Marketing Archives

Sixty Years of Deming and American Managers Forgot to Pay Attention

Dr. Deming indicated that he hoped one of his life’s accomplishments was to keep American companies from committing suicide. The public spectacle of Detroit and Wall Street committing suicide in the same quarter would indicate that he failed in his mission. Deming’s Theory of Profound Knowledge and 14 points offered (and still do) keys to many of the answers. They are not prescriptive, but rather they combine to create a philosophical approach to running a business, that if adhered to, will stand a chance of succeeding for customers, workers and partners on a global stage.

By Art Petty|2016-10-22T17:12:17-05:00December 21st, 2008|Leadership, Leading Change, Marketing, Product Management|7 Comments

Marketing Yourself Part II: Defining Your Professional Value Proposition

Job search is a hot topic right now, and I received a number of notes from individuals who read my Irreverent Opinions of a Resume Hobbyist post the other day, asking for input about how to craft a Personal/Professional Value Proposition to support their job-hunting activities. I said in the post that I view this as the hardest task in developing an effective resume (and self-marketing strategy), and is the area where you will likely spend the most time creating content and agonizing over wording.

By Art Petty|2016-10-22T17:12:17-05:00December 18th, 2008|Marketing, Strategy|2 Comments

Marketing Yourself: The Irreverent Opinions of a Resume Hobbyist

Marketing yourself is a tough job and one of the most important jobs that you will ever undertake. And then undertake again. And again. I have no claims on “expert” status when it comes to personal marketing materials, but I do have claims on hiring expert talent to grow businesses. Somewhere out there is a hiring executive hoping that the next superstar is in that pile of paper or e-mail messages. A little common-sense advice might just help you stand out and show this executive why you are the answer.

By Art Petty|2016-10-22T17:12:17-05:00December 17th, 2008|Marketing|4 Comments

Your Weekend Reading Suggestions from Management Excellence

The first article is Finding and Grooming Breakthrough Innovators by Jeffrey Cohn, Jon Katzenbach and Gus Vlak. Article number two ratchets up the innovation theme with Reinventing Your Business Model by some true heavy hitters.

By Art Petty|2016-10-22T17:12:17-05:00December 12th, 2008|Marketing, Strategy|0 Comments

The Counterintuitive Nature of Management Excellence

It takes no management skill whatsoever to spend a fortune building up clicks and it definitely takes no skill to slash budgets, cut headcount, freeze programs and hunker down and wait out the storm. It does take remarkable management courage and skill to run against the crowd and conventional wisdom by investing in strategic initiatives and talent during tough times and resisting the temptation to chase mythical fortunes during boom times.

By Art Petty|2008-12-02T09:35:41-06:00December 2nd, 2008|Leadership, Leading Change, Marketing, Product Management, Project Management|2 Comments

Management Excellence Tips for Tough Times: Rethinking Customer Segmentation

Rethinking your customer segmentation model is a potentially powerful approach for differentiating versus key competitors and for finding new needs that you can fulfill with your core capabilities. Experiment with the various ideas and strengthen your team's execution skills in the process. In additional to the potential tremendous upside from solving customer problems, the energy and excitement generated during this process will convert the organization's "sense of fear" into a "sense of urgency."

By Art Petty|2016-10-22T17:12:18-05:00December 1st, 2008|Leadership, Marketing, Strategy|0 Comments

“If I had asked customers what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”

The notion of not asking customers what they want and responding directly to their needs may seem like heresy to those individuals and organizations consumed with improving customer satisfaction and creating customer loyalty. In fact, you should always listen and importantly, observe. The real art in this process is understanding what customers really need, what problems they really would like to solve and what approaches and experiences that you can create that can surprise and delight them.

By Art Petty|2016-10-22T17:12:19-05:00October 2nd, 2008|Decision-Making, Marketing, Product Management, Strategy|1 Comment

What’s A Good Meeting Anyway?

I’ve heard the phrase “We had a good meeting,” or some derivative of it so many times that I’ve lost count. Whenever I hear this meeting review or it’s ugly stepchild, “We talked about a lot at that meeting,” alarm bells start ringing, my spider sense tingles and I have to resist the sudden urge to scream. I know then that I am in the company of a Professional Meeting Attendee!

By Art Petty|2016-10-22T17:12:20-05:00September 2nd, 2008|Leadership, Leading Change, Marketing|4 Comments

Are You Making Progress?

Not surprisingly, it’s often difficult for senior executives and management teams to gain objective feedback on their individual and collective performance. I’ve worked with clients and in organizations where the management team was generally satisfied with their own performance and would give themselves high marks at a time when the employees would give them lower or even failing grades. In all cases where I’ve observed this perception gap, there was no objective, systematic means of measuring performance and perceptions in place.

By Art Petty|2016-10-22T17:12:20-05:00August 27th, 2008|Leadership, Leading Change, Marketing, Project Management|2 Comments

Preventing Product Launch Failure: Watch Out for the Pitfalls!

G. Michael Maddock and Raphael Viton writing in the Innovation Engine column at BusinessWeek online, offer a sobering look at the Ten Reasons Your Next Launch Will Fail. From the propensity of companies to create solutions for unknown problems (Science Run Amok) to the recurring theme of teams convincing themselves that they can't miss (Death by Consensus), this insightful and witty column offers some priceless guidance for marketers, product and project managers and executives everywhere.

By Art Petty|2016-10-22T17:12:24-05:00June 8th, 2008|Leadership, Marketing, Product Management, Project Management|0 Comments

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