planning

Improving Customer Experiences - Is It Still Important Or Is Price The Only Thing That Matters?

Scott Glatstein — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:45:57 -0500

Has the economic downturn minimized the importance of the Customer Experience?

In Chapter 5 of my book, Strategy Activation: How to Turn Your Vision into Marketplace Success, I talk about how important it is to improve your holistic customer experience to differentiate your company from your competitors. As products and services continue down the inexorable path toward commodification, it is the ongoing customer experience that drives customers to choose one vendor over another.

How True Leaders Execute Plans Without Fail & Celebrate Their Victories

Roxanne Emmerich — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 15:45:54 -0400

Execution is everything. Plan all you want, dream all you can, then turn that key or you've accomplished nothing. Execution is what separates those with lofty ideas from those who end up winning the game. It's about taking strategies and making sure they are implemented with power.

Creating a culture of execution is a leadership issue. It combines creating a "no-excuses, get-it-done" culture with the systems, processes, and accountabilities that ensure things are done consistently and well. But it's also more than a leadership issue.

Nokia Wants You To Control Your Phone Without Buttons

Kit Eaton — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:45:44 -0400

Apple isn't the only company with some creative plans for smartphone UIs: Nokia just revealed how it thinks we might control our phones in the future. There'll be a lot of waving them in the air.

Truth, Beauty, and Smart Economics Converge at CNU 17

Craig Pelkey-Landes — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:15:16 -0400

When Rem Koolhaas disses you, should you pack up your geospacial software, go home, and sob quietly into your pillow in the bedroom of the apartment in your zoned mixed use neighborhood?

Truth, Beauty, and Smart Economics Converge at CNU 17

Craig Pelkey Landes — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 08:49:53 -0400

When Rem Koolhaas disses you, should you pack up your geospacial software, go home, and sob quietly into your pillow in the bedroom of the apartment in your zoned mixed use neighborhood? Not according to John Norquist, CEO of the Congress on New Urbanism (CNU), and former mayor of Milwaukee. Norquist and a large cohort from the CNU gathered in Denver last month for their 17^th annual Congress.

5 Ways Big Business Weathers the Economic Storm

Ellen McGirt and Chuck Salter — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:00:00 -0400

Surviving this economic crisis is like going to see the latest Vin Diesel movie: Sure, it's bad, but believe it or not, others have seen worse. How do the grizzled vets get through the ordeal? They don't just sit there.

Inside MAYA Design's Innovation Boot Camps

Kate Rockwood — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:00:00 -0400

The engineer is holding his breath. Beside him, the project manager grimaces. A dozen Emerson employees, all in khaki pants and button-down shirts, are gathered -- silent and expectant -- around their teacher as he squints at their creations. Back in their real roles, making aerospace controls or medical machinery or marine valves at the $24.8 billion St. Louis-based manufacturer, these people are not often met with bewilderment. But then, they rarely bring raw ideas to consumers either.

Who Gets It? Savvy Trade Show Exhibitors & Their 5 Rules For Success

Alder Crocker — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 17:04:42 -0500

I recently returned from the bi-annual Professional Materials (ProMat) trade show at Chicago’s McCormick Center, and it was quickly evident that many companies have lost sight of the 5 rules of B2B trade show process.

5 Marketplace Implementation Lessons from a Corporate Strategy Execution Consultant with 25+ Years of Experience

Scott Glatstein — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 15:41:55 -0500

The best-laid strategic plans often go awry once exposed to the light of day and the rudeness and ruthlessness of reality.

Former President Lyndon Johnson understood that. He often told a story of a man who had applied for a job as a flagman at a railroad crossing. The man was told he'd be handed the job if he could pass a test consisting of just a single question

Time is Money - How to Save Both

Joshua McGlinn — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 11:07:34 -0400

Over the years I have worked on hundreds of projects. Some small, some large. But no matter what the size of the project, there were always ways to save time. After years of trial and error I have finally come up with some basic guidelines. These will save you time, which will save you money, but it will also help keep you sane. Here are a handful of them that I would like to share with you. Some of these are pretty obvious, but you'd be surprised how quickly we forget the little things.

Business Coaching – How to Build a Successful Million Dollar Coaching Program from the Ground Up

Robert Skrob — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 08:39:56 -0400

The information marketing industry is fueled by the ever-increasing pressure and limitation of time. Consumers want information, methods and strategies provided in a quick and convenient form. Information marketers do that, and they make loads of money because the demand is there.

The key is to find a responsive market and then package information that customers want in convenient forms such as DVDs, books, e-books, CDs, magazines, Web sites, teleseminars, webinars and of course coaching programs, seminars and conferences.

Are you feeling caught in the eye of the current economic storm?

Terrill Welch — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 15:26:59 -0400

Talent Wars: Are you locked and loaded?

Nancy Clark — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 18:58:49 -0400

Despite living in a bi-polar economy--some are having the best of times, others the worst--one thing is clear, we are facing a shortage of new talent that will not be ready and able to replace the "crew change" caused by the retiring baby boomers.