A very popular local restaurant offers over 600 varieties of soda pop. My guess is they probably only sell about 20% of those (A partially scientific guess, based on the time-honored 80/20 rule!). This suggests that the return on investment (ROI) on such a broad inventory might not be that high and that a pruning […]
Entrepreneurship
Changing your strategic plan? Not so fast!
It’s that time of year. The execs are sitting around the board room getting fidgity, wondering if they should overhaul their current strategic plan or scrap it altogether. Or maybe just tweak it a little, since they haven’t tweaked anything in a while. Truthfully, and practically, their energy could probably be better spent on other […]
What should really be on your mind when you spend? (Hint: It’s what the free market is all about!)
In 2007 we went all out for Christmas and bought a flat screen TV. My wife and I were so proud as we put it above the mantle so it could be the centerpiece of the room. In the summer of 2004 we had looked at plasma televisions that started around $3000 or so, so […]
Why do so many new products fail?
Often new products fail because there is no perceived need for them. That is, they don’t solve a real consumer problem. What is it that makes a problem “real?” For that answer, like all marketing/business/strategy answers, we have to ask the ultimate expert in our business, THE CUSTOMER! Whatever “real problems” we think our product […]
And the winner of the late night wars is…Larry Sanders?
Before there was the great feud between Conan O’Brian and Jay Leno, there was a knock-down-drag-out between Leno and David Letterman to fill the void left at 10:30 when the legendary Johnny Carson retired. This story is hilariously told in the movie, The Late Shift. If you like docudramas, this is a good one. The […]
The secret to getting more business?
Want more business? Here’s how you can get it: Do GOOD business! Yep, it’s just that simple. Just commit to consistently doing GOOD business in every aspect of your business. Granted, that’s a lot easier said than done. Simple yes, but easy, well, not so much… But worth it? You betcha. Let advertisers spend the […]
Where’s the best place to find a new idea?
The best place to find a new, inspirational, innovative idea is ANYWHERE! Yes, a good idea awaits you just about anywhere you look, the problem is that most of us are looking for the wrong things in the wrong places. Here’s how it usually goes…We need to find the answer to some problem, and we […]
Where does inefficiency come from?
That an organization tends to get less efficient as it grows probably doesn’t come as a great, earth-shattering, revolutionary piece of news to you. But what may sometimes elude our understanding is exactly why it seems to be that as an organization gets larger, growth sometimes comes at the price of efficiency, which in turn […]