1: They’ve bought from you before. or… 2: They’ve never bought from you before. “Eh yeah Brendan” I hear you say – “What’s your point?” Simply this. What you want is new business. You might not need new customers. Of course, increasing the number [...]
The HMS Salisbury was an 18th century British Warship. In 1747, while in the Bay of Biscay, there was a surgeon on board by the name of James Lind. As was typical of that era, the long period at sea had resulted in sailors falling ill due to scurvy – a disease we now know [...]
You know those survey questions that ask your age? Over the years have you noticed how your answer is moving inexorably from the younger categories upwards? If so, you might like this question that appeared on my screen earlier this week: I was delighted – I was in the lower half :-). Believe it [...]
There’s a joke I trot out in my emails or blog every year or two. Here’s how it goes: “If a man speaks in a forest and no woman hears him, is he still wrong?” You’ll probably know the one it’s based on – trees falling and all that…. The point? Imagine you get a [...]
Just imagine something. It’s about your business. Just imagine that you’re delivering outstanding customer satisfaction. Will you keep all your customers? You might like to think so but the answer is always no. And why not? They could die. They could move away. They could retire. They could be sold to a buyer who has [...]
Recently I dropped my son off at school after a dentist trip. On the way back to the office I stopped by a coffee shop close to the school that makes a great takeaway. It’s a very constricted place – when you’re at the counter you’re an absolute maximum of 10 feet from anyone behind [...]
The team my son supports were playing a soccer match on TV – and he wanted to see it. But he didn’t know what channel it was on. He’s a kid – so if he wants information he goes about getting it in the easiest way possible. (There’s a lesson there for us all!) Anyway, [...]
Last week marked the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King – at just 39 years of age. He had been born Michael King – but his Dad changed his name a few years later to insert the “Luther”. That renaming was in honour of Martin Luther – who started the Protestant Reformation [...]
Recently my inbox included an email from a PhD candidate. He was looking for people to take part in an online survey that he’s conducting as part of his doctoral research. I asked him how he got my email address. (He should have told me without me having to ask.) His answer was reasonable – [...]
Lip service. You hate it. Everyone hates it. But it still gets paid a lot. In surveys too. People being surveyed are often assured of their opinion being valued and then their expressed opinion gets ignored! Some years ago I met a woman who had stayed for a weekend at a 5 star hotel for [...]