Creativity Action Plan
The one-word action plan for being more creative: “THINK.” The two-word action plan for being more creative: “Think MORE.” The three-word action plan for being more creative: “Think More DEEPLY.” . .
Insight
Are You Earning or Burning?
Everything you do Earns a sale (earns a conversation, a returned email, another phone call, a visit to the showroom, a positive online review), or Burns a sale (they never want to hear from you again, they tell 10 friends about their terrible experience with your company, they tell 10 million people on the internet […]
Lightbulb Moments
A lightbulb moment is when information that has been floating around in your head finally combines and takes on a distinctive shape. It solidifies into a concept so solid that you’d swear you could take hold of it in your heads and pull it from your mind into the physical world. It’s the proverbial “A-HA! moment” You may […]
Customer Service Highs and Lowe’s
For a company with a marketing tagline of “Never Stop Improving”, Lowe’s may need to start an in-house home improvement project… A couple weeks ago my mother bought a new dryer (around $400 or $500) from Lowe’s. During the order/checkout sequence the clerk asked if she needed a vent/dryer duct hose (about $15). Since the older dryer she was replacing had been […]
A Game of Ideas. A Throne of Action.
One of the hottest media properties right now is the medieval masterpiece that is “Game of Thrones“. The creator, George R.R. Martin, was featured in a recent interview in Rolling Stone magazine where he was asked the inevitable question that all creative minds are asked — “Where do your ideas come from?” I’ve always loved […]
Helpful Humor (and Cheesecake Appetizers) Break Response Patterns
I’ve been exploring the idea of “Helpful Humor” in some recent blog posts. First on the Emergency Coffee article and then on my coverage of Dollar Shave Club’s colon cancer awareness campaign. In both instances these companies used humor to break their prospect of a pre-programmed response. According to a study I found referenced on […]
Back-Up Coffee
This morning I arrived early for a meeting at a local Bob Evans. I told the greeter (who also turned out to be the server) that I was expecting to meet one other person. They noticed my laptop bag and asked if we’d need a place to plug-in. WOW… Nice job paying attention and trying […]