All businesses know they need to deliver what the customer wants and needs most.  Nearly all sales people love to tout how “customer focused” and “customer centric” they are in meeting the needs of their market place.  But do they have a solid value proposition based on relevant competitive advantages?   I have asked nearly…

In today’s environment, we would be hard pressed to find anyone to argue against the idea that “time” is the most valuable commodity to most business people. (and for that matter, for most people, period).  We are slammed with an endless “to do list” at work and at home. The demand on our time accelerates…

Every one of us have these hideous experiences weekly, if not daily: Trying to get a person on the phone is impossible. We get so frustrated when we are put on hold, told to call back later, or our messages are just ignored. I booked a repair service for my home. They said they would…

Social networks and on-line communities have become major sources of feedback because their members tend to accept what fellow network members endorse. And the impact of social media continues to grow at staggering rates. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Instagram and other social networks are now a central part of millions of people’s lives, especially the…

Prospects and customers buy for different reasons more often than you may think, yet many sales people use the same pitch for both. Our research shows they differ in buying values about 75% of the time. This leaves the door open for the competition when relevance is ignored. There are variations on the theme for…

While this may sound like blasphemy to companies who organize internal teams to come up with their company’s mission, and to the CEO who is told good leaders define and share their vision, I’ll ask a simple question:  once a vision or mission statement is clearly articulated,how many companies enforce and revisit the goals of…

In asking thousands of CEO’s of small, medium sized businesses, “do you invest in good solid customer research?”, I am astounded to learn that less than 5% have done so.  Then when I ask the 5% for more details as to what they learned from their study, I often find that they, in fact, did…

When Uber first came on the scene, it was a big hit with consumers and a disruptor to the taxi and rental car companies. I personally use them on nearly 100% of my business trips. Uber grew at a staggering pace until they got multiple bad headlines.   Around that time, I became aware of…

I confess, I was eavesdropping on my plane seatmate’s PowerPoint for a minute or two and saw this quote: “Branding is out, Results are in!” I so wanted to applaud and interrupt him but he was dug in on his work. I don’t know if it was his original quote or from another source but…

Each time I fly, if I am in the airlines’ frequent flyer program, I receive a customer survey almost upon landing. Or maybe everyone gets it. I can guarantee you that no passenger feedback form is telling the airline they approve of “the new airline industry”. Customer feedback is useless to them, so why do…