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As I was in the waiting room of an office, I could see the inevitable. A buyer and a seller were missing each other; the same script being played out. The professional seeking to sell his services is telling the buyer how great they are and what they have to
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Do you know Roko Karanusic? He is one of the top 100 players in tennis. He is not number one. Arguably, he is 90% of Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal, both brand names and highly endorsed stars in the top five in the world. Becoming 99% of what those stars
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Customers today ignore boring products. Old brands which do not inspire passion or luster are not guaranteed to be around, for customers increasingly value what is novel and stands out rather than what was promoted to be safe, common, and routine. Many of the institutions we see (yours may be
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Have you ever looked at the result you produce? Perhaps it is a legal brief, a sales proposal or a software solution. Most likely, whether it is tangible or completely virtual, there were many tools, people and steps to create the end result. The amount of thinking, planning, people, information,
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The biggest secret in business is right in front of you. Take out your credit card receipt from last month. Review it. Do any of the items stand out? How many could you have done without for another month? How many could you have done without period? The question begs
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If you can slow down enough to listen, if you can focus on something outside yourself, you will see that people are carrying immense burdens. Everyone is trying to solve some problem. Everyone has problems, whether rich or poor, struggling or successful. The problems merely change forms. Your customer has
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The number one skill in business is selling. You do not have a job or income unless you or someone on your team makes a sale. Life does not move forward unless someone sells their ideas. The rest of people who play it safe choose to stay oblivious to this
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Every day my team fights for one precious commodity. We give money, time, energy and creativity for it. We spend thousands of dollars to get as much as we can. It is becoming more expensive and more scarce. It is your attention. Remarkably, we have your attention right now. Later
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There is a story of a mountain village which experienced an unforgiving drought. The condition was deteriorating to the point that a village elders’ meeting was held. They decided to hire two men to solve the problem of bringing water to the village from the valley below where a well
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Answer these simple questions and you can determine for the most part what kind of customer experience is being delivered: <a href="http://ascendworks.wufoo.com/forms/r7x2z1/" mce_href="http://ascendworks.wufoo.com/forms/r7x2z1/" title="Customer Experience Checkup">Fill out
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There was a telling comment made a few years ago by famed NBA basketball star, Allen Iverson. He revealed his perspective about practice, “We’re talking about practice man, we’re not even talking about the game, when it actually matters, we’re talking about practice.” At that time, Iverson
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I remember competing at the University of Chicago in our conference championship track meet one dreary winter. I had finished my race and was sitting on the sidelines to watch the 60 meter dash. It was cold. Indoor track season in the north is bitter and frigid. The gun went