Knowing exactly what and when to capitalize has always been somewhat problematic, but the recent proliferation of informal communication, e.g., email, has added to the problem. One area that seems to stump a lot of us is job titles.<< MORE >>

Successful marketing doesn’t just reach the right audience, it reaches them at the right time. Johnny Morris, the founder of the Bass Pro Shops chain, got his start by locating displays of fishing tackle in a chain of liquor stores after noticing fishermen stopping in on the way to the lake. << MORE >>

Because technology companies are oriented toward innovative product, they run the risk of stalling in the product- or sales-driven phase of development and falling behind as the market matures. << MORE >>

As a salesman, I couldn’t understand how marketing could be so unresponsive to perfectly reasonable requests. Later, as a marketer, I suddenly saw the sales force as a bunch of prima donnas, expecting everyone to jump through hoops to deliver impossible results overnight. << MORE >>

Have you ever wondered who pays to advertise on a billboard half hidden behind a tree? Or printed in text too small to read from the highway? << MORE >>

One could reasonably ask how relevant the English translation of a French translation of a 2500 year-old Chinese book on war is to those facing the challenges of today’s business. << MORE >>

In established markets, leaders stake out the high ground, creating obstacles for challengers. The solution, of course, is to define your own market and become its leader. << MORE >>

Professional sales is a painstaking process, and for good reason. Assumptions can be costly.<< MORE >>

A well-chosen and effectively deployed tagline can go a long way toward defining and differentiating a company in the minds of customers, conveying in a few carefully chosen words a mission, vision, or promise. << MORE >>

The human mind is a categorizing machine. It takes complicated experiences—being bitten by the neighbor’s sheepdog—and stores them in summarized form for future use. The result can be specific and useful (stay away from growling dogs), specific and not very useful (stay away from sheepdogs), or non-specific and even less useful (don’t leave the house).<< MORE >>