Collaboration along the Chain

I revisited Michael Porter’s Value Chain recently. I am big fan of his model and have used it for several years.

One thing occurred to me: moving along the chain from left to right requires greater collaboration. Yes, there is collaboration and effective communication throughout; otherwise, things fall through the cracks, products go out [...]

Be Timely

So I’m standing in front of my house this weekend, watching the kids scooter around, when we’re suddenly accosted by various people passing out flyers. One gentleman asked me if he can share some information about a local candidate. I shuffled some papers around so I could grab the brochure. Once I [...]

From the Same Songbook

Proper messaging is a critical component for a company’s success. Organizations spend millions of dollars over months, or even years, getting their message to consumers just right. It is that important. But your investment in developing the message itself need not be so great to get it right. In fact, for [...]

Not Sure What They Are Selling

I’ve been seeing a number of different car commercials lately, but, other than the obvious, I’m not really sure what they’re selling. Some examples:

GM, yet again, is offering employee pricing on its vehicles. This year, they attempt to couch it in terms of an anniversary. This is something they have been doing [...]

Target Customer Intelligence

I’m stunned at the number of companies targeting fools and idiots in their commercials. Geico continues with its ridiculous caveman ads, Cox has their talk show ads, Dunkin Donuts introduced a new product recently with the same concept, and Staples reduces people’s intellect to pushing a red button.

Maybe they are seeing something in their [...]

Cancelled Accounts

I’ve been cancelling a few accounts lately, for a variety of reasons. Two are credit cards I no longer want to use and one is a service I never use. I have had three completely different experiences, only one of which was good.

I tried to cancel one of the credit cards online. [...]

30 Seconds

Businesses live and die in 30 seconds. It’s not a lot of time. True, given certain circumstances, it can seem like forever. But in reality, when you have to make a point, 30 seconds is never long enough.

And for good reason.

I’ve written about the importance of concise, targeted statements, keeping your core [...]

Walk the Talk

We’ve been interviewing a number of local PR agencies lately, and I have to say, for the most part, it has been a disappointing exercise. They talk and talk without truly understanding that this is the equivalent of a job interview, and we expect them to be at the top of their game. [...]

Your Video Says A Lot About You

If you’ve seen some of my tweets from the weekend, you know I was in Las Vegas for a tradeshow. Normally, I would have flown Southwest. This time, however, US Airways provided my transportation.

There were no major issues. We successfully took off and landed without incident in both places. Always a [...]

Paperwork and Legalese

Sorry about this, but I have yet another issue concerning moves. Following on yesterday’s complaints about our electric company, today I take issue with the real estate industry.

We sat there in the room with a stack of papers two inches thick in front of us to sign. The closing agent explained briefly what [...]