Tag: Duane Jones
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More basic sales rules
Speaking of physical vs virtual…. I randomly noticed a substack thread of Dem campaigners. They’re tired and discouraged because nobody will listen. They’re mainly worried that Trump will implement Project 2025 which is a world-ending apocalypse in their minds. Phone banks are simply useless, but door-to-door CAN bring results if you’re clearly offering something that…
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Basic rule of sales
I’m gradually spending more time at Quora and less at Substack. An elementary rule of business says that a display, whether it’s a store window or a magazine cover or a social media feed, should offer a variety of items. A variety gives each customer a chance to find something he likes in his current…
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Back to 2008
From a Duane Jones viewpoint politics is back to 2008. Before Biden was kicked out, both sides were running defective products. They had to rely on cult behavior to get any buyers at all. The first rule of honest business and honest politics is to start with a product that people feel they can use.…
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Another old rule breaks
Along with switching to the Euro campaign method, this sudden change also breaks another long-time “rule” of politics and corporations. For 40 years both monstrosities have been IGNORING the millions of human customers and SOLELY serving the dirty dozen billionaires. Basic rule of business AND government: If you want to make money from humans, you…
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Mong
Cute note seen on Substack. Five things you can mong: Cheese, war, fish, hate, iron Got me thinking about the root. Previously active suffixes tell a story. How did they lose their activeness? Etymonline says: = = = = = START QUOTE: Old English mangere “merchant, trader, broker,” agent noun from mangian “to traffic, trade,”…
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It’s all in the TEST DRIVE.
Listening as usual to the auto dealer training films at night. They always emphasize the crucial importance of the TEST DRIVE. Persuasion and advertising might bring the prospect into the office, but only the TEST DRIVE can sell him the car. Duane Jones made the same point for soap and food products. SAMPLE the product…
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Makes more sense
Today I learned! On Quora a car dealer tells a story about a Karen who got violent and got a day in jail. He finished with “The customer isn’t always right!” Several commenters clarified that the original saying was, In matters of taste the customer is always right. That makes a LOT more sense than…
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Metaupflation
Bloomberg does a good job with brief Features describing an interesting trend in business. Here they discuss upflation, which is a new name for a VERY OLD tradition. Packaged grocery items, in the ad or on the package, suggest new ways to use the biscuit mix or soup or tomatoes or scouring powder. These suggestions…
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Bad deal
Reading more of the AI criticism at MindMatters. Most of the complaints are about the talents and “consciousness” of LLMs, which are utterly irrelevant. Altman WANTS us to be arguing about the degree of creativity and the “consciousness” and the fake threat of grabbing the nuclear button. (Big Data has been on the nuclear button…
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Boxtops all the way down
I stay on the email list of NewSuperstitionist because they occasionally feature an interesting development that I hadn’t heard about through other sources. Their emails in recent years reveal a change in their business model. NS runs frequent cruises to various parts of the world, with big-name “Experts On Board” to narrate and discuss what…
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Burgum’s boxtop
Here’s a radical idea, which might have been understood at some time in the prehistoric past: If you want people to do something, pay them. Burgum, considered the likely VP for Trump, understands this ancient weird lost arcane astrological mystical wisdom. He wanted people to vote for him, so he paid them. Because of our…
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Why is that wrong?
Rumble is suing Google for showing Google’s own products first in searches. When you look for maps, Google Maps is first. When you look for financial advice, Google Finance is first. Why is that wrong? Advertising is normal and natural, and advertising your own product is just logical. Why would Google want to boost its…
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Not so dumb
Yesterday I was chuckling over Wells Fargo’s stupid misestimate of human behavior. They signed a 10 year contract with a credit card company that was offering discounts on rent, provided the landlords would agree to the deal. Wells itself would bear the cost of the discounts, so the landlords wouldn’t lose. Wells figured that very…
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