Good To Do Vs. Right To Do

The brand new billboard spanned the four lanes of the freeway that led to the airport. The location was obviously a strategic move, given that the company being advertised was in the travel business. The gorgeous image of a lone traveller in the wilderness had likely been painstakingly chosen by the marketing department in consultation…

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First Impressions Vs. Lasting Impact

“What’s that new cafe like?” asked a business colleague from out of town. His question got me thinking about how much a negative response from a single customer could cost a business. What’s the lasting impact of a one bad experience? We can invest time and energy and money into the things we believe will…

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The Three Sides Of Customer Experience

As boarding time came and went, it was clear that the flight wasn’t about to depart on time. The huge crowd of expectant passengers at the gate began to get restless. By the time the first announcement was made things were getting heated and when the call to collect refreshment vouchers went out resigned passengers…

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Do Your Actions And Story Align?

Have you ever seen the somber, suited doorman at Cartier chasing a thief, searching a customer’s bag or stopping a young woman from entering the store? Me neither. If he’s not doing that then why is he there? Does the sales assistant at MontBlanc really need to wear a white glove to remove the pen…

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The Simplest Way To Add Value

We just moved house. You can probably empathise—so many logistics to arrange and tiny details to keep in your head, no matter how much help you have. By 3pm on moving day we had Internet (no mean feat). At about 9pm we realised there was no hot water. Too late to contact anyone of course,…

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The New Rules Of Email Marketing

The old rules are broken. Familiar email marketing tactics might enable us to extract one more sale, but they are definitely not designed to respect our customers—the people who pay our bills, the same people we hope to matter to. They are busy and smart. We should treat them that way. THE NEW RULES OF…

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Want To Vs. Have To

The famous fashion designer doesn’t have to pay a fair wage to the workers in the Indian village, who hand bead the $600 dresses she sells to affluent Melburnians. Her customers would never know—and yet she does. The busy graphic designer doesn’t have to make suggested improvements to the slide deck he’s working on. His…

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The Downside Of Buying Attention

Some of the most sad and frustrated emails I get are from business owners who have invested money to get people to visit their websites. Often they have paid for search engine optimisation or Google AdWords and waited for the traffic to come—which is does, it just doesn’t always convert or deliver the result the…

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Not Everything Is An Opportunity

We first met casually, in a social situation one Saturday morning. Less than five minutes into the small talk Terry asked what I did for a living. No sooner had the words “I run my own business” left my lips, than his hand reached into his back pocket to draw out some business cards (one…

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Context And The Value Story

How much is nail polish removal worth? It all depends on the circumstances in which it’s executed. Use a tissue and liquid remover at home and we’re talking a cent or two. Individually wrapped polish removal wipes for use on the go, cost as much as $1 each and a trip to the nail salon…

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