Does Nike make the best running shoes in the world? Does Starbucks serve the best coffee? Does Warby Parker design the best reading glasses? Does Dollar Shave Club sell the best razors? Does IKEA sell the best furniture? Objectively, the answer is no. But ‘best’
When your idea fails to resonate, it’s easy to assume that the product or service, the pitch or the pricing are flawed. Before you go back to the drawing board, you must challenge those assumptions. The first assumption to test is if you’re reaching the
When you were three years old, you knew exactly what to say, and how to say it, to get what you wanted. But somewhere along the line, you became reluctant to use these skills. We all did. Stories of con men and unscrupulous marketers, manipulating
When they opened their cafe, Shannon and Mo couldn’t afford $400 dining chairs, and besides, they wanted the food to do the talking. So, they bought second-hand chairs, then stayed up until midnight colouring in all the scratches on them with permanent markers. They served
Lately, we have come to believe in the myth of significance. Put our faith in being chosen, becoming ‘the one’. Striving to be bigger, noticed or more than, while simultaneously recounting a narrative of never enough. In our minds, significance boasts a title, resides in
Value is our subjective judgement about the utility, worth or desirability of goods, services or experiences. It’s the story we each believe about the significance of something. The value conversation is how we prioritise the allocation of finite resources. The story we tell ourselves about
The proficient doctor does the necessary. She greets the patient without shaking his hand. Examines him from head to toe without looking him in the eye. She’s alert to the slightest abnormal physical sign but doesn’t notice her patient shivering because the room is cold.
Communication is not simply an exchange of information. We’re never just speaking or writing to be heard.We’re always trying to make ourselves understood. Before you make the call, deliver your speech or write that email, think about what you want the recipient to know and
It seems like the most logical thing in the world to build your marketing strategy around the kind of customer you want to attract. It stands to reason that you can tell a more resonant story when you know who you’re talking to. But when
We’re very good at measuring customer loyalty. We can track how much a customer spends and how often. We know how long they have been with us and have a plan for retaining them. We create premium memberships, gold cards, reward programs and ego boosting