Category Archives for "Sales & Marketing"

Engineers say a perfect machine is one with no moving parts. I’d add to that: Complexity is the enemy of success in all endeavors. How could we apply those twin concepts to business modeling? Here’s how: By answering the question–can we reduce the complexity of operating an organization, any business even charity, not-for-profit or foundation, […]

Fifteen minutes outside of Olhão, Portugal, you will find a 30-hectare olive oil plantation that combines sustainable farming practices with agritainment. Most mornings around 10 or 10:30 am, a Monterosa (favorably reviewed on TripAdvisor–62 reviews, five stars) staffer will take a group of around 30 (made up of locals on holiday and tourists) around the […]

We’ve all heard this before, “Selling is telling.” If you want more sales, the thinking goes, tell a better story. That’s a good start, but we can take it a few steps further. Let’s go back in time first. Textbooks tell you marketing is important because it helps build your brand, and a solid brand […]

Best Buy, according to most prognosticators, should be dead by now… bulldozed by Amazon, but it’s not. How did they turn the trick? They changed their business model. If you are in a products business these days, you will want to add services. If you’re in the service biz, you’ll want to consider adding products. […]

Why do private sales often suck? Well, here’s an email I received from a client of mine (a significant and sophisticated) real estate investor explaining why this may be so: A neighbor of mine is elderly; he lost his wife a few years ago. She was a fine person. Having said this, however, I have […]

[Here is Bruce Firestone’s contribution to a new book called, Stories about Teaching at Carleton University, 2018]   When one of the courses (Design Economics) I taught at the School of Architecture (now the Azrieli School of Architecture & Urbanism) was reviewed by their accreditation committee, I got a call from the director’s executive assistant […]