Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars. ~Les Brown
The important thing is to strive towards a goal which is not immediately visible. That goal is not the concern of the mind, but of the spirit. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Flight to Arras, 1942, translated from French by Lewis Galantière
One half of knowing what you want is knowing what you must give up before you get it. ~Sidney Howard
If you don't know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else. ~Lawrence J. Peter
It is a most mortifying reflection for a man to consider what he has done, compared to what he might have done. ~Samuel Johnson, in Boswell's Life of Johnson, 1770
"People who understand consumer behavior make more money in the stock market than professional stock pickers who rely on financial numbers. If you like the store, chances are you’ll love the stock." – Peter Lynch
Donald Gunn, former creative director for the advertising agency Leo Burnett, studied the best TV ads he could find, and looked for elemental patterns. Gunn determined that nearly all good ads fall into one of 12 categories - or how he calls them "master formats."
In 1978, Donald Gunn was a creative director for the advertising agency Leo Burnett. Though his position implied expertise, Gunn felt he was often just throwing darts—relying on inspiration and luck (instead of proven formulas) to make great ads. So, he decided to inject some analytical rigor into the process: He took a yearlong sabbatical, studied the best TV ads he could find, and looked for elemental patterns.
After much research, Gunn determined that nearly all good ads fall into one of 12 categories - or “master formats,” in his words.
Slate’s slide show presents some recent ads exemplifying each of Gunn’s 12 basic categories.
Work done by Berry, Brodeur between 1990 and 1998 defined ten 'Quality Values' which influence satisfaction behavior, further expanded by Berry in 2002 and known as the ten domains of satisfaction. These ten domains of satisfaction include: Quality, Value, Timeliness, Efficiency, Ease of Access, Environment, Inter-departmental Teamwork, Front line Service Behaviors, Commitment to the Customer and Innovation.
Customer Satisfaction and Stock Market Performance
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Do investments in customer satisfaction lead to excess returns? If so, are these returns associated with higher stock market risk? The empirical evidence presented in the January 2006 Journal of Marketing article entitled "Customer Satisfaction and Stock Prices: High Returns, Low Risk", by Claes Fornell, Sunil Mithas, Forrest Morgeson III and M.S. Krishnan found a significant relationship between customer satisfaction as measured by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) and stock returns.
'If we want to know a business we have to start with its purpose… There is only one valid definition of business purpose: to create a customer.'
'It is a customer who determines what a business is. For it is the customer and he alone, who through being willing to pay for a good or for a service, converts economic resources into wealth, things into goods. What the business thinks it produces is not of first importance — especially not to the future of the business and to its success. What the customer thinks he is buying, what he considers 'value' is decisive — it determines what a business is, what it produces and whether it will prosper.'
Michael Porter has described a category scheme consisting of three general types of strategies that are commonly used by businesses. These three generic strategies are defined along two dimensions: strategic scope and strategic strength. ''Strategic scope'' is a demand-side dimension (Porter was originally an engineer, then an economist before he specialized in strategy) and looks at the size and composition of the market you intend to . ''Strategic strength'' is a supply-side dimension and looks at the strength or of the firm. In particular he identified two competencies that he felt were most important: and product cost ().
He originally ranked each of the three dimensions (level of differentiation, relative product cost, and scope of target market) as either low, medium, or high, and juxtaposed them in a three dimensional matrix. That is, the category scheme was displayed as a 3 by 3 by 3 cube. But most of the 27 combinations were not viable.
The Humility Advantage - How Less Ego Creates More Sales
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See if this applies to you or your team members in your organization: You've been working in your industry for several years. Your responses to requests from customers, prospects and co-workers are fast and accurate. You know your stuff and your product knowledge is one of your greatest strengths. If this is the case, then the bad news is that your extensive knowledge may also be one of your greatest weaknesses. The reason - you may be inadvertently coming across as being arrogant and insensitive.
If you are like most people, you probably have a constant desire to get ahead in life, personally or in your business or career. Here, we shall look at two areas of life and how you can make them happen faster and more powerfully successful. The two areas we shall look at are marketing and product or business development. Whether you are employed or self-employed, you are always marketing something. You market yourself, your skills, your products or your business. And no matter what you are, you are always developing. You develop yourself, your products or your business. Now, let us look at a magical process you can use to get ahead in marketing or any area of development.
Is Accumulating a $1,000,000 Net Worth Easy? Yes and NO
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Is accumulating wealth as easy as following a 3-step plan? Yes it is and no it isn't. As with many things in life, accomplishing a goal such as accumulating one million dollars (or even $100,000) depends on your desire, your personal choices and your daily actions.
The most important aspect of starting a business is that it must be something you enjoy. If the primary motive is money, but you don't enjoy it - it is a bad fit, and that is a sure formula for failure. However, if it is something you enjoy, you won't run out of enthusiasm. Your creative juices will flow, making your business a cut above the others, and increasing your chances for success.
To attract a loyal consumer following, U.S. retailers must dare to be ... average?
That prescription, along with the fact that shoppers prefer well-marked prices to low prices, and will select "good enough" merchandise over the "very best," stands out among the findings of a new study by AlixPartners.
Notice that the title of this step is "Evaluating Businesses," not "Evaluating Stocks." Though evaluating a stock is most often the way that investment research is phrased, Fools know that when you buy a share of stock you are really buying a piece of a business.
After psychologist Steven Reiss survived a life-threatening illness, he took a new look at the meaning of life. Now, based on a survey of more than 6,000 people, Reiss offers new insights about what it really takes to be happy.
