Week 6 - I thought a customer was ALWAYS right???

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-10-01/because-the-customer-is-not-always-right

Interesting article on a new website that was created by a slighted customer.  Peter Robideau created a website called BadConsumers.  It is basically a database of all of the customers who have not paid or have been problem customers for the clients who sign up.  Small businesses are really at risk from those customers who decide they want to haggle on the price after one has been agreed upon; or those customers who don't pay it at all.  Small businesses don't have the means to chase the funds further than the collections department in their Accounts Receivable department.  They do not have lawyers who can chase down these funds if not paid.  I think it is a great idea.  It helps those businesses from falling prey to those customers who tend to be repeat offenders of scamming people out of money, or just being difficult in general.  I also thought it was a very creative title.  It definitely caught my attention to read the article.

Week 5 - Cool Marketing Quotes

I am really enjoying the website Cool Marketing Stuff.  All of the articles that I have read thus far have been very enjoyable and incredibly interesting.  There hasn't been anything that I have read yet that I have found to be boring.

This article was no different:  http://coolmarketingstuff.com/10-best-marketing-quotes-of-all-time/

One quote that I really found to be thought provoking was #1:

1. It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. -Charles Darwin

(Sorry about the italicized text....it won't switch back to regular text).  I really like this quote because it is very true.  We always have to keep changing.  We cannot stand still and remain the same.  Everything is constantly changing, so if we are not keeping up and changing with the times, we will fall behind and become irrelevant.  It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from Benjamin Franklin, "When you're finished changing, you're finished."  Change is a lifelong process.  When we succumb to not changing, we should just consider ourselves to be all over. 

Week 4 - Purple Cow & Zappos

http://coolmarketingstuff.com/tony-hsieh-seth-godin-interview/

I was browsing through Cool Marketing Stuff and came across an interview conducted by Tony Hsieh, who is the CEO of Zappos, one of my favorite online shoe websites.  They are a online webstore that is totally focused on customer service.  Ever since I saw them on The Apprentice with Donald Trump, I was a loyal customer.  Tony interviewed Seth Godin, who wrote Purple Cow, which is one of my favorite business books.  A few of the key points from this interview were: 

*Seth’s goal has never written books to make money.  Books spread ideas.  Helping someone to think a different way and make a change in the world is worthwhile.  He talked about how the odds of making money on a book is slim, so that would be a bad motivation.  He likes to know that he could potentially change the world.

*Highighting and talking about positive things makes a positive difference – Zig Ziglar’s story about a high school that was full of grafitti and bad students, etc. was radically transformed.

*Passion is hard because people are afraid.  We want to fit in.  You weren’t born with it or without it…it is something that is created.

*If you want to make an impact, you need to find out where that fear stems from.

*Happiness & kindness are related; passion & generosity are related.  You can't have one without the other.

*Seth said that the world would be better if there were most Tony Tsieh’s.

I definitely dug this interview!  I wish it had been longer and had more information!