Archives - March 2016

Sales and marketing programs have traditionally used the concept of a funnel to visualize the sales cycle. The wide top symbolizes the endless number of unqualified prospects who gradually thin out along the way, ending with the actual buyers (and ideally, repeat buyers) at the bottom of the funnel. Everything in between represents the steps …

How well do you know your customers? If your first response to this question is to begin spouting off sales facts and figures, the answer is, “Not well at all.” Purchasing data may tell you about a customer’s business and buying behavior, but it says nothing about who they are and what makes them tick. Don’t go out and …

You’re probably familiar with Proctor & Gamble, or P&G, as the company is known. It’s a multinational manufacturer of products that help people care for babies, wash dishes, brush their teeth, and simply smell better. Its brands include Bounty paper towels, Mr. Clean, Pepto-Bismol, and Old Spice, the purveyor of ubiquitous and strange advertising. P&G …

“If you are working on something exciting that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you.” —Steve Jobs, co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of a little outfit named Apple. Jobs was nothing if not passionate about Apple and the products it produced. He was instrumental in starting the company …