Nice is not a substitute for good

I had to rent a car the other day and experienced a common dilemma that many of us face when purchasing a service. The employee that is VERY nice but not very good. But what do you do in a situation like this?
I found myself at the car rental place for over 30 minutes…and I [...]

Who’s the stupid one?

More than once I have heard colleagues complain when a client goes with a competitor.
“What are they, stupid?” seems to be the comment I’ve heard often, “that company is horrible.”
In fact, I think I myself have uttered these words more times than I care to admit.
But is it really the client who is stupid? [...]

Angie’s List, yelp, etc.

The explosion of user generated content on the web has created an entirely new way to market a service. Sites like Angies List and yelp allow joe or jane public to post their experience for virtually any service they have utilized. Laundromat, contractor, doctor, restaurant, dog walker, etc. If the service exists, its probably been [...]

The future of advertising your service

I attended a panel discussion last week called “The Future of Online Advertising.” The panel consisted of Jennifer Reynolds: Director, Worldwide Advertising/Campaign Expression at Adobe, Brian Axe: Director of Product Management for AdSense at Google, Jed Nahum: Business Integration Director, AdECN at Microsoft and Amir Ashkenazi: CEO and Co-Founder at adap.tv. The panel was [...]

Your second most important business relationship

I was talking to a friend the other day who stood to lose a big chunk of business because a competitor had come in and offered lower prices. She was pretty worried. The more I spoke with her the more it became clear that she provided a vital service to her client and charged a [...]

Never offer a discount (part 2)

Some of you may be familiar with the recent study done by Stanford University on how the human brain responds to perceived expensive wine versus perceived inexpensive wine.
In a nutshell, the subjects were given wines to taste and told they ranged in price from $5 per bottle up to $90 per bottle. The catch is [...]