Customers don’t experience products in a vacuum. The product experience includes the name, packaging, purchasing experience, unboxing experience, social context, competitive landscape, and the emotions and memories triggered by past exposure to marketing messages.

To make matters more complicated, most of these considerations are processed subconsciously. Customers are often unaware of how important the supporting factors are in the influencing the choices they make.

Customers Don’t Just Choose the Best Product, They Choose the Best Experience

The Coca-Cola Company famously learned this lesson when they changed the formula for Coca-Cola in 1985. The new formula consistently beat the original formula in blind taste tests, so they assumed they had a better product. Yet when it was introduced to the market, customers hated it. People don’t buy blind taste tests. Customer’s opinions of the product changed when it was offered as a complete experience, and customers wanted the original Coca-Cola experience.
– The Startup Daily

Feeling overwhelmed is not usually an indicator of having too much work, but an indicator that it’s not clear what work to do next. You may have the talent, strategy, and resources you need, but you just can’t get started. The tasks ahead just seem too big.

The Best Solution to Being Overwhelmed Is to Introduce More Structure

Adding some processes and protocols can get things back on track. You don’t want to overdo it, but more structure in your organization makes the next steps automatic which helps to eliminate procrastination and paralysis.
– The Startup Daily

When faced with negotiations, people will sometimes “see how negotiations go” before figuring out what they will do if an agreement cannot be reached. But doing so will put you at a disadvantage.

Always Fully Develop Your Best Alternative Before Negotiating an Agreement

Without exploring the alternative ahead of time, it is easy to both overestimate and underestimate the impact of not reaching an agreement, especially in the heat of negotiations. If there are multiple options, you may start to think of them in aggregate—even though you can only choose one option—which will make the alternative seem more appealing than it actually is. On the flip side, the unknown elements may make the alternative seem worse than it actually is, which can lead you to make concessions you will regret later.

Only by having fully developed the alternatives can you make the best decisions in a negotiation.
– The Startup Daily

MBAs and entrepreneurs use two very different approaches to solving business problems, and each has its place. When the goal and each step that must be accomplished to arrive at the goal are known and can be planned sequentially, then introducing a strictly defined process will reduce errors and avoid surprises. This is where the traditional MBA excels.

Entrepreneurs, however, are looking for anomalies, not trying to reduce them.

When There Are Many Unknowns, Process Hinders Progress

An entrepreneur’s plans are made and remade as new details are learned from each interaction with the customer. The solution and each step to arrive at it must be kept flexible, allowing for improvisation without penalty.
– The Startup Daily

People have a tendency to use busyness to prove to themselves and others that they are productive and dedicated to their work. But is all that work really adding value?

Over time busyness becomes a habit. Keeping busy with little things becomes an excuse that allows you to avoid focusing on important long-term goals.

Set Aside Blocks of Interruption-Free Time for Planning and Reflection

Strategic thinking requires that you slow down, clear your mind, and take a break from interruptions and endless minor tasks.
– The Startup Daily

Since the beginning of the Industrial Age companies have been focused on marketing one-size-fits-all products to the masses. The more generic a product was, the broader its appeal was. But people don’t want to be generic.

The Mass-Market is Shrinking as it Becomes Easier for People to Find Unique Products

When you are marketing to everyone, you need to have the loudest message to be heard by anyone. By narrowing your focus you can zone in the aspects of your offering that a specific type of customer is extremely passionate about. These customers will be happy to spread your message to other like-minded folks for you.
– The Startup Daily

As a manager, you will be tempted to intervene when you see an employee who is about to fail. If the risk is not high, it is often better to leave them alone.

Let Your Employees Make Mistakes So that They May Learn from Them

People learn better from their own mistakes than from being told they are making a mistake. When you interfere, the employee will no longer have ownership of the situation. A good manager must strike a balance between controlling and ignoring.
– The startup Daily

Everyone suffers when a jerk is allowed to join your organization. Even if the employee in question is a star performer, don’t discount the effect they will have on the other employees in your company. There are hidden costs associated with a hostile work environment.

A Single Hostile Employee Can Turn a Culture of Collaboration into a Culture of Fear

Hostility can lead to an environment where people are more interested in pointing fingers than fixing problems. Employees will be unwilling to experiment with new ideas for fear of humiliation and ridicule. Innovation and creativity suffer when employees actively avoid the spotlight.
The Hidden Cost of Hiring Jerks
November 7, 2011Volume #222
Everyone suffers when a jerk is allowed to join your organization. Even if the employee in question is a star performer, don’t discount the effect they will have on the other employees in your company. There are hidden costs associated with a hostile work environment.

A Single Hostile Employee Can Turn a Culture of Collaboration into a Culture of Fear

Hostility can lead to an environment where people are more interested in pointing fingers than fixing problems. Employees will be unwilling to experiment with new ideas for fear of humiliation and ridicule. Innovation and creativity suffer when employees actively avoid the spotlight.
– The Startup Daily

To survive in an era of constant change, stay focused on the core of your business; the one problem you solve for your customers.

Stick to What You Do, but Reinvent How You Do It

Remember that your customer’s world is being disrupted too. How can you make it easier for them to take advantage of the new world?
– The Startup Daily

Rewards can be used to encourage creative and nonroutine behaviors in your employees, but they should not be offered before the work is done.

Telling workers what the reward will be and making it contingent on doing the work will cause workers to focus on the reward rather than on the work itself.

Rewards Should be Unexpected and Given After the Fact

To further improve effectiveness, use non-tangible rewards such as praise, and give specific feedback about the behavior you want to encourage.
– The Startup Daily