My best clients tell stories that inspire. They tell stories about situations that you can identify with. Michael J. Silverstein More Quotes by Michael J. Silverstein More Quotes From Michael J. Silverstein Take an expansive view of the consumers needs and expand beyond your current boundaries. Michael J. Silverstein boundariesviewsneeds The most effective CEOs have a primary source for tracking their markets. They meet with their teams frequently enough to keep innovation flowing, to reduce and focus costs, to be energized. They create a tight agenda and they set high goals. Michael J. Silverstein focusteamgoal Get out of the office. Roam the frontline. Be observant. Hold your people accountable for creating the new narrative, a new story, in which your customers are the most important "characters". Because, you know, they really are. Michael J. Silverstein creatingofficecharacter I like to take CEOs into consumers' homes to see the "real world." CEOs have privileged lives with big incomes, lots of help, access to just about anything they wish. The average consumer lives on $53,000 a year and has daily tradeoffs and compromises that must be made. I took a CEO into a trailer park so he could observe first-hand - and understand - how consumers use his product. Michael J. Silverstein realhomeaverage A curious mind does not jump to conclusions but tests carefully and thoroughly. A curious mind will draw on all of life's experience to get to the big "uh huh." The curious cut the data by quintile, by segment, and by user. Michael J. Silverstein datacuttingmind A curious mind armed with skill, experience, knowledge, and patterns can give birth to big brand revolution. Michael J. Silverstein skillsmindgiving You need to have sufficient resources against your priorities. Your eyes have to be open every day. Michael J. Silverstein prioritieseyeneeds Curiosity is the greatest source of ideas, retail revolutions, and insights. Michael J. Silverstein retailcuriosityideas Original research starts all inspiration. Get inside the head of the consumer. Understand their needs, hopes and dreams. Deliver to their expectation. Have your team do the work. They will then have the framework for the solution. If they believe and they understand, the results will be their results. Michael J. Silverstein teaminspirationdream Business operators that really deeply care about their employees and consumers deliver the right response every day. Michael J. Silverstein really-deepemployeecare The choices we make define our future. Michael J. Silverstein our-futurechoices Failure to make the tough but necessary choices means slow painful death. Michael J. Silverstein painful-deathchoicesmean People need to be inspired. They need to hear and believe a story. If you want them to be self-motivated, you need to engage them. Michael J. Silverstein selfbelievepeople For me, it's often about consumption behavior. I focus my energy on understanding the heavy user. They are "odd" but hold opportunity. I ask: how do they use the product, what motivates them, how can we clone them. Michael J. Silverstein focusunderstandingopportunity Our most exciting discoveries come from studying anomalies. The once-in-1000 occurrence is worth getting detail on. Michael J. Silverstein detailsanomaliesdiscovery Companies that get in trouble have a failure to see two realities: market trends and competitor attacks. Michael J. Silverstein trendstworeality The truth is that business is simple: create great products, merchandise them at the point of sale, continuously innovate and surprise, reward and achieve a position of loyalty with your front line, and seek new truth from the market. Deliver the goods at a competitive cost. Price to earn a decent but not competitively inviting return. Not much else matters. Michael J. Silverstein linesloyaltysimple I believe in classic ideas. They are timeless. They are forever. There are many fads in management. Michael J. Silverstein foreverbelieveideas Respond to your customer's dissatisfactions with precision and power. Michael J. Silverstein dissatisfactionprecisioncustomers Define a winning proposition that is consumer right and delivers margin accretion. Michael J. Silverstein marginsconsumerswinning
