Mr. Zuckerberg caused quite a stir this week when he showed up on Wall Street wearing his hoodie. Many saw it as a sign of rebellion or that Mark doesn’t really care. When I grew up, we dressed up to go to church, get on an airplane or go to school functions; that’s just the [...]

There is a Chevy Truck TV commercial that opens with a shot of the truck in a guy’s driveway. The commercial cuts to a neighborhood social situation when the question is posed, “So, what do you do?” The commercial then treats us to several quick cuts of the guy with his truck as he does [...]

I heard that Larry, the Quaker Oats guy, just got a makeover. The Quaker Oats PepsiCo brand is 134 years old, and Larry is looking a little tired. Since his makeover his double chin is gone and his hair is a little shorter. If you look closely, he looks like he lost about 5 pounds. Just [...]

What ideas come to mind when you hear the words “Customer Service?” According to Wikipedia, Customer Service is defined as “…the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase…A customer service experience can change the entire perception a customer has of the organization.” In other words, it just takes one…one time, one occurrence, one [...]

Why is hindsight so clear? Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard said, “Life can only be understood backwards, but must be lived forwards.” What a great insight!
At one time or another, we all regret a choice we’ve made; it’s just being human. We can’t always choose the right path. But instead of regretting your choice, think about [...]

                          
The other night at the Alliance Flooring Convention, I was struck with a statement made by keynote speaker Dale (“the Murph”) Murphy. Dale was a major league baseball player for 18 years. Dale said there was a time when he was playing so badly that he thought he should quit. It didn’t matter what he did [...]

Here’s the definition offered by the American Marketing Association for Marketing.
Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.

Marketing is not Sales - The best sales people have marketing skills, but the [...]

                       
The other day, I met a personal trainer who was telling me about her career. She was in great shape and obviously lived her profession.
“I love it,” she said, “but they want me to sell it to people in the health club. In fact they want me to interrupt people who are working out [...]

We all know the drill. The owner is chomping at the bit to get some stakes in the ground, because there are tax credits or some other financial incentives too alluring to pass up. The contracting firm is already on board because of previous deals with the owner, and so its owners feel the same [...]

You want your company to own a place in the mind of your best prospects. It has everything to do with knowing how to be true to your brand and focusing all of your energy on delivering on the brand promise. How does your brand stack up in these categories?
Generalist
There are advantages and disadvantages to [...]