Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2020

For decades, efforts to satisfy customers have been built around demographics – capitalizing on race, ethnicity, gender, income, and other attributes. Customer personalities define customer experience, and sets what they love, and what they hate. There is no one set of exceptional experiences that will work for all customers.

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Custom Customer Social Media Satisfaction 158

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 22, 2021

Every business I know is intimately familiar with outbound marketing, or pushing your message out to customers through email, newspaper, and television advertising. Only a few really understand the process and value of inbound marketing, for pulling customers to your brand. Don’t just monitor – engage customers.

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Custom Customer Marketing Social Media 172

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 18, 2020

As a long-time business executive and adviser to entrepreneurs, I see a definitive shift away from customer trust in traditional business messages, and the executives who deliver them. I summarize the key elements of the transformation as follows: Customers are seeking control in a run-away world.

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Custom Customer Social Media Technical Review 173

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 21, 2021

Most startups are happy to find any customer, and will hang on for dear life to every one. Only later do they realize that some of these cost more than they are worth, or lead into commitments they can’t sustain, but no business wants to violate the golden rule that every customer needs to be treated as if they were the only customer.

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Custom Customer Startup Pricing 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2022

We are living in a new generation of business, where customers drive the experience, and highly engaged employees are required to keep up with customer expectations. As a business advisor, I’m always looking for guidance on leadership practices that work, and I was impressed with the classic book, “ The Leadership Mind Switch ,” by D.

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Custom Customer Coach Satisfaction 152

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 27, 2023

With interactive social media and video everywhere, everyone needs to feel they have a relationship with their leaders, and every brand needs leader personification for customers to relate. Interact with employees and customers on a regular basis. Never be too busy to talk to real customers. by Steven D.

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Custom Customer Social Media Metrics 140

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 25, 2021

Today’s customers are overloaded and overwhelmed by too much information, so making a decision is a challenge. You may think this is only important to your marketing and sales people, but in reality it doesn’t matter how great your product or technology might be, you won’t succeed if you don’t understand your target customer decision process.

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Custom Customer Sales Social Media 136

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 30, 2022

Today’s customers are much more in control of their buying decision, as they have more choices and more information than ever before. Bloom’s classic book, “ The New Experts: Win Today's Newly Empowered Customers.” This is a key moment where your customer acquisition costs go way down, and your profits go way up.

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Custom Customer Startup Course 146

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 4, 2013

Compelling in the sense that you solve a real problem a target group of potential customers has with a product that is significantly better than the alternatives on that market. The idea of “going deep” with customers has always shaped how I think. I found myself in violent agreement with Fred’s blog post(s).

Startup 401

Startup Custom Customer Technical Review 401

TechCrunch LA

NOVEMBER 23, 2020

Founded four years ago by Matt Danna and Sean Stavropoulos, Boulevard was inspired by Stavropoulos’ inability to book a haircut and Danna’s hunch that the inability of salons and spas to cater to customers like the busy programmer could be indicative of a bigger problem.

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Software Beverly Hills Los Angeles Equity 323

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 9, 2023

Today’s customers demand more than a good product; they expect a great customer experience. A few companies are leading the way, including Apple with their iPad and iPhone, offering irresistible stores with friendly experts, elegant packaging, and customer service that never ends.

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Design Custom Customer Product 105

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 1, 2023

Having the best solution is a good start these days, but a solution alone is no longer enough to keep customer attention and loyalty. I remember the classic book, “ Driven to Delight ,” by Joseph A. Your competition is global, so today’s customers are demanding world-class service. Set the expectation for continuous improvement.

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Custom Customer Startup Competition 106

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2023

Businesses see this as the Holy Grail for finally being able to predict who, where, and when customers will buy their existing solutions, and what their future solutions must look like to be attractive. I found some help in this regard from a classic book, “ Humanizing Big Data ,” by leading consumer researcher Colin Strong.

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Custom Customer Social Media Research 115

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 21, 2013

If you ever want to read the great American generational immigrant business story read American Pastoral by Philip Roth, which won the Pulitzer Prize and was voted by Time Magazine as one of the best 100 books of all time. So he made hand-made batches in a bucket and drove it to customers in his van.

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Entrepreneur Startup Pricing Product 415

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2014

Whenever I heard why we didn’t feel a sales process at an important customer was going well (or if we lost) I would get involved myself. They are as good at selling you as they are at selling your product to customers. Customer also buy social proof because others are acting as strong references.

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Sales Help Startup Pricing 382

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2023

Entrepreneurs have always believed that their product or service must show real value to customers, but today the smart ones are even able to make their marketing valuable. Now customers seek out people who are willing and able to add value, with expertise and insight, even before they have a product. The key is consistency.

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Content Custom Customer Marketing 104

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

If you publish a book, how do you get on the NY Times best seller list? Simply write a great book? But can you be rich and simply buy enough books to be on the list? So there are consultants who have armies of contractors around the country who can go and buy small batches of your book at many locations – all for a fee.

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2017

Amazon took a consumer value proposition (buying books, then all retail products) and made the consumer experience significantly better, faster & cheaper. They didn’t do this by selling better books or electronics, they did it by building a logistics & warehouse powerhouse. years of software development.

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Technical Review Funding Software Review Artificial Inteligence 268

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 1, 2014

The second is that the retailers were constrained by their high costs of local real estate and service staff relative to the costs of centralized warehouses where goods could be stacked high, sorted by robots, managed by RFIDs and then shipped via overnight to eager, cost-conscious customers across the US. 10x the experience.

Technical Review 380

Technical Review Software Review CTO Hire Startup 380

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 9, 2019

Once organizations scale they inevitably implement systems to make booking shared spaces more streamlined and usually more democratic?—?the the general procedure being that you “book a meeting room” by the hour via a scheduling system. People often ask me, “why don’t they just use cameras?”

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Product Software Review Technical Review Startup 214

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2013

Talking about how to inspire moms to get their children engaged with iPads and physical activity sets customized for their kids and based in part on their digital lives. When you think about physical stickers and activity books every parent can understand. Soleil on the other side getting out sticker packages. Showing me designs.

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Startup Design Downey Activity 398

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2020

It’s clear things have changed for good and the need for managing remote communities of employees, customers and partners has become ever more important. In marketing materials founders often refer to their customer base as a “community”, but there’s a huge gap between having customers and creating a community.

Software 234

Software Startup Tool Platform 234

Berkonomics

MAY 4, 2017

Yesterday’s sales and returns compared to same day last week and last year for retail businesses; Units produced and units shipped compared to plan and same period last month for manufacturers; Yesterday’s overtime hours by department; Ratio of hours worked to units produced; Backorders unshipped; Customer service calls in cue or unresolved.

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Metrics Screening Email Customer 266

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 21, 2020

Donna Fenn, in her book from the last decade, “ Upstarts! But the insights I see from her book and elsewhere are equally applicable to startup founders of all ages, and businesses of all ages. It's far less expensive to nail down repeat business from your existing customers than it is to land new ones.

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Geni Layoffs Entrepreneur Outsource 172

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 20, 2020

Whether you are an entrepreneur starting a new business, or a corporate executive seeking to revitalize a mature business, the challenge is the same – to become the obvious choice within the hearts and minds of your customers, your employees, and your chosen communities. Seek out only the best potential partners and customer leaders.

Custom 167

Custom Customer Satisfaction Marketing 167

TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 11, 2021

In addition to a standard tipping tool, Snipfeed allows users to sell digital goods, like on-demand video, e-books, access to livestreams and one-on-one consultations. Meanwhile, Beacons takes 9% of sales from its free version , and 5% from its $10 per month version, which offers more customization, integrations and analytics.

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Platform Commerce Tips Tool 286

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 8, 2021

Most leaders agree that poor customer service is a business killer today, in terms of lost customers, reduced profits, and low morale. Yet the average perception of customer experience has not improved. You have to start with hiring only people who are willing and able to make serious customer service happen.

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Startup Training Custom Customer 154

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 19, 2021

One of the reasons it’s so tough is that the rules are constantly changing on what it takes to win over customers, as customer attitudes and cultures change, and competitors continually strive to “raise the bar” on product and support. Existing customers can’t envision a new concept, or new behaviors.

Company 152

Company Companies Startup Custom 152

Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 19, 2024

We negotiate with our suppliers, customers, investors, and even our auditors. The book, You Can Negotiate Anything , by Herb Cohn was first published in 1980 and is available today as the best and easiest to read of all the books on the subject. As we grow, we negotiate constantly with our parents, then with our peers.

Pricing 156

Pricing Sales Tool Entrepreneur 156

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 19, 2020

A few years ago, I enjoyed one of Guy Kawasaki’s first books, “ Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition.” Here is a sampling of ten themes from the book that I think are just as relevant today as they were then: The reality of starting. The reality of innovating.

Entrepreneur 174

Entrepreneur Sample Guide Ideas 174

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

There is nothing more pure than building a product, putting it out in the world and seeing paying customers using your product and in some cases loving it. As companies get this initial customer feedback on their product they start to have to ask harder questions about unit economics: How much does it cost us to acquire a new customer?

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Startup Technical Review Custom Customer 286

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 11, 2020

Many passionate entrepreneurs fight to add more features into their new products and services, assuming that more function will make the solution more appealing to more customers. Focus is the art of limiting your scope to the key function that really matters for the majority of customers.

Startup 169

Startup IBM IBM Social Media 169

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 11, 2023

For decades, efforts to satisfy customers have been built around demographics – capitalizing on race, ethnicity, gender, income, and other attributes. Customer personalities define customer experience, and sets what they love, and what they hate. There is no one set of exceptional experiences that will work for all customers.

Custom 131

Custom Customer Social Media Training 131

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 6, 2022

Unfortunately, in mature companies, a larger and larger percentage of employees forget company survival and customers as the objectives, and focus only on their own personal gain. Every startup team member is close to the customer front lines, so they see how every function does or does not add value to the service they give to the customer.

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Satisfaction Organization Custom Customer 147

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 20, 2021

Some people are good at it and some are not – independent of their IQ or their book smarts (there may even be an inverse relationship here). Entrepreneurs who are great problem solvers within any business are the best prepared to solve their customers’ needs effectively as well. The best entrepreneurs have both. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 156

Startup Entrepreneur Sales Course 156

Berkonomics

JULY 5, 2018

Dave’s book on exits. Even small community service-providers can be sold to buyers hungry to get into a business already in revenue with a steady customer base. Or if you’re an employee with stock options, are you aware of the increases in value you can make with your efforts? See [link] or amazon for this and more from Dave.

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Class Email Competition Entrepreneur 226

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2021

I was happy to see my own view reinforced in the classic book, “ Innovation Thinking Methods for the Modern Entrepreneur ,” by long-time entrepreneur and innovation expert Osama A. Here are ten key lessons from his book that we can all learn from: Utilize first principles thinking. Outsource services back to the customer.

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Entrepreneur Startup Outsource Development Design 158