Gallup: Want To Grow Your Business? Treat Your Customers Well

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A Gallup Poll study released on June 23, 2014 echoed what my company has consistently found in its own research: namely that engaged and pleasant sales associates have a far greater impact on company performance than price, promotion, or social media.  The study goes a step further to observe that organic growth in consumer-facing industries can only happen when fully engaged customers are invested in the business’s brand.

Ecommerce: Why going global really means going local

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Global ecommerce is growing and the key to brands looking to extend into new markets will understanding the local culture in those new markets. Watch this video from the MarketingSherpa Media Center at IRCE to learn more from Rob Garf, Vice President, Industry Strategy, Demandware, on how preserving brand value and relevance across multiple cultures will be vital to delivering a consistent brand experience.

Marketing Isn’t Dead ~via @InsideCXM

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  In recent times several marketing and communications gurus have declared “Marketing is dead.” Indeed, many of the traditional channels for marketing, such as advertising, direct mail and cold calling, have lost much of their effect and impact. However, as long as there are businesses offering meaningful products and services, there will always be a […]

Creating and Claiming Value Through Haggling – Assess Their BATNA in Dealmaking Negotiations

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Now it’s time to assess the best deal you might get. Figuring out the other party’s reservation price is the key to knowing how far you will be able to push him, write Deepak Malhotra and Max H. Bazerman in their book Negotiation Genius: How to Overcome Obstacles and Achieve Brilliant Results at the Bargaining Table and Beyond (Bantam, 2007).

Start by considering the other party’s BATNA: What will he do if he can’t close the sale with you?

Like most retailers, he’ll simply have to wait for someone else to walk through the door.

Creating Value Through Haggling – Setting the Stage for Negotiation Success

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Suppose your research reveals that the TV you want is fairly new on the market.

Further research about your local store leads you to believe it may be willing to go as low as Amazon.com’s price of $900. Now you have a general sense of the ZOPA, or zone of possible agreement: between $900 (your estimate of the store’s reservation price) and $975 (your reservation price).

TED: Joi Ito: Want to innovate? Become a "now-ist" - Joi Ito (2014)

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“Remember before the internet?” asks Joi Ito. “Remember when people used to try to predict the future?” In this engaging talk, the head of the MIT Media Lab skips the future predictions and instead shares a new approach to creating in the moment: building quickly and improving constantly, without waiting for permission or for proof that you have the right idea. This kind of bottom-up innovation is seen in the most fascinating, futuristic projects emerging today, and it starts, he says, with being open and alert to what’s going on around you right now.

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