A Persona Board deserves a Place at the Table

How many User (Buyer) Personas do you create? When introducing User (Buyer) Personas to an organization, I like to move away from trying to determine the “Ideal Client” type initially. What I like to do is post clients (with their personas) in the matrix below. For example, I use a matrix very similar to the Read More …

Overlapping Structure of Power and Love

Adam Kahane is an international consultant, facilitating multi-stakeholders and complex negotiations. Best selling author of Solving Tough Problems and Power and Love, he shares his lesson learnt about the need of balancing the two forces of Power and Love. What most people think is that it is the culture that is difficult to change. However, Read More …

If Value is Co-created in Use, Our Decisions Need to be Co-created

When we approach sales we typically think of how we will address the customer’s problem. What needs we need to address and how we will do this in an engaging way? We are in The Experience Economy says authors Pine and Gilmore. Though many of us dwell on the Experience Economy, I think we are Read More …

The Starbucks Way of Connecting

It is a lesson in strategic marketing that few books meant for that purpose can even come close. After reading, most of Joseph Michelli’s books, and doing a podcast with him several years ago, I concluded after reading Joe’s latest book, Leading the Starbucks Way: 5 Principles for Connecting with Your Customers, Your Products and Read More …

Cap-Do Audio Excerpt of Book

When we use our typical sales and marketing approach, we form an idea of the way things should be, forming maps or journeys that we want our customer to adhere to. As they get further along, we have so much invested that our manipulations get stronger. When they push back, we push back. When we Read More …