You have worked diligently in identifying who your ideal customer is.  You can picture exactly in your mind how they look, dress, eat, drive, and most importantly spend their money.  Yet do you know who influences their decisions? Now I am sure you have noticed that I have not written what, but who? It is the “Who” that has a tremendous amount of...

An article in the recent edition of the Harvard Business Review talks about the need to bring conflict into the workplace.  Picking a fight about the future direction for a brand, product, or company can be key in bringing out innovation and a stronger plan. The article gives you the tools you might need to set the conditions and manage the fight within...

Who purchases your products and services? What do they look like? How do they interact in your marketplace? These are just some of the questions you need to know the answers to when you seek out your ideal customer.  For the small business or niche business, your ideal customer is not everyone that walks through your door.  In fact, even for the larger...

In a recent article in the Wall Street Journal on September 21, 2009, discussed how larger companies like Starbucks and Avon are consolidating the power base into the CEO.  This is done by combining the CEO and COO positions and/or President positions under one person.  In essence the combination of those positions eliminates the #2 person in the organization....

While we are a bunch of lions here at Von Gehr Consulting Group, we also are pet owners.  Yesterday we had a wonderful customer service experience through email.  Take a look: I had never even heard of your breed of dogs before. Live and learn, huh? I was looking at a couple of web sites on those dogs and I think you’d be best off with...