In a recent post I suggested that Amazon, Apple, and Google are imminently trustable companies, appearing always to put their customers' interests first when devising new products and business strategies. And it's truly gratifying to see three such customer-oriented firms succeeding so well. But what about Facebook? Given all the recent concerns over Facebook's privacy protection policies, would you say it is as trustworthy as these other firms?

Continue reading "Is Facebook Trustworthy? (I think not.)" »

Posted by Don Peppers | Permalink | Comments (2)

The ratings agencies, including Moody's and S&P (a unit of McGraw-Hill) are under fire for not doing a better job in evaluating various financial securities and derivatives products during the sub-prime housing boom and the run-up to the 2008 financial meltdown that has so seriously undermined the world economy. Recently Moody's released information that it might be the subject of an SEC investigation over its presumed "false and misleading" ratings of various products. The company maintains its innocence, of course, and nothing is proven until all the evidence is presented to a judge, but it's widely thought that the big ratings agencies failed miserably in their jobs of providing reasonable and prudent financial ratings to guide investors.

Continue reading "Biased Information and the Financial Meltdown" »

Posted by Don Peppers | Permalink | Comments (0)

In presentations to business groups, I often emphasize the importance of always trying to earn the trust of customers. Customer trust may be the single most important asset any business can have, and two conditions must be met before a customer will trust you:

1. Intent. The customer has to perceive that you have the right motive - that is, that you intend to act in the customer's own interest, and that you won't sell the customer's interest short when that advances your own business goals.


2. Competence. You must be capable of carrying out that good intent in a reasonably competent manner.

Continue reading "Honesty, Part III. QUESTIONS YOU SHOULD ASK YOURSELF" »

Posted by Don Peppers | Permalink | Comments (3)

Dear Abby,

I have a good friend who is a fairly senior businessman, responsible for a whole division at his firm that sells professional services to corporate clients - usually large corporate clients. He's become very successful, and every time we see each other I find myself marveling at his accomplishment, having built his division into a high-growth business in just the few years he's managed it.

Continue reading "Honesty, Part II. CONFESSIONS OF AN HONESTY "PRUDE"" »

Posted by Don Peppers | Permalink | Comments (1)

The increasingly intense competitive struggle at the frontier of digital life - among Amazon, Google, and Apple, over the marketing of e-books, for instance - is a great example of the power of trustability when it comes to business. These three giants of the digital industry have each based their business success on earning and keeping the trust of their customers.

Remarking on the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980's, during which more than a million people died and both sides were guilty of terrible atrocities, Henry Kissinger was said to have remarked that it was too bad they couldn't both lose. Today, when I look at the struggle going on in the e-book space among Amazon, Apple, and Google, I find myself hoping that they all three can win. They probably won't all three win, however, and my prediction is that the battle will likely go to the competitor most willing to put the customer's own interest at the center of its strategy. And even though I'm a very loyal Amazon customer and Kindle user, right now my money would be on Google.

Continue reading "The Rising Power of Trustworthy Businesses" »

Posted by Don Peppers | Permalink | Comments (0)

One day a few years ago, a top executive in the German headquarters of Siemens AG was on his way to an internal sales meeting at one of the division offices when he encountered sales manager carrying a folding chair with him into the meeting. Curiosity aroused, the exec asked what was going on, and the manager replied that whenever he brought this chair into a meeting, the whole character of the discussion was different. "Just watch," the manager said, as they both entered the conference room. Several people, including sales reps, were already gathered in the room when the manager brought his chair in, unfolded it, and set it down empty next to his own seat.

Continue reading "Honesty, Part I. THE MAN WITH THE FOLDING CHAIR" »

Posted by Don Peppers | Permalink | Comments (1)

In today's complex selling environment, many organizations have come to realize that relying on new product features is not enough to attract more customers. Many are discovering that they need to organize internally around their customers.

This involves creating new avenues of sustained growth, which hinges on evolving the sales strategy. Sales organizations should adopt a targeted customer segmentation approach that aligns sales with customer segments.

Continue reading "Customer Strategist Yücel Ersöz:
Organizing Sales Teams Around the Customer" »

| Permalink | Comments (0)