Selling The Invisible by Harry Beckwith “You can’t see them–so how do you sell them? That’s the problem with services… This book begins with the core problem of service marketing: service quality. It then suggests how to learn what you must improve, with examples of techniques that work. It then moves to service marketing fundamentals: […]
The monument pictured here marks a spot where Thomas Edison camped in 1878. While camping, Edison threw a broken bamboo fishing pole on a fire and noticed that the frayed pieces glowed and resisted burning. He later tested a fiber derived from bamboo as a filament for the incandescent light bulb and came up with […]
Have you ever had this experience? You’re lying in bed, just about to go to sleep, drifting off even, until it hits you. That thing that you meant to do today? You forgot. Suddenly, your brain is on full alert, and you’re promising yourself that you’ll remember to do it tomorrow. Just like you promised […]
I took this photo of Oregon Trail ruts near Guernsey, Wyoming. On this section of the trail, appropriately known as Deep Rut Hill, the route deviated away from the river and went over sandstone hills. The wagons spread out to minimize dust across much of the trail, but thousands of wagons followed precisely the same […]
You’ve put in your dues. You’ve worked hard to become the accomplished lawyer you are now, and you have all manner of credentials that demonstrate your expertise. You’ve worked with a variety of organizations and individuals, you’ve written articles and book chapters, and you may even have served a turn teaching. How can you leverage […]
Last week, I visited the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center in Casper, Wyoming. This multimedia-focused tourist/educational center presented stories about the emigrant trails that passed through Wyoming: the Oregon Trail, the California Trail, and the Mormon Trail. The primary focus was on life on the trails, of course, but the exhibit started with an examination […]
Last week, I talked with a client who was distressed at having to pay about $1,000 for some equipment necessary for making a presentation to a group of her ideal clients. After listening for a few minutes and confirming my expectation that she’d be able to use the equipment over and over for similar presentations, […]
The Go-Giver (Bob Burg and John David Mann) and The Referral of a Lifetime (Tim Templeton) I’ve never reviewed two books in a single review before, but these two are such neat parallels in both style and message that I just can’t resist the temptation. The message of both of these short, quick reads is […]
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve noticed that some lawyers are making mistakes that will undermine their efforts. These mistakes go beyond the five foundational business development efforts decsribed in The Reluctant Rainmaker that are so insidious. These are short-sighted decisions that may seem smart in the short-run but will cause great damage over […]
Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior by Ori Brafman and Rom Brafman Nobody likes to lose. With our self-selection to be competitive and to be risk-averse, lawyers perhaps tolerate loss even less than others. According to the Brafman brothers, authors of Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior, the more meaningful a potential loss […]