Don’t print a testimonial that praises you for something you don’t want to do. One of my clients occasionally works miracles for its customers. When they feel they ought to, my client can pull off a rush job, manage a customer’s disorganized team, and do it all at a rock […]
Marketing and Sales
39 posts
Everybody likes testimonials. But what are they really for? A testimonial’s number one job is to help you help you sell. A good testimonial shows that your product made somebody else happy: by generating money, saving money, or taking care of some other need that they thought was important. A […]
Winning companies make a habit of doing things that are good for their health. That means choosing work (whether they be projects and clients, or products and market sectors) that adds to the company’s bottom line, assets, and general happiness. What do you need for a track record of smart […]
More on demarketing: In the mid-1990s, I read a book (title long forgotten) in which the author quoted an interview with the CEO of a large and venerable Japanese company. When asked, “what is the difference between Japanese and American businesses?” the CEO replied — after a long pause — […]
Elisabeth Sullivan at the American Marketing Association recently interviewed me for an article on Demarketing. I’ll be writing more on this topic throughout this month. Here’s a first brief entry: What is demarketing? As I think of it, demarketing is (1) about making a conscious decision about the things you […]
Schmoozing is not Selling. Sorry I can’t remember the source of this very smart quote. And I’m even sorrier that I didn’t learn this lesson in my early twenties rather than my (late?) 30s. In my first job as a consulting engineer, I worked with another twenty-something engineer whom I’ll […]
I’ve just discovered a surprisingly good book for aspiring entrepreneurs. In Kick Start Your Dream Business: Getting It Started and Keeping You Going, business consultant and teacher Romanus Wolter documents the process he uses to help previously untrained entrepreneurs clarify and deploy their ideas for anything from publishing businesses to […]