Topic

grapevine

A collection of 650 issues

Misplaced Customer Focus

One of the most provocative, contrarian pieces in a long while, the HBR blogs recently featured results of a five-year study in customer service. Stop trying to delight your customers [http://http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/01/stop_trying_to_delight_your_cu.html] pleads us to think again

Chasing Obsolesence

There’s been reams of writing on Kodak’s demise. Here’s a cracking insight [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/the-moment-it-all-went-wrong-for-kodak-6292212.html] from one such lament. For a firm then obsessed with ‘film’ the bosses were shown a new product. Which today we’d call ‘digital’; >

Tim Harford's Success Prep

[http://timharford.com/2011/05/failure-its-everywhere/] In the run up to the release of his latest book, The Undercover Economist shared [http://timharford.com/2011/05/failure-its-everywhere/] why and where he feels failure leads to success. Key finding; > I’ve concluded that adapting in the face of failure is

Check Solution Belief

[http://www.inc.com/sales] Small business information for the entrepreneur. That’s how America’s Inc. pitches itself. They have a section devoted to sales [http://www.inc.com/sales]. Unfortunately, it leans towards the kind of vagueisms that the rest of its articles steadfastly avoid. Rather than hear

Testimonial Structure

[http://www.bcg.com] Consulting behemoth BCG offer up testimonials on their website. They are unfortunately shorn of any real punch or memorability. Nevertheless, the structure they employ piqued my interest. When I regale glowing references, I like to lather the full story on nice and thick. The crises, the

Roger's Thoughts

Here’s a gem of a webpage I came across quite by accident. I know salespeople like to add the occasional killer quote to their presentations, but where do you find such nuggets? Well, here’s a chap [http://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Thoughts.html] that’s been writing up

Brainsteering

[https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Seven_steps_to_better_brainstorming_2767] Salespeople don’t often get to brainstorm. Marketing like to think they have the monopoly on being creative, right? Whenever those in sales sit in a room for a couple of hours to come up with ideas, it is usually

Chocolat Box

No, that’s not a typo in this post’s title. I refer to high-end retailer Hotel Chocolat. I caught their co-founder on rolling news talking up trading conditions. No bumping along the bottom for him, he excitedly pitched his new stores, diversification and that graveyard for English shops, America.

Net Promoter Happiness

The net promoter [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_Promoter] score idea’s been around since the mid-Naughties. It’s simplicity is lovely of course. Ask your clients if they’d recommend you to a friend and if more give you above eight out of ten than mark six or

What To Discount?

I hate to discount. We’ve all been confronted by a spreadsheet with multiple options for pricing the components of your bid. When you tot up either what you want the client to take or their entire wishlist, it’s way over their budget or above what you know they’