I’ll never forget the day I watched a secre­tary outsell a team of sales veterans.

The company sold consulting services. That morning I’d met with some of their less successful reps. Most of them knew exactly why they weren’t selling. “Our prices are just too high,” they assured me repeatedly. I’d heard it before. As we all know, price is often the single biggest obstacle for acquiring new business. It’s also the number one excuse of unsuccessful marketing and salespeople.

Now, I was riding with Helen Daniels, secretary to the boss and the person who’d handled new business inquiries before the pros had been hired: handled them, I’d been told, with great success. I wanted to see just how she’d done it.

It was told that you should never try and name your own company yourself. You cannot be objective enough to come up with the perfect company name. I thought about this, and decided to look into it further. It seemed ludicrous to me that a stranger could have a better feel about your eventual company name than you could.

I accept that they would have more experience in this field, but your company is ‘your baby’ and most probably was formed from ‘gut instinct’. I say use that `gut instinct’ and have a shot at naming your own company yourself. It’s FREE, and all it will cost you is a bit of time.

Companies seeking credibility, a leading edge over compe­tition, favorable publicity, and a way to accelerate sales are gaining value from award contests that reinforce their core values, strategic initiatives, and marketing claims.

Just as travelers rely upon the star rating system to choose a hotel or a local guide to choose a restaurant, buyers of any variety of products and services want to spend their money with winners — and they do.

In fact, a research study by Hendricks & Singhal of the University of Western Ontario and Georgia Institute of Technology, revealed more than 600 quality corporate award winners had 37% more sales growth and 44% higher stock price return than their peers.