Paul Lemberg applies this 80/20 rule to business. “Determine which 20% are using 80% of your resources,” he writes. “Are they your top profit generators? If not, charge them for the resources you shower on them, or discontinue services to that tier.” These 20% of customers using 80% of your resources can be a drain on your bottom line.

This 80% of resources could stem from customer service, or “sales hunters” (i.e. people that only buy during a sale). “Yes, breaking up may be hard to do, but when a client is costing you money or making you crazy, it can be a smart move,” writes BusinessWeek.

The first step to firing your worst customers is distinguishing them amongst your entire customer base. To do this, consider implementing customer management systems to quantify the resources used by each customer. For instance, does a low-paying customer require more time with a customer service representative than your high-paying clients?

Consider building deterrents to ward off your “worst” customers. Maybe you create a pay wall, whereby if you exceed X amount of customer service time, you’re charged a penalty. Or, create price walls. For instance, if a customer only shops at your store when you have a sale, and your regualar clientel ignore sales for the most part, consider eliminating discount pricing.

Firing your worst customers can help you maximize your resources by catering only to those that comprise the majority of your profit. “Always be conscious of who’s treating you with the graciousness you deserve, and who isn’t. When insolence is staring you in the face, it’s best to cut your losses early, and make the space in your life for those who really matter: your fans,” writes the Pleasure and Pain Blog. Ultimately, after you fire your worst customers, you can continue acquiring those that matter to your bottom line — thus growing your company more efficiently and effectively.

Image by Ahmed Al-Shukaili from Stock.Xchng

Be Mentally Positive — When you feel ambitious, it’s as if you can take on the world; it’s like a positive high. You are mentally awake and ready to take on the world. One of the first steps of keeping motivated is to have a positive outlook. Take a look at Steve Jobs’ keynote speeches. He is constantly in awe of what he and his team at Apple have accomplished. The following video comically takes a look at his positive language:

Identify Bright Spots — Now that we understand ambition is partly rooted in positive thinking, identify those times you were in a positive mood. Was it getting out of the house? Was it trying something new? Was it spitballing with a friend or colleague? Was it taking some time for yourself? Whatever gets you in a positive mood can be a catalyst for motivation.

What is Your Prize? — Entrepreneurs are often faced by incremental failures that can be discouraging. These discouraging moments feel like signals saying it is not going to work. Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, was laughed at when he tried to convince college students Facebook was the next big thing. Why would I want to talk to my friends online when I can just walk down the hall, they mocked. Yet, Zuckerberg’s idea turned out to be a hell of a gold egg. His vision of what Facebook could be likely kept him on track.

Get Inspired — Tales of entrepreneurs that have made it work and all of the challenges they were forced to overcome can be inspiring. Think about what Steve Jobs must have gone through when Apple’s board gave him the boot. Imagine being deposed and then making an incredible return, which overshadowed his previous successes. You are not the first or last entrepreneur to overcome seemingly insurmountable challenges. To help you through them, reading the success stories, such as Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki or The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, can be fuel to give you an extra boost.

Remind Yourself of Your Success — It took you two months of hard work to get published in the Wall Street Journal. Or, you have already developed a prototype of your product and sparked the interest of several investors. When focusing so much on the present and future goals, it’s easy to loose sight of our prior accomplishments. Reminding yourself of how far you’ve come can help you reboot and push forward.

Image by bruno neves from Stock.Xchng

____________________________________________________________________________________

Additional Resources:
Online degree programs are available through Guide to Online Schools for entrepreneurs looking to give their new ideas a boost.

John Oliver’s point strikes a deeper, systemic issue of unfettered consumerism that has taken a hold of the US culture. But the tide is turning and Oliver’s vision could be realized sooner rather than later. US consumers are seeking products that waste less and brands are responding in kind with innovative packaging and wellness ideas that cuts the fat.

Almost one thrid of the waste generated in the U.S. is from packaging and much of that waste is plastics, which take 1000 years to decompose. To get a measure and extent of US consumerism, consumers toss out enough paper & plastic cups, forks and spoons every year to circle the equator 300 times. These are just some of the few effects excessive consumerism has on the environment. Eco-packing’s mission is not to stop consumerism per se, but to make it less damaging to the environment, which takes innovative and creative thinking to accomplish.

Entrepreneurs are pushing the green envelope to develop new ways of sourcing food in eco-friendly ways and delivering them from point a to point b. Boxsal, for instance, makes sustainable picnic containers from Sustainable Forest Initiative-grade recycled paper and prints with eco-friendly links. Each Boxsal can be used around 10 times or so. And the German beverage company, LemonAid, uses its drinks to create a sustainable system. The pure-organic drink sources its ingredients from local farmers and a large portion of the proceeds are used to support small, local projects in impoverished countries.

While Boxsal and Upboxes has an indirect impact on consumer wellness (in that a good environment contributes to a healthier life), there are several beverage companies that are innovating to improve consumer wellness. Upboxes use boxes similar to Boxsal to deliver sustainable food, such as free-range chickens, with a rotating, ethnic menu. Back to the Roots offers urbanites a way to grow mushrooms using coffee grounds.

The objective of Boxsal, Upboxes, and LemonAid is to create a system that supports the longevity of individuals, local farmers, communities, culture and the environment. Their packaging, sourcing and menus lend themselves to this over-arching mission. It is about purposeful consumption that flies in the face of John Oliver’s floating grill; one that speaks to being conscious of not just the product, but what went into it.

Although not all companies have the budget to host a floating  Cirque de Soleil (read below), here are several ways to host an event and several successful events to draw inspiration from:

Identify roles and responsibilities
Hosting an event is certainly a team effort, so identifying strong leaders from the get-go can increase the probability your event is organized and put together. Along with the team in the background — making sure everything is going smoothly — also consider your “stars.” “Stars” can be thought leaders in the community or are renowned for other reasons. To feature its new line of autos, Fox cars invited young artists to paint over its new vehicles to entice its young demographic to the event.

Determine the type of event you’d like to host
What are the interests of people within your community? What they enjoy doing? Is is a sophisticated cocktail hour or something more adventuresome? Tailoring the event to the community’s interests will make your event more engaging and buzzworthy. While creativity is a huge plus when deciding the type of event, make sure it doesn’t interfere with your goals and expectations. For instance, the Harry Potter launch event was all about brand immersion. It featured the tasty sweets from the book’s fictional “Honeydukes Sweet Shop” to bring attendees into the world of Harry Potter.

Set an objective
What are the key takeaways of your event? Another way to look at it is, what do you want people to say about your event the next day over the water cooler? Do you want people to be entertained, intrigued, intellectually stimulated? There are any number of reasons you might want to bring people together. Sometimes you might have to reinvigorate a stale event. The “Taste of Lexus” annual event had become predictable and “museum-like” over the years. The event coordinator injected some life into the event with an upscale, exotic menu (including crab cakes with lemon kiwi relish) that imparted the “taste of luxury” arguably more than the brand. And the spa treatments and golf instructions didn’t hurt either. Certainly the guests had something to talk about the next day.

Publicize the event
“Good event marketing campaigns reflect the client’s core values,” says SpecialEvents.com. Your ability to generate awareness and excite community influencers can determine whether your event has the wherewithal to be an annually hosted. This again requires creativity to energize your community. Ben & Jerry’s deployed “Cone Samaritans” into “cone zones” to deliver free ice cream, in an effort to promote its event, “Random Acts of Cone-ess.”

Secure the resources you will need
Is the location a must have? Are the “stars” a must? Prioritize based on importance and the time and effort it will take to secure the resources you’ll be utilizing to ensure you don’t lose the most important part of the show. Typical first-things to nail down are venue, “stars” and catering usually places third. Or, for the new BMW 3 Series event in Ireland, the tent that appeared to float. EuroEvents, the event organizer, drained a section of Dublin’s River Liffey and set the tent on a platform and the river was then refilled to give the appearance the tent was floating.

Floating venues, free ice cream and exotic foods are just a few inspirations and directions you can take your event. Remember, it’s about blending imagination with the brand to create a wow experience that will have people talking the next day.

Amazon envisions the future of the e-commerce world to be in the cloud based on product launches in the past five years. In 2001, Amazon enabled its users to buy and sell used and new products and four years later began selling private label goods (under the name, Pinzon). Amazon has focused less on physical goods and more on the cloud in the second half of the decade.

In 2006, Amazon began selling data storage, called Amazon Simple Storage Service, and a year later launched its digital music service. In that same year, Amazon launched its ground-breaking e-reader the Kindle. And in July 2010, e-book sales overshadowed Amazon’s hardcover books. In fact, Amazon claims it sold 143 e-books for every 100 hardcover books. The success of the Kindle (which can only be rumored to be successful as Amazon has never released sales figures of the device) has arguably led to the current war of the tablets — with competitors like Apple, Google, Dell, HP and others.

With its e-book sales increasing (a resource with tips for eBook authors), Amazon is poised to tackle the emerging online video rental market. Online video is certainly a rising trend amongst internet users. In the month of December 2009, 178 million people watched 33.2 billion videos, with the average viewer watching 187 videos per month in the U.S, according to comScore. To capture this growing audience, Amazon recently announced it would soon begin $.99 online video rentals and launched video streaming, similar to Netflix. But Amazon isn’t the only company picking up on the trend.

Steve Jobs recently released the new iTV video rental device, Google has beta tested its YouTube rentals and the rapid growth of Netflix over the last couple of years is going to be challenging for Amazon to compete against. Netflix had 15 million subscribers as of June 30, an increase from 10.5 million a year ago, with 61 percent of them having watched a movie or television show via the internet on computers and web-connected TVs. And Netflix’s CEO admitted over the next decade he anticipates the company to focus primarily on internet streaming, reports the LA Times.

“Amazon.com has used aggressive price discounts to carve out a dominant position in print and electronic books,” writes the Wall Street Journal. But the company is faced with formidable competitors in the online video space. Beyond the industry leader, Netflix, Amazon is challenged by Apple — which aims to replicate its $.99 music downloads in the video rental market with its new iTV. Amazon’s goal is to match the $.99 rentals, but if Apple’s iTV takes off, Amazon could lose grasp of the market.

Will Amazon tackle the online video rental market as it did with e-books? If Amazon can parallel its e-book success in the online video space, the online retailer will be that much closer to achieving its goal of becoming the center of the e-commerce universe.

Image by Gabriella Fabbri from Stock.Xchng

Making the customer feel comfortable and special are the two main drivers of in-store brand experience, reports a recent survey from the Luxury Institute. How luxury brands are meeting these customer needs is being driven by what we traditionally expect from luxury brands and also some innovative thinking.

Luxury brands are hitting their mark most of the time, according to LI’s study. Mystery shoppers report that on 94% of Burberry visits the staff made them feel comfortable; Vuitton did the same 76% of the time and Burberry and Vuitton top the rankings for making customers feel special, doing it on 52% and 42% of visits, respectively. But what tactics have luxury brands employed in 2010 to enhance the in-store experience?

Personalized Tech

One innovative way luxury brands are adding a touch of special is through mobile technology. In-store sales people can deliver better service with the aid of mobile devices, such as the iPad. “Mobile devices combine personalization efficiency and effectiveness with an unprecedented touch of caring and nurturing that are the Holy Grail of a true luxury experience,” writes Luxist in its 2011 trend report.

Multi-media devices, such as the iPad, can be used to check inventory, arrange for real-time delivery, cash-out customers, extend sales pitches, and videos to further enhance the personal brand experience. Mercedes Benz is one of the first brands to test this mobile sales service in the USA and Acura will be leveraging its iPad app to help dealership staff speed up the selling process. Audi and Puma are also using the iPad to customize the customer service experience.

Investing in Kind Human Capital

The stuffy, know-it-all, sometimes condescending sales associate is certainly a big turn-off for customers at luxury stores. LI takes example of superior customer service from the online retailer, Zappos. Taking a cue from the extremely polite, considerate and genuine customer service reps at Zappos, “putting polite, informed and well-groomed sales personnel on the floor is just the start, but done well it can be a true differentiator,” writes Milton Pedraza, CEO of the Luxury Institute.

Special Deals

German designer, Hugo Boss, is injecting some innovative thinking into its in-store brand experience. To get boots through the door, the brand offers special perks for those who check-in. One of the perks are discounts up to 40 percent and even special one-night events. Boss is marrying mobile technology with discounts and other perks to make its loyal customers feel special.

Putting an iPad in the hand of top-tier sales people is not the silver bullet to creating a best-in-class brand experience. It’s about managing expectations of customers. Through the years, affluent buyers expect the clean-shaven, polite sales people, but that isn’t the end-all-be-all answer either. Pleasantly surprise them with a sales associate that can show them product demos and even check them out without gracing the sales counter. Blending tradition and innovation are two ways to manage expectations and deliver a best-in-class customer experience.

Effective networking doesn’t happen over night. Don’t worry if you felt like sulking in the corner at your first networking event, feeling too shy to approach a random stranger. For beginners, networking can seem scary, intimidating and could go against everything you thought was appropriate in social situations. Fear not. There are strategies, tips and tricks to help you network better and more effectively to make meaningful connections and ultimately get new business. At Sparxoo, we believe in networking and building social influence and have provided tips such as building a social network on Facebook and Twitter and here are a couple of tips to get your started:

First Impressions
Behavioral psychologists estimate it takes only a couple of seconds for others to pass judgement upon you, or “stereotype.” That means your window is very, very small to make a good first impression. It begins with appropriate dress. If it’s a formal event, wearing your high school khakis and an ill-fitting polo shirt says a lot about you: that you do not take care of the details, might be disorganized amongst other things. It’s about not only dressing to the occasion but looking good.

Here are some tips on body language:

• Always smile
• Give a firm handshake
• Tilt your head to demonstrate you’re listening
• Speak firmly and clearly, as networking events can be loud

At this point, you’ve already made a good impression and need to stay on a roll.

You’re Not a Used Car Salesman
Although your objective might be to obtain business referrals, giving your pitch from the get-go can seem self-centered and superficial. Your pitch should come naturally in the conversation, not be the starting point. The first step is to develop trust. That can be done by finding something, other than business, that you have in common. Do both of you like hockey, tennis or even old horror movies? This will help you construct a strong base for your relationship, on which you can build trust.

Think of Your Best Friend
Crack “inside” jokes with someone you’ve just met. That’s not what we mean by “think of them as your best friend.” When talking with individuals, have the enthusiasm, passion and compassionate tone you might have with your best friend. If they say, for instance, they lost a big client, then implore about what happened, how did they feel, share a similar experience if appropriate. Remember, you’re building a meaningful relationship with them and treating them with the same compassion and enthusiasm as a friend is a good next step.

Spend Quality Time with Quality People
It’s a tried and true sales technique. If your conversation is slogging along and neither of you are clicking, it’s time to move onto the next person. Politely say, “Well, it was nice to meet you, good luck on…”  Conversely, it can be tempting to spend half the night chatting-up one person. Neither is going to be the best use of your time. Entrepreneur.com recommends spending no more than 10 minutes with each person. Then, after the event, making notes about the conversation with each individual on the back of the business card. This will help you with the next step, which is following up.

Have a Follow-Up System
When you were in high school, did it take one encounter to make you feel comfortable enough to bear your deepest secrets with your best friend? Let’s hope not for the sake of your friend. Relationships take time and work. The same is true for networking events. A day or two after the networking event, take a look through your cards and begin your follow-up emails. My Excel contact sheet has the following: name, company, industry, position, date I follow-up up, notes regarding where we left off, e-mail and whether you’ve connected with them on LinkedIn. We recommend following up 2 times, then adding them to a do not contact list if they haven’t responded.

Least Likely Places
Your first inclination might be to attend marketing events it you’re a marketer, or entrepreneur meetups if you’re an entrepreneur. In tough times, every other person at that marketing or entrepreneur event is also looking for new business. Not very productive. Attend events and participate in sports that are in-line with your hobbies or adjacent to your work. For instance, if you’re selling life insurance, you might want to go to an entrepreneur meet-up or golfing event.

Image by B S K from Stock.Xchng

Keep Your Ideas Simple — Your manager likely has numerous employees reporting to him / her, which results in a lot of information to oversee. By keeping your ideas simple, you should be able to get their attention and get your idea through to them.

Be Direct — Communicating your ideas should not involve a lot of fluff. Eliminate excess, irrelevant information. For instance, let’s say you have 10 pages of research that led to your insights. Provide those insights, then have a conversation where you can draw upon your research. Overloading your manager with excess fluff can derail your conversation.

One Step at a Time — Let’s say you have an idea to increase productivity that includes 10 steps. Before you outline the 10 steps, have a brief conversation about productivity in the workplace. It’s best to take a logical, beginning-to-end approach to ensure your manager can follow your rational.

Ask Questions to Arrive at Mistakes — Being direct is important to get to the point, but should not be used when pointing out errors. If your manager is clearly incorrect about his / her conclusion, try leading them to their mistakes by asking questions, such as “what will be the end result of [fill in the blank].”

Use Lists to Stay Organized — Instead of sending your manager long paragraphs about what you’d like to accomplish, send them bulleted lists with additional info if completely necessary. This will help them understand where you’re adding value and can help eliminate confusion of where your priorities lie.

Adapt to Their Management Style — Does your boss like hard facts or prefer more of a narrative? The more you can understand what makes your boss tick, the easier you can adapt to their management style. Understanding their management style doesn’t happen over night. You’ll likely have some personality conflicts at first, but over time you should better understand how you can work together.

Honesty is the Best Policy — If you have disappointing numbers, sugar coating it will only point to your inability to accept responsibility.  If you made a mistake, point out your mistake, why it happened and how you’re going to avoid it in the future. This will show your ability to take responsibility and sync with your bosses expectations.

Take Initiative (While Keeping the Boss in the Loop) — Taking initiative demonstrates your dedication to make the company / department succeed. But that doesn’t mean you should spend 75 percent of your time working on a “secret initiative” only to find out you wasted your time and didn’t meet your agree-upon goals. Let your boss know what you’re doing and ensure you’re going to meet your goals but would like to dedicate extra time on new initiatives.

Perception is Everything — If your boss sees that you’re taking extra long lunch breaks, leaving a bit early, it’s not unreasonable to suspect you’re not putting in your time like everyone else. Personally, I try get into work before everyone else, take minimal breaks, eat at my desk and communicate regularly on projects. Therefore, my boss perceives me to be putting in the extra hours and respect that I keep him in the loop.

Under Promise and Over Deliver — Before embarking on a project everyone agrees on goals (i.e. if we do this, we should yield that). If you try to impress your boss by trying to exceed their expectations from the start, and you cannot meet those expectations, you’ve just demonstrated your inability to meet goals. If you can’t meet goals, then you are under-delivering and far less valuable. Do yourself a favor and find where your bosses expectations lie, and balance it with what you can reasonably do. This will help prevent from over promising and under delivering.

Image by Sachin Ghodke from Stock.Xchng

We have dug through the annals of web and advertising history to find advertising blunders and successes that you can learn from.

1. Let’s talk quantum mechanics

Unless you already have die-hard brand advocates, it’s not just about you. Chances are, if you’re a local law firm, not many people are gripping to their edge of their seats waiting to see your ad. Think about going to a holiday party and spending twenty minutes talking about quantum mechanics. Crickets anyone? To appeal to your customer, understand what they enjoy and build off of it.

2. Do you like me? Circle yes or no.

Ask for permission. Seth Godin is a huge proponent of permission marketing — where brands ask instead of push. Ask your clients whether they want your monthly newsletter, don’t just send it because you can. Furthermore, allow them to opt-out. If you don’t ask for permission, you risk the chance of appearing as a spammer, not a meaningful brand.

3. “I love Whole Foods” – Anonymous CEO…

Econsultancy’s “21 ways to commit brand suicide in the 21st Century,” cites Whole Foods CEO John Mackey to illustrate deceptive marketing practices. “Over a seven year period – [Mackey] posted anonymous comments on Yahoo’s stock market forums to criticise a competitor (while calling himself ‘cute’ in the process). Funny and embarrassing in equal measure. And also deceptive: the comments prompted an SEC investigation. He was cleared, he apologised (kind of), but the damage was done.” Overinflating your brand image like Mackey can only lead to a bitter end — tarnishing your brand image and reputation along the way. Remember, next time a critic slams your brand, consider a thoughtful, genuine response, not respond as an “anonymous loyal customer.”

4. The ol’ switcheroo

Costumers don’t like the ol’ switcheroo. While brand advertising should highlight the selling points of your brand, it should not overinflate claims. How disappointing is it to go to the “most inexpensive furniture store in town” to find out prices are the exact same down the street? Or, consider Apple fans’ outrage when the developer cut $200 off the iPhone shortly after its release.

5. I’m smart your dumb. I’m big your little… Take that!

Starting “turf wars” can show customers the true maturity of the company leadership. For instance, Verizon’s battle with AT&T over maps. While turf wars try to position the competition in a negative light, it engenders ill-will — a turn off to many consumers. No one liked the bully in high school so what makes you think they will like bullying with their favorite brands? Moreover, turf wars advertise the competition. Instead of using precious, expensive advertising space for your competition, utilize that space for your brand.

6. Putting customers in epileptic shock

Standing out doesn’t mean adding a thick layer of flash, sparkle, boom, pow to your brand advertising. To stand out, create a unique environment for your customer. You can interest your target audience if you appeal to their lifestyle. For instance, EA sports created a banner advertisement that rolled into a racing game. All those users playing the game in the banner ad compete for prizes. EA’s campaign appealed to the lifestyle of their target audience while engaging them in a meaningful way.

7. What does Bob Dylan and a lingerie have in common?

While you might want a mascot or famous celebrity to advertise your brand, consider if they are right for the job. In an epic misstep, Victoria Secret signed on the weathered, old Bob Dylan as lingerie’s mouthpiece. While it might have made for a funny joke, do women buying sexy underwear want to imagine the aging Dylan? If anything, the lingerie brand created an unsettling feeling in the stomachs of its audience.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Additional Resources:
Successfully promote and market your creative ideas with an online degree in advertising.

How is your product or service perceived in the market? If the brand and product is similar to competitors, a brand positioning and differentiation strategy can increase your customer appeal. Combine insights from customer research with a thorough competitive analysis and creative stretching to determine the optimal brand position:

Quick jump: Segmentation / Focus groups / Online survey research / Customer insights / Competitive analysis / Brand re-positioning

Competitive Analysis

Consumer research identifies audience needs states, key decision drivers and the determines if market peers are meeting the needs of your target segments and how to better meet those needs. To differentiate yourself amongst peers, examine the market through the lens of a company and brand. A company makes products and services and a brand conveys the emotional attributes of both the company and products.

Questions to answer when examining companies and products:

• Who are the top market players and what space do they occupy in your category?
• Who is their target market, and what are their products and services?
• What have been their successes to date?
• What are their competitive strengths, and how will you position your company uniquely

Questions to answer when examining brands:

• What three adjectives best describes each competitor?
• What traits are aligned with customer expectations?
• What key messages do brands convey in marketing materials? (Including website, social media, print, collateral)

Consumer Research

defines who you’re targeting, what you’re going to offer them, where you’re going to reach them, and how you’re going to sell them on your product and brand. Use demographics, such as age, household income level, and psychographics, such as hobbies and favorite brands to define target segments. To examine potential segment need states and decision drivers, our team developed a generational analysis and psychographic report.

After defining the target audience, find what drives their buying decisions. To do so, find a pool of representative customers and either perform focus group research or online survey research. can provide insight to improve products, prioritize development, and elevate communications. With the benefit of real customer feedback, your strategy and development will be much stronger. , on the other hand, is more affordable, accessible, and timely than focus groups. In fact, most online research surveys can go from setup to response to data in a week or less.

to drive your differentiation and positioning strategy. Customers will inform overall market trends and specific need states. Insights tie the two together. For instance, with the advent of iTunes and pirated music, customers no longer pay for whole CDs anymore, therefore record labels should focus more on digital music, concert sales and rights management instead of traditional profits from CDs.

Brand Differentiation and Position

A chart should illustrate what makes your brand distinct among competitors. Outline key customer needs on the x and y axises and plot competitor brands. Identify the opportunity based on customer need states and decision drivers to find the optimal brand position. Then, write a positioning statement: Our product [list benefits] for [target audience] because [name unmet need]. Finally, creatively build a brand around that position, including a distinct voice and personality to make a meaningful connection with target audiences.

Brand positioning chart:

Image by talk2frank from Stock.Xchng