Before we close out 2017 (wow, THAT went by fast!), I thought it would be a good idea to go through a personal assessment for myself. I developed seven questions designed to ask some tough questions we might not normally ask ourselves. Frankly, I’m not completely happy with some of my own answers. Gives me something to work on, for sure. How about you? Curious about what my questions are? … [Read more...]
How a $1.29 Tube of Toothpaste Made a NYC Hotel Uncopyable
What do you REALLY do to separate your company from the competition? Working to be UNCOPYABLE isn’t just some cute “marketing theory of the moment.” Being “better” than the competition is a short term play. You know that. You MUST not just be better. To develop long-term, unbreakable relationships with customers, you must deliver something they can’t get anywhere else! And it’s not as … [Read more...]
From Prospect to Lead: Two Ways to Define Lead Quality and Close More Sales
Did you know there’s a large gap between a Prospect and a Lead? Prospects are important, but Leads are the golden ticket to success. When marketing and sales understand the difference, your strategy will be more effective and your closing percentage will dramatically increase. Sound good? Watch this week’s UNCOPYABLE BUSINESS! Are you getting notices for my weekly videos and periodic … [Read more...]
Why is Measuring Marketing ROI So Difficult?
I read an interesting and disturbing statistic on LinkedIn today. 70% of all marketing people (managers, directors, VPs, CMOs, etc.) are unable to prove ROI from their marketing efforts. Is this true? This is not good, of course. Marketing can be measurable with the right perspective and right approach. And if you can’t measure your marketing, you should learn fast. Watch this week’s … [Read more...]
How Are You Managing Customer Expectations?
I stayed at the Hilton Riverside in New Orleans a couple of weeks ago and, of course, received the automatic email request to take survey afterwards. We all get these. Maybe your company does customer satisfaction surveys, too. It got me to thinking about how customers actually come up with the ratings they do give us. You may not think of this, but to a certain level you can actually influence … [Read more...]
Ask the Right Questions to Find What People Want
How often have you asked a group of friends, “Where do you want to go for dinner tonight,” and hear back, “I don’t know. Where do YOU want to go?” The same problem happens in business when we ask customers what they want from us. More often than not, they don’t know. The problem is a combination of us asking the wrong questions and how people think. Watch Steve this week and learn the reason … [Read more...]
5 Books You Should Read (2 You Never Heard Of)
The late and amazing business consultant, Jim Rohn, used to say, “Successful people have big libraries. Poor people have big TVs.” It’s all well and good to pick up information from the Internet, but you can’t beat the wisdom delivered by top business books. Plus you can highlight passages and write notes in the margins. Books not only teach us, but they make us think. Here are five books … [Read more...]
#WestinNaneaFail — A Lesson for Our Marketing Messages
Last week my smokin’ hot wife, Kay, and I spent six days at the new Westin Nanea Ocean Villas on the island of Maui. Our 30th anniversary is coming up next week and we’d spent our honeymoon on Maui. We planned to go back to celebrate. Serendipitously (or so we thought), late last year we received a promotion for the new resort. The property wasn’t open yet and they were drumming up advance … [Read more...]
We Don’t See Things As They Are
Today's world sure seems crazy and one of the craziest things is our apparent difficulty communicating with each other. Obviously, we need to try our best to understand each other, work together, and do our best to make the world a better place. But the fact is, it's really, really hard to put ourselves in someone else's shoes because we all have different world perspectives. Our … [Read more...]
#1 Reason Why Your Marketing Fails
A giant misconception about marketing is that it’s more art than science. Couldn’t be further from the truth. The problem is marketing usually isn’t held to the same standards as sales. Sales knows what it’s expectations are. Here is your quota. Make your quota and you get to keep your job. Believe it or not, marketing can and should be held to the same standards. Unfortunately, not only … [Read more...]