How Well are You Connecting?

In Kanban, we talk about how important it is to manage our work in process. In fact Jim Benson’s latest book is on that topic, Why Limit WIP: We are Drowning in Work (MemeMachine Series) (Volume 2). I have always thought that it was just as important for Sales People to manage their Work in Read More …

Prototypes provide a Pathway for Connecting with Customers

Prototyping is a way to introduce our products or services in a very disarming way. It is a way of saying, “I respect your opinion.” Creating that empathetic connection with others can have a profound impact on your company. We all prefer to buy services from people that we perceive to be experts in their Read More …

Connecting Strategy and Customer Service

John Goodman is the author of  Strategic Customer Service and Vice Chairman of Customer Care Measurement and Consulting (CCMC). CCMC’s customer satisfaction and loyalty surveys and analytics are used by leading Fortune 500 companies from every industry to produce a better ROI from their investments in customer experience. John has managed more than 1,000 separate 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: Connecting Demand to the Lean Supply Chain

CAP-Do: What makes CAP-Do so attractive is that it assumes we do not have the answers.  It allows us to create a systematic way to address the problems (pain) or opportunities (gain) from the use of our products and services. CAP-Do is an emergent process. You may know the outcomes that you desire but that Read More …

A Lean Way of Connecting Supply and Demand

In two recent blog posts, CAP-Do supports Outcome Driven Innovation and Lean Sales Process does not Start at Plan or Build, I discussed how companies that apply Lean to Sales and Marketing think incorrectly in terms of PDCA versus CAP-Do. In summary, we need to change to an outcome based approach and for a Lean Read More …