Business Life

Real Phone Calls Trending for Savvy Marketing Teams

As an existing customer, I already receive emails, catalogs, and other mailings from these companies on a regular schedule. So why are more and more companies like these using real people to call their existing customers? Staying in touch by email marketing, direct mail, social media, and other vehicles can be highly effective, it keeps the name brand at top of mind, and can drive quote requests and sales leads. But it’s not enough anymore.

Paul August 25, 2026

Is Your Sales Team Prepared for the Obvious – or Are You Creating Fear and Uncertainty?

Thanks to your brilliant new product, your customers will most certainly cut costs and save time but it will also require they change their workflow. Did you figure out how to help resolve this predictable objection before going to market? A sales manager I know didn’t bother to try. If you are creating fear and uncertainty anywhere in the sales process then even a brilliant new product that’s likely to quantifiably save money and boost efficiency may be ultimately remembered as a great idea fumbled to what might’ve been.

Paul April 23, 2026

Ski Marketing Teams! Let’s Point Mountain Cams for Smarter Decision-Making

I’d invite ski resort managers to take a look at what’s being shown on their webcams and consider how much value each of those perspectives offers their guests. Then consider how the webcams might be moved or repointed to better answer the most frequently asked questions that resort staffers face day after day.

Paul January 20, 2026

Can Brilliant Marketing Sell A Product Nobody Really Wants?

“Yes, we’re getting a lot of serious leads and we’re quoting a lot and a number of people are testing, the lead generation has been great,” my client began. “But everyone who’s tested it so far has said no and their feedback has been very sensible – it’s just not a great product, no one really needs it.”

People often say a great product sells itself but can a poor product sell even if it’s supported by superior marketing and sales support?

Paul January 2, 2026

Stellar Service Gets the Sale

We now have to consider delivering stellar service a selling point that has become just as important as the benefits of buying the latest machine or new technology – especially as people seem grateful for barely adequate customer service.

Paul January 16, 2022

Before Generating Sales Leads, Get Your Ducks In A Row

Most sales and marketing pros focus on generating sales leads. “Just get people to the Website!” or “Just make the phones ring and our sales people can take it from there,” are common demands of marketing teams. Then the advertising and PR hit the magazines, the PPC keyword ad program tops the search results, the companion direct mail – email drops. Did the campaign work?
This company will never know for sure because the free download and contact form on their Web site weren’t working. Just how many hot prospects submitted the form and never heard back they’ll never know. In the zeal to take an aggressive approach to boosting sales, it’s easy to overlook the importance of having the back end setup to handle the response.

Here are five back end items to consider before launching your new lead generation program:

Paul February 11, 2020

Niagara Falls Destination Marketing with a Smile

Visitors bureaus and destinations invest huge amounts of money to get visitors to spend their precious little vacation time at their attractions. Yet they often overlook or fail to understand it’s the little interactions with front line employees that make people smile, return, and tell their friends and family to visit, too. Here’s what one employee did for our family at Niagara Falls, New York.

Paul June 14, 2017

Customer Service Wins = Marketing Wins

The closer we got to the Sierra-at-Tahoe ski area, the more crowded it looked, and the more tension I could feel building from all sides. When finally directed to turn around and park on the access road without even getting close enough to see the mountain, the uncertainty grew. It could have been a customer service fail but this quick article reveals what the parking lot attendant did to save the day and turn a fail into customer service win that also won one for the marketing team.

Paul March 14, 2017

How Customer Service Fails Infuriate Marketing Managers

Customer service fails infuriate marketing managers and waste precious marketing dollars. On this anniversary dinner in a restaurant overlooking Lake Tahoe, one, surly waitress turned an otherwise perfect evening into an experience worthy of a training course for the hospitality industry.

Paul February 6, 2017