Ralphs! Found by referral it is an awesome auto mechanic here in my town. I refer friends and they call with accolades and thanks. Add to the list “Georges Donuts.” The local that are in the know all go there. When you stop several times and find out they are closed during the day you wonder why until finally figure out that he sells out everyday and closes up shop till the next round of caloric rich goodies are created. I stopped last Saturday. A glazed Croissant? Are you kidding me? It was awesome. Like eating air and sweetness.
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Monthly Archives March 2010
Screwing with Screwdrivers
I spoke to the ACCA – PHCC conference last week. That is the Air Conditioning Contractors of America and the Plumbing and Heating Cooling Contractors. They had a trade show that I wandered around. One vendor had nifty key chain flashlights and screwdrivers that were their “giveaways”. I suggested that they might want the screwdrivers that had a flat head on one end and a phillips on the other. They indicated that the flashlights we 40 cents each and the screwdrivers were $2.50 and that was for a reason. “The little screwdrivers have a very narrow tip on them for
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How fast can a Brand lose it shine?
As a marketer I found the accolades given to the Obama campaign interesting a year ago. From a purely scientific viewpoint they did put together a great win given his historical leanings and how those match up with the population at large. They went into his presidency with a powerful brand with a lot of mental equity. At the core of all great marketing is a religious vigor for listening to the customer. The Obama camp have, with the health care bill, done a fantastic job of completely discounting that customer dialog. They have done serious damage to his reputation,
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Laundry Soap, Travel Agents, and Computers . . . and what they have in common with a Moving company?
Are you tired of competing on price? Introducing the Bankruptcy Gap. Remember when there was only one Tide laundry detergent? I counted last week, there are now over 70 sizes, types and smells of Tide at the supermarket. There are versions for top load washing machines, front loaders, for smelly clothes, for whites and even a version in a tube that you can get the coffee stain off the front of your shirt at the office. What about personal computers? When I first started selling PCs in the 1980’s (ancient history I know) there were 3 or 4 major brands,
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Let the Hot Chocolate Continue to Flow . . . continuation of a previous blog
Variety is the spice of life. Because I am the curious sort I continue in my search for the perfect hot chocolate getaway. I continue to work on the next book each morning and thought my Starbucks and McDonalds forays might be helped with a journey to the other two A.M. eating establishments. Cracker Barrel. Pleasant surprise when I discovered the hot chocolate is 50 cents less than Mickey D’s. The table top space for my weapons of writing was huge but the wait staff was surly, I guess because of the demands on them to distribute the salt
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Which is harder? Strategy or Execution? I ask and your answers are. . . .
With a ratio of 9 to 1 the answer is . . . (the suspense builds, but more on that in a minute). It was the late 60’s and Fred Smith was listening to the conversations of the other Jet Jockey’s. Fred was flying charter flights out of a the Tweed New Haven airport. The pilots of the other sleek corporate jets were mentioning how their planes were empty. No passengers. They were flying around the country delivering computer parts. These pilots for IBM, Xerox and the like were trying to cover for the need that was not being
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