The Thing about Expectations

I’ve written before about expectations, especially managing them. But there is another side. For the greatest success, you must exceed whatever expectations exist.

Here’s the thing, once you meet, then exceed those expectations, you have now raised the bar. Created a new set of expectations. That you must now exceed.

It’s not very fair [...]

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. [...]

Managing Expectations

On Friday, I wrote about closing loops on everything—questions, requests, complaints, whatever. One thing that will make closing those loops much easier is by properly managing expectations.

This concept is one of the most important business lessons I have learned. It truly is a 360˚ method of management, because it goes up, down and [...]

Service Contracts

Since moving into my new house, I have had the occasion to work with a couple of companies using service contractors and one using its own staff. In each instance, the experience has been fine. Using contractors for your in-home service work makes sense in the right situations:

The contractors’ vision and mission aligns [...]

Selling It Back

This past weekend, I heard a co-worker talking to a customer, and she said she didn’t want the customer to sell the product back to her. I hadn’t heard that phrase in several years. But it’s one of those that makes perfect sense.

We sell all sorts of things to all sorts of people. [...]

The Challenge of Segmentation

Segmentation is a difficult thing to wrangle sometimes. When internet-based sales starting picking up steam ten years ago, people weren’t sure how to respond, though the thought process really shouldn’t have been much different than for catalog sales. The main difference is that the catalog was now online and accessible to anyone who [...]

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 [...]

A Valid Picture ID

OK. So we buy a house in Phoenix, having relocated from New Orleans. In preparation, my wife starts contacting the various services—electric, gas, telephone, cable. For almost all of them, it goes as you would expect. They confirm the address, check the cancel order from the previous owner, and agree to [...]

Let Me Shop

I was out shopping (browsing, really) at some shops this weekend. In one of the stores, I was particularly interested in a couple of shirts. As I am checking out one of the shirts, deciding whether to buy, one of the salespeople walks up to me and points me to a table of [...]

High Switching Costs

I’ve never really gotten into, nor understood for that matter, the ongoing fight between PC and Mac users. Each has its own features, benefits and drawbacks and caters to two distinct audiences. Neither one is truly better than the other. As things progress, each one is nudging closer to the other, blurring [...]