Do you dread the 30-second elevator pitch?  It seems like one of those necessary evils, doesn’t it? In a previous post “How do YOU answer “The Hardest Question in Business? “  I identified three reasons it is so challenging to nail that 30-second elevator pitch.  However, I assured you that it was not hopeless and [...]

Special thanks to Matt Valuckis of V as in Victor and Martin Olesky of Wingman Communications & Marketing who invited me to be a guest on their Ad Men Radio show on The Lakeshore 89.1 on Tuesday.  We talked about the importance of getting to know your customers, the need to focus, what JCPenney is and isn’t doing and more.  The hour [...]

I remember writing my first business plan back in graduate school. Because I had an entrepreneurial spirit, I had taken a class on using my psychotherapy skills as a consultant.  I spent hours putting the business plan together, carefully documenting secondary research, conducting a competitive analysis, and neatly organizing the spreadsheets of costs and projected revenue.  The plan was [...]

#1: You think about your company more than your customers.   It’s not about you.  It’s about your customers.  Peter Drucker wrote about this in his 1973 book Management, “It is the customer who determines what a business is.” (p. 61).  If it is the customer who determines what a business delivers, its value, and [...]

In one of my last posts, I talked about how much content is out there and how much of it isn’t meaningful.  I advocated for fewer words, more meaning. For many of us, I think the lack of meaning in our content stems from the fact that we don’t know what our audience really wants [...]

I love my office supply store but unfortunately for them the last survey I received was a perfect candidate for our Fix-It Friday. Although this store is a national chain, this mistake shows that even big businesses are prone to survey errors. Here was the question: In the past 6 months, how many times have [...]

Every survey needs an introductory paragraph. This paragraph is the first thing your respondents will read so it needs to set a positive tone, give information, and build trust.  While some things may vary depending on the survey purpose and audience, here are the essential things you should include. 1. Show Your Gratitude: Say thank [...]

Your organization has a problem.  Someone with some authority decides that a survey (or focus group or something else) is needed right now to gather information and solve the problem.  The mandate is everything has to be completed quickly.  Data is collected, analyzed, and interpreted in what seems like a whirlwind.  Recommendations are made; a [...]

This Friday’s “Fix-It” looks at the direction of rating scales.  There have been a number of discussions in other places about whether you should put the positive or negative ‘end’ of the rating scale first so I won’t argue that one here  (click here to read a succinct post by Jeffrey Henning of Vovici regarding [...]

This week’s Fix-It Friday may seem too simple and easily avoidable.  Unfortunately, I see this mistake more often than you would think. Drum roll….The #1 way to keep respondents from leaving your survey is…