Like Christmas, weddings, vacations, birth of a child, pending retirement, and proms, each carries with it a potential for something big. For something significant. Half the fun is in this planning and looking forward. THIS ESPECIALLY APPLIES TO BUSINESS. Your business.
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Archives for Strategic Planning
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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Culture – The #1 Job
If your culture has you focusing on the B and C players, then your culture is communicating that you sanction mediocrity. The environment in this organization approves "getting by". The core values scream that you can take your foot off the gas and coast a little here and there.
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When Cannibals Eat Chocolate instead of. . . .
Creating Customer Experiences with Lessons Learned from Chocolate
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What happens when you charge for free things
Can it be that simple? That the customer feels certain resentment about a $1.00 charge for air when the competitor is free. That the customer FEELS like they are being nickel and dimed. (Which would not be hard to do with the price per gallon of gas). When all things are equal, is there an attitude that shifts the customer’s loyalty when customer FEELS like they are being taken?
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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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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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Happy New Year? Stop! Don't go there! "Warning Will Robinson! Warning"
One of the great stories in business was when the Kimberly Clark company decided to sell off all of it’s paper mills and focus on their consumer products in the 1971. All of business told them that they were absolutely crazy. The result was a focus that allowed them to chase after, catch, and trounce their largest competitor. Procter and Gamble. Within a short time period they were so profitable they were able to buy back their paper mills at a fraction of what they sold them for. Image that. Sell you manufacturing capabilities. What kind of crazy person does
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Professionalism is Catchy
I work with lot of colleges and universities. Several years ago I did some strategic planning for one group of post secondary schools which eventually lead to being asked by a lot of different education institutions to conduct Strategic Planning, Sales Training, Marketing & Branding classes and workshops. Recently Kent State University started asking me to help some of their internal customers as well as external clients with various projects. I have come away from these experiences with a new found respect for the professionalism of some of the Kent State people. These are warm, intelligent and yet very progressive
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Welcome to the Customer Experience
Ah . . .the Customer Experience.The wedding, the graduation, the poor customer service, the stage play, the buying of that new appliance, the relationship with the visiting salesman, or the relationship you have with your doctor. Done right, they create experiences and events that change and mold our lives. They create drastic change in direction, are the fodder of sweet memories, and staging points for a return to “do it again.” They cause us to marvel and look in awe at the organizations who produce them. Done wrong, they are the core of anger, frustration, lost productivity, evaporated profits and
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