By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD Although the precise multiple varies with who’s doing the telling, the truth is it’s many times more costly to obtain a new customer than keep an existing one. The sad reality is, no one at the giant mega-corporations gets this — or at least their actions belie that they do. […]
Category: Business
Business articles by Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD
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Learning from History
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD One of the assignments I enjoyed most in college was analyzing case studies. I was, and continue to be, fascinated with learning what founders and their companies have done—both right and wrong. While the success stories are the more exciting and inspirational, it is the failures and missteps that are the […]
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Measuring Marketing Effectiveness
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD There’s an alarming trend among marketing folks, especially those focused on e-marketing. Their perspective is if marketing can’t be measured, then it’s not viable. This is incorrect; some marketing results simply cannot be tracked. Consider print marketing. You can’t count the number of impressions, clicks, or conversions. You have no […]
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Is Gamification a Trend or a Fad?
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD I was quite skeptical about “gamification,” the use of game concepts to motivate desirable behavior among customers (or employees). I reasoned that while expecting customers to “play games” might result in a short-term increase in brand involvement or purchases, I doubted if it was sustainable. However, I am rethinking my […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD I needed to order some ink cartridges for my printer — the kind I can only buy directly from the vendor. There was a problem with the website, so I picked up the phone to place my order. I told the agent I wanted to order two black ink cartridges. […]
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Put the Customer First
Achieve Better Outcomes by Making the Prospect a Priority By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD I put off buying things. It’s not because I procrastinate (at least not too much), don’t like making decisions, or don’t want to spend money. Sadly, the reason I often avoid buying what I want or need is simply because it’s […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD It happened again. It shouldn’t surprise me but it does. In fact, it has been said so often that most people believe it to be true and accept it as fact. What am I talking about? Once again, a politician has stood up and passionately, emphatically, and convincingly asserted that we, […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD Today I encountered something I had never seen before. I’ll call it a “double opt-out” process. More common is the double opt-in process, which requires a two-step procedure to be added to an email list. The first step is to submit your information to an online form. Since anyone can add […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD I remember reading a notable case study in my college marketing class. It was about cereal rivals Kellogg’s and Post. Prior to the Great Depression, their marketing efforts and corresponding market share was comparable. But when hard times hit, Post reacted by pulling their advertising, whereas Kellogg’s doubled their efforts. […]
By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD I’ve been thinking a lot lately about customer service via the telephone, even more so than usual. There are some things that I am excited about, while others are a concern. On the negative side, consider a large telecommunications company that provides cell phone, Internet, and long distance. Another is […]