The Curb Appeal of Innovative Service

The Curb Appeal of Innovative Service

Curb appeal. It is a fundamental tenet of residential real estate sales. And the concept applies way beyond the view from the curb to subtle detailed touches like a freshly baked apple pie in the kitchen. It is a recognition that a prospect’s antennae include...
The Allure of Simple Honesty

The Allure of Simple Honesty

Earlier this summer, my wife and I traveled over a thousand miles to get to the St. Lawrence River that separates the U.S. from Canada in upstate New York. We paid big bucks to hire the very best fishing guide in the Alexandria Bay area—Aziel Snyder. If was a perfect...
Making Special Days Special, Not About Specials

Making Special Days Special, Not About Specials

I was walking through a large retail store today and they were taking down all the Independence Day paraphernalia to replace them with sales goods themed around Labor Day. It made me sad. I could not help but view it as a metaphor for our short-term, time’s up world...
Necessity is the Mother of Customer Co-Creation

Necessity is the Mother of Customer Co-Creation

Necessity is the mother of invention. And few things are more necessary to the success of an organization than customers. Leave that thought on the page and we will return to it very shortly. Napoleon knew that a military force was only as successful as the food it...
Are Your Customers Seeing Monsters?

Are Your Customers Seeing Monsters?

My dad’s favorite childhood story was when a rural pond full of skinny dippers claimed they all saw a huge, evil monster. Every time he told the story, he would laugh so hard at the punchline he got tears in his eyes. Here is the short version… At the annual hog...
The Parable of “He Waved Back”

The Parable of “He Waved Back”

It was raining hard. I was in the edge of a small town near where I live in a long line of “stop and go” traffic all slowed by the single traffic light in the center of town. A car from a side street was waiting to get in the line. I left a space between my car and...