Water wasn’t invented by a fish
Digital Equipment Corporation didn’t survive the death of the minicomputer. K&E didn’t survive the death of the slide rule. GEISCO didn’t survive the death of mainframe timesharing. Why? One of Marshall McLuhan quotes I love is, “I don’t know who … Continue reading
Learning marketing tricks from bowerbirds
A common marketing challenge is getting prospects to take your company seriously. Your company may in fact be the perfect partner for a specific prospect. This will be a moot point, however, unless your prospect perceives you as such. Unfortunately, … Continue reading
Reading the market
As an electronics enthusiast, I started tracking videotape recorders in 1956, when Ampex introduced its first unit, which sold for $50,000. By the early 1970s, the arc of enabling technology suggested the feasibility of a consumer device within five years. … Continue reading
If you want to hunt buffalo then dress like a buffalo
I joined Scientific Time Sharing Corporation (STSC) in December 1969 as a programming elf. I was in the Army, stationed in Northern Virginia, with excess time on my hands. In grad school I had adapted a prototype Fortran implementation of … Continue reading
How to determine how much your “value-added” is worth
One day my IBM sales rep Steve dropped by and asked why I continued to purchased hardware from him. “We don’t have the lowest prices. We don’t always have the newest features. Why do you continue to use IBM as … Continue reading
Smokestacking in the 21st century
Business-to-business salesmen in the good old days used to arrive by train in a new community and climb up the highest hill in town. They would look out and identify where the smokestacks were. Each smokestack identified a manufacturing prospect … Continue reading
Have you been McKinseyed by your biggest customer?
What do you do when you biggest customer brings in a big consulting firm to reduce your price. Continue reading
Double your salesforce overnight through strategic delegation
Where can you get the human resources to execute the plans for growth that came out of your strategic planning session? Strategic delegation is a tool with the potential to double the effective resource available in critical areas such as sales. Continue reading
Anecdotal evidence that it’s time to shift to a growth focus
A dramatic shift in recent eBay sales suggests consumer confidence in the economy has grown considerably. Maybe it’s time for a strategic planning meeting to focus your team on growth again. Continue reading
Make sure your pricing doesn’t hide your true value to the customer
You are at risk whenever you “bundle” elements of your product to simplify billing. You are vulnerable to inappropriate price comparisons when a substantial portion of your value is hidden from your customers’ view. Continue reading