Thoughts on Business, Marketing, Productivity, Napoleon Hill and now iOS app development
Dan Schawbel.
Last week I received a signed copy of The Start-up of You by Reid Hoffman, the co-founder and chairman of LinkedIn, a site that just hit 150 million users! On its debut today, it hit #1 on Amazon, which is no surprise since Reid has built up an enormous and influential network over years of hard work and dedication. He co-authored the book with another Silicon Valley entrepreneur and blogger, Ben Casnocha.
Customer service, by definition, is about serving people; it should be genuine, personalized, and compassionate—or, simply put, human. For most organizations, customer service is an afterthought. And since servicing customers is primarily viewed as a cost center, customers are often treated as a liability. Yet, customers are a valuable resource: their feedback is integral to shaping your product and building your brand. Customers are not shy about exercising their clout, shouting their experiences—good and bad—to the world.
Small changes to your marketing mix can have a big impact — especially if you tap the wealth of low-cost tools available to you online.
Here are seven small marketing changes that you can make now to boost your sales in 2011:
via Small Marketing Changes With a Big Impact | Entrepreneur.com.
In 2010, Sean Bandawat acquired Jacob Bromwell, a specialty housewares company that’s been in existence since 1819. Here, he shares his operational plan, focusing on his strategy to turn the company into a profitable business.
via How to Write an Operational Plan for Your Small Business | Inc.com.
Napoleon Hill
Napoleon Quote. There are no degrees of honesty. There are only absolutes. Either you are honest or you are not. Honesty does not come for a price; honesty is its own reward. It’s also the most efficient form of human behavior. Honest persons never have to worry about which lie they have told to whom, and they never have to worry about getting caught. Thus, they are free to focus all their energies on more productive things. Make it a habit to be honest in all your dealings. If you can’t be truthful in what you say, don’t say anything at all. Remember, small lies start out innocently enough but soon assume lives of their own. A small lie requires a larger one to conceal it, and soon more, even larger lies are required. Don’t tell that first lie or take a single thing that doesn’t belong to you, and you’ll never have to worry.
Looking back, Cyndi Finkle wishes she had sold her craft services company, Sunday Night Dinner, early in 2008 when the economy was booming. With a track record of 30 to 50 percent annual growth for each of the previous five years, it could have been a compelling transaction.
via Why Some Business Owners Think Now Is the Time to Sell – NYTimes.com.
Paul Demery. Sometimes what makes retailers special isn’t always immediately noticeable—until you get inside their heads and how they operate. And sometimes, as in the case of HauteLook—which emerged on the retail scene a few years ago as one of the first members-only, flash sale e-commerce sites—what initially sets them apart is followed by something that may be even more important.
Members-only flash sale sites are no longer unusual, of course, with many of the more traditional retailers launching their own versions. Yet there’s something else about HauteLook and how it operates. It’s also not unusual to use social media to offer consumers another way to engage with a merchant. But this merchant takes it a step way beyond the common.
via E-Commerce Observer – It’s the customer, stupid – Internet Retailer.
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Product pages for e-commerce websites are often rife with ambitions: recreate the brick-and-mortar shopping experience, provide users with every last drop of product information, build a brand persona, establish a seamless check-out process.
