No More Meetings!
06/30/04 - Darwin Magazine reports: Almost no business managers see increasing their number of meetings as a way to increase productivity in their organizations. In addition, half of executives and managers say decreasing meetings would make working in their organizations more productive, either by quantity or quality. Learn the three questions to ask before having your next meeting.

Click here for the article

Who me - Trust you?
The Confidence Crisis.
06/24/04 - We are living in a time of low trust and high suspicion. "Trusted leader" is an oxymoron. Working people are beginning to believe that trust in the business world is a sham. Leaders who once basked in admiration increasingly find themselves subject to the sidelong glances and dark thoughts of their followers. "Is he covered by a golden parachute agreement?" "Is she telling us everything she knows?" "Can I trust the people I work for to look after me, to keep their word, to honor their commitments—or is it everyone for themselves?" Read this thought-provoking article from Training Magazine, and you'll see factual evidence that trust is affecting us all.

Click here for the article

Where's the phone?
It's in your pocket ... more and more.
01/11/04 - More than ever before, phone users are cutting those wires to the local phone company.  Of households with wireless telephone service, 3.1 percent have unplugged themselves completely from the local telephone monopoly, according the Yankee Group research. And more, Standard & Poors research shows that 10 percent of those surveyed were willing to completely give up landline phones and switch to wireless-only telephone service. Red more at RedHerring.com's article on the waning wires to telephones.

Click here for the article

Do you write like a man ... or a woman?
Take this test and see!
12/19/03 - The Gender Genie uses a simplified version of an algorithm developed by Moshe Koppel, Bar-Ilan University in Israel, and Shlomo Argamon, Illinois Institute of Technology, to predict the gender of an author. The program's success seems to confirm the stereotypical perception of differences in male and female language use. Crudely put, men talk more about objects, and women more about relationships. Give it a try, and see if it can accurately predict your gender.

http://www.bookblog.net/gender/genie.html

New Study Finds Children Age Zero to Six Spend As Much Time With TV, Computers and Video Games As Playing Outside!
12/17/03 - Washington, D.C. - One in four children under two have a TV in their bedroom Children in “heavy” TV households are less likely to read Parents believe in educational value of TV and computers. Even the very youngest children in America are growing up immersed in media, spending hours a day watching TV and videos, using computers and playing video games, according to a new study released today by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Children six and under spend an average of two hours a day using screen media (1:58), about the same amount of time they spend playing outside (2:01), and well over the amount they spend reading or being read to (39 minutes). Read this fascinating research by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

http://www.kff.org/entmedia/entmedia102803nr.cfm

A Survival Guide for New Leaders.
12/11/03 - With the new year upon us, lots of executives are about to make the transition to a newly found position. "SINK OR SWIM" is a much-loved cliché in business, but it isn't a viable approach for the half-million managers and executives who start new jobs at Fortune 500 companies each year, says Harvard Business School associate professor Michael Watkins. People receive lessons on how to swim before they're allowed in the deep end; by the same token, new leaders—and their organizations—need a systematic approach to job transitions.

It takes just over six months, on average, for new leaders to reach what Watkins calls the break-even point: the part of the learning curve at which they start creating net value for their organizations. In his newly published book, The First 90 Days (Harvard Business School Press, November 2003), Watkins lays out a framework for shortening the transition period for new leaders. The book is available to your right for $17.46 in the hardcover edition (a 30% savings over the $24.95 list price) - and check the free shipping offer for the holiday season when your order is $25 or more. If you're making the shift - grab this one. Much more information is available on this subject when you click on the link to the book at your right.

The Cab Ride - Author Unknown
12/11/03 - This article is not the usual for our newsletter. It came to us in a battered state, having been passed along perhaps thousands of times by those sharing its message with others. It represents a truly viable form of marketing - known as "viral." We considered the rag-tag look and decided to improve the almost unreadable form - though we didn't change a word. You'll see it is quite well written, by an author we'll never know. We like the message, and we hope you do, too. If so, please feel free to use the button at the page bottom to pass it on to a friend. You'll keep the message moving - in a much more readable form. Good marketing comes in all shapes and sizes, and this example certainly has a worthy and profitable cause.

The Cab Ride: Author Unknown

What's The Strongest Global Brand?
11/11/03 - Here's the 2003 Global Brands Scoreboard from "Business Week" magazine. Before you click - take a guess at the most powerful Brand Name the world has to offer. In a world where millions of brands flood the markets - these companies are the "top of the top." If you want to learn more about any one of them - comprehensive links will lead you to much more information on each.

http://bwnt.businessweek.com/brand/2003/index.asp

What's The Perfect Age?
10/27/03 - If you could stop time and live forever in good health at a particular age, what age would you like to live at? The Harris Poll recently put this question to a nationwide cross section of adults, and the average age chosen was forty-one. However, this average is based on replies which vary from younger than twenty-one to ninety or over, so there is certainly no consensus. This has implications for marketing to various age groups - so contact us if you'd like to learn more. Meanwhile, the fascinating article on the survey is at the link below. 

http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=410

Becoming a Mind Reader
10/8/03 - Senior executives used to be able to simply delegate to their managers and employees. Now, because they are being held more accountable by their boards, shareholders and stakeholders, they must know much more about exactly what is happening in each division or section of their organizations. That means that a senior manager must not only make that information available in an ongoing, constantly updated way, but must also be able to communicate the information in a way that top management can use effectively. Knowing what is expected and communicating that is key. Here's some insight on what it takes to "Become a Mind Reader" -published in the latest edition of Darwin Magazine.

http://www.darwinmag.com/read/100103/mind.html

The Essence of Leadership
9/1/03 - What makes a leader? What do those who follow seek from their leaders? What is the definition of the word "Leadership?" All these questions are answered for you in an excellent article on leadership by Harvard Business School MBA Stever Robbins. Take a look. You'll come away with new insight on how to lead.

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/pubitem.jhtml?id=3640&t=srobbins

Harvard Professor Discovers Formula for Sustained Business Success
9/1/03 - A simple formula of 4+2 may be the secret of sustained business success according to Harvard Business School professor, Nitin Nohria. Nohria and collegues William Joyce and Bruce Roberson analyzed 160 businesses for common successful management practices. The result is "What Really Works: The 4+2 Formula for Sustained Business Success" (HarperBusiness, May 2003). If you want a valuable guide for your business thinking, read this article.

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/pubitem.jhtml?id=3578&t=strategy

Which Customers Are Worth Keeping and Which Aren’t?
Managerial Uses of CLV

7/30/03 - Managers have long been interested in weeding out customers they consider to be less profitable than others. The question is, how do managers determine who belongs in that group? According to several Wharton marketing professors, there is no easy answer, despite new and increasingly sophisticated efforts to measure what is called “Customer Lifetime Value” (CLV) – the present value of the likely future income stream generated by an individual purchaser. CLV, it turns out, is hard to calculate and even harder to use. The Thompson Group emphasizes this is a science not matured - making for very dangerous assumptions that could easily wreck a perfectly good and maturing customer relationship. Had the Catholic Church - for example (in spite of its current troubles) - prefaced admission to worship on the basis of contributions alone, it may have never grown to the size it is today. One just doesn't know and can't predict the future of mankind - or of customers. One can treat all who favor the business with their patronage as though they will become a loyal and profitable client for many years to come. This often self-fulfilling prophesy is the logical road to success. Read this article - a detailed examination of not knowing the answers - so you won't be tempted to predict using the CLV models available today.  

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/articles.cfm?catid=4&articleid=820

Surveying For Customer Satisfaction. Is your company fooling itself?

6/9/03 -  Customer satisfaction has become a major driver for strategic decisions - especially during the current times. Therefore, companies must become aware of surveying methodologies and refinements to get accurate results. Deluding one's self with poorly-designed or error-ridden research is seldom intentional - but it happens all the time! The result is having to live through the "Emperor's New Clothes" syndrome. 

When completing our "Update" newsletter satisfaction survey recently (and giving our newsletter the top score in the process), one of our subscribers asked for more information about surveying customer satisfaction.  This article by Kevin Cacioppo - from the "Quality Digest" - will provide a base of information on this subject. We selected it because of the comprehensive coverage of this subject. For more information - including approaches to very effective and accurate online and in-person surveying techniques, give us a call.

http://www.qualitydigest.com/sept00/html/satisfaction.html

Is Airline Customer Loyalty Flying Out the Window?

5/15/03 -  Over the years, the major airlines have spent buckets on building up customer loyalty, and a level of service that distinguished them from the low-cost upstarts. But now that the big airlines are in or close to bankruptcy, they are all slashing costs. They are cutting services that customers have grown to depend on (like meals and discounts for children).

What's the impact in terms of customer loyalty? Read the article in CIO Magazine - and then also read our comments published there. We think you'll have some thoughts of your own.

Who lives in your neighborhood? Find out.

5/12/03 -  What are the characteristics of your neighbors? Are they like you?
People with similar lifestyles tend to live near one another. PRIZM describes every U.S. neighborhood in terms of 62 distinct lifestyle types, called clusters; while MicroVision defines 48 lifestyle types, called segments. By clicking on the below link and entering your zip code (or another you might be interested in), you'll get a sample of the information compiled by either of these marketing information systems.

http://cluster2.claritas.com/YAWYL/Default.wjsp?System=WL

How to Keep Your Customers Satisfied.

5/8/03 -  From CIO Magazine - this article by Professor Mohanbir Sawhney - the McCormick Tribune Professor of Technology at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management - discusses customer satisfaction in the high-technology business - but, the principles discussed apply universally. Professor emphasizes levels of satisfaction should really be measured as levels of "success." To do this, one must ask the right questions - of the right people - at the right time. Our response to this article appears here - suggesting CIP Magazine readers check our recent case study on the Hotel Del Coronado hotel for a perfect example of what can go wrong when the advice in Professor Sawhney's article is not heeded. For the article, click on the below link.

http://www.cio.com/archive/050103/netgains.html 

Want to Keep Up with CRM?

5/8/03 -  Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a business strategy to acquire and retain the most profitable customer relationships. We've been a faithful follower of CRMGuru.com for a long time now. It's the world's largest CRM community with 200,000+ members. We consider it the only source for "straight talk" about this challenging subject.

First, sign up for the free CRM Guru "Customer Think" newsletter. It comes to you with a free 20-page Guide to Real CRM, written by CRMGuru's experts.

Click here to Sign Up Today!

What To Do When The Media Calls!

5/5/03 -  Sooner or later, just about everyone in a position of authority will encounter the opportunity to succeed or fail in a contact with the media. How will you handle that? Most people encountering the press have a complete misconception of what is really going on. 

This "article" is actually a seminar that provides invaluable information on what to expect - and what to do! We thought you might want to see it. It runs about an hour.

If there's a chance you'll face a reporter, we put the worth of this seminar at $500 or more, because it may completely realign your perspective on how to get it right. We have no affiliation with the firm providing this information. 

Just sit back and watch. The below link will take you to the seminar entry point. Just replace our information with your e-mail address and company name (a small price to pay). You'll be watching a re-broadcast of the session that took place on May 1st. Just click on the "View" button when the page loads - and you'll be off and running.

Click here for Seminar 

We hope you will find this seminar useful. We will appreciate your comments.

Costco Shoppers - More Up-Scale than ever.

5/4/03 - If you're not flashing that Costco card at their front door, you're one of the few who hasn't discovered the delight in finding great prices on first-rate quality - and consistent service. No, they don't have a piano player in their lobby, but you might find the piano - at "way-off" prices. A trip to the wine section will find best-rated vintages - by the bottle or case - and the grocery section is a week-long party with sample ladies cooking away - albeit never fast enough for the fast gobbling hoards encircling their tables. Want some facts and figures - and strategy on this $40 billion phenomena? Just click the article below.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/909019.asp?0bl=-0

Mail-In Rebates - A scandalous marketing practice revealed.
4/10/03 - Rebates - they're hard to avoid if you're one of the few out there buying things today. Especially prevalent in offers from electronics, computers, software, cable TV providers and phone services, these marketing schemes have done more to destroy customer allegiance than any one factor we can name!

For consumers, we urge you to avoid all customer mail-in rebate offers. Tell the company offering them you will not purchase their products or services without an instant rebate - or price discount. Make sure every retailer understands you will not subject yourself to the rebate process. Offer to turn the rebate certificate over to them - and see if they will endure the process of trying to recover the so-called cash value of the rebate. Only wide-scale rebellion among consumers will hasten an end to the practice - and bring sanity back to the purchasing process.

If you are a marketing executive - or a CEO - using the mail-in rebate process to generate business is absolute evidence of your abandoning the concept of customer retention. If you are a retailer - falling prey to rebate tactics by your suppliers - consider this. More than half of your customers will be left with a negative impression of your business and never shop with you again! Your costs for acquiring new customers will skyrocket - and past customers will not return. The vast majority of buyers seeking fulfillment of their rebates are frustrated - and they take out their feelings on the seller, not the manufacturer offering the rebate. Your customer service costs will skyrocket, as well.

Here's an article published by Motley Fool writer Jeff Fischer that will give you more insight.
The time is here to put an end to this scurrilous practice in marketing.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/898443.asp?0na=x2201492-

Networking is not just for job hunters. Here are some great tips.
2/12/03 - Networking - everyone is into it these days. Not many understand the rules of the game. Here's an article from Darwin Magazine that nails down key issues for expanding and efficiently working your network. Whether you are seeking your next position as an employee - or a businessperson prospecting for your next customer - the rules stay the same.

Don't miss the final paragraph in this helpful guide. Without adhering to this reminder, your networking tournament will surely be lost.

http://www.darwinmag.com/read/020103/network.html

Ready for Downsizing?
1/28/03 - Want to scare yourself? Read this one. It's from Chuck Martin, chairman and CEO of NFI Research - and it's about the current trend in layoffs and what you should do to prepare for your own. Appearing in CEO magazine - this might be targeted for techies - but we think not. Even if it does not come your way - prepare for the storm to enjoy the calm.

http://www.darwinmag.com/read/010103/layoffs.html

The Super Bowl’s Super-expensive Advertising: Does It Work?

1/16/03 - For the advertising industry and millions of television viewers, the upcoming Super Bowl broadcast, scheduled for Jan. 26 in San Diego , will be a string of entertaining commercials interrupted from time to time by a football game.
This article from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania asks - "Does It Work?"

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/articles.cfm?catid=4&articleid=700

How & When Advertising Works.

1/15/03 - Retailing tycoon John Wanamaker once said, "I know that half of my advertising doesn't work. The problem is, I don't know which half." Your company may be spending millions of dollars on advertising, but how do you know which ads are effective?

This article from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania asks why some advertising treatments have an impact on sales and others do not?

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/articles.cfm?catid=4&articleid=4

Banished from the Queen's English for 2003.
01/01/03 - ‘Make no mistakes about it,’ Lake Superior State University issued its 28th annual ‘extreme’ List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness, which the world needs ‘now, more than ever.’ LSSU has been compiling the list since 1976, choosing from nominations sent from around the world. This year, words and phrases were pulled from a record 3,000 nominations. Most were sent through the school’s website. See the list at: http://www.lssu.edu/banished/current/default.html

The Year to Forget!
12/29/02 - 2002 in business will be remembered as the year to forget! For a month-by-month recap of the disasters - from Enron in January to Martha Stewart in June, and then on to United Airlines in December, click here. Better yet, don't!

Hot Business Trends for 2003.
12/23/02 - Trend watching has emerged in big business as a discipline of business management and a popular topic among top media publications and futurists. Small business can benefit from trend watching, too. This feature from About.com is on the hottest trends for business of all sizes.

Trends are far easier to observe than to time. Timing of entering into a growing trend market can be costly if the trend has yet to enter public consciousness. The best time to enter the market is when the trend is entering mass awareness so educating a market is less expensive. The following 4 trends were selected for longevity, market awareness & potential profitability. Click below for the 2-page article.

http://sbinformation.about.com/library/weekly/aa122202a.htm

Will United Survive The Friendly Skies?
12/17/02 - We've let United have it on numerous occasions. First their service responses, next their new CEO's first letter after a week on the job, and now it seems everyone on the planet is talking about whether or not this airline will make it!

Here's our prediction! It will somehow pull through, though our Frequent Flyer miles may wind up worth less by having fewer flights to use them on. As this article discusses, one big factor will be the employees giving up their position as the industry's best paid. We think they'll at least agree to reductions - big ones (01/07/03 update: United pilots just agreed to a 27% cut in pay). They have nowhere else to turn for their jobs - not in this economy. The economy will slowly improve to United's favor. We also predict United will go through two more new CEO's before they really get well. The present one (Glenn Tilton) to hack away at the old ways of doing business, another to try some new ways - with cost reductions in place - and a third to run the company after the transformation is over. All this will be forced by its bankers - and the bankruptcy court - who now have a huge say in what happens. (01/11/03 update: The bankruptcy court just forced a 14% pay cut on United mechanics. Our predictions continue on track!) 

Read more here from experts better versed on this than we are. It's from the scholarly halls of Wharton School.

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/articles.cfm?catid=7&articleid=691&homepage=yes

CEOs, CMOs Differ on Marketing Focus and Funding.
They just aren't on the same page!
12/17/02 - CEOs and their chief marketing officers (CMOs) hold differing views of the roles that marketing can and should play in a company's overall business strategy. Further, there is significant discrepancy between CEOs' and CMOs' expectations about marketing budgets, with marketers believing their budgets will be increased, while CEOs leave no doubt that they expect marketing to "do more with less" in an effort to boost profitability. From The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/whartonnow/archive/news/2002/11_cmo.html

Use the Power of the Press.
Here's a detailed guide for handling Public Relations
on your own!

11/20/02 - Many small businesses use their own resources to ply the media with news of their product or service. Public relations may not be rocket science, but there is an art to it. Here are the basics, compliments of HP. 

http://www.hp.com/sbso/advice/articles_general27.html

All for a look at a place far away!
Enjoy a ride to the planet Mars.

09/29/02 - In some ways, this link has nothing to do with marketing, but in others - it's marketing at it's best. That's because great marketing captures the imagination. If your imagination is not stimulated by this ride to the future - go in for a check up - right now! Imagine having a first-class ticket on this adventure, but hang on to your martini - the landing is a little rough.

These are video simulations depicting the new Mars rover, carrying the Athena science payload, landing on and exploring the Martian surface.
 

Not a Bad "Body" ... and the Coffin looks Great, Too!
Who else but the Italians would market coffins with pinups?

09/17/02 - Death is hardly something to look forward to, but one Italian funeral home is trying to make the afterlife a tad more tempting by using bikini-clad women to sell its coffins. On its web site (see below), the Rome-based funeral home and coffin factory Cisa features its hand-crafted caskets alongside models sipping champagne or reclining seductively on the lids. "We wanted to make the whole idea of picking your coffin less serious, maybe even make people laugh a bit," Giuseppe Tenara, one of the partners, said. "Some people are scandalized, but we just explain that we're trying to make people laugh," Tenara said. While sales have not gone up, awareness certainly has. The firm's new "differentiation" twist on showing its wares has gained worldwide attention. Back your kids away from the screen as you visit these afterlife samples!

http://www.cofanifunebri.it/filo%20oro.jpg
http://www.cofanifunebri.it/padrepio1.jpg
http://www.cofanifunebri.it/stile%20impero%201.jpg

Pricing and Fairness:
Do Your Customers Assume You Are Gouging Them?

09/12/02 - In trying to assess consumer attitudes towards pricing, marketing professor Lisa Bolton and two other researchers conducted experiments designed to measure whether shoppers feel they get a fair shake from the businesses they regularly patronize. The answer, it turns out, is no. Consumers in fact routinely assume that companies gouge them and reap large profits. The results of this research are summarized in a new paper entitled, “Consumer Perceptions of Price (Un)Fairness.” (Free Registration Required)
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/articles.cfm?catid=4&articleid=622

Luggage-less Travel - It's Here! 
9/02/02 - In another example of doing what has led The Ritz-Carlton to becoming the only company in the service industry to win the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award twice, this paramount firm of the hospitality industry has recently announced "Luggage-less Travel." It summarizes the concept - now a reality - on its web site, explaining that (for frequent guests) their entire wardrobe of essentials will be cleaned and safely stored until the next visit - for the normal cost of the valet service. Now here's a convenience that spells customer retention. Why wouldn't you choose to use their luxurious quarters - especially if your clothes are there waiting for you? Click below to read it for yourself, and cast away those thoughts of dragging your suitcase through the airports of today.
http://www.ritzcarlton.com/corporate/press_room/releases/luggage_less_travel.html

Betamax Fades Away 
9/02/02 - Albeit a superior technology over its arch-rival and vanquisher, VHS, Sony has quietly laid the Betamax to rest - halting production. While most in the U.S. lost sight of the product ten years or so back when sales stopped here, not so in Japan - until now. Fans of the Betamax still populate Earth, and thousands of the units are still in use. Read the story of how a performance champion was trampled by an inferior technology - a memory provoking glance at how marketing sometimes does make a purse out of a sow's ear! The VHS victor - turnabout is fair play - is now being trounced by the newcomer, DVD. 
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/entertainment/columnists/3947349.htm

Web Business Evolves 
8/27/02 - Promoting products or services on the Web still has its worth, but it’s not the main reason companies launch and maintain a Web presence, according to a recent survey. Boston-based Yankee Group surveyed more than 600 mid-size to large enterprises and found that 43 percent of them said information (non-marketing content) was the primary driver for the existence of their websites.
http://www2.cio.com/metrics/index.cfm

How to Sell Change 
8/26/02 - Dr. Michael Hammer points out, "Companies don't just have to manage change; they have to sell it." This article focuses on business-technology executives - but the principles apply across the board. In this article for "Optimize" Magazine, he tells how to adapt the tools and techniques of consumer marketing to ensure company-internal initiatives are accepted. It's packed with great information for any executive.
http://www.optimizemag.com/issue/002/marketing.htm

MTV Meets the Information Architecture. 
8/23/02 - In the world of streaming media, it's hard to find a real winner, but the search has ended. Clever, intelligent, hip, and dazzling - the following sample from (where else) MTV Europe takes us on a day in the "slicing & dicing" life of data. If you have a dial-up connection, the presentation will definitely suffer. Perhaps you can try it, and then bail out if it doesn't function well. Broadband is definitely the way to go for this one. Just click on the appropriate link below. After watching - hit the "back" arrow to return.

For broadband connections, use the first link below:
http://www.mtv.co.uk/mtv.co.uk/en/dynamo/common_files/ram/royksopp/remind_me_high.ram

For dial-up connections, use the below link:
http://www.mtv.co.uk/mtv.co.uk/en/dynamo/common_files/ram/royksopp/remind_me_low.ram

Imagery: Imagine it - Understand it. 
8/06/02 - Debbie MacInnis, professor of marketing at USC says marketing folks often talk of the importance of developing a “brand image” or “corporate image,” since these images presumably help the brand from an equity standpoint. Bur rare on lips of marketing professionals is consideration of using “imagery.” Here's her excellent article about enlisting the mind to enhance your messages. http://www.marketingprofs.com/tutorials/macinnis1.asp

The Power of the Pyramid 
7/20/02 - Anyone who sat through Psych 101 recalls the foundation of human psychology and, thereby of motivation, established by Abraham H. Maslow in his "hierarchy of needs." Featured in our own training at PersuasionPlus Selling.com, this 60-year-old theory still has zing for any manager looking to pump up performance. Those in marketing who should already know it like the back of their hand! The mnemonic "PSSES" is a great way to remember the pyramid's levels.
http://www.incentivemag.com/incentive/magazine/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1525748

And now ... a golf break! 
7/15/02 - For those of you with Shockwave Flash installed on your browser (get it free here) -- here's a great little test of your putting abilities. Straight from the Harvard website (can you imagine that?) -- here's a way to relax from all that reading you've been doing! Don't send us your scores! We have enough to laugh about for now!
http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/%7epyang/flash/miniputt.swf

Is Sales from Venus ... and Marketing from Mars?
Or can the two combine for a winning team?
7/11/02 - The following article asks this question, and suggests some answers. 
Our commentary: Marketing represents a "strategic" process to determine how the world, including prospects and customers, will perceive the enterprise. Sales is the "tactical" process of taking the strategy (embodied in the products, services and messages marketing mostly creates) to individual prospects, and customers. The two need never conflict. As the article points out, this is often not the reality. We think one answer is placing more emphasis on top management's obligation to build a total team mentality among all company groups (sales, marketing, operations, manufacturing, finance, etc.). Without it, the firm's "horses" are pulling in conflicting directions, causing friction and inefficiency. Most organizations have failed to convey there is "zero tolerance" for not working together and absolute empowerment for all in the quest to do so. This might be a great start to making articles of this sort a thing of the past. For now ... the article brings forth excellent points.
http://www.crmguru.com/features/2002b/0711jk.html

What's the Difference Between Marketing & Advertising?
7/10/02 - We often run into the question "What's the difference between marketing & sales?" The linked article covers a similar comparison for advertising. We contrast marketing and sales with a short answer. Marketing is a "Strategic" function - covering a wide body of actions to achieve an overall result. Sales is a "Tactical" function, using specific actions to support the strategy. Marketing has the wider scope, but both must be coordinated for effectiveness. As you will see - advertising is a similar "Tactical" process. Read about it here ...
http://www.marketingprofs.com/Perspect/mccall5.asp

Martha Stewart …Still Living
7/09/02 - You would have to be living in a cave not to be aware of the brouhaha surrounding Martha Stewart these days. She has been on the cover of Newsweek, been the subject of leading articles in many of the big papers, been a constant topic of interest on the national and worldwide newscasts, radio, and so on. Plus, she has incredible loyalty.
Is all this attention good for the brand? Read about it here ...
http://www.marketingprofs.com/Perspect/kwebster4.asp

and here's a more recent update - with Martha's history included ...
http://www.msnbc.com/news/913938.asp?0dm=N11KV

Elements of a Successful Questionnaire; WebSurveyer.com
7/08/02 - We realize this is fairly specific, but for those who have ever been tasked with creating a survey, this article provides great guidelines. Just because you may not actually create surveys, the need to know what - and what not - needs to be done is an important skill. Read all about it here ...
http://www.websurveyor.com/learn_news0207_bp.asp

Forbes/Milken Institute ranks the Best Places in America to do business and advance a career; California metros in six of the top ten spots
5/24/02 - Published in the May 27 issue of Forbes magazine, the 2002 Best Places survey has California cities holding 10 of the top 25 spots on the list, with San Diego capturing the No. 1 slot. See where your city ranks, and the details of the first quarter report here:
http://www.milkeninstitute.org/ranking/rank.cfm
The above site site experienced problems recently. The information can also be found at http://www.forbes.com/2002/05/09/bestplaces.html

If you think what you see is real, think once more!
5/20/02 - This fascinating article is for those who think the blue dots on the illustration are different. The human process of judgment makes decisions about the world we perceive, and our world changes as a result. If that's all you need to know, skip this article! But, if you're interested in why we live in a world we actually create for ourselves - and what that might mean - follow the link to this article.
http://americanscientist.org/articles/02articles/Purves.html

University of Michigan Survey shows satisfaction improving.
5/20/02 - Even so, some firms are far from achieving what consumers expect in the way of customer service. Notoriously bad are AT&T Cable Services, Pacific Gas & Electric Company, and Quest Communications. Airlines have improved, and Federal Express tops the list of all recently surveyed companies with a score of 82. See the details of the first quarter report here: http://www.theacsi.org/first_quarter.htm

What Are Your Customers Worth?

5/18/02 - Not all customers are created equal. You need to know their lifetime value, then compare the cost of acquiring, serving, and keeping them. You say you value your customers, but it's important to be able to quantify how much. Measuring customer lifetime value makes it possible to better assess the ROI of marketing and IT initiatives, as well as evaluate the wisdom of partnerships with and acquisitions of other companies. But making the switch to a customer-value focus is no easy feat. It requires nothing short of a culture change in the business--changes in reward systems, financial management, and the alignment of your business units. This excellent article in "Optimize" Magazine gets to the heart of rational decision making about customer acquisition and retention. http://optimizemag.com/issue/007/roi.htm

What is Six Sigma? How does it work?
Six Sigma goes Corporate.
5/18/02 - After years as a manufacturing-process whiz kid, Six Sigma is gaining new luster as a tool in business-process planning. This additional article from "Optimize" Magazine takes you through the entire perspective on this enhancement process, right on to how it is implemented. It's "must" reading for those interested in quality and profit enhancement.
http://optimizemag.com/issue/007/management.htm

What's happened with American's financial and travel habits since September 11th?
5/16/02 - The Smithsonian Research Institute recently published the following information. Are things getting back to normal? Check the below link to see.
http://www.smithsonianmagresearch.com/results.htm

Where do you fit into the U.S. Age Groups?
The latest U.S. Census Data tells lots about who you are and where you live. Cocktail talk or business intelligence? You make the choice.
5/15/2002 - The median age of the U.S. population in 2000 was 35.3 years, the highest it has ever been. The increase in the median age reflects the aging of the baby boomers. However, the 65-and-over population actually increased at a slower rate than the overall population for the first time in the history of the census. Both findings are from a Census 2000 profile highlighting characteristics of the U.S. population, released today by the Commerce Department's Census Bureau. 

Read the Census news release:
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2001/cb01cn67.html

Other highlights:

- The number of males (138.1 million) edged closer to the number of females (143.4 million), raising the sex ratio (males per 100 females) from 95.1 in 1990 to 96.3 in 2000.

- The nation's housing units numbered 115.9 million, an increase of 13.6 million from 1990.

- The average household size in 2000 was 2.59, down slightly from 2.63 in 1990.

- Of the 105.5 million occupied housing units in 2000, 69.8 million were occupied by owners and 35.7 million by renters; the homeownership rate increased from 64 percent to 66 percent.

- The number of non-family households rose at twice the rate of family households 23 percent versus 11 percent.

- Families maintained by women with no husband present increased three times as fast as married-couple families 21 percent versus 7 percent. Married-couple families dropped from 55 percent to 52 percent of all households.

To get the whole picture, click on the link below for an Excel spreadsheet showing the latest data. http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2001/tables/dp_us_2000.xls

Leading Quietly ... A Win-Win Situation
Brash heroes are not the only leaders a company needs.
Every successful organization has at least one or two high-profile risk-takers who triumph in the end and are a company's public face, getting all the attention and kudos. Joseph L. Badaracco, the John Shad professor of business ethics at the Harvard Business School, calls them heroes. But in his new book, Leading Quietly: An Unorthodox Guide to Doing the Right Thing, Badaracco argues that heroes are not the only leaders a company needs in order to succeed. In fact, the most impressive, effective leaders are often the unsung ones, those who labor patiently in the shadows. Read a chapter from this book, then order the whole work for your library. It's our Book For The Month selection, and you can order it here for a 20% discount (save $5.00) from the price shown in this article.
http://www.cio.com/archive/041502/book.html

Seeing the Whole Elephant ... 
It's time companies understand what their customers are really worth! 
At a time when new customers are scarce and the economy is in a tailspin, it is more urgent than ever for a company to retain existing customers and do more business with them. Companies that are blind to the opportunities within their customer base will lose out to those that can see the whole elephant, and ride it to success. Professor Mohanbir Sawhney is the McCormick Tribune professor of e-commerce and technology at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management and a fellow at DiamondCluster International. You won't want to miss the way he concisely conveys reality.
http://www.cio.com/archive/041502/netgains.html

What Does Madonna have ... that You Don't?
Here's an article on what Madonna does, that you might think about doing. It all has to do with re-invention - and moving with the natural order of things. Contrary to your first impressions, this is a sophisticated treatise on marketing.
http://www.marketingprofs.com/Perspect/dsouza6.asp

Where are You going without Your Marketing Grammar?
There is no monopoly of common sense, yet the basics of marketing grammar seem to elude most businesses. Not surprisingly, their customers stay befuddled and confused as ever. Here's an article to clear the fog.
http://www.marketingprofs.com/Perspect/dsouza5.asp

Spam Getting to You! Here are some reasons why ... and what to do.
Here's a great article on why your inbox is filling with Spam, with the details on how to help stop it. With less-than-caring direct marketers loving the low cost of internet messaging, and folks rightfully trying to block their efforts, writer Joyce Slaton takes us on a trip through the guerrilla war battlefields of Spam ... and what the outcome might mean for us all.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2002/03/18/spmlmt.DTL  

How Good, or Bad, Marketing Decisions Can Make, or Break, a Company
Approximately 60% of new ventures fail because of bad marketing decisions, according to Wharton professor Leonard Lodish, author of a new book entitled Entrepreneurial Marketing. The book explores the critical role marketing decisions – on everything from brand building and positioning to advertising and pricing - play in a company’s success. As Lodish says: “There are some business people who intuitively understanding marketing, but there are a lot who do not.”
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/articles.cfm?articleid=358&catid=4

Banking on Good Customer Data
Customer Care
To compete in today’s market, regional banks need to know more than who their customers are. They need to know where they are, and where they’re likely to go.
http://www.cio.com/research/crm/edit/c011402_bank.html

Making Customer Relationship Management Work
Customer relationship management, or CRM, is the buzzword du jour in business circles. To hear some proponents talk about it, all a company needs to do is buy and install a sophisticated CRM software package to maximize its returns from customers. Wharton faculty members point out, however, that making CRM work involves doing a lot more.
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/articles.cfm?articleid=390&catid=4