yourself with Ineffective Advertising

The Value (and the point) Is in the Process

Email Delivery Problems? Rate-Limiting is On the Rise

Website Innovation: Beyond Cookie-Cutter to Business Value

Stop! Before you drag-and-drop your way to a cookie-cutter website, think about your business value proposition. Do the work of website innovation.

Looking for Success? Implement a Management Framework.

You've created a business strategy, minimum viable product or service, and a business plan. Now you need goals, measurable objectives, and a method of monitoring and managing results; in other words, a Management Framework. This article compares and explains your options.

Principles of Graphic Design

Most small business owners are doing a lot of graphic designs themselves. But without understanding graphic design principles, what you save in time and fees will cost you in results. This 36-minute video will help you understand the basic principles of graphic design. Whether you are doing your own graphics or working with a graphic designer, understanding these concepts will most certainly improve your marketing efforts.

First Things First: There's an Order to Profitability

The building blocks of profitability are clear, and they even have a required sequence to them. But without knowledge of the building blocks - or awareness that these building blocks even exist! - your business will suffer.

Embrace the Internet to Increase Business Value

It’s no longer enough to just have a website. You must have a website that looks and feels current, and offers more than just a few pretty pictures.

You're Selling to Feelings, Not Reason

Consumers - female and male - buy based on emotion, not logic. No matter how many facts and statistics they cite, they ultimately buy based on how you made them feel.

Leadership. Think More Swarm, Less Sparkle.

The first requirement of a good leader is character; responsibility, respect for others, honesty and trustworthiness, fairness, caring and empathy, and concern for community. These attributes are essential for good leadership.

Why Are We Still Fighting About Lab Grown Diamonds?

The jewelry industry continues to take polarized positions on lab-grown diamonds.

Radical Inclusiveness - the Competitive Edge

Build the right team and the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts.

Raised by Wolves: Or Why Most Job Interviews Are a Waste of Time

To Win at Marketing You Need a Long Game

Compensation Advice for Retailers

Outstanding Customer Service is a Culture Thing

To deliver outstanding customer service, create a customer service culture.

Gender Bias in the Jewelry Industry

Gender bias is not unique to the jewelry industry. But as a small industry that predominantly serves women, addressing it may be essential to our survival.

Everything I Need to Know About Sexual Harassment I Learned in Kindergarten

Sexual harassment isn’t about sex. It’s about power.

Turn Your Ideas Into Profits

Poka Yoke: The Art of Preventing Errors

To err is human. To poka yoke is divine.

Root Cause Analysis

Collaboration in Action - Part 2

The Key to Success Today is Collaboration

5 Steps to More Motivated Sales People

Self-motivation happens when the desire to learn and achieve is ignited from within.

What is Fairtrade? Fairmined?

People often confuse Fairmined and Fairtrade. Here's a simple guideline to help you sort them out.

Let Go of Control and Claim Your Potential

Make Time to Plan

Making time to plan is the most important thing you can do.

Curiosity Saved the Cat

The jewelry industry needs a massive injection of curiosity if it is going to create a profitable new reality.

How to Be a Terrific Manager Without Trying

Getting Value Right

Does the Jewelry Industry Have a Competitiveness Problem?

The Art of Being on Sale

There's an art to being on sale, especially for luxury businesses.

For Designers Only: A Trade Show Pep Talk

A trade show pep talk for designers and craftspeople.

How Strategic Planning Works

In this podcast, Andrea Hill describes the strategic process.

10 Rules for Successful Trade Shows

10 incredibly important rules for having a successful trade show.

Getting Focused

It's Time to Tell Different Stories

The jewelry industry needs to tell different stories if it wants to stay relevant.

Could Digital Design Transform the Industry?

Don't just use digital design to do your old work faster. Use it to transform your business.

Keep Your Mind On Your Goals

Stop Anxiety in its Tracks

You can get your work anxiety under control with these simple steps.

Get Inspired — Starting With Your Work Space

Put Your Pain Under the Microscope

If you are experiencing a persistent pain in your business, don’t let it slide.

Get Responsive Now

If you're website isn't responsive, you're missing the boat.

What's Your Business Vision?

A thoughtful review of your business vision (the strategic one) will yield surprising insights that can jumpstart your business again.

On Paying Jewelers Appropriately

When retail stores employ jewelers, they improve their competitive position. But in order to keep jewelers on staff, retailers must pay jewelers well.

The Introversion of the Jewelry Industry

The jewelry industry has become a closed system. The problem is bigger than sustainability, sourcing, imported goods, Blue Nile, Sam’s, or Costco.

The New Numbers Game

With foot traffic down, suppliers are placing more focus on selling directly to consumers. The numbers game becomes an entirely different animal.

Digital Consumers in the Physical World

Customer expectations have taken another leap forward. The digital consumer wants her products faster, without waiting, with ample information, tailored to her.

Sit. Crawl. Walk. Run. Stairs. The Strategic Process

If you follow a logical, tested, practical strategic process, you can implement all the strategic building blocks your company needs to be competitive and successful.

Resolution #3: I Will Figure Out My Brand Story

Unlike a dream, your brand story has a destination - an ending that's clear to you from the beginning. Everything you do must be part of your brand story.

Resolution #2: Become a Better Thinker

Most folks don't think. We react, daydream, deny, endorse, commiserate, argue, wish, and even wonder. But being a thinker is different.

Protect Yourself Online with 2-Factor Authentication

2-Factor Authentication won’t stop the best hackers, but it could save you time, frustration, money and loss-of-face from the most common hacking attacks.

Is This Client Worth It? How to Analyze Client Profitability

Analyzing client profitability is the key to creating a sustainable business. This blog - and the downloadable workbook - will show you how.

The Secret to Small Business Success

There are several business skills you must cultivate to ensure the survival and profitability of your company.

I Had This Wrong for 20 Years: Profit is Not a Purpose

Had I stopped to think deeply about it, I would have realized much sooner that profit and a higher purpose are not mutually exclusive.

Lead Like a Woman

When female leaders are tough, they make the gossip sheet. When male leaders are tough, they call it news. But women are better leaders, and shouldn't emulate male leaders to fit in.

What I Wish Consumers Knew About Buying Designer Jewelry

When you introduce someone to the joy of buying art the experience can be transformative. Consumers should have that experience buying designer jewelry.

Are You a Great Merchant or Just Shopping?

Every product category must evolve to stay relevant. Great merchants are masters of product evolution.

Use a List to Jumpstart Strategic Thinking

Use your list-making skills for strategic thinking, to create new things to think about.

On Mastery: Your Mind Doesn’t Want the Slack You’re Giving It

People often think that the reason they feel so stale or anxious is that they aren’t making the kind of money they wanted to make. That's usually not why.

Integrity is A Russian Doll

An integrity-infused business is all-or-nothing. You’re either feeling it or you’re not, and if you’re not feeling it, it will bite you in the bottom line.

Content is the New Branding and #WomenWithPens

The future of branding and marketing is content development & sharing. Here's a shout-out to some writers in the jewelry industry leading the way.

Everything You Know About Luxury Has Changed

Millennials are changing everything we know about luxury. Here are 5 key areas your luxury business must master to stay relevant.

Why Isn't Anyone Seeing My Facebook Posts?

You're not on Facebook for your health. If you're using Facebook for business, you need to get a return for that energy. Here are a few things to think about every time you post - each of which will help you improve your visibility to the algorithm and get your content in front of more potential customers.

Did the Mobile Bandwagon Just Pass You By?

Google's new algorithm, and how your website must be responsive to keep up with consumer requirements.

Why does Verizon's Purchase of AOL Matter?

It was all over the news this month - Verizon Communications will buy AOL, Inc. in a $4.4 billion deal. Yes, this is big news for investors and Verizon competitors, but does it matter to you? It certainly does, and here's why.

No More Windows

If your competitors are committed to staying current on software, there's a good chance they have operational and marketing capabilities you do not have.

It's Just Conflict

Conflict has value. Any alliance without an occasional clash of diverging ideas will be as satisfying as a diet of chicken broth or a dip in a tepid bath.

What Your 2nd Grader Can Teach You About Business Ethics

A little grade-school philosophy may be all you need to implement a successful business ethics program. The rewards will be significant.

On DNA, Ruts, and Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone

Why business diversity? Because when a business embraces many different perspectives, thought processes, and world views, it fires up the collective brain.

Getting Employee Reviews Right

An annual employee review process can be a powerful driver for business growth and innovation. Unfortunately, in most companies it's not used for that at all. Here's how to improve.

Pet Rocks are Few and Far Between

When anyone approaches me for advice on a new business, my first question is "what's your sales strategy? How do you sell? The majority of businesses fail due to lack of attention to this issue.

Ask the Right Questions for Customer Feedback

If you don't solicit customer feedback, you can't get inside the customer's head. Here are some ways to get useful customer feedback.

Myth Busting: The Social Media Sales Promise

Despite constant benchmarking and study in the area of social media sales there continues to be misunderstanding about how social media really works and what expectations we can appropriately have of it.

Marketing and Sales Cycle Infographic

Selling is hard, but once you understand these facts about the sales cycle, your confidence will increase and so will your selling success.

The Overconfident Buyer (or, Crazy is as Crazy Does)

There are four buyer types: gain buyer, pain buyer, complacent buyer, and overconfident buyer. My advice is to run from the last type.

Past Time for Change - A Post to the Jewelry Industry

A business living on auto-pilot ultimately dies of its own apathy. In business, every time is a time for change, and change is the only way to grow.

Fairy Fasteners and Just Jules Have Business Magic

When I walk trade shows I look for more than products. I look for examples of business magic. Here are two; one from #JCKLasVegas and one from #Couture2014

Improve Your RTS (Return on Trade Show) With These 10 Important Tips

You know the basic tips: Show everything, make appointments, manage your budget. But to get your return on trade show, you need to do these 10 things well.

Eating Live Frogs

"If you eat a live frog first thing in the morning, nothing worse will happen to you for the rest of the day." Mark Twain. A cure for procrastination

The Medium is the Message. Still.

Each advertising medium has its own value and plays a role in each message. It's time for all of us to understand the inherent message in the website medium.

Distinguishing the Essential from the Ersatz

The world changed faster than biology; the subconscious mind struggles to keep up. This simple organization process will restore clarity and creativity.

Your (Character) Slip is Showing

The most powerful thing a small business owner can do is be an effective leader, and ensure his entire organization conveys a strong message of character and integrity to his business community

Make Your Business Values as Transparent as Possible

This business made its values and strategy so transparent that we as customers can see what matters to them and why they matter to us. That's branding.

In Search of Relevance: The Unsubscriber

Having someone unsubscribe or opt out is an opportunity to not waste my precious resources talking to the wrong people.

A Smile as Small as Mine . . .

Sales is a numbers game, which makes it feel heartless and cold. Here's a better way to think about it and approach it. Poem anyone?

You Need to Attract the New Consumer. Now What?

Two new studies tell us the new consumer is different and the luxury market is changing, but they don't tell you what to do about it. Here are some ideas.

Are You Competitive? Are You Sure?

Are You Competitive? There's a lot of evidence to support that most business owners don't understand what it means to be business competitive. Find out more here.

Don't Let This Industrial Revolution Pass You By

Do you have enough information to analyze your business from product to price to timing to turns?

What is Business Software Escrow

What if your software provider ceases to exist? What if they stop providing updates or improvements for an extended period of time? What if the software provider goes into financial distress? What happens to your ability to use your business software?

Are You Having Fun? If Not, You Might Be Off Track.

Are you having fun? If not, it's a sign that you are not in-sync with your goals. Making $$$ is not enough. Most of us also have a deep need to have fun.

No pain no gain? No sales!

What pain are you alleviating, or what gain are you providing, with the product you sell? No pain, no gain . . . you have to offer at least one!

Are You an Opportunistic Feeder?

When a food supply dwindles, birds don't sit around waiting for it to reappear. They move on - quickly - in search of a new food source.

Nurture Vendor Relationships for Retail Success

Your approach to and appreciation for vendor relationships plays a vital role in your success. Retailers who actively build product channels reap the rewards.

Sales Skills for the Chatty Challenged

Sales skills training doesn't pay enough attention to talking less. Start a stronger conversation to develop better understanding of your clients' needs.

True Mentorship Goes Deeper than You Think

True mentorship involves coaching on behavior, professionalism, accountability, and maturity.

The Answer to "What Do You Sell?" May Not Be What You Think

The failure rate for small business is over 70% in the first five years of operaiton. Asking a few important questions at the outset - or even when you realize your business isn't thriving - can help you turn the corner instead of turning out the lights.