Monthly Archives: March 2010
It’s not a secret that loyal customers are good for an organization or brand. You don’t see too many executives saying they don’t want more of them. But what’s interesting to me is how few companies truly acknowledge, take care of and leverage those loyal customers in a way that measurably accelerates market share and recurring revenue while mitigating competitive risk and reducing sales & marketing costs.New customer sales & marketing? – At most companies that means a meaningful lead generation budget, a full sales team, lots of support and attention.Existing customers? – A newsletter, maybe some training, and an 800-number if they have questions.This is a broad generalization, but you get the point (and you’ve seen it, both at companies you work with and for, as well as directly as a customer of others).How are your current customers perhaps your most valuable competitive edge?Treat them right – deliver a … Continue reading
What are the drivers for innovation in the Middle East? I recently asked this question of my colleagues in the social mediasphere. I wanted to better understand how people innovate in the Middle East, and compare the drivers for innovation here with that of other societies.My question provoked many responses, several of which pointed to one underlying driver – necessity. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention. However, necessity is the most basic driver for innovation. Many other societies have moved beyond necessity.In China, for example, innovation is technologically and industrially driven, and their R&D spending matches that of the U.S. and Europe.The Japanese believe that if they lose money, they will recover it, but if they lose time, they won’t. So a driver of innovation there is the need to produce new offerings quickly, and to be the first to market.In the U.S., there are multiple factors … Continue reading
New York magazine had a recent feature 50 Steps to Simple Happiness. There’s lots of interesting advice – quite a mixed bag – but some of the nuggets include:Collect visual memories of moments when you were incredibly happy.Start an old-fashioned (hand-written) correspondence with a friend.Surround yourself with things that smell like green apple or cucumber (or visit a Jo Malone store!)Carry yourself more erect. You can improve your outlook and confidence simply by improving your posture.Forget the brown rice sushi. The Japanese are some of the most long-lived people on the planet, and they only eat white rice.We each develop our own strategies for preventing and relieving stress and promoting joy and contentment in our lives. The key for me, as I’ve previously noted, is the idea of work/life integration. This is different to work/life balance that is so often talked about – the notion that happiness depends on making … Continue reading
There was an excellent post by Hutch Carpenter on this website. In the article, he asked the question – “Is Crowdsourcing Disrupting the Design Industry?” He makes an excellent case for the value (and pitfalls) of crowdsourcing design work. As loyal readers know, I have used design crowdsourcing on several occasions.In response to the article, I wrote:I use crowdsourcing for some of my designs. And I have to admit, I do sometimes feel a little bad. It’s clear some people put a fair amount of thought into their designs. Sadly, there is typically only one winner.Having said that, as a consultant, no one feels bad for me when I spend days or weeks developing a proposal that does not get awarded to me. We recognize that it is the cost of doing business.Let’s face it… for some design work, it might be just as fast to develop a rough concept … Continue reading
Independent research boutique ChangeWave surveyed 3,171 consumers and found that, amongst respondents planning to buy an e-book reader in the next 90 days, a towering 40% favor Apple’s iPad, with Amazon’s Kindle attracting only 28%. While the marked preference for the iPad may be temporarily over-inflated by the hype surrounding its launch, there is no doubt that Apple’s entry in this market is a threat to Amazon. What should Amazon’s next move be?Acknowledge. The first step is to recognise a few hard truths:That the main threat is not the iPad selling better than the Kindle, but the iBook business model seriously denting Amazon’s e-book retailing market share (currently estimated at 90%).That in spite of its heavy investment and outstanding achievement in developing and launching the Kindle, Amazon is not an electronic goods company, let alone a technology leader.And therefore that having the Kindle as one of the very few devices … Continue reading
A Breakthrough Innovation 2010 Conference Wrap-Up Reportby Richard L. TsoLast week, I had the pleasure of meeting with some of the most influential thought leaders in the innovation industry at the second annual Breakthrough Innovation conference. The event took place in Barcelona, Spain and was hosted by the Connecting Group. Common themes surrounding the conference were:Companies need to refine and improve how they approach innovationA formal innovation management process or platform is needed to help capture ideas and drive them towards adoptionExecutive sponsorship is required to proactively drive innovation initiativesA strong need for cross-functional innovation across all departmentsInnovation is inherently a creative processThe agenda encompassed product, process, service, and business model innovation. Kai Engel, an AT Kearney Partner and Connecting Group Chairman, kicked off the conference with a broad overview of how companies are approaching innovation management within their organizations, and what they can expect to gain from the process. … Continue reading
