A World Built On Promises

Today you woke in a bed the manufacturer promised would give you a good nights sleep. You ate something for breakfast that was made in a factory you have never visited or grown by someone you have never met. You belted yourself into a car with a safety rating you have no way of verifying…

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Three Ways To Sell

If you want to get more comfortable about selling, it’s helpful to consider which of these three sales techniques you use and to assess how they’re working for you. Describing This is the most common way to sell—one you’ve likely experienced or used. Describing the specifications, features and benefits of our products and services is…

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The Art Of Customer Loyalty

How many store loyalty cards do you have in your wallet? How many more will you be offered this week? Do you still carry a wallet? We’ve tried to turn customer loyalty into a data-driven science. A game of, if we do this, customers will do that. In our desire for something to measure, or…

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The Work And Reward

The customer is not there when the flowers he ordered to be delivered on a special birthday are sent too early without his handwritten greeting—which is still paperclipped to the order book. The florist gets on with processing the rush of early morning deliveries. It’s one of those days when she’s just too busy to…

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The First Rule Of Standing Out

If you want to stand out, do the thing that’s in short supply. When everyone is fighting for attention, be the one who earns permission. When everyone is looking for an angle, be the one who acts with integrity. When everyone is chasing growth, be the one who deepens connection. When everyone seeks scale, be…

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Where Do Most Brand Stories Come Unstuck?

We spend a lot of time finding the right words—the ones that will differentiate us from our competitors and compel the right people to covet and click. And yet even though we’ve assembled the perfect words customers can still sense a disconnect. It isn’t our words in isolation, but the intention behind them and the…

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The Value Of Fixing The Root Of The Problem

The first step to fixing any problem is to acknowledge there is one. If you find yourself starting every email with ‘sorry’, question why you’re constantly doing that. If the software doesn’t work the first time, every time, dig deeper before you need to use it again. If your projects always run over budget look…

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How To Stay True To Your Brand Story

You can spot the best restaurant on Melbourne’s Bourke Street a mile away. It’s the one with fresh flowers on the tables outside and the gleaming windows. If you’re there early enough, you’ll see a professional window cleaner meticulously washing and polishing the glass every other morning, long before the first groggy coffee order is…

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Two Essential Characteristics Of Story-Driven Brands

You’ve probably had a disappointing experience with a brand or business. Maybe you couldn’t put your finger on what was wrong or why? Customer dissatisfaction is a result of a gap between promises and actions. Filthy bathrooms at the restaurant with the elaborately embossed menu. The snappy flight attendant who wears a painted on smile.…

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Difference By Design

Yesterday I was registering a domain name online when I noticed the company had tweaked the user interface from cart to checkout. Now when you confirm the purchase, the default option is to register for three years, instead of one. The steps to reverse this are not obvious or easy—which I guess means sales are…

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