A few days ago I wrote about the problems of “misaligned incentives”.   The focus of that article was on the sales compensation models of inside sales reps, and the importance of aligning the company’s objectives with the compensation plans of its salespeople.
Another example of misaligned incentives has come up in the last 2 days in a story that has been widely reported in the tech press.  An Airbnb customer used the service to rent her house for a week to a visitor, and when she returned her house was destroyed …

I have a confession to make: we own a timeshare.
Now before you berate me for having no business sense in buying a timeshare, let me say that it is with one of the best hotel brands in the world, we bought in a location that we intend to use every year (as opposed to buying as an investment, or to trade into other properties), we’ve been very happy with it and after six years have no regrets with our purchase.  …

Changing user behavior is really, really hard. It has to be one of the biggest obstacles to reaching innovation success. I’ve seen it with my start-ups that have introduced new products, and I’ve seen it with companies that make seemingly insignificant changes to what a user has already learned about a product. It is impossible to underestimate the effort and risk at asking a user to do something new.
I was reminded of this golden rule when I came across a Quora article titled “Why hasn’t another product …

With this last post of 2010, I wanted to write about some of my observations of retailers and products during this holiday shopping month.
Charity giving at the register. When I was making a $50 purchase at the local Pottery Barn, as I was paying the clerk asked if I’d like to donate $1 to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.  I think this is a terrific way to raise money (and I said yes).  First, I’ve already taken out my credit card, so that barrier is gone.  Second, they didn’t ask me …

Two authors that I enjoy reading are talking today about Business Model innovation – a subject that I’m passionate about and often write about.   Idris Mootee wrote What Do You Know About Business Model Innovation?, and Stefan Lindegaard wrote about Business Model Innovation – Big Risk, Big Rewards.
Both articles note the confusion that people have when trying to define “business model” in the context of innovation and whether it is different from your “strategy”.  In my experience, if you disagree with someone’s definition of “business model”, the disagreement will typically …

I own a few website domains – my innovation blog, my name, and several sites for various business ideas – through either GoDaddy.com or Register.com. In the last week, two sales tactics that Register.com use really jumped out at me – and not in a positive way.

In a recent post I wrote about how I had no intention of paying the high fees that media companies were charging for the online versions of their magazines and newspapers.  Don’t mistake that position for thinking that I believe all content should be free – far from it.  I am ready to embrace micropayments, when the model becomes widespread and standardized, as a means to purchase unique, valuable content a la carte.
But the idea that I would pay more for the online version of a magazine or newspaper, or …

During my holiday shopping on www.patagonia.com, I was able to learn firsthand how not to implement a web-based chat feature.
As soon as I went to the Patagonia website, before I had a chance to click to anywhere else, a popup chat window opened with a nice customer service representative asking if they could help me find anything.  Like 99% of anyone who has ever just arrived at an ecommerce site – or for that matter just stepped foot in a store – I said “no thanks” (in this case by …

My local gas station is driving me crazy.  Every time I insert my credit card to buy gas, it displays the message “Do you want to buy a carwash?” Every time I say “No”.   And the next time I visit, they ask me again.
This is probably a trivial complaint, and I realize that the classic “upsell” is a standard part of doing business.  I even wrote an article about how impressed I was with my tire dealer’s “captive upsell”.  Nevertheless, this gas station is doing it completely wrong.  The classic …

There have been several dozen very popular business books published in the last decade, and the best way to retain and utilize the key points of any books are to write them down in a synopsis like this.
The Tipping Point was written by Malcolm Gladwell and published in the early part of the decade.  He defines the “Tipping Point” as “that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire.”  This concept is a critical one for business people to understand, as …