Business thinker must have a million 2×2 grids for classifying things. While chatting with my B-school advisor some years ago, I theorized that most business thinking has to get reduced to a 2×2 grid, because people can’t get their minds around anything bigger than what they can draw on a […]
Marketing and Sales
39 posts
I just read an great article by online marketing consultant Donna Gunter: 10 Secrets to Asking for Effective Client Testimonials for Your Website. Her tips are more sophisticated than most free web advice on writing testimonials, and I think she’s generally spot on.* I especially like her Secret No. 9: […]
Something I was reminded of this week: One overlooked bonus of keeping your marketing materials concise is that there are fewer opportunities for typos. :-)
Three numbers you should know: the cost of customer acquisition, cost of customer retention, and value of a customer. Also, know the difference between your average cost/value and your customer-specific cost/value. Average cost/value is useful for planning and projecting. But for management and strategy, you’ll want to know customer-specific cost […]
Gather enough data and do enough analysis to make a good decision. Then decide. Then act. There are many famed quotes on the theme of “how much is enough”: Lore has it that someone once asked Abraham Lincoln, “How long should a man’s legs be?” and that he answered “Long […]
“See what you can do with real data?” One of my clients’ other advisors said that to my client right after I’d presented some analysis of his marketspace. In the previous year, another marketing consultant had spent a lot of my client’s time (and money) on branding analysis. But he […]
Last week, one of my longtime business friends was kind enough to introduce me to one of his new colleagues over lunch. I was grateful for my friend’s effort, but a touch horrified when his words of introduction described me as still doing work that I quit doing at least […]