Handling a serious problem with a long-time customer, especially when both parties share some blame, requires a delicate balance of diplomacy, accountability, and strategic thinking. The goal is to resolve the disagreement without sacrificing the valuable relationship. The last thing you want to do is win the battle and lose the war. You have to […]
Great Innovations From The Greatest Innovator Of Our Time
Continuing my series on people who influenced the world I want to talk about Steve Jobs. We all know who he is, and we all know what he did. How he impacted the world, or made a dent in the universe as he was fond of saying. Most of the time when I write about […]
Loving Your Customers
Great customer care goes far beyond great service. It means truly caring for your customers to the point of loving them like your own family and friends. Consider what that means. Loving your customers is not just a lofty ideal but a fundamental principle for achieving sustained business success. When companies genuinely care for their […]
Don Draper On Business And Marketing
I have always said that I am weary of people who don’t eat meat and claim they don’t watch TV. As readers of this column know, I am always amazed by what we can learn from television, especially good television like the AMC Original Program “Madmen.” This series presented a virtual treasure trove of sayings, […]
The Times They Are A Changing
The line it is drawn The curse it is cast The slow one now Will later be fast As the present now Will later be past The order is rapidly fadin’ And the first one now Will later be last For the times they are a-changin’ – Robert Zimmerman And how they are! I have […]
Who The Heck Is Seth Godin?
And why you need to get to know him if you are serious about modern marketing techniques. When I was in the Iconnect booth at IPC APEX EXPO 24 a few weeks back I was tremendously pleased to see a photo of my marketing hero Seth Godin flashing on their large screens. To me that […]
The Best Cold Calling Ideas Of All Time
How many times have you heard that cold calling is dead? How many salespeople have given up trying to reach people they do not know and sell them something they think they do not want? Well that is the biggest bunch of malarkey out there, more like wishful thinking by salespeople who hope to be […]
Great Ideas From John Mitchell’s New Book
I have to say I find it ironic that most of the calls I am on with my clients these days are focused on the issues they are having with their work forces. I was on one last week where the General Manager was talking about hiring being the bane of his existence. In the […]
Would You Work Here?
Would you join the your own company? The past few years I have heard many company runners complaining about their work force. They tell me that the government is paying people too much money not to work, young people are not interested in working every day and that there is just not the work ethic […]
Nice Guys Finish First
Remember that old slogan “Nice guys finish last”? Well, that is the opposite of the way I have operated over my career and in the end it has always proven to work out pretty well. On the other hand, I have witnessed a lot of not so nice guy stories that have ended disastrously. There […]