One might think that widespread, credible, instantaneous communication puts a lot of power into consumer's hands, and it does, but one would also have to wonder why bad customer service is still so prevalent.
Categories: Marketing | Customer Service | Entrepreneurialism | Competitive Advantage
4 comments - Posted by Paul Orfalea at 5:53 PM
Few companies live to the ripe old age of 100, and fewer still are more vibrant at 102 than at any other time in their history. United Parcel Service (UPS) was founded by a couple of teenagers as the American Messenger Company in 1907. This week, two events helped me understand why the company is going strong in 2009.
Categories: Marketing | Corporate Culture | Customer Service | Competitive Advantage | Optimism
1 comments - Posted by Paul Orfalea at 11:08 PM
Photographer Erik Pierce of Paparazzi Tonight thought the person on the phone did not understand him. Pierce had dropped one of his electronic flash units, breaking off a piece of the reflector. He called AlienBees, the manufacturer, to find out how much it would cost to fix or replace. They said they would send a free replacement.
"But I dropped it."
"No problem," said the AlienBees representative, "It should have been stronger."
Categories: Marketing | Corporate Culture | Customer Service | Ethics | Competitive Advantage
3 comments - Posted by Paul Orfalea at 6:15 AM
For those with an entrepreneurial spirit, trends and fads are fun to spot, but it's extremely important to distinguish the two. Fads come and go reasonably quickly, with a small window of profitability. Obvious examples are pet rocks, pogs, and Pokemon cards. Trends mirror or exploit large-scale socio-economic shifts, and offer varied and sometimes repeating profit life cycle opportunities.
Categories: Marketing | Entrepreneurialism | Investing | Competitive Advantage
10 comments - Posted by Paul Orfalea at 3:31 PM
The standout exhibit at the 1939 World's Fair belonged to none other than General Motors. Called Futurama, the display took visitors on a tour through an incredibly detailed - and mostly accurate - model of the continental United States as it would appear in the far-off future of 1960. Considering that the World's Fair took place after ten years of Depression and while Europe was descending into the madness of war, General Motors' imaginative optimism seems all the more impressive.
General Motors recognized the harsh facts in front of them, but nevertheless dreamed big dreams and worked to make them come true - they helped to create America's future. So what happened?
Categories: Marketing | Creativity | Customer Service | Leadership | Competitive Advantage | Optimism
0 comments - Posted by Paul Orfalea at 5:35 PM
I'm often accused of bitterness when I write about the decline of Kinko's after Clayton, Dubilier and Rice displaced the founding partners, but I think incredulousness is closer to my true emotion. I'm a student of business, and I simply cannot believe how many mergers and acquisitions fail because the new owners do not bother to understand -or choose to ignore - the key success factors of acquired companies. Kinko's is the case study with which I am most familiar, so of course I refer to it often.
Here's one example. In the mid 1980s, Kinko's advertised that we offered copies, binding, and passport photos. And every ad promoted the fact that we were open early, open late, and open weekends. Our extended hours constituted a competitive advantage over the quick-print shops offering similar services.
Categories: Marketing | Corporate Culture | Customer Service | Leadership | Investing | Competitive Advantage
3 comments - Posted by Paul Orfalea at 1:59 PM
by Dean Zatkowsky
"Strategy without tactics is the slow road to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat." - Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Faced with a product or service marketing challenge, a lot of people immediately brainstorm tactics: "Let's have a sale! We should hold a workshop! Let's do some direct mail!"
At my marketing workshops, I recommend a slower, more methodical approach that simplifies and focuses the problem and its solution. We use a simple, one-page form to identify Goals, Strategies and Tactics.
Categories: Marketing | Management Skills | Entrepreneurialism | Competitive Advantage
0 comments - Posted by Dean Zatkowsky at 10:38 AM
