Archives for Kordell Norton

When Boxes Compete with Ketchup

The Amazon box arrives.  Opened and the contents removed, I see that Amazon has figured out how to extend their presence.  On the flaps of the box, Amazon has printed a truck with wheels, and an amusement park skyline (see pics).   If executed, you now have your 4 year old playing “with the box”. This reminds me of getting some shoes from Cabela’s.  Opening the box, I discovered a target printed on the inside.  So now you wear the shoes, take the box out back and shoot it full of holes . . . dashing any hopes of returning the
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"But . . . they are free?"

Dr. Brad Harken, a dentist in Spokane, had just sat through my presentation at the American Dental Society’s National Convention. I had some free dental bib chains I wanted to give him.  They are the small chain that has clips on either end, which keep a napkin on your chest while you are having dental work done.  In this case the two chain clips said “Crest” and “Oral B”.   Stay tuned.  Even Proctor & Gamble can get it wrong. Dr. Brad noted that in his practice they don’t use the metal chains because when you put it around the patients
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Making Leftovers Extremely Popular – The Secrets of Party Magic

Disney does it.  It seems that at one point Disney equipped the inside cabins on their ships with video screens that looked like portal windows.  At times during the day various Disney characters would appear and talk to the kids in that cabin.  For this Disney charged a premium. Who takes your poorest value offering and charges a premium for it? In American Fork, Utah there is a restaurant called Wingshak.  At lunch the line is incredible.  Mostly men.  All there for the Hot Parmesan flavor wings.  With a hundred seats, this place is just jumping with businesses.   My four
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Maddox – Good Old Fashioned Value and Manners.

Located on a back country highway, just outside of a small city in northern Utah sits Maddox’s.  The parking lot is packed.  The extremely wide hall way leading up to the hostess station is lined with wooden benches as people wait their turn to be gobbled up into the restaurant.  In business, for many decades, I went for the first time with my new bride, who imbibed this place as a child. On a scale of 1 to 10 Food  – 10+ Clean, fresh, and tasty to the max.  Have you ever thought, that your chicken dinner has too much
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Part 4 – Revelation & Vision for the Future – Skills That Will Create Significance

Today, and in the future, where mass-customization is the call of the day, we will do business “with” my Starbuck’s, my doctor, or my Disney vacation. “When I go to MY Starbucks,  they know me personally.   I appreciate that fact when they put MY name on MY cup of java.” Like the Pied Piper, the future will vacuum us into personal relationships with others and their organizations.   Disney’s Magic Plus, or a Harley-Davidson HOG weekend, or even the personalized shopping experience of a Zappos shoe purchase, will become the norm.  It will become the expected. Your competition will change from
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Who cares if the Handwriting is Horrible? – Thank You card from absolutely no one

You know the envelope.  It has “that” shape.  This Thank You card, arrived in the mail, complete with mass produced envelope with snazzy logo, and warm colors of ink on the return address.  Upon opening the card, there on the inside were four signatures.  One replete with it’s own smiley face :-).  These were from people that I never even met.  Why?   The minor surgical “procedure” that was done while under anesthesia made it so if I met these ladies, I was probably drugged into total vacancy. Still the card arrived.  “What a nice gesture,” I thought. In my
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What is Hindering Your Business'' "Bedside Manner"? How to Adjust the Emphasis on the Right-Way-To-Do-Things . . . and Instead Develop a Charismatic Customer Relationship

“Their Emergency Room scores for patient satisfaction was rated one of the best of hospitals across the country.  And yet if they focused on controlling quality, they might be undermining patient trust and respect.” “How is that,” I ask?  My conversations are with Todd, a medical resident who recently returned from a rotation of various departments in this distant and admired hospital.  “When an 8 year old comes into the ER, his diagnosis might immediately indicate administering an anti-inflammatory like Tylenol or Ibuprofen.    Normally we doctors, who get our value from knowing all the answers might prescribe and be done
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Beam Me Up Scotty . . . The 3 Types of Marketing and Sales

It was a hot summer day in 1969 when Neil Armstrong said those immortal words, “Hey this place looks like southern Arizona . . . now what?” To stand on a different planet (or moon) is a major “Ah-ha” for mankind.  We have been there before.  Columbus, Einstein, and Captain James T. Kirk.  What? There are three phases to sales and marketing.  Three distinct processes.  Each has a different focus.  All three result in revenue.  But each evokes a different type of customer response. Let’s call them the 3 T’s.  Transaction > Transformation > Transportation Transaction This is the world
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David fights Goliath VIA the Detroit Automotive Show – a lesson in Contrarianism and Synergy

The Detroit International Automobile Show 2012.   Among the hundred thousand square feet vendor booths, and the multimillion dollar backdrops complete with state of the art multimedia, and eye candy models . . . both male and beautifully coiffed women;  sits the center of attention. It is all about the cars.  There are cars.  Each collection is often changed out each day for maximum exposure.  Audi might have a new metallic paint the invites you to touch it’s too-strange-too-be-true finish.  That is OK because some t-shirted youth, armed with polishing rags and dust wands wander incessantly to make sure nary a
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