Berkonomics

MARCH 11, 2021

It reminds us that our customers, especially early adapters, must want to continue to use our products to the extent that they “would be very disappointed” if unable to do so in the future. But do include at least one specific question about your product to be sure the respondent is an actual customer. Why it’s a great question.

Customer 218

Customer Custom Case Study Email 218

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.

Content 104

Content Customer Custom Marketing 104

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 5, 2023

Let me be a bit more specific on how follow-up trumps ideas for success in the key challenges of a startup, or any small business: Networking with investors, partners, and customers. Meeting people and talking about your ideas won’t get you very far. Customer acquisition, retention, and support.

Startup 155

Startup Ideas IBM IBM 155

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.

Design 105

Design Customer Custom Product 105

Berkonomics

AUGUST 18, 2016

We were the only such facility on the West coast to provide and control the entire process from studio, through finished vinyl record pressings in the same building, therefore able to promise quality control others could only dream about. Start by sitting in with customer service. The benefits are immense.

Customer 120

Customer Custom Services Press 120

socalTECH

MARCH 1, 2018

As part of the lead in to the conference, and as a part of our sponsor relationship with the conference, we're running a series of interviews with speakers from the conference about their experience in the area of recurring revenues, customer service, and similar topics. We respond very quickly to all of our customers.

Customer 113

Customer Custom Services Conference 113

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.” Great startups manage to continually improve the relationship through outstanding follow-on support and service.

Customer 146

Customer Custom Startup Course 146

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 7, 2014

I spend a lot of time with startups and thus hear many companies talk about their approach to sales and their interactions with customers. From these meetings you can really tell the leaders that care deeply about their customers and those the look down on them. We were talking about raising money from LPs.

Customer 341

Customer Custom Venture Capital Software Review 341

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 24, 2022

Entrepreneurs and business executives seem to be even more focused on their technology than the rest of us, and less inclined to listen to the voice of the customer, even if they remember to ask. Real two-way conversations with real customers, including the all-important body language, are unheard-of these days.

Customer 104

Customer Custom Product Social Network 104

socalTECH

MARCH 14, 2018

As part of our sponsor relationship with the conference, we're running a series of interviews with speakers from the conference about their experience in the area of recurring revenues, customer service, and similar topics. How does customer service tie into all of this? You'll actually feel it when it happens.

Customer 166

Customer Custom Conference Social Media 166

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.

Customer 150

Customer Custom Startup Pricing 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 23, 2021

Yet, as a business consultant, I often find minimal focus on improving employee engagement and assessing their customer-facing performance. For example, I commonly see metrics to keep track of revenue per employee, overtime, and absenteeism, but I don’t often see measures of overall customer satisfaction with individual employees.

Customer 147

Customer Custom Technical Review Metrics 147

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 23, 2020

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.

Customer 150

Customer Custom Design Product 150

TechCrunch LA

MAY 3, 2022

Upgrade’s e-commerce marketplace has two sides: one that enables consumers to choose a vetted stylist and have their wig colored or customized based on their desired look. A hairstylist can help a woman feel better about themselves. Remember Mary J. Blige’s hair at the Super Bowl ? That was via Upgrade. Rebundle raises $1.4M

Tool 179

Tool Customer Custom Marketing 179

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.

Customer 172

Customer Custom Marketing Social Media 172

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

For much of 2013 I watched the press write articles about how the YouTube “MCNs” (multi-channel networks) were doomed and tried to square that with the data I was watching at the one I invested in, Maker Studios, who has had one hell of a year. I agree with YouTube (that they provide more (hosting, ad sales, etc.)

Networking 366

Networking Media Content Customer 366

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 22, 2020

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.

Customer 127

Customer Custom Marketing Content 127

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 2, 2022

Many entrepreneurs think that adapting to the new technologies, like smart phones and Internet commerce, are the key to attracting new customers. High-technology product startups, without customers, don’t make a business. Solis outlines the heuristics of social psychology that are key to building positive customer experiences today.

Customer 122

Customer Custom Social Media Technical Review 122

Eric Greenspan

MAY 29, 2010

Using social media to increase your company’s touch and reach with each of your customers may be the most important reason to jump in to this game changing strategy. Social media can help bridge a long standing gap between customers and the companies they trust with their hard earned cash. 40,000) to join me on Facebook.

Social Media 214

Social Media Customer Custom Media 214

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. For example, Google’s Ngram service has already datafied over 5.2 quintillion bytes a day.

Custom 115

Custom Customer Social Media Research 115

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 17, 2020

Selling services has always been about relationships, but the challenges of building relationships with services clients have exploded. In addition, as every business becomes instantly global via the Internet, it’s virtually impossible for you to touch every customer personally. Services experiences cannot be inventoried.

Services 128

Services Social Media Technical Review Media 128

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 1, 2020

Attracting the right customers is the key to success in business, whether you have a new startup or a mature enterprise. For example, Xerox tried to broaden the use of "xerox" as the standard term for "photocopying" to extend their existing customer segment into office automation and all kinds of computing.

Customer 123

Customer Custom Technical Review Examples 123

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 19, 2022

With the power of the Internet, and the impact of the recent pandemic , the world of business services, such as accounting and marketing, have gone more and more remote. Yet the value of real relationships, as with consumer customers, has become critical to your business services growth and success.

Services 121

Services Technical Review Social Media Case Study 121

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 6, 2014

Most often it is the time of the chief architect of the product or service you provide, or of the best developers of that product. So if you wonder why we focus on this subject to the extent of seeming redundant, well then, it’s about time. There are many ways to fall into this trap.

Resource 176

Resource Outsource Development Metrics Customer 176

Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 28, 2023

First customers are critical. Your first customers for any product or service form your reference base, the important group of allies that your marketing and salespeople rely upon when attempting to create buzz and make a mass market for a new product. And I am serious about the “…at all costs” admonition.

Resource 156

Resource Customer Custom Product 156

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 6, 2019

El Segundo-based online postage provider Stamps.com said late Thursday that it has launched a new, international shipping service with GlobalPost, which will help ease its customer's uncertainty about possible international shipping disruptions due to the possibility of the United States leaving the Universal Postal Union (UPU).

El Segundo 113

El Segundo Services Competition Customer 113

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

When Ethan was considering leaving Google we talked about it. He had an idea for a startup that would help consumers better book service jobs and would take on Service Magic, which he believed had a business model that could be disrupted. What do we like about OpenTable? The company was called Red Beacon.

CTO Coach 359

CTO Coach Google CTO Hire Yammer 359

socalTECH

JANUARY 4, 2019

El Segundo-based Basepaws , a new DNA testing startup, says it is launching a brand new service which will offer direct-to-consumer DNA testing for cats, providing owners with information about the ancestry and health and habits of their pet. The company is formally launching its testing service at CES next week.

El Segundo 113

El Segundo Services Startup Customer 113

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 28, 2017

With the advent of the Internet, social media, and instant communication via texting, customer expectations for service, as part of their entire customer experience, have changed. They expect you to be there, to know their history as a customer, and to treat them with priority and respect.

Customer 57

Customer Custom Services Social Media 57

TechCrunch LA

JUNE 16, 2020

Ksenia Yudina initially founded the company to provide financial planning and services to lower- and middle-class families looking for ways to start saving for their children’s education, she said. As a father of two young boys, I care about their financial future and I know that other parents are feeling the same way.

Services 235

Services Capital Draper Education 235

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 29, 2020

Entrepreneurs and business executives seem to be even more focused on their technology than the rest of us, and less inclined to listen to the voice of the customer, even if they remember to ask. Real two-way conversations with real customers, including the all-important body language, are unheard-of these days.

Customer 128

Customer Custom Activity Social Network 128

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 7, 2011

Most then add customer service at the rollout, but very few really understand what it means to be truly customer centric, and even fewer really achieve it. Customer centricity is far more than providing excellent customer service, although that’s a step in the right direction.

Customer 90

Customer Custom Services Pricing 90

Berkonomics

AUGUST 29, 2019

For weeks, we’ve highlighted both good and bad things about boards of directors for your company (or non-profit.) It is one of the most useful services some board members perform in any organization. This week, let’s focus upon number one – aside from the requirements of boards to protect the company itself (not the shareholders.).

Company 120

Company Companies Resource Help 120

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 3, 2020

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.” Great startups manage to continually improve the relationship through outstanding follow-on support and service.

Customer 124

Customer Custom Startup Course 124

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 24, 2023

Customers buy from people, not companies. That means relationships with team members, investors, customers, and vendors. Entrepreneurs who like to be argumentative, complaining, or disagreeable, will have a hard time closing a contract, investment, or a customer contract. Investors invest in people, not ideas.

Customer 90

Customer Custom Outsource Development Entrepreneur 90

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

In fact 61% of all mobile searches where a customer contacts a business it is via a phone call (source: Google). The three largest webmail services had over 1 billion global users at the end of 2011. People don’t want to speak to customer service reps. I don’t want to speak to customer service reps!!

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 11, 2020

They forget that adapting their company and themselves as their customers evolve is the key to long-term survival. Think of Blockbuster and Toys ‘R’ Us , both of whom missed customer changes and the move to online. Create an overt strategy to react to emerging customer trends. Remember when you were a startup?

Customer 143

Customer Custom Examples IBM 143