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With apologies to Sam Walton, the customer isn’t boss. Think of the relationship you have with your boss. Is that the relationship you want with your customer? I hope not.*

If you could create the ideal relationship with your customer, it probably would look more like the relationships you have with your best friend, your husband, wife, mother or father. It would be a relationship built on mutual understanding, respect and empathy — not one set in the context of annual reviews and the ever-present threat of being fired.MORE…

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There is a human fascination with the shiny new thing. We are attracted to it in every facet of our lives – from politics to business, from the grocery aisle to a used car lot, from Eve’s shiny apple to Heidi Montag’s new, well, everything. Shiny new things grab headlines and our attention by wooing us. By drawing us in and appealing to our innate fascination with all things new and shiny.

The proposition of the shiny new thing is that it’s better. Cooler than what you’ve seen or experienced to date. The shiny new thing does something different. And with that difference comes greater utility. The shiny new thing is usually a functional enhancement or difference, but the very nature of it being shiny and new works to elicit an emotional response.MORE…