On the children’s live-action adventure show Captain Midnight, members of the Secret Squadron used special decoder rings to decipher messages that no one else could understand. The secret decoding power provided a competitive advantage that allowed the Secret Squadron to win.
Wouldn’t it be great if you could slip on a special marketing decoder ring to decipher your prospects? Imagine the advantage of knowing the secret communication channel and message to most efficiently and effectively win the sale. Marketing case studies would be written and awards presented as victory over your competition would be certain. The challenge is that consumer’s aren’t predictable, linear, rational or sequential beings. In other words, good luck decoding your shopper. That’s not to suggest you should ignore consumer behavior or the buying process though. Because when you do crack the code by engaging your customers through the right touch point with relevant and timely information, you build consumer trust and improve their buying experience.
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Tags:
marketing campaign,
marketing strategy,
marketing channels,
buying cycle
Did you know that the cold call is not unique to sales? It happens in the class room as well. When a teacher asks a question of a student who hasn’t raised their hand you can feel the temperature drop, because you’ve got a cold call in action. The teachers’ goal is to keep her students attention by introducing the possibility that anyone can be asked to speak at any time. By doing so she hopes to reduce the chances the students will be preoccupied and tune out. I probably don’t have to tell you what some of the students are really thinking.
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Tags:
sales,
lead nurturing
People are human, and that means mistakes are bound to happen. In fact, few of us get through the workday without making a single error, so should 99.9% be considered good enough? Google the phrase “99.9% is good enough” and see what comes back. For the most part you will uncover the following (at 99.9% quality you can expect):
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Tags:
marketing,
businesses,
mistakes,
quality,
leadership,
managers,
organizations
In 1903 Dr. Horatio Jackson set off on a journey from San Francisco to New York becoming the first person to cross the United States in a “horseless carriage.” At the time there were only 150 miles of paved roads in the entire country. In addition, there were no gas stations and virtually no road maps as we know them today. This was America's first transcontinental road trip, and like many road trips that would follow it included breakdowns and wrong turns.
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Tags:
Twitter,
LinkedIn,
marketing,
social media,
business,
online,
horatio jackson,
strategy,
social platforms,
organization
Bell Telephone developed the first automatic switchboard in 1910 after projections indicated that by 1925 every adult woman in America would be needed to staff the manual switchboards that were in place. Do you think the new innovative automatic system was an immediate hit with telephone customers and the industry experts? Well, probably not with everyone:
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Tags:
risk,
marketing,
resources,
the innovator's dilemma,
customers,
companies,
persistence,
culture,
learning,
innovation,
organizations,
growth,
balance,
conflict
Has rational ignorance impacted your organization’s social media activity yet? Rational ignorance is the decision not to become more informed about something because the perceived cost of the additional intelligence — in terms of both effort and expense — is more than the expected return on the knowledge gained.
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Tags:
Twitter,
marketing,
social media,
learning,
training,
organization
“Where all the solutions are best-in-class, the ROI is proven, and customers are engaged.”
Sounds great, doesn’t it? If you are a fan of Garrison Keillor who reports the news from Lake Wobegon – a fictional town in Minnesota – on the radio show “A Prairie Home Companion,” you probably recognized my spin on his tag line; “Reporting from Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.” It’s a fun show, and I’m sure you would enjoy listening.
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Tags:
ROI,
marketing strategy,
solutions,
customers,
proven solution,
radio show,
business,
news,
garrison keillor,
leading provider,
lake wobegon,
organization
I completed my college studies at Abilene Christian University which is located in Abilene, Texas. I really like Abilene and look forward to my class reunions. However; for marketing organizations, Abilene is to be avoided when mentioned in the context of the “Abilene Paradox.”
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Tags:
marketing strategy,
data,
disagreement,
groupthink,
agreement,
leadership,
task force,
the road to abilene,
marketing organizations,
conflict
