Author Jeffrey Hayzlett, hailed the “Celebrity CMO” by Forbes Magazine and famous for his outspoken appearances on numerous television shows such as CNBC’s The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch, Fox Business News, and NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice with Donald Trump, asks the tough business questions and suggests the changes that executives and business owners need to be making, right now, to grow their businesses.

Author, Brett Clay, joins fellow host David Wolf on Small Biz America Radio to discuss his book, Selling Change, named the “best business book of 2010” by Independent Publisher Book Awards. Brett says the old approach of selling solutions to customers’ problems is not profitable in today’s globalized, Internet-empowered markets. To survive and thrive, salespeople must become change agents that help customers achieve their goals.

Marketing consultant and coach, Robert Middleton of Action Plan Marketing, says having the right marketing mindset is critical for successfully building your business. He says most people dilute their marketing efforts using haphazard approaches. To be highly effective, executives, marketers, and salespeople must have the right marketing mindset and must execute systematic, highly focused campaigns.

Today’s corporate buyers are “crazy busy”, says Jill Konrath, author of SNAP Selling and Selling to Big Companies. To capture the attention of crazy busy buyers, Jill says salespeople must align their messages with buyers’ top priorities. Jill’s new book offers four SNAP rules: keep it simple, be invaluable, always align, and raise priorities.

Seth Kahan, Wall Street Journal best-selling author of Getting Change Right, says the traditional approach of top-down, command-and-control is not effective. Company executives often make the mistake of mandating change initiatives—and they fail spectacularly. To get change right, Seth says leaders must have “conversations” with “most valuable players” in the organization and form “performance communities” that can drive change from the inside-out.

Jeff Koser, co-author of Selling to Zebras, says you can close 90% of the business you pursue. How? By only investing your time and resources pursuing zebras. What’s a “zebra”? A zebra is a prospective customer that scores high on your qualification criteria. Jeff says, “Don’t waste your time and resources hunting deals you can’t win. Focus on hunting zebras—and you’ll close 90% of your business. Both your REVENUES and your PROFITS will soar.” Listen how to find your zebras!

Patrick Snow, best-selling author of Creating Your Own Destiny, has vowed to never let his financial stability depend on another company. He says the only way to do that is to be an entrepreneur. But, he warns, don’t give up your day job, just yet. Discover your passion and turn it into a business over time, using your day job to finance your future business.

Ken Thoreson, managing partner at Acumen Management Group, Ltd, says sales managers need to create an environment of professionalism throughout their sales organizations. Professionalism starts with the attitudes and behaviors that sales managers display. Ken says managers need to focus on three key factors to run an organization professionally and to meet the goals of the business: discipline, accountability, and control.

John Hughes, founder and principal of Growthwave, a management consulting firm providing interim-CIO (chief Information Officer) services, CIO coaching, and CEO advisory services, says CIOs must be business leaders rather than technologists. Often CIO’s become occupied with managing technology staff and implementations and they lose sight of goals of the business. For CIOs and their companies to be successful, says John, CIOs must leave the management of the IT function to someone else, so they can focus on strategies to grow the business and create competitive advantage.

Grant Cardone, author of the forthcoming book, If You Are Not First, You are Last, and a regular contributor on Fox and Friends, Business Week, and The Huffington Post, busts the myth that you can save your way to prosperity. He says the current economic environment presents the perfect opportunity to grow your business—but, only if you focus on selling. He also says you can only grow through “only practices”. What is that? Listen to find out!