Demarketing requires discipline: the discipline to decide what you’re not going to do, and then the discipline to stick with the decision. Some people have this kind of discipline in spades: Xiang Yu was a Chinese general in the third century B.C. who took his troops across the Yangtze River […]
Phil
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More on demarketing: In the mid-1990s, I read a book (title long forgotten) in which the author quoted an interview with the CEO of a large and venerable Japanese company. When asked, “what is the difference between Japanese and American businesses?” the CEO replied — after a long pause — […]
Elisabeth Sullivan at the American Marketing Association recently interviewed me for an article on Demarketing. I’ll be writing more on this topic throughout this month. Here’s a first brief entry: What is demarketing? As I think of it, demarketing is (1) about making a conscious decision about the things you […]
American businesses do all sorts of crazy things to prevent people from giving them money: they refuse cash, they refuse credit cards, they say “no” when people offer to pay up front, etc. And online — arghhh — how many times do eStores ask us to provide a ton of […]
Schmoozing is not Selling. Sorry I can’t remember the source of this very smart quote. And I’m even sorrier that I didn’t learn this lesson in my early twenties rather than my (late?) 30s. In my first job as a consulting engineer, I worked with another twenty-something engineer whom I’ll […]
I’ve just discovered a surprisingly good book for aspiring entrepreneurs. In Kick Start Your Dream Business: Getting It Started and Keeping You Going, business consultant and teacher Romanus Wolter documents the process he uses to help previously untrained entrepreneurs clarify and deploy their ideas for anything from publishing businesses to […]
If they make me wait in line 10 minutes to spend $5, they’re not going to last. — Bay Area curmudgeon and business critic D.M. Hunkins, placing his early bets on a neighborhood coffee shop.