Research & Development Needed

The economy has still not recovered yet...companies are cutting budgets and employees as quickly as they can. Employees are nervous about their jobs and Management doesn't have a clue what the solutions are.



A lot of people would consider, now, to be an excellent time to panic, hide, and be very...very cautious.

I am not one of "those" people.

In fact, I believe today is the perfect time to push the envelope, blaze a new trail, and go against "conventional wisdom".

Now is the time to double down...to spend time, money, and resources into what will be next. Every recession has been the incubator of innovation and entrepreneurship! Oh sure, some of that is out of pure necessity, but that is a good thing. Let's look at the last couple of time periods for historic examples...

• Early 70's Recession - It lasted 16 months and unemployment spiked at 8.5%. This period spawned entrepreneurs like none before...FedEx, Microsoft, Oracle, Southwest Airlines, Apple, etc.
  


• Early 90's Recession - didn't last quite as long and unemployment was lower, but it still helped us create new companies, new ideas, and innovation. All of the dot com's (Amazon, Yahoo, Netscape, Google) come to mind.

One thing to consider with all of these successful companies is that they have 3 things in common:

• They all started during difficult economic times



• They all were innovators...whether completely new concepts or improvements on old ones...they came up with the "better mousetraps" that people were willing to pay for



• They were all started with people who were not afraid of risk, new ideas, or even paying for it on their credit cards.
  

So, will you remember this time for being one of the people that were scared or will you defy the "predictions" and go out and create! Now is the time to invest in yourself, your company, and your people.

Put more money in Research & Development, not less.

The "Next" great idea, product, or company is just waiting to be created...

Kicking Pavlov's Dog

I've been harping on how advertisers have trained Pavlov's Dog to not hear us anymore.

I never realized how bad we can be at this game. Not only are we screaming in his ears with louder and louder outrageous sales gimmicks...now Best Buy is just plain kicking the dog in the head with this latest scam! UNBELIEVABLE!

Best Buy has a secret intranet website that has higher prices on it than their consumer website! So that when a customer comes in and says that he found a lower price on the Best Buy website, the sales associate can pull up this bogus website and prove them wrong!

And Car Dealers have a bad name!

Is business so hard that one of America's best retailers has stooped to this level of scamming customers?

For the love God, will someone...anyone stand up and be real with their customers!

It is the ONLY WAY to re-train the dog. We must be authentic, honest, straightforward with our customers. Stop chasing the fickle price sensitive buyers...you don't need them! No one does!

Spend your time, your money, your message proving to consumers that they really matter. You care about their problem/need and you want to help solve it. Don't trick them. Don't lie to them. Don't pretend they are stupid.

They are not! The Internet has changed the rules of the game...consumers know more about your products, services, and pricing than most of your salespeople on the floor...guaranteed!

Treat them this way and I promise that you will see your sales rise. Your profits soar! And most importantly your brand will boom!

Best Buys' Secret Website for Consumer Bait and Switch Story