Business Blog for Company Owners

I’ve been riding horses my whole life. Over the years, some of those horses have tried to unseat me by what’s referred to as “bucking.” Most people know what this looks like, but few know what it feels like.

It’s frightening to be on top of a huge animal who wants you off their back. A person may get lucky and ride one or two bucks, but it takes some serious self-talk to ride a bucking horse for a long time. The secret to riding out the buck is to not give up on yourself. The biggest threat to your body when a horse is in fight/flight mode is your own brain in fight/flight mode. Read more

Your team is competing for the hearts, minds and budgets of local families. You’ve done well so far. If you qualify for Diamond Certified, your award will be proof. Most companies can’t qualify, and even some that do can’t maintain the standard of Highest in Quality and Helpful Expertise®. In these stressful times of COVID-19 and wildfires, people want reassurance. They genuinely want helpful expertise—help that’s customized to their situation and personality. Once the job begins, they want an empathetic relationship and a quality outcome. Read more

Feeling like you belong. Belonging. It’s a sense of acceptance in a group. Your self-identity is derived from being a member in many groups. You have a role, sometimes several, in each group—a position. You may be a parent in a family group, a business manager in a company group, a friend in a bowling group and so on. As your activities and thoughts change during a single day, you jump from group to group, filling different roles in each. You’re inclined to think about and engage more often in groups where you feel a greater sense of belonging.

You have status within each group. Status is our position relative to others. Read more

Your company is engaged in a battle of suppliers. It doesn’t create demand; it competes locally to supply demand that already exists. Many of your competitors are striving to win a bigger share of this demand or trying to capture its most profitable segments. What happens when market demand is suddenly changed by the shelter-in-place (SIP) order and gradual reopening?

Playing for a bigger piece of a (sometimes) smaller pie.
As your neighbors come out of hibernation, in some industries total demand will lag behind pre-SIP levels while others will be strong due to pent-up demand. If you’re in a lagging industry, you’re competing for your share of a smaller pie…for now. Read more

What’s going to happen after our local economy mostly reopens? Everybody has a prediction, but nobody knows for sure. We can only guess how things will play out during the rest of this year and the next. Your guesses are actually valuable. Organize them to help you think through high, medium and low future scenarios. Then, create strategies for each scenario so you’re well prepared for an uncertain future. Here’s how to do it.

Think in three time periods—we’ll use Red Phase for the time we’re in Shelter-in-Place (SIP), Yellow Phase for an Assessment period and Green Phase for the New Future. Think about each of these time periods and plan your company’s actions based on an Optimistic, Read more

Intense stressors require bold responses. Today we mailed 820,000 Diamond Certified Directories to quality-seeking families throughout the Greater Bay Area. Plus, to deliver a BIGGER BOOST for your company, we’ve started running a record number of TV, radio and digital announcements to amplify the distribution of your full-page profile in our popular directory. “Bold” may be too subtle a word to characterize the more than DOUBLE the number of the previous record of announcements, stations, reach and frequency running during the next 30 days. BIG BOOST indeed!

Diamond Certified companies will always do well. Now more than ever, consumers seek the higher quality, safer choice. Read more

Novato, CA: American Ratings Corporation (ARC), creator of the popular Diamond Certified Resource, is proud to announce the digital release of the 2020 Diamond Certified Plan Ahead Directory. The first-of-its-kind free directory, specifically designed for residents of the Greater Bay Area who are following COVID-19 “Shelter in Place” mandates, features enhanced listings of Diamond Certified companies in a wide variety of service industries (auto, health, home services and improvement, etc.), articles about preparing for life after coronavirus, helpful local resources, planning checklists and more. Read more

As the coronavirus pandemic becomes an increasing concern, it’s vital to keep your employees and customers informed on what to do and where to go if they need help. Here’s a list you can distribute to help people find information and resources in their specific counties. Read more

In times of stress, consumers become very risk-averse. They look to Diamond Certified® companies as beacons of quality, safety and fairness, rated Highest in Quality and Helpful Expertise® and backed by the Diamond Certified Performance Guarantee.

As the manager of a high-trust Diamond Certified company, you play a valuable role in your community during this trying time. You are a strong leader and will make stressed customers feel more confident by your positive actions, helping your community and providing your company’s highly rated services during this COVID-19 outbreak.

Are you familiar with the expression, “the medium is the message,” made popular by Marshall McLuhan, a prophet of the electronic age? Read more

We have exciting news: You’ve been upgraded! Your Diamond Certified Resource just got even better. This year, you’ll be found by even more Bay Area consumers via new search engines on the websites of several leading media outlets. We’re also expanding our reach into Sacramento, which means a larger service area and more exposure to quality-seeking prospects. We’re making it easier for your customers to answer surveys about your company by providing them with text and email options. And Quality Customers will experience your Helpful Expertise® every time they look at their 2020 Diamond Certified Home Service Calendar, which was just mailed to Diamond Certified Preferred Consumers throughout the Bay Area. These upgrades will make 2020 your best year ever! Read more