[...] the territory they could cover, they just want a fast map to get where they want to go. Visit RemarkableCommunication.com for the complete [...]

Customer satisfaction and loyalty should always be a major focus, even more so during economically challenging times. Online surveys are one of the best ways to gain insight into your customer’s mindset in order for you to market your product/brand as effectively as you can – especially when you can do the research for very little $$ or even for free.

Studies have shown that loyal customers:
Purchase your products and services again and again over time
Increase the volume of their purchases
Buy beyond traditional purchases, across product lines
Refer your company’s products and services to others
Become immune to the pull of the competition
Give your company the benefit of the doubt when something goes wrong
Keep in mind:
It costs 7-10 times more to recruit a new customer than to keep an existing one
A gain in customer loyalty of only 5% can lift lifetime profits per customer by as much as 95%
An increase in loyalty of just 2% is, in some sectors, equivalent to a 10% cost reduction

ZoomerangBlogs last blog post..Boost Low Morale With Better Employee Communications

I keep my sounding board informal and agile. I use a set of people that represent different perspectives, including my target customer set, but also some people who just think outside the bun.

When things just aren’t working, I find 3 examples that are and model the best.

J.D. Meiers last blog post..7 Deadly Logical Sins

Vinces last blog post..What do you get if you cross Perl CGI with Mod-PHP?

Alik Levin | PracticeThis.coms last blog post..Program Yourself For Extremely Fast Performance

CEO’S and their followers are in the business of popularity contests. They’re desperate not to disappoint. Making decisions in these hierarchy’s are group based rather than individually.

This is why the whole Teamy-Team work approach is promoted in corporate culture. In my opinion the word Team Work is a way of prettying up a Cover Your Ass paranoia.

If the team/committee/board made the decision no one person is responsible for the outcome. And if you’ve done a good job of kissing the right heinie you won’t be the one who has to “Take one for the team” once heads need to roll.

Risk was the fuel of choice for super fly entrepreneurs like Walt Disney, Rupert Murdoch and Howard Hughes. The last thing these super achievers were saddled by was the opinion of others. Especially wimpy weasels they knew were inferior to them.

Here’s a list I culled from the Marketing Sherpa guys on the different language use when addressing CEO’S and entrepreneurs.

CEO SPEAK…

Minimize your risks, Going one step at a time, Career, Spread the risk,
Protect what you’ve built, Major career investment, Go straight down the middle, No conflicts, Free of controversy, Integration without disrupting anything, No interruptions, Nothing offensive about it, People won’t find anything to argue with, Won’t produce any arguments, Keeps everything controllable, Stays on an even keel, Don’t believe in radical change, Widely accepted, Don’t make demands on you, Known for not rocking the boat, Know how things are supposed to be done, Moderate, Restrained, Non-confrontational, Respectable, Not daring, Getting everyone on board, Get everyone’s agreement, Looking good, Creating the right image, inside and outside the company, Put all the possible objections to rest, Resolve everyone’s concerns, Achieve a consensus, Prudent, Thought through, Stable, Not subject to wide swings, No radical shifts.

Entrepreneurial Seduction…

Daring, Take someone on, Revolutionary, New, Play to win, Do an end run, Ambition, Goal-orientation, Competitiveness, Accountability, Override objections, Substantial change, Educated guess, Confront
Bold people, Revolutionary, Flexible standards, Play to win, Ambition
Stand out from the crowd, Terrific return on investment, Dramatic
Accountability, Stand up and be counted, Pioneering, Intuition, State of the art, Feelings, Perception, Cutting edge, Pushing the edge of the envelope, Innovative, Experimental, New, Human ingenuity, Pioneering,
Revolutionary.

Even though I blundered by not talking to these two different breeds the way they needed to be to feel secure, I still raised a helluva lot of money for the group I was working with.

But had I used the platinum rule I would’ve helped even more children than I did.

Don’t make the mistake I did. Follow Sonia’s expert advice and you’ll be well on your way to getting what you want by helping others get what they want. (Like my rip off of Zig there?)

Talk to you again soon,
Note Taking Nerd #2

Note Taking Nerd #2s last blog post..If I Could Hear The Questions You Ask Yourself Would I Think I Was In The Presence of a Leader Or a Victim?

Alex, I like that approach a lot. Havi Brooks talks a lot about finding your “right people” in your business (and really your whole life), and I’m a fan of that.

Ian, check out a post I wrote on that very subject at Copyblogger: http://www.copyblogger.com/find-blog-post-images/. You can also get a more detailed tutorial on using Flickr Creative Commons images over on skelliewag, it’s at http://www.skelliewag.org/a-complete-guide-to-finding-and-using-incredible-flickr-images-162.htm .

Nope. A lot of people just want to be told what to do and couldn’t give a crap about expectations and others are totally content to say “Nope, not moving from here.”

So, as a business person, I have two options: I change who I am, or I change who I deal with. I took the latter route. After a few disastrous clients, I learned how to figure out really quickly the ones who wouldn’t like the way I worked and would pass them off to a colleague.

Alex Fayle | Someday Syndromes last blog post..What’s the Big Picture? Don’t lose yourself in details