Let’s start in reverse order with the ugly.   A friend of mine had a home mortgage with Washington Mutual and his payments were automatically withdrawn from his checking account each month. One month he started receiving notices from his bank that he was bouncing checks all over the place.

After a lengthy investigation, he determined that Washington Mutual had started taking out additional monies from his checking account without even notifying him.  With further investigation, he determined that Washington Mutual had either lost or corrupted his account information and thus assumed he owed more money each month. This situation went on for months with communication between my friend, Washington Mutual and Washington Mutual’s legal department with no resolution in sight. Meanwhile, he had to keep covering the additional deductions from his checking account. Finally with a notice from his lawyer, Washington Mutual admitted they had made a mistake and corrected the account charges.  There were no apologies, no “we are sorry” letters, and no reimbursement from the accrued finance charges or bounce fees.  Months later my friend switched to another mortgage company. As Doctor Phil would say “What were you (Washington Mutual) THINKING??”   Does Washington Mutual have any vague idea about customer satisfaction?  It must be great to have so many customers that you don’t care what they think about your company and it does not hurt to lose a few each month.

The Bad. I recently booked business class ticket for an international flight with United Airlines.

On my return flight, I arrived at the airport and discovered that my flight was canceled.  Being a seasoned traveler, I did not panic but thought it strange that United did not notify me about the cancelation ahead of time.  Anyways after a lot of “discussion”, United, booked me on another flight BUT with one problem, United “lost” my business class reservation and had to place me in coach and with multiple connections.  Needless to say sitting in coach for 17 hours, having my luggage lost, and racing from one terminal to another did not make me a happy camper.

Now for the customer satisfaction part, not only did United not reimburse me for the total in   the difference between coach and business class, I received no thank you, only a discount coupon that had hundreds of constraints attached to it.  Again, where is the customer satisfaction within United?  Why not have a follow up survey or phone call to first express their concern and let me know they really care.  Why not a future ticket or coupon for money to be used at my discretion.   You would think with the economy the way it is and the trouble the airlines are in, that they would do everything to make customers satisfied.

For the reader, you probably already guessed, that I will tell anyone that will listen about my recommendation regarding United.  Here is a case where United could have gained a loyal customer but instead, has the potential for hundreds, maybe thousands hearing about what one traveler thinks about United.  Also remember the singer and how United breaks his guitar (YouTube, 11M hits so far). Guess, United still has not improved in the area of customer satisfaction!

Now the Good, on a completely different trip, which was a domestic flight to Florida, my wife and I wanted to get on an early flight because of a pending snow storm.  What follows is not really good customer satisfaction, but great customer satisfaction.

Upon arriving at the terminal, a US Airways porter takes our luggage because of the tremendous amount of people at the airport.  At the ticket counter, we asked if there were early flights, the agent first asked us if we had checked our baggage, to which we said yes.  He informed us that since we had already checked our baggage, we could not switch flights, to which we said , Oh, the porter said don’t worry about checking you can change flights anyway, and then I said, we understand, thanks anyways and proceeded to check in with the original flight.  We took our tickets and started to walk away when the ticket agent called us back and said, “Let me see if I can rearrange things for you.”  After about 10 minutes, not only did he get us on an early flight, but found our baggage and rerouted them AND put us in first class.  My wife was so overwhelmed that she almost reached over and kissed the agent.  This experience was about two months ago and my wife and I still talk about it when the topic of traveling comes up and of course we mention US Airways.  Talk about free advertising and wonderful customer satisfaction.

In today’s environment, with instant communication, social media and a very well informed customer, customer satisfaction should be a high priority within any company AND someone and/ or a department should be listening and responding to the customer for the good , bad and ugly situation.   Some believe that customer satisfaction in one of the few differentiations between your company and your competitors.      Who is in charge of customer satisfaction at your enterprise?

RHL 2/15/12

Last week my barber gave me a first hand lesson in how confidence impacts the economy.  As I usually do, I asked when I got in the chair, “How’s business?”  His response was that it was down.  “How could that be?” I asked, “Everyone needs a haircut.”  His response captured the confidence problem that is sweeping the country. 

“Assume 1,000 customers,” he said, “who usually get their haircut every four weeks, but because of their confidence in how things are going, they decide to put off their haircut by one week.  What does that do?”  I did some quick math.  If a person gets a hair cut every four weeks, that is 13 haircuts a year (52/4 =13).  If he does it every five weeks, that is 10.4 haircuts a year (52/5 =10.4). The result is a 20% drop in business (10.4/13 = .8).  Assuming an average bill of $16.00 (not counting any tip), a 20% decline in the number of haircuts translates to a $41,600 revenue decline.  Tony’s business is not off 20%, but the point was made.

So, because some of his customers are unsure where the economy is going, and feel that it may be best to economize, they are cutting back a little.  This has ripple effects through-out the economy.  Tony and Jim probably won’t take the boat or RV trip they thought about in the spring.  Their purchase of supplies is down. And their fixed costs are edging up.  To offset this they are now open to 7:00 PM on Thursday, and have kept their prices stable for over a year.

The lesson learned from this is that how the decision maker feels about the economy is often the key to a purchase or not.  If he/she can feels that this is the time to hold back, due to a lack of confidence on where things are going, they will do so, whether it be a haircut, a new set of tires for the car, a new dress, or going out to eat.  If they are confident that things are going to be better, then they may be more likely to get their hair cut every 4 weeks.

This applies to those who control the purse strings in companies.  If they personally feel that the economy is trending down, they may re-think purchases and/or commitments.  Certainly Dick and I have seen this behavior in our consulting business.

The net of all these delayed haircuts is that the economy continues to settle to a new, lower equilibrium or steady state.  After all, men do have to get their haircut sometime, and tires and cars do wear out, and new capital equipment has to be purchased.  For the CMO, this means that his product or service has to be top of mind when the purchase decision is made.  And that the product/service sold surpasses the buyer’s expectations.

I will continue to go to Tony, as I have been going there for over a decade, and it is where I learn basic economics.  But I wonder how the other product/service providers are positioning themselves as their markets sort themselves out.

My advice to help turn the economy around…go get a haircut!

RHM  8/11/2011   

Value propositions are very important to business because if they are done correctly they uniquely define something that a company offers to their customer that addresses their need(s).  Unfortunately many marketing people and some senior management people are so close to their products or services that they actually feel their value propositions are compelling and that their customers feel the same way too.  In reality, value propositions are usually vague, do not address the customer’s issues and if you close your eyes you cannot tell one vendors values from another.

So what are great value propositions?  Well first let’s define a value proposition and what its components.

Wikipedia’s “defines a value proposition is part of business strategy. A value proposition is based on a review and analysis of the benefits, costs and value that an organization can deliver to its customers, prospective customers, and other constituent groups within and outside the organization. It is also a positioning of value, where value= benefits- cost.”

Neil Rackham believes that a value proposition statement should consist of four main parts: capability, impact, proof, and cost.  I would add to this definition that it should have a differentiator

Investopedia states “a business or marketing statement that summarizes why a consumer should buy a product or use a service. This statement should convince a potential consumer that one particular product or service will add more value or better solve a problem than other similar offerings.”

Value propositions should address issues that are concerned with:

• Increasing revenues or market share
• Time to market
• Decreased costs
• Operational efficiency improvements
• Customer relationship improvements

Some examples of weak value propositions are the following:

            **We have experience

            **We improve your marketing

            **We offer training

            **My favorite, we are number one provider of XXXX (provider of what???)

Some examples of strong value propositions are:

**Our Automobiles will save you 20% on gas over all other cars

**Customer can save 65% with our home insurance versus any other insurance company

**Wal-Mart   “everyday low prices”

**BMW   “the ultimate driving machine”

Why are these good value propositions; because they address a customer segment needs, are compelling, and they definitely have value.

So ask yourself this, does your value proposition address what I call the customer’s pain points, are you resonating with them in the sense that you and your potential customers are talking about the same thing? 

Second, does the value proposition provide uniqueness/differentiation as compared to the competition?

Lastly, is there a real value (benefit minus cost) to the customer?

IF you cannot answer yes to all these questions, I would strongly suggest reconsidering both your messaging and value proposition statements

RHL
5/3/11

Scenario – Acme Tool and Die’s customer profile follows the Pareto principle, i.e., 20% of their customers account for 80% of their revenues.  Keeping these key customers is of paramount importance to all of Management, especially the Sales and Marketing functions.  The sales manager responsible for Company ABC (one of the key customers) is reporting that their chief competitor has gained a foothold, and that they are potentially going to lose the business.  The salesman learned from Company ABC’s buyer that news of the 6 month slippage of Acme’s next product was on the Internet, and that this is the main factor in Company ABC moving toward the competition.

In a board room meeting to discuss this issue, the President made it clear that she expects Marketing to “pull the fat from the fire” since the buyer learned of the slippage on the Internet.

Marketing’s response

1. Since it came as a surprise that the slippage information had been “leaked,” Marketing set up a listening process, targeting their brand, the names and model numbers of their products, along with their competitors’ brands, products and model numbers.  This should remove any future surprises, and allow for more pro-active responses.
2. Working with the responsible salesman, the Product Manager met with the buyer to explain:
   1. The reason for the slippage (greater functionality has been added)
   2. The future plan (life cycle) for the product, going out three years
   3. Their perspective on how well Acme’s product fit in the current and emerging needs of Company ABC
   4. The Product Manager and CFO structured a pricing program for Company ABC which gave them the opportunity to buy the new product at the price of the current product (the price of the new product is going to be 20% higher due to the added features) provided they place the order soon.  As part of the agreement, ABC will be a Beta test site and act as a reference, if the product performs as advertised.
3. Marketing, drawing on internal and hired resources, began blogging about the market place needs, establishing Acme as thought leader on the future path of the industry and market.  This program extended to speaking at the annual trade show, as well as a number of webinars.
4. Recognizing that the marketing/sales dynamics are changing, Marketing called for a complete review of the sales funnel along with an independent review of their actions to increase the customer base.

Bottom line:

Company ABC agreed to buy the new product when it became available.  Marketing successfully pulled the fat from the fire.

Lessons learned:

Information (true or false) today spreads unbelievably fast.  As a result, companies (and people) are reacting faster.  Acme later found out that Company ABC had all the information they needed to make a purchase from their competitor, and were days away from pulling the trigger…and that they had obtained 90% of that information over the Internet, including references.

As the recession recedes and people continue doing more with less, they are doing so by using available information.  As part of their 2011 plan, Acme is revamping their web site, engaging in using more social media tools, listening on a daily basis to what is being said about them, their competitors and their customers, and implementing a more powerful customer relationship program.

What is the probability that some of your key customers are about to leave, and that you will be asked to pull the fat from the fire?  Will you be successful?  Will you be surprised?  What else should Marketing be doing?

RHM 3/3/2011

Blame it on the repetitive snow storms, the cold, or the blahs of January.  I feel compelled to spout off about a number of subjects:

• Self proclaimed experts.  In the Social Media/Digital 2.0 world a self proclaimed expert pops up every 15 minutes.  Malcolm Gladwell had it right in this book The Outliers where he said that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert.  One more blog or article about the need to listen, act and integrate social media by some 20+ year old blogger will convince me that the millennials never learned about plagiarism.  I would settle for one good report that tightly links repeatable social media actions to sales by a B2B company whose products sell for over $50K each.  (By tightly I mean, I did this digitally and as a result this specific sale occurred, not that we listened, responded and our overall revenue went up 10 %.)

• The assumption by the social media “experts” that the same tactics used in B2C apply to B2B. Listen up!  B2B is different than B2C.  Any time a company is going to put out 6 or 7 figures for something, and that something is tied to a person or committee in the company, they want to see, hear, and talk to a person…directly.  Yes the significant influencer will do research on the Web.  Yes, they will appreciate “nurturing” emails as they progress through the buying cycle, but at the end of the day the person/committee making the decision wants to sit across the table from a person, have him/her look them in the eye, and talk about the product.  A corollary to this action is that many buying companies want “one throat to choke” and they cannot choke a plug in the wall.

• Providing a value add.  It appears that fewer and fewer companies are providing a true, differentiated value add.  Most companies seem to feel that they can or should offer something that is similar to what is already in the market, and then gain revenue and profit by exploiting a distribution, service or promotion flaw in the market leader.  I recognize that many “first movers” fail, and that being second in a market is a valid strategy, but being 4^th, 5^th or 6^th speaks to either unbelievable hubris or stupidity.  How some of these companies get funding or resources remains a mystery.  If you have a fully differentiated product, go for it.  If you are planning to be a “me too” go back to the drawing board.

• Most buyers are smarter than sellers think. It took less than 2 years for B2B buyers of software to realize that the later in the month/ quarter that they negotiate their purchase, the bigger discount they get.  Buyers quickly learn about, and subsequently reject, ploys to get them to part with their money.  Three things count for a B2B buyer:

• • Does the product do what I want it to do?  (References are key here.)
  • Do I respect the seller and do they respect me? (Personal contact required here.)
  • How long have they been in business and what is their reputation? (Due diligence required.)

The buying company will use the Internet to get some of the information to answer these questions, but in order to               achieve the emotional comfort that is part of the purchase, a person has to be part of the equation.  Note that often price is number 6 or 7 on a list of key criteria.

• Being polite.  People made fun of the way IBM used to enforce a dress and behavior code.  But their salespeople always showed up “presentable” and conveyed an image of respect, helping propel IBM into profitable leader.  It is  not clear that today’s sellers of $100K+ software packages or hardware project the same image or give the same impression, either by their dress or the way they act, with the resulting negative impression reflecting back on their companies.  For some it seems acceptable to show up in jeans and a black T-shirt and say, “Dudes, glad to see you guys here.  Sorry I am late, can you wait a few moments while I get my x%#**g presentation hooked up and by the way do you have any Diet Coke?”  Sure, I am going to give this guy’s company $250K over the next three years.

As someone has said, the only constant is change.  However, underneath the change remain certain bedrock principles of trust, respect, responsibility and doing what is right.  It goes without saying that the higher the value of the transaction, the more important these principles are.  Personally, I don’t know of any way these can be accurately conveyed over the Internet…a knowledgeable, articulate presentable person is required.

I have to go snow-blow my driveway for the 12^th time this month and put another log on the fire.  Your thoughts?

RHM  1/27/2011

The following post is about how a vendor made three (3) major mistakes in today’s Marketing world.

Background, I recently ordered a cell phone from Verizon Wireless (actually the sales representative made a very compelling sales pitch for this particular phone (Pantech ) Upon delivery, I inserted the battery, charged the battery and called the 800 number to activate the phone.  In less than twenty four hours, the phone “froze”. I could not do anything with it.  It appeared that the battery was dead, so I called Verizon and they stated that there were no records of this particular problem, but they would send me a new phone.  I received a new phone, without a battery, tried the new phone with the old battery and no luck.  I called Verizon and got the same story, “never heard of this problem before, etc.”  I explained that I thought it was the battery, and asked them to send me a phone AND a battery.   They agreed and said that they would send a new phone and battery, but you guessed it, new phone and NO battery.   

Well I did some of my own investigation on the web and sure enough, I found numerous postings about the identical problem and the same responses.   So I called Verizon again, and they still denied any problem with the phone, but since this was a trend (trend?) they would break the rules this one time and send me a new phone and battery.  I did some additional investigation and called the technical hot line within Verizon and actually spoke to a hardware engineer and first thing he says is, “Oh yea, there is a problem between the battery and the phone.”  He agreed to send me a new phone (not refurbished) and a battery.  I got a new phone AND a new battery and thus far it is working for more than forty-eight hours. 

So what are the critical mistakes?

1-      Product introduction- The launch of this product was definitely not best in class.   Obviously there were no test groups involved , manufacturing and quality assurance were not in the loop, there definitely was not a pre-launch review before making the product public.  There was no escalation process set up to properly handle any customer complaints and the overall communication process was missing, since no-one other than a few engineers and actual customers knew about the existing problems.  The key point is that marketing MUST communicate to all functional groups and these groups must be involved from day one, have “voting rights” on whether to launch or not.  Product introduction is a company activity that is typically led by Marketing, but in any case this activity is not a stove pipe operation but an integrated campaign. 

2-      Quality Control- Did anyone test this particular product?  Were there beta sites? Was there a QA review? Did customer support know about these issues?  How could any company release a product with such a defect?

3-      Monitoring the social media networks- Given that the selling model has changed and the customer is now in control, it is critical to at least monitor what is being said about your company and your products and services. There were so many people posting complaints about this product and on numerous sites, how could Verizon not be aware of the situation or they were aware and chose not to respond.

 If you would like to know more about best in class product/service introduction contact us for more details.

RHL 01/11/2011

As I have stated previously, the seller-buyer model has changed.  Before, companies pretty much “controlled” what was being disseminated, guarded what was distributed, with little additional information available to the potential buyer (unless you knew someone in the company that you were researching). Today the model is basically upside down. Buyers (both consumers and business) are in control and not only have access to the Internet, but social media now provides viral information about companies, issues, products and services and very importantly, how they are being treated by these companies (customer satisfaction).

So if your company is being viewed as less then positive or is moving into the category of not being believed, what do you do?

A number of social marketing leaders suggest, “Make information to your customers and potential customers relevant.” Others say listen to what is being said about your company and respond positively not defensively. Others say focus on the way your products or services address the customer’s issues and others would say, reorganize your entire marketing organization to mirror today’s environment.

Let’s look at these ideas in some more detail:

1-      Relevancy:    I agree, buyers don’t want to receive information that has nothing to do with what they care about.   But this is good old marketing 101- customer segmentation.  So if you are not focusing on your targeted audience, you will definitely be perceived as non-relevant and hence not being believed.

2-      Respond to customer’s statements:  Isn’t it amazing how many companies do not seem to care what is being said about what the customers are saying!   I would suggest two action items; one, as a minimum start monitoring the social media circuits and respond positively to your audience and second, understand that your audience is not just the end user, but your channels (your own sales force, resellers, distributors, etc).  All have relevant information about what is working and what is not working…listen to them all.

3-      Address customer’s real issues:  Again marketing 101, but too many times I see companies introducing a product or service just because it sounds neat, but does not address a market need.

4-      Reorganize marketing:  Seems sort of a strong statement, but I would definitely look at your marketing organization and analyze it to see if you are paralleling your functions with those of today’s customer’s habits and methods.

Well that is what some of the “experts” are recommending.  While I agree with the concepts, I would state that they are basic marketing best practices, so if you are not doing these in some form or another, you will end up in the “not being believed” group.

My suggestions are not new and to be honest just makes good common sense; make the customer HAPPY or in today’s terminology – customer satisfaction!

Go back to the old expression that the customer is always right. If he is dissatisfied with the product or service, make it right; don’t put them through a million hoops just to wear him out.  If they have issues, assume they have issues and address them.  If your product or service does not perform the way you stated it would or if there is a bug in the software or a quality issue, admit it and tell the customer they are right and that you will fix it versus giving them a million reasons why their issue is not applicable.

You will be amazed how honesty overcomes most short falls.  Now, I know some are saying that this approach can be costly.  My response is it more costly than losing customers or worse, losing your good will?? 

The choice is yours. Be part of the group that is not believable or stand out in the crowd as a company who knows about their customer and actually partners them in their business.

RHL 12/07/10 

This is the sixth is a series about how the CMO should plan for 2011.

Austerity –noun, plural -ties.

1. austere quality; severity of manner, life, etc.; sternness.

2. Usually, austerities. ascetic practices: austerities of monastery life.

3. strict economy.

(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/austerity)

A day doesn’t go by without a news report of austerity measures being imposed; cutbacks in social programs in Greece, raising the retirement age in France, cutting services in Ireland, etc.  Some have interpreted the recent U.S. election results as a mandate to decrease spending and embrace a more austere economic environment.

How does this impact the CMO in planning for 2011?

1. Position and Messaging.  When times are “tough” images of solidarity, trust and longevity resonate.  Messages that convey these images, whether visual or in words will appeal in both the B2B and B2C markets.  Integral to the messaging is simplicity, i.e., a clear direct explanation of the value proposition.  For example, “saves money” has a stronger impact than “a meaningful buyer experience with long term economic benefits.”
2. Choices. Some studies have shown that too many choices confuse buyers.  On the other hand, product line extensions allow for different segments to be served.  A strategy of offering the traditional Good, Better, Best can resolve this issue.  Sunsetting the Basic and Ultra offerings lessens customer choices and may reduce overall costs.
3. Quality. When buyers, both B2B and B2C, have fewer dollars to spend they will increasingly look toward optimization, whether it is longevity, multiple usage or increased service. Products that are perceived as quality products will gain market share.
4. Image. If everyone perceives that they are living in a strict economy, lavish and over-the-top displays will ruin any messaging or positioning.  News reports or coverage about employees (CEOs or others) enjoying the high-life will impact buying decisions.  Reports about counting paperclips and pencils will show that the company is working along with everyone else.  It also reinforces the trust image.
5. Over deliver. I buy wine through the Internet.  The shipments come 3-4 times a year.  The most recent box (12 bottles) arrived the other day.  In unpacking it I found that 6 wine gift bags had been enclosed, at no charge.  While this was not an altruistic move by the vendor, as the more wine I give away the more I might buy, it showed that they recognize the season, the potential that I wouldn’t have a gift bag and acted to fill that need.  They over-delivered. In austere times vendors who over deliver build customer loyalty and more sales.
6. Acknowledge Risk Avoidance.  In austere times buyers will work to minimize risk.  This is not to say that they will always take the easy decision, i.e., we will go with IBM/Google/Apple because no one ever gets fired for buying IBM/Google/Apple, rather they will look to vendors to insure them from any risk in the decision process.

Studies done on companies that lasted through the Great Depression show that those that spent on Marketing were more successful than those who cut back on Marketing expenses.  Key to the recommendations above is continued expansive Marketing expenditures in order to maintain and grow mind share.

As CMO are you planning for an austere 2011?  Does your positioning, messaging and image reflect the changing environment?  Are you over delivering on your products and services?

RHM  11/18/2010

The first step is critical and will have a big impact on the success of your marketing programs and revenue generation.

Step one is to understand how social media will support your company’s strategy and goals.  First of all, if you are in B2B versus B2C one must understand there are some differences in areas such as who the actual end user is, who does the purchasing and what are the customers preferred sales channels.  These differences will have an impact not only on the selection of which social media, but the mix with other marketing programs and how the social media selections will be executed. Other considerations are knowing if are your customers are “online” and how they do research about products and services.

With  your company’s strategy and goals in hand, then you have to determine which marketing programs will be utilized and how they will be executed to support the strategies and goals with one exception, you now have to consider how to integrate social media into the overall portfolio.

An example of the using social media might be if one wants to increase awareness and you have online customers, then blogging is a good social media to support this goal. Another example for the B2B environment might be that if you have a specific product that is focused on a narrow market segment, then using LinkedIn or Twitter within these groups is a good way to understand what these groups are thinking about your product or service and at the same time making them aware of your product or service differentiation.

There is a large selection of social media to pick from that range from SEO to aggregation to management, so your first step is to understand your strategy and goals and how social media will support your plan of attack.  One last comment, good marketing always depends on having good information about your customers, your competitors and your markets.  Therefore, regardless of your selection of which social media(s) you go with, start monitoring your customers on what they are saying and collecting this information to be used in your marketing game plan.

RHL 11/16/10

Driving through a neighboring town the other day a small sign near a gas station exit caught my eye… “Check Out Our Low Price On Full Serve.”

This station is located at the intersection of two state routes, with a competing station diagonally across the street. On the other two corners are a supermarket and a drug store. The station is an Independent and small (two pumps) while the competing station is much larger and has an Exxon franchise. 1 ½ miles up the road, next to the Interstate, are two even larger stations directly across from each other. One is a Cumberland Farms store with gas; the other is Mobil with a store and a Dunkin’ Donuts

The two stations next to the Interstate compete on gas prices as well their convenience stores. Their current price for regular is $2.80. The Exxon diagonally across is $2.85. The Independent’s is $2.79…but with full service.

To me this is a prefect example of niche marketing. The owner/operator of this Independent station has recognized the market and has decided to go after two specific niches. The first is the price buyer, regardless of seller or brand. The second is the group that does not want to pump gas but is not disabled; generally elderly, some men who don’t like the smell of gas, and some women.

It will be interesting to see how this Independent operator does. I suspect that it recently changed hands, as the station was closed for a while and is operating under a new “logo.” The risks are; that the 1 cent difference may not make up for the lack of a brand, that there is not a large enough market of people who want their gas pumped, and that the lack of food/coffee while stopping for gas is a bigger negative than a lower price. Whatever the long term outcome, I am impressed with his/her Marketing acumen and their willingness to differentiate themselves in a competitive market.

Have you examined your market and competitors as well as this Independent operator? Can you turn a perceived disadvantage (only two pumps, no food store/coffee shop) into an advantage? Can you articulate the different segments or niches among your buyers?

Here is a link to an excellent article that Dick wrote earlier this year about Market Segmentation – A Market Segmentation Guide. I doubt if the new gas station owner read and then followed all of Dick’s steps or suggestions, but it does seem that he has covered all the bases.

Call (517) 306-6147 or contact us if you need help in segmenting your market.

RHM 11/04/2010
P.S. I didn’t buy gas this time as my tank was full, but will the next time.