You understand that the game of modern business isn’t won by capturing the next transaction. You’re passed that. Now you’re learning how to relate to your customers. Look at any of your personal relationships to see how difficult relating to another human being can be. Here,...

Building analytic muscle to learn about your customers is a top priority for today’s outperforming chief executives. Big data is an unquestionably powerful tool to improve your knowledge about your customers. Many executives are talking about “big data” these days. Another popular term associated with big...

Organizations that foster brand loyalty—that place an unusually high level of focus on their customers—on average, demonstrate a more enlightened approach to management. Why is this so? Cult Brands and other customer-centric businesses tend to be more humanistic. That is, they tend to place a greater...

In walking the massive floors of the National Retail Federation’s Big Show in Jacob Javits Center last week, we noticed the same themes and language echoed throughout the great halls of exhibitors serving the retail industry: analytics, big data, and other research tools—services and technologies...

It was an enlivening trip to the National Retail Federation’s Big Show this year. With over 30,000 attendees pacing over 800,000 square feet of exhibitors serving the retail market, it was difficult not to marvel at what human consciousness can do in its effort to...

Let’s make a series of obvious statements: 1) Your customers are human beings. 2) Human beings share certain values. 3) Human beings, as customers, are attracted to businesses that share their values. Simply enough, isn’t it? Well, sort of. The challenge is not all humans value the same thing....

What is a Brand? Brands are funny things. You can’t just go to the store and pick up a pound of brand. There’s no brand app to download. You can’t go to the Brand Store and buy brands to make your organization more appealing to your...