Creating Customer Experiences with Lessons Learned from Chocolate
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Archives for Strategic Planning
What YOUR Competition Does NOT Want YOU To Know About
It is called Sub Rosa. You need to be aware of this term. It could sneak up on you. Consider some recent news stories. · The recruiting of Sales and Marketing Executives has found new levels of attention and activity by Executive Head Hunters (Wall Street Journal) · Restaurant Sales are way up over last year (USA Today) · Victoria Secret’s new Miraculous Bra is expected to show great sales in 2010 signaling a time when women are ready to spend on themselves again. (NY Times) The economy is coming back (no surprise) and when that happens the focus
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Only a professional speaker would find something good in having their car stolen
“Dad, my car got stolen,” the words coming fast and in panic from his cell phone. My home-bound college student had just lost everything he owned while he sat in the restaurant. “Even my birth certificate and social security card,” he declared. For a couple of days all he owned were the clothes on his back and his iPhone. He was able to stay on top of a police investigation, cancel credit cards, start on the insurance spreadsheets, apply security protection on his identity and keep us informed of his activities . . . all on his phone. On his
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“But Noah! I thought the Ark left at 8:00!”
Which stranger would you go with? There at the end of the pier stand two men. On the left is the wizened old man, white beard, sun toughened face, calloused hands. To the right stands the expert. He oozes sophistication, education and professionalism. Again, which one would you go with? The old man or the young professional? And what about you personally? Where are you? Where do you mentally slot yourself in your business, your profession? Are you the highly educated, sure footed and professional provider of products and services? Or are you second guessing yourself, wondering if you are
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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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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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