Recently I met with the CEO of a promising Icelandic startup company. When I asked him how their competitors did things, he said he didn’t care that much about their business competitors, he just wanted to focus on what they themselves were doing. I get it. Don’t get sucked into focusing too much on the other guys. However, here’s the problem: In your marketing, you are trying to convince people to buy from you rather than someone else. … [Read more...]
What Businesses Can Learn From My Son’s Kindergarten
We have been very lucky in that both our children have attended a local kindergarten which we have all been very very happy with.This particular kindergarten has been widely discussed in Iceland, as it has a strong philosophy. Not that I am going to discuss that here in any detail, but a few of the things they do are things that businesses can learn a lot from when it comes to customer experience. One of the criticism it has is that it is very organised. Everything is marked. The children sit in specific marked places on the floor in the main room during various activities and they have … [Read more...]
Can You Say No?
Most of us are good people. Most of us would be happy to do things for other people and that is, of course, a very good thing in many ways. However, when it comes to your business, it can be a deadly sin. What?! I'll tell you why. What are you good at? Why? Usually you are good at what you enjoy doing, and enjoy doing what you are good at. The two go together - it's a kind of a chicken and egg thing. Then you set up a business to do what you are good at. And it is not easy. There are a lot of things to think about and it takes a lot of time to build a business. You are bound to be very … [Read more...]
The Clothes Do Make the Man
Do looks matter? Does it matter what your brand looks like? I mean, is it not just all about what your business does? Isn't that all that matters? Hmmmmmm... The simple answer is: Yes. Looks matter. We are simple creatures. We judge books by their covers. And the clothes do make the man. Just like clothes tell us a lot about the people wearing them, your brand identity or the look of your brand tells people a lot about your business, products and services. Here's an example. What can you tell me about this woman? What about this one? … [Read more...]