A while back I met a first-time author, who gave me a copy of their book. Shortly after, I got an email from the author’s publicist, saying: “…We’d appreciate it if you would post your 5-star review of the book on Amazon…” Now: I don’t mind being asked to post a review of a book (though […]
When I co-wrote The Trusted Advisor with David Maister and Rob Galford a few years back, it became reasonably successful within several months. (Amazingly, it still ranks #5,252 – as of last night – on the list of all books on Amazon. That’s all books, including Harry Potter, Malcolm Gladwell, etc. I’ll take long-sellers over best-sellers any day […]
In last week’s “Building the Trust-based Organization Part I,” I suggested that approaches to trust at the organizational level fell into several categories. Like the parable of the blind men and the elephant, all captured some part of the puzzle, but none grasped the entirety of the issue. The five categories I listed were: 1. Trust […]
Last week, I wrote about why organizations don’t teach trust. Now let’s move from diagnosis to prescription – let’s delve into how to build a trust-based organization. —- Let’s start by behind honest: do your eyes glaze over at a title like “building the trust-based organization?” Mine do. I always click on such titles, but […]
A little while back I was asked a simple yet profound question by Tom Hines from the Monitor Group. It’s a question that over the years, I continue to get from clients – and clients from all over the globe, no less. It seems no matter where you are from or what services your organization […]
We’ve all done it. Talked ourselves just a little too far back into a corner. Often – and especially in a sales meeting – it’s because we feel a need to fill that conversational void. But rather than being helpful, rattling on can be detrimental to your getting the sale. Read on to find out more about […]
This is the third part of a three-blogpost series. In the first, I argued that “stupid marketing and sales” – defined as “a stultifying obsession with one’s own product features, to the exclusion of any meaningful focus on customer needs, much less wants” – has become endemic. In the second, I stated three reasons for […]
This is the second of a three-part blog series. In the first, I argued that Stupid Marketing (and sales) has become endemic. Briefly, I defined “stupid” as “a stultifying obsession with one’s own product features, to the exclusion of any meaningful focus on customer needs, much less wants.” In this second part, I want to […]
How would you rate the quality of the following three unsolicited emails? What letter grade would you assign to each? Sample A: Hi Charles, I have emailed you a few times now regarding your business cards. Let me know if you are not the correct person, also please tell me who I should be contacting? We […]
Politics has sucked up most of the oxygen surround trust recently. Now, trust in politics turns out to be a complicated matter – by comparison, trust in business is a relatively simple business. So – what about your business? Hopefully your clients trust you more than the trust ratings of both the US presidential candidates. […]