People buy your services for any number of reasons. But primarily it can be boiled down to: Recommendation by someone they trust. They’ve used you before. Price. They trust you more than the others. Very rarely do you have much control over the first three. It’s the last one that is tricky. Playing to the…
When your manager thinks he can do everything, mistakes happen.
Oh, Microsoft. Business Schools could create entire courses on the decisions you have made over the past decade. Sadly, most have been confusing and misguided. This week we get the latest with Steve Ballmer taking over the XBox division. Gamers are a particular breed. They care about the things they care about and Steve Ballmer…
The Zip Code Turns 50!
File this under facts that I didn’t know. Today, the Zip Code turns 50 years old! To anyone in real estate, the birth of this essential tool for a job is a reason to celebrate!
Data quality and the results you give.
Data quality. It’s a big issue with lots of ways things can go wrong and only a handful to get it all right. One of the worst things you can do for your clients is give them a recommendation that is based on bad data. Let’s define bad data. It’s not just wrong numbers. Bad…
Windows and Microsoft strike again
I find this humorous because I shouldn’t expect anything else from Windows. But I’ve been fixing a computer for one of my wife’s coworkers this week. This computer was fairly well done for. BSOD every startup. Windows install CD wouldn’t even start running. I was able to reinstall and began the process of putting all…
HBR gets it right
Go read this article from HBR – The Great Dereliction. The point of the article is that modern leadership is failing us. Not just in the US, but globally. They’re right. Leadership these days is about consolidating power – not fighting for the people. One day maybe we can get back to roll models in…
How not to please your customers….Dilbert kills RSS support.
Imagine my surprise this morning when my RSS Reader (Feedly now that Google Reader is being shutdown) told me that Dilbert online had changed some policies: I can only imagine the rationale behind this is worthy of it’s own Dilbert skewering. The days of closed websites is over. The open web won. Corporate interests…
How often do you try something different with your presentations?
Stepping outside the usual is an important task for all of us. One of the biggest ways many of us fail at this task is our presentation templates. The PowerPoint template has become an organizational beacon. Marketing departments set and mandate a specific form and format for all to use. Standard documents all end up…
Words (aka buzz words, aka “industry” jargon) you should never use in a presentation or resume.
Efficiency Effectiveness Good/Better/Best Best-in-Class Value-added Industry Leading Optimize/Optimization Leverage Words you shouldn’t use unless you can define them in ten words or less: SaaS Cloud Business Intelligence Pyschographics And if you come across these words (or people who don’t know what they are) please call them on it. First, it’s a fun time. And Second,…
A good reminder to not price yourself under your value.
From Duct Tape Marketing we get an article reminding us that when your value exceeds your cost, you are leaving money on the table. It’s a great summary of a common phenomenon. Any single pricing model has points of failure. And the great thing about consulting (whether traditional management consulting or more modern services consulting)…