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Emailing a list with dirty data is quickest way to let customers or prospects know that they are a few bytes of data in a file. In addition to minimizing your response rates, it risks alienating your target market.

An email I received today inspired this post. At first glance, it was a good example of email marketing. The return address identified a sender that I recognized. The subject was [Read more →]

Dialects are funny things.

They make two people speaking the same language sound completely different. And, if you aren’t careful, the message is lost is translation. In a social environment, miscommunication can be amusing. In your company’s processes, not so much.

A few years ago, I attended a series of pre-wedding parties in another state. At the outdoor brunch, a lady joined us. When the hostess asked where her husband was, she commented, “I left him in the hearse.” I looked around for reactions. No one seemed surprised by her response except me.

Since I am an avid subscriber to the “it is better to keep you mouth shut and be thought a fool then to open it and remove all doubt” philosophy, I kept my mouth shut. The rest of my day was spent [Read more →]

Change is hard. It doesn’t matter whether you are the architect or worker, adapting to a new environment is challenging. Sometimes the resistance is so overwhelming that the plan is abandoned and the status quo remains.

The problem is that without change, growth is impossible. Without growth, companies die. Change is the life force that moves organizations from mediocrity to excellence. Failure to embrace it leads to self-destruction. Innovation is mandatory to thrive in a competitive environment.

In the typical change initiative, there are two leading characters. They play adversarial roles. The first is [Read more →]