Blog
Evolve into Something Bigger, Better and Different
Not every startup dies. Many come back reincarnated as something else. Flickr started out as as a multiplayer online game, but evolved into a photo management and sharing application. Amazon started out as a bookseller, but evolved into the planet’s biggest and best ecommerce retailer. MySpace started out as a social network, but evolved into an entertainment destination for performers. Nintendo started out as a playing card company, but…
A Modern Approach to New Client Acquisition
A few weeks ago, my friend AJ Lawrence of The Jar Group said something that got my brain working. “Instead of making a cold call to customers, we make a warm zone around them.” He’s right. We desperately need a modern approach to new client acquisition. It’s about courting. Instead of trying to make a sale to someone, earn the right to start a relationship with someone. It’s about…
How Does Your Product Help People Meet Each Other?
Access to information is free, but access to each other is priceless. In a connection economy, if companies want to win loyalty beyond reason, they ought to create apps that help people meet each other, not just make them a less bored on the subway. They ought to create products that help people become better at something they care about, not just help them bookmark something cool. Humans are…
Sitting Around Waiting for the Miracle
You can’t be a bystander in your career. Position yourself intelligently. Instead of showing up as a service provider, come in as a strategist so you’re treated as an equal partner, not a day laborer. Beat them to the punch. Instead of asking people what they want, show them you’re already doing what they need more of. Frame the context. Instead of selling an idea, sell people on the…
The Time of Trial is Always
The amplification of effort has never been greater. The time of trial is always. Everything matters, everybody’s watching and everything’s a performance. And when we care, I mean really, really care, and do so with daily consistency, we will see greater residual value than ever before. A single tweet sent out in a moment of caring can erase the memory of every bad review every written. A single response…
Put Your Customers At The Center
Your job isn’t to be an entertainer, it’s to be an enabler. Instead of forcing consumers to consume your content, why not provide more power outlets and invite them to bring their own content? In so doing, you preserve customer control by creating tools that put them in the driver’s seat rather than in the back of the bus. In so doing, you stand out because the user experience…
The Artist Coefficient
The problem with Radiohead’s model is, it only works if you’re Radiohead. Without the coefficients of skill, smarts, fame, fans, time, money, history, resources, labor, luck, leverage and platform, their distribution equation doesn’t yield much for us lay folk. Most artists are, for the most part, winking in the dark. Even if we do offer our work for free, that doesn’t guarantee a spike in sales, an avalanche of…
Another Day in the Office
In temperate rain forests, mosses, lichen and ferns cover most of the ground. This creates a highly dense forest floor, which makes it hard for seedlings to grow. Until a tree falls. Then everything changes. Known as nursery logs, these trees allow seedlings to germinate on their fallen, decaying trunks. They provide the foundation for the next generation. Thanks to their death, young plants can grow by sending their…
Customers Already Sold Themselves
The biggest change in retail isn’t online shopping, it’s how online shopping has recalibrated the offline experience. When your customers walk in the door, they have papers in their hands, pictures on their phones and prices in their minds. They’ve already sold themselves. You’re just the concierge. When that’s the case, the interaction changes. Instead of selling, your job is to serve. To move heaven and earth to please…
How to Run a Social Audit for Your Product
Access to information is free, but access to each other is priceless. Whatever you make, whatever you sell, be sure to emphasize its social function. Below is a comprehensive list of critical questions to ask yourself, your team and your organization. Each question is worthy of its own discussion, so I encourage you to use them individually as conversation starters, icebreakers and thought experiments for your team. Think of…
