Choose a Name That Backs Your Brand
Love this “Flowered by Howard” sign I spotted in a neighbor’s front yard. The name says it all! As part of my work, I’ve helped name products, book titles, service packages and a couple of companies. Although it’s likely that your business or the company you work for already has a name, that doesn’t mean […]
Transforming Your Brand: Setting Goals for Your Business
I’ve been through many changes in my life. I changed homelands, changed jobs, changed cities in which I lived several times, and I changed careers. I define “change” as an event. All of these changes were events in my life. However, one event was bigger than a change- it was truly transformative in that this […]
BMC Tip Sheet: Bringing confidence and clarity to a high-pressure rebranding
The days when customer advocates primarily took reference calls from buyers and interview requests from the media are long gone. In what we call “advanced practices” (AP) firms[1], they’re using customer advocates at all stages of the customer journey—pre-sale and post-sale. Here’s an example showing how BMC used its customer advocates to bring confidence and […]
The Business of Creating a Legacy: Will They be Talking About You 100 Years from Now?
In the business of shaping legacies in the speaking business, I spend a fair bit of time thinking about the legends in the speaking industry. I had coffee with a recently retired network news anchor, who is actively considering writing a legacy book after his successful 27-year career in front of the bright lights on […]
Time to Get Serious About Marquee Customers
About a decade ago, former McKinsey consultant David G. Thompson conducted important research on how the fastest growth businesses are built. That is businesses that get to $1B in revenue faster than their competitors do (if they’re competitors make that number at all). One of the key drivers for the fast growth firms is their ability […]
The Most Important Marketing Decision to Make
What brand name to use. Most marketing mistakes can be corrected. Not with brand names. Once you’re committed to a brand name, that’s usually it. Eveready made that mistake. The long-time leader in appliance batteries, Eveready introduced a new alkaline battery in 1959. So what did the Eveready company call its new alkaline battery? A […]
Stop Throwing Money At “It”!
I have a person very close to me who likes to throw money at situations and people. Let’s name them “Pat”. Over time I’ve noticed money gets thrown around when Pat is trying to: 1) avoid a negative/painful situation (“I’ll buy the birthday gift, you go hang out with the birthday gal because I don’t […]
How to See Past Blind Spots in Business
The phrase “Blind Spots” is common in our interpersonal lives, but the idea is equally applicable in business. In personal situations, blind spots occur when we have behavior we may not see ourselves (but others do), and it is often used in relationship situations, when we aren’t aware of our patterns. In business, blind spots are equally […]
