3 Customer Satisfaction models
I’m always amazed by the number of companies that don’t do customer satisfaction surveys. And yes, I consider independent consultants “companies”. There is only upside to satisfaction surveys and very little downside, in my opinion. Among a myriad of benefits, post-project customer satisfaction surveys:
Are a source for great testimonial quotes. Put these on your website, [...]
Building your brand through Customer Service
There’s been something rattling around in my head for quite a while now. Not quite a full-fledged thesis, but definitely more than a idea. It’s equal parts opportunity, growth and commitment, and it all hinges upon a not so simple question.
What the hell happened to Customer Service?
I trust I don’t need to make my point [...]
Thinking through commitment
I’m on the Board of the regional chapter of an international non-profit group. The group is SIM (Society for Information Management), a networking and thought leadership organization for technology leaders. This is the time of year where we start putting together the ballot for next year’s officers. As part of that process our Board President [...]
What is a customer?
I get to listen to lots of business presentations. Whether it’s one on one coaching, practice presentations or review board presentations for funding awards, they are a big part of my schedule. Over time, you start to pick up consistent themes, whether it’s content, presentation or style. You also get to know your fellow coaches [...]
11 pieces of advice for entrepreneurs
The Weatherhead School of Management is a venerable Cleveland institution. Each year, they publish the “Weatherhead 100“, recognizing the region’s fastest growing companies. The 2008 list was recently published in another Cleveland institution, Inside Business magazine.
Feel free to click the links for more information, if you like. This is the first year I’ve really read [...]
The “One Page Strategic Plan”
The wait is over! With this post, I’ll provide you with an excellent tool for not only documenting your start-up strategy, but managing the growth of your business. While this tool was presented to me during a NBIA (National Business Incubation Association) conference, I do believe it is applicable beyond the confines of early stage [...]
“The Idea” or “The Team”
Walking around our incubator last week, I stopped in to talk with a younger employee of one of our tenants. In the middle of our chat, he asked me if I had an opinion on the question of what contributes most to a start-up’s success: the product/service/idea or the team developing it and taking it [...]
Web 2.0 meets Web 1.0
I moderated a fantastic panel last night for the local SIM Chapter I’m a member of. As a Board member in charge of Programming, I’m always very nervous come meeting night. After four years of scheduling presenters, the one lesson I’ve learned is no amount of planning is sufficient to even guess how the program [...]
Dots: Connected – Thanks Chris
I’ve always felt I’m a good “connect the dots” kind of person, whether those dots are people, concepts, initiatives, strategies, etc. In a sense a big part of my job now is helping entrepreneurs connect dots: their business concept to markets, their markets to market pain, market pain to opportunity and opportunity to investment.
I’ve written before [...]
How big do you want to be?
I talk to entrepreneurs virtually every day, in all stages of development and across a wide varieties of sectors. While they are all different, there are many common themes. There are the questions they ask, and there are the challenges they don’t ask about that we see them all face eventually.
Today I thought I’d touch [...]
