I’ve aggregated some observations I’ve made from working with a number of consultants and doing some consulting myself. These are focused on corporate management consulting, but are mostly applicable to any type of consulting.
Top 10 consulting tips Read More »
I’ve been working with real estate agents to help them market themselves online. In many ways, online profiles are like first interviews. They are the first place that customers (or employers) go to learn about you – often before they’ve met you. And, like many real world first interviews, they can often be rambling and disorganized.
The Product of You Read More »
“I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” Mark Twain With words, it’s very easy to confuse quantity with quality. Here are some ideas about how to get to the point: Pretend your audience are children Outline everything, de-dupe and then cross out anything not absolutely relevant Write in
5 steps to write a short letter – 5 steps Read More »
I recently cut my cable service – something I’ve wanted to do for a while. I bought a few HD antennas and a couple Rokus. I’ll miss some football games, but I can go find a local restaurant or bar for those. The rest…I don’t think I’ll miss. This morning, I went to drop off
The power of competition Read More »
I was just meeting with a realtor – a friend of a friend – to offer some ideas about marketing her real estate services. I was asking her to tell me about what words or phrases she believes would resonate with her prospective customers. In other words, would her customers want a realtor that was risk
Do you want an innovative realtor? I don’t! But, I’m grateful some people do! Read More »
Turning ideas into sharable emotional journeys But, I’m not a salesperson Despite their sometimes sketchy reputation, sales skills are amongst the most valuable in life. We’re constantly selling ourselves and our ideas. We sell ourselves to our potential partners, friends and employers. Much of our daily communication is largely about selling our ideas. Think about
Selling 201: Storytelling (Or, How I Came To Love Stories) Read More »
Let me start by saying that I have no interest in any of the companies/products I mention below. But, I AM fascinated about why some products really stand-out to me and what I might be able to learn from that. Seth Godin’s Purple Cow basically makes the case that great and differentiated products are their
5 Products I Love and Why Read More »
As I’m listening to the Howard Stern “60th birthday show,” I can’t help but think that he might be one of the most disruptive innovators of the past 30 years. He’s probably the best interviewer of all time and has pushed the boundaries of nearly everything he’s touched. It has come at the cost of
What can Howard Stern teach us about Innovation? Read More »
I have a hypothesis: The single largest factor in success is how a person/group uses time. More specifically, their ability to be patient at the right times and impatient at the right times. Some examples: – Investors who can afford to spend a little time/money to let 10’s or even 100’s of investments pass by
Patience – the key to success? Read More »
QWERTY on Phones and other mobile devices Cable and Satellite TV companies Banks fees on most purchases – death of credit/debit cards as we know it Quarterly reporting (and all the incentives associated with it) – likely replaced by continuous reporting (allowing for long-term thinking and investing and less distractions) Movies in movie theaters I’ll
My (bold) list of the soon-to-be extinct Read More »
When you get stuck on a hard problem, here are 6 questions that might help get you unstuck. If I had all the time, resources and money in the world, how would I solve this problem? Often un-bounding yourself from known limitations will provide insights that could apply within your limitations Where else has this
6 questions to get unstuck Read More »
One of the best stories I have after spending many years in the field with sales is about a simple, but brilliant approach one field rep took to making and building great relationships. He was an account manager in the southeastern US. I was visiting to meet with some customers/prospects with another sales rep. As
“I will never waste your time” Read More »
For some reason, I’m strangely attracted to taking surveys. They seem like a great window into the minds of survey creators. They may also explain a lot about why companies often build the wrong products. When done well, they can often answer important questions and occasionally provide some real insights. But, most surveys aren’t very
A respectful survey? Read More »
I’m a little puzzled by the fascination/obsession with C-Level targeting and selling. It feels like a relic of a different era. It might make intuitive sense that a CFO would be a target for a new accounting package or a CIO for a new storage platform. But, my experience suggests that most decisions are made
Myth of “C-Level Selling” Read More »
I’ve been struck by how many times I’ve heard people say – “I hate marketing.” As someone who’s created, promoted and depended on quite a bit of marketing content, this sentiment always made me uneasy. I think what they’re really saying though is that hate BAD marketing. They dis-like being “marketed/sold to.” They really don’t
