November 5th to November 11th, 2006

From Seeds of Growth--76% Think You Are a Liar.

We need your help. We're doing some research on building word-of-mouth with online tools. We created a 3.5 minute video and follow it up with 5 quick questions. If you are a business owner or manager, please click here and tell us what you think.

From Other Business Blogs

Number 3--

Full from Seth Godin.

Seth writes about the importance of timing and repetition in marketing. Important to be persistent in staying in touch so that when the moment is right, your customer thinks of you.

Number 2--

What Keeps CEOs Up at Night from Be Excellent.

Top line growth, customer loyalty, and profit growth are 3 of the top 4. Sound familiar? Take care of customer loyalty and the other two will follow....

Number 1--

The Three People You Meet In Silicon Valley. from Business Innovation Insider.

Apple is a remarkable company and is experiencing remarkable success right now. Here are some comments from a commencement address given by CEO Steve Jobs that give some insight into being remarkable. "Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work."

That's it for this week. Thanks for reading. Don't forget to watch our 3.5 minute video and tell us what you think .

Happy Cultivating--

Dave
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Best of Seeds is a service of Promoterz--Happy Customers Talking

October 28th to November 4th, 2006

Happy Halloween! Today's challenge is to relate each of the articles to Halloween (sorry, it has to be done).

From Seeds of Growth--They Call it the Hawthorne Effect
Hawthorne and Halloween share the same two first letters! Scary, huh? Hold on, they get worse. Actually, the Hawthorne Effect could be seriously good for your business. Use it to help turn your customers into advocates.

From Other Business Blogs
Number 3-- The Manipulators from Seth Godin.
I'm betting you'll see a lot of little Spidermen and Pirates tonight, but very few dressed as Manipulators. To see the Manipulators, logon to your email. Sad, but true, just being trustworthy makes you and your brand remarkable these days.

Number 2--12 Consumer Values to Drive Technology Related Product and Service Innovations from Putting People First.
Ok, the title alone is scary and would make it worthy of Halloween, but there is more: "For instance, to remain competitive, product makers in many sectors will need to accommodate the value of “user creativity”—the growing desire and ability of millions of consumers to create, augment, or influence design and content and share these creations with their peers." Carving Jack-O-Lanterns is just one of many examples of consumers' desire to create and share creations with their peers! (three for three, just one more to go!)

Number 1--20 Questions Toward Ethical Word of Mouth. from Church of the Customer.
Tonight one question will lead to many pounds of candy being lifted to the mouth, but for right now focus on these 20 questions that will help you avoid ethical blunders as you build word of mouth.

Four for four! Thank goodness holidays don't happen every week!

Enjoy Halloween and if you haven't done it yet check out Pollstir and get yourself prepared for the elections.

Dave
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Best of Seeds is a service of Promoterz--Happy Customers Talking

October 22nd to the 28th, 2006

From Seeds of Growth--Your Own Personal Pollstir

With the elections in the US approaching we are once again faced with a myriad of choices as we sift through the political mudslinging. No matter which side of an issue you are on, who do you trust? Actually, you already know who you trust (friends, family, colleagues etc.), now there is a tool to help you learn what they think. It's called Pollstir. It's free and its a quick and easy way to help you prepare for the voting booth. Give it a try and let us know what you think. Pollstir.

From Other Business Blogs

Number 3-- 10 Free Advertising Ideas from Small Business Branding.
Here are 10 creative marketing ideas from a landscaper that has started his business by posting “Landscape design student needs your home for portfolio development” and ended up with more business than he could handle.

Number 2--Top 10 Secrets of The Marketing Process from Seth Godin.
This must be the week for the lists of 10. Here's Seth's list of things to keep in mind when marketing. My favorite: "If it makes you nervous, it’s probably a good idea."

Number 1--Jet-Sized Gravanity. from Springwise.
They call it gravanity--where graffiti meets vanity. In this case it is another opportunity to get customers engaged and give them something to talk to their friends about.

Have a great week and be sure to give Pollstir a try. As John Adams said, "Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people."

Dave
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Best of Seeds is a service of Promoterz--Happy Customers Talking

October 15th to the 21st, 2006

This week we seem to be focused on getting it right for the customer:

From Seeds of Growth--Customers Need Time to Learn
Sometimes getting it right for the customer includes giving them time to learn.

From Other Business Blogs
Number 3-- Ziba Design on the importance of informed intuition. from Putting People First.
What is required to "get it right" for your customer? Is it research? Is it intuition? Is it just plain happy luck? Steve McCallion of Ziba design talks about informed intuition. “Informed intuition is a systematic way of filling up your decision-making process with a deep understanding of whom you’re designing for, so you make smart decisions as opposed to guesses."

Number 2--Why Do People Look Like Their Dogs? from Seth Godin.
This one is worth the click just to look at the pictures, but there is also some good insight here. Customers buy what they buy because it validates their perception of themselves. What perception of themselves do customers validate when they buy your product or service? Do they feel more fashionable? Do they feel more secure? Do they feel confused?

Number 1--Reducing Fear is the Killer App. from Creating Passionate Users.
Kathy Sierra describes the role fear plays in getting it right for the customer. Are there any "fears" you can help your customers reduce or alleviate? "Whether it's a policy change, better documentation and support, or more user-friendly design, anything you do to genuinely reduce my fear improves my life. Why not ask customers about their needs before you agree to sell them something?"

Good luck Getting it Right!
Dave
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Best of Seeds is a service of Promoterz--Happy Customers Talking

October 8th to the 14th, 2006

Here are the best picks of the week:

From Seeds of Growth--Failing to Succeed
Like it or not, admit it or not, the risk of failure is an integral part of being an entrepreneur. Some thoughts on the role failure plays in success.

From Other Business Blogs
Number 3-- What gets Measured Gets Improved from Be Excellent.
Here's a solid idea to help you avoid failure. It is true--what gets measured gets improved. Unfortunately, what gets measured is usually based on what is easiest to measure and not what is most important to the growth of your company. Put your effort into measuring important things like how happy you make your customers.

Number 2--Netflix Contest from Church of the Customer.
Want to win $1 million bucks? All you have to do is come up with a better movie recommendation engine than Netflix currently has. What does that have to do with your business? Look at the benefits to Netflix: marketing buzz, more engaged customers and likely some great ideas. What could you invite your customers to do?

Number 1--Listening Centered Marketing from Pete Blackshaw via Church of the Customer.
"Listening may well be our major source of strategic and tactical competitive advantage." How "actively" are you listening to your customers?

Best of Luck!
Dave
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Best of Seeds is a service of Promoterz--Happy Customers Talking