Posted: October 28th, 2010 | Author: Joseph Wesley Putnam | 9 Comments »
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The first thing a marketer should do is listen to customers, right? If the goal is innovation, Mark Cuban says the answer is no.
In an April 2010 blog entry, Mr. Cuban wrote a post titled “Why You Should NEVER Listen to Your Customers.” He quoted Alan Kay who said that “the best way to predict the future is to invent it.”
This is consistent with two other innovative thinkers – Steve Jobs and Paul Graham. Here’s what they had to say: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: October 25th, 2010 | Author: Joseph Wesley Putnam | No Comments »
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There are a lot of tips about how to pick the best domain name. Which ones are the most important? The following are five of the most important tips for picking the best domain name.
Tip #1: Use your company name.
Yes, this is probably common sense, but if you’re looking for a domain name for your company, the first place to start is with your company name as the domain name.
By using your company name, any time a customer looks you up by your name, they’ll find you online. Also, if your company name is unique enough, you’ll automatically rank high in searches that use it.
Again, using your company name as a domain name is pretty much a no brainer. But if for any reason your company name isn’t available or it breaks one of the rules below, you may want to pick a different name. Keep reading to find out if that’s the case. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: October 19th, 2010 | Author: Joseph Wesley Putnam | 9 Comments »
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I’ve been thinking about the first quote on this list for a long time – “Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.” It implies that you can only learn so much by reading; eventually, you have to start doing. Whether it’s business, marketing, entrepreneurship or life, at some point the rubber has to hit the road, and that’s when you really start to learn. Quote number 25 on this list supports that – “The only source of knowledge is experience.”
These quotes range from insightful to humorous. Make sure you catch number 30. It’s the most hilarious.
Enjoy the read.
1. “Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.”
2. “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.”
3. “Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex… It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.” Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: October 19th, 2010 | Author: Joseph Wesley Putnam | No Comments »
Here are four classy sales lessons that you can learn from Bostonian.
Special note: I came up with the content for this post after a recent visit to a Bostonian store. These lessons may or may not be methods that Bostonian teaches its employees.
Lesson #1: Offer a money back guarantee.
It seems counterintuitive that money back guarantees would be a way to make more money. It seems more likely that money back guarantees would be a way to lose money. This might be true if a product is terrible, but as long as it’s not, offering a money back guarantee increases sales and boosts profits.
Bostonian offers to return any unworn shoes within 365 days of the purchase date. Yes, that’s anytime within the first 365 days. This may not seem like that big of a deal because what customer will return a pair of shoes 365 days later. Regardless, a guarantee like this often gives people the confidence they need to make a purchase. If a customer is wavering between whether or not to buy a product, knowing that it can be returned anytime over the next year can make the difference. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: October 15th, 2010 | Author: Joseph Wesley Putnam | 5 Comments »
For those who don’t know yet, Facebook page urls can now be changed and personalized. If you haven’t done this already, your url will look like the first one below. By changing the url, you can make your Facebook page address look like the second one (with your name in place of blaise.dipersia).
To personalize your Facebook page url, all you have to do is change your Facebook username. Here’s how to do that— Read the rest of this entry »
