Products | The Barefoot Spirit

How to Turn Your Customers Into Advocates (even during a pandemic)

by Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey | Business Blog

The pandemic has resulted in many businesses closing. Many are hanging on by a thread. Others have been turned upside down. And many more have lost customers and sales. What can you do about it? Some may advise you to advertise more. That can be effective. But there...

Product Development Starts with Demand and Access, Not the Product

by Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey | Business Blog, Interview

“But all my friends thought it was so cool.” That’s the usual lament we hear from the producers of failed products. Why? They fell in love with their product, so much so that they actually thought success was based on the product itself. Probably the most important...

Does Your Company Have a Customer Intel Department?

MUCH MORE THAN CUSTOMER SERVICE

by Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey | Business Blog

In most large companies, the customer service department is strictly for complaint resolution. Companies usually relegate customer service to the bottom of the corporate structure pyramid because they’re seen as some kind of a clerical call center. They’re...

How Much Is Your Privacy Worth?

THERE’S NO FREE LUNCH!

by Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey | Business Blog

With all the recent scandals about how your personal likes, clicks, shares, and the groups you’ve joined are being used as products for sale to advertisers, political activists, and even foreign agents, are you finally ready to pay for social networking? “Well,...

Are Conferences About to Change …Again?

“I PAID TO LISTEN TO AN UPSELL?”

by Michael Houlihan & Bonnie Harvey | Business Blog

Would you pay $299 or more to attend a two-day conference to listen to 10 speakers selling products from the stage? We wouldn’t and there’s a growing audience rebellion brewing out there that agrees. In the future, it will become harder to fill your conference seats...