Most marketing doesn’t work.  And it’s not because it’s poorly executed, although plenty of it is.  It’s not because media no longer reaches people, although its reach has certainly shrunk.  It’s because, when consumers have too many choices and too little time, they only notice the remarkable.  And the majority of the time, there’s nothing…

If you recall your high school or college physics class, you may remember Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle.  It essentially says that it’s impossible to accurately measure the position or momentum of a particle in quantum mechanics, because the act of measuring changes both.  This is also the crucial problem with trying to ask your customers what…

The news these days is full of apologies.  Netflix, SiriusXM, Bank of America – even the Prime Minister of Greece – have all announced courses of action, only to be pulled up short by overwhelmingly negative consumer response.  Can your company learn from their mistakes?  It’s tough to make a change that benefits your business…

Salespeople spend a lot of time preparing the pitch – planning what they’ll say if they get in front of a prospect.  But that approach ignores the crucial role of listening.  How can you plan a pitch until you hear what the prospect really needs?  And prospects want to talk.  They want you to know…

The TED Conference has generated a wealth of fascinating talks.  Limited to 18 minutes, each speaker has to remove all but the most compelling elements from his or her presentation.  Recently, there was a TED talk on TED talks, and what the presenter found can help you make better presentations.  It turns out that talks…

If you want to know what else you can offer, or how you can improve, who do you ask?  Customers?  Maybe.  How about former customers?  They’d probably have some important insights for you.  How about people who haven’t bought from you?  What might they think?  Which group’s thoughts would prove most valuable to you?  And…

Research consistently shows that people are more likely to act to counter a negative in their lives than to acquire a positive, especially in a down economy.  If you advertise retirement planning via images of sunlit golf games, no one notices or cares.  Talk about how long you’re likely to live after retirement, and how…

How much time do you spend thinking about the competition?  Probably not enough.  When we do consider our competitors, it’s almost always reactive rather than proactive; we tend to think of them as unmoving and unchanging over time.  Instead, put yourself in their shoes.  What would you do next if you were them?  How do…

There are times when tapping into the collective knowledge of your people makes more sense than bringing in specialists.  When Koch Industries decided to improve its safety record, it didn’t call in safety experts.  Instead, it rewarded employees for uncovering safety hazards or suggesting safer ways to work.  A year later, the company had one…

When is an apology not an apology?  Ask Reed Hastings.  The Netflix CEO “apologized” this week, not for raising prices, but for not explaining that the price increase was necessary.  Then there was some smoke and mirrors about making the DVD-by-mail service its own business.  The bottom line is that customers are leaving by the…