Category: Living in trouble
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How to drive your customers to loyalty
I recently met Dale Harrison and he told me one key to loyalty is getting the customer past the third successful interaction with the company. At that point, loyal behavior can be the norm. That's one of the most valuable insights I've encountered in a long while, and is reinforced by the terrific research from Communispace,…
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The persistence of business
Who says a business has to last forever? Usually, it's just inertia. If the people in the business don't have a real mission in operating the business (other than making money), they should break it up and move on. If you're facing a big investment in turning things around, you better ask yourself "Is it…
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What “customer-centric” means to customers
I recently came to realize that loyalty includes an element of submission. If I'm loyal to Sony, I'm going to have to quit thinking about the MacBook Air. My last three laptops have been Sony Vaio computers, and they have served me well. The company has behaved in a supportive, predictable way. They're not perfect,…
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Why customers don’t stay happy
Wouldn't it be nice if happy customers were enough? Unfortunately, you have to plan on evolving with them. And they can seldom explain the situation to you, even if they had the time. Customer Centric Growth: Understanding Your Brand's Ecosystem, 2012-Aug-20, by Steven P. Dennis During the nineties we [at Sears] worked hard to improve within…
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Will you recognize your next great customer?
Hal Brierly, one of the inventors of the frequent flyer loyalty system, is annoyed. Despite paying $25,000 for a ticket (?!), he was treated like a second-class passenger. Now that experience was comparative. He was sitting in first class, but people around him, who were members of the airline's loyalty program, got more perks. (Damn…
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How to get someone to do something when they don’t feel like it
I started my career as an Assistant Account Executive at the Houston branch of Ogilvy & Mather Advertising. I had huge responsibility and no authority. Managers would frequently use AAE's as a go-between in their efforts to influence another manager. As in, "Go tell the Creative Director that the client wants to see at least…
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A camera always had a point of view. Now the filter is more common, too. #li
I love it when you scanning your twitter account and click on an article and have your mind blown. I'll never think about my camera phone the same way again. I've quoted the most jarring part of the article below, but I recommend you read the entire piece. He sees filters as a natural way…
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Cultivating resilience in the face of uncertainty #li
Don Peppers has always been one of my role models, and I love this recent post in Fast Company magazine. I'm going to paraphrase his strategies because that's how I embed things in my brain… Use tools that quickly show a range of possible outcomes. Accept the fact that you've got to be prepared for…
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Feed your audience great story-telling pictures #li
More and more people are taking pictures. Myself, I'm taking thousands of pictures a year now. (Most of which are just clutter.) Every business should be harnessing the pictures that will help them better communicate their story. Chasnote: Publisher strategy and the Image Explosion, 2012-Mar-15, by Chas Edwards How can images increase engagement among my existing…
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You’ll have to keep running just to stay in place. #li
Below is one of the most insightful things I've heard anyone say about web development. Truthfully, the same is true about business design these days. If you aren't constantly evolving in response to changes by your competitor, your customers will be drawn away. Coconut Headsets: Dynamic Web Strategy and The Failure Of Best Practices, 2012-Mar-19, by…
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