During a conversation one day with an old mentor of mine, he pointed at his ears then pointed at his mouth stating: you were given two of these (ears) and only one of these (mouth), which means that you should listen twice as much as you speak. If you take the time to listen, your customer will tell you everything you need to know in order to maintain a great long-term relationship with them.

Not only have I found this to be true but now we have the tools to reach this golden goal to with the masses.

You can no longer think that the marketing strategies that you have had in place in the past will continue to work in today's economy and that you will live happily ever after. The story must go on.

The costs of both running and maintaining the bathroom at a business that services the general public can be pretty pricey, so I ask is it worth it?

With the economy as it is today businesses of all types are looking to maximize their marketing dollar and weed out what may now be ineffective. In order to do that we must look at the cultural trends in America and decide if what worked before is still viable today. Are print ads as effective as they were even ten short years ago? Are television commercials paid the same amount of attention as they were before the advent of TiVo when you can fast forward past them? Are radio spots listened to with any serious cognition by the target audience or listened to at all? (Sirius Radio pun intended). If you haven't yet, it is time for you to get real about your e initiatives.

Many brands are coming up with some great new menu items in an attempt to get customers excited and get them away from the competition. But has anyone noticed that now they are all offering the exact same new thing?