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Unbelievable Plagiarism–Or Should I be Flattered?
I did a quick search of copyscape and found that someone had stolen the bulk of my services description at my business website, http://predictiveconsulting.com. Why in the world would anyone so blatantly copy a services description, of all things? To be successful, any business must be all about differentiation, lest they be a Me-Too that […]
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Consumers Wield the Big Stick Over Companies
Remember the Disney movie “Newsies” where the paper boys from all over New York and Brooklyn team up and strike against the big-shot newspapermen (Hearst & Pulitzer) to protest the 10 cent rate increase? Well, consumers are poised to do the same thing to major companies according to a McKinsey survey of 391 CEOs conducted […]
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How Much Money Are You Burning?
You could employ the most professional and competent sales force in the industry…or employ the most brilliant marketers in the world, but if you are not communicating the value of your products and services in terms of what customers want to hear, you are wasting millions of dollars in marketing, advertising, sales calls, personnel, not […]
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Why I Hate Verizon Wireless
I’ll never, ever, ever go back to Verizon Wireless. I had set up automatic payments to Verizon that I neglected to cancel when I made the switch to AT&T. When I called to ask for a refund, they told me that it would take up to four billing cycles to process the refund. Ridiculous! I […]
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Delegation or Dereliction?
Today’s Wall Street Journal carried an article entitled “Bear CEO’s Handling of Crisis Raises Issues†that details James Cayne’s golf and bridge tournament attendance during the meltdown of two of Bear Stearn’s investment vehicles. Is James Cayne a master delegator or is he guilty of gross dereliction of duty?
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Ten Things You Didn’t Know about Curtis
The editor of the Institute of Management Consultants asked me to submit a brief bio and answers to some enlightening questions that I had fun with. Without further ado…
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Who cares what your competitors are charging?!
Charge for the value that you are offering A famous direct-mail marketing consultant recently said, “You can charge whatever you want for your services.†While I think this advice is ludicrous, odds are high that you can charge much more for your services than you are. Most people set prices reactively, positioning themselves near the […]
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Hilton–A great experience at being dollared to death
What do you think of when you hear the name Hilton? No, not Paris Hilton, but the Hilton hotel chain? Do you think upscale, comfort, impeccable service, and plenty of amenities? Hmm. So did I, until I stayed at the downtown Hilton San Francisco. The first morning when I went downstairs to the highly touted […]
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Pencils are all alike, aren’t they? Not anymore! A Superb Example of Differentiation
A pencil is a pencil. You buy them by the carton (or even crate!) from whichever store has them on the cheapest sale. But not anymore! In a brilliant stroke of genius, Dixon Ticonderoga has introduced their “My Hold Right Pencil” a color-coded, triangular pencil that supposedly teaches kids how to hold a pencil correctly. […]
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Thanks for Renting–oh, wait! Just Kidding!
“Cool! National has really gotten it right!” I thought. I had just turned in my rental car an hour ago. After checking in, I had quickly opened up my laptop to check email before I boarded my plane. I was impressed to see at the top of my inbox a message from National Car Rental’s […]