With limited customer service resources, companies are challenged to deliver access to service in an expedient, fair and cost-effective manner. Since customers hate to wait, how can a company balance available resources and service–to effectively meet and/or exceed customer expectations? Queue…
Archive for the ‘Marketing Strategy’ Category
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Customer Service Queues: Fair, Fast Or First?
Continue reading "Customer Service Queues: Fair, Fast Or First?"
Monday, September 14, 2009
Beating The Placebo Effect: Red Pill or Blue?
Placebo pills routinely beat Big Pharma medications in clinical trials. As more drugs fail to make the cut due to increased “placebo effects,” what does this say about the inner workings of the human brain and what does any of this have to do with marketing?
Since 1962, double blind testing wit…
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Methods to Systematically Reduce Customer Choice
New research regarding online dating websites shows that when it comes to presenting customers with choices, in fact “less is more.” And while marketers inherently know that too much choice leads to cognitive meltdown, sometimes we’re confounded with the best way to remove options presented to…
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
The Moneyball-itzation of Marketing
Oakland A’s General Manager Billy Beane started the “Moneyball Revolution,” where analytics replaced intuition as the primary method of evaluating talent and assembling a professional baseball team. And while Beane’s critics entertain some self-satisfaction from the recent mediocrity of the A’s,…
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Zero Latency: The Next Arms Race
In the near future, your company may be competing with a computer. In fact, companies with the fastest computers, most sophisticated algorithms, technical know-how and most complete data sets will begin to separate themselves from competitors. In a world where milli-seconds will make or break your…
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
When Strategic Planning Gets Locked in the Basement
Strategic planning helps marketers answer what to sell, who will buy it, and how to beat competitors in the marketplace. However, in today’s volatile and chaotic marketplace, some executives argue that it’s better to “fly by the seat of your pants” and skip forecasting. What happens when strategic…
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Why Capacity Management Matters to Marketers
In a challenging global slowdown, the world seems awash in capacity. Scans of major business publications show airlines reducing flights, companies furloughing or firing employees, and manufacturers closing plants. If you agree that it appears there is more unused capacity than demand, why should…
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Chinese Brands Are Coming
Chinese brands have come a long way since the days of Mao where coats and boots came in two colors and consisted of dubious quality. Rising in complexity and caliber, brands such as Haier and Chery are not content to rule the middle kingdom and instead seek to invade new markets. Forget bringing…
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Perishing for Lack of Vision
Marketing executives should have a pulse on shifting consumer preferences, macro-economic conditions and emerging competitors. However, in forecasting the financial crisis of 2008 and beyond, most marketers (and economists for that matter) failed to accurately “call” the collapse, even though signs…
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
What Marketers Can Learn from Walt Disney’s EPCOT Project
Walt Disney’s Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT) was a project of grandiose scale and lofty ideal. And while Disney passed away before his project became reality, EPCOT offers marketers four key takeaways (maybe more) in how to define problems, build on success, maintain…
