Philippe Matthews Show Guru Advice, Author Reviews, Tech Reviews, Entertainment News

The next time you have a chance, pull a client aside and ask specific questions related to how you're doing. As someone who markets entertainment experiences--meaning I get to watch audiences react in real time--I find the power of human expression and poignant feedback is often far more meaningful than spreadsheet data. That's why I say that the next time you have the chance (and it should be as soon as today), you should pull a client aside and ask specific questions related to how you're doing.

Are you trying to play Santa on an elf's cashflow? Make your client gifts stand out this holiday season, regardless of budget

It may surprise you just how much each lost customer is costing your business. Are you investing heavily to acquire new customers, while losing customers at an even faster rate

Your customers that is. If you're spending tons of money on attracting new customers, you're making a mistake. If you’ve ever tried to explain the concept of "make new friends but keep your old ones" to a five-year-old, you have a pretty good perspective on how many high-growth businesses approach customer acquisition and retention.

Economists call it a "binary" outlook: The future will be either pretty good or a nightmare, with not much in between. Here's how you plan at such times. My firm and I have served business owners for over 25 years, but the questions I get now are some of the toughest I’ve ever faced.

I’m halfway around the world, in Brisbane, Australia, where, yesterday, I finished an intense two-day strategy session for the top 50 managers of a company determined to take over the world. Maybe not your world, but the world of installing large AC systems. During the strategy session, we stepped through a process of "strategic imagination" that I introduce in my next book, Outthink the Competition

We all know the saying "If you want something done, give it to a busy person." It’s sound advice--but it’s also a dangerous habit unless you step back occasionally to see what impact it might be having on the busy person’s experience at work.

%excerpt% Read the original post: A Business or an Art Project?

Every business runs into deadbeat customers.

Every business runs into deadbeat customers. Here's how to make sure they don't take advantage of you.

Playground Sessions is a new music learning system from BBH unit Zag. But its biggest lesson may be in how agencies are approaching new product development. Used to be the best an agency could do is build a rep as a stellar service provider

I wasn’t paying attention as I took a diagonal shortcut across Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square this August.

Human relationships are dynamic, not static. Leaders who rest on their laurels or take people for granted can find themselves with problem relationships down the road.

This is the quiet before the storm. I just finished off a plate of chicken marsala in an Italian restaurant, enveloped in the gentle clinking of forks and knives on china, plaid tablecloths, and bottles of olive oil. It all feels so warm and civilized, except for the luggage cars racing past the window and flashing lights of airplanes reminding me I am no longer in New York.

As you set your budget for 2012, it's a good time to take a fresh look at your suppliers and see if the relationship still works for you. In February, CEO of Gallaher & Associates Tom Gallaher found his business nearly a million dollars in debt thanks to a crooked accountant.