Starbucks is trying to repeat what brought them initial success as a company – taking a low quality product and offering a higher quality alternative.

They started with brewing rich, bold coffee and introduced North America to European latte and cappuccino beverages.

And recently, Starbucks launched a brand of instant coffee, Starbucks VIA Ready Brew that beats the taste of Nescafe and Sanka.

[Starbucks VIA Ready Brew launched in the Fall '09]

Starbucks most recently announced the sale, in grocery stores, of pre-flavored ground coffee: Starbucks Natural Fusions. Ground coffee in three flavors: vanilla, caramel, and cinnamon. The difference from competing brands is Starbucks uses real ingredients (spices and botanicals) and natural flavors ground into the coffee.

[Starbucks Natural Fusions launched June 2010]

The Starbucks Coffee brand was built as an alternative to low-quality, lack-of-flavor coffee; instant coffee; and low-quality flavored coffees. Historically, instant and flavored coffee were the worst quality coffees on the market.

I recently, harshly criticized Starbucks for the decision to sell flavored coffee.

However, as I’ve thought about it… why not? Why shouldn’t Starbucks pursue these products?

Whether or not you like the dark roast of Starbucks, they still raised the bar on coffee quality. And, by offering a high-quality instant and high-quality flavored – they’re following the same “better quality” approach they did with regular coffee.

Old-time Starbucks employees and early-adopters seem to be the only ones shaken up by the idea of Starbucks selling instant and flavored coffee.

Starbucks has always taught that the press pot is the best way to get the most flavor out of coffee. That hasn’t changed. What also hasn’t changed is that most customers drink coffee with milk and sugar.

I guess some of us are disappointed. We were hoping that Starbucks recovery plan would be to rewind the clock, and…

• cut out the fluffy drinks,
• focus on in-store whole bean expertise,
• re-focus efforts on brewing machines,
• make customer experience high priority,
• focus on being the coffee expert…

But, I guess ‘expert’ also means ‘snob’ and that may be a turn off for the masses Starbucks is relying on to drive the business. Better to target the masses with instant coffee and flavored coffee and offer them a higher-quality choice.

By the way, I was shipped a media kit to sample the Natural Fusions coffees. They were delicious. They tasted natural – no funky after tastes. I thought the vanilla was the best, but the caramel and cinnamon tasted great as well. Even better with milk and sugar. if you like flavored coffee – you’ll love what Starbucks is offering.

While they say “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” – a poor imitation isn’t much of a compliment.

Pictured below is a StarBox Coffe shop in Tirana, Albania, sent to me by my friend Jasper.

Here is a shot I found on Flickr of the same place.

I think most consumers could tell the difference between a genuine Starbucks and StarBox.

Besides, if Starbucks couldn’t win a court case in ’07 against South Korea’s Starpreya Coffee for trademark infringement – which uses the logo below – I don’t think StarBox Coffe needs to worry.

Seth Godin posted these five steps on his blog today. As always with Seth, you can’t get any cleaner or to the point than the way he puts it.

1. Go, make something happen.
2. Do work you’re proud of.
3. Treat people with respect.
4. Make big promises and keep them.
5. Ship it out the door.

When in doubt, see #1.

Each week Tom Fishburne publishes a comic panel as part of his Brand Camp series. And each week I simply want to republish what he’s written; he is always spot-on with his observations.

This week’s strip, titled “Shiny New Thing”, highlights a weakness of so many companies – attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. I’ve been calling it “Shiny Object Syndrome.”

[Click for Larger View]

Tom explains why it happens…

It’s particularly easy to get distracted when the going gets tough on your core plan… Whether it’s a new technology, a new product, or a new customer, falling in love with the Shiny New Thing can take a team off course. It’s easy to get enthusiastic about the promise of something new than the hard slog of what you’re already doing…”

One quality that makes great companies “great” is their ability to work through that ‘hard slog.’ They do what it takes to “do it right” and finishing what they’ve started. They have sticktoitivity.

It happens often. A relatively successful product or program becomes boring to the manager. They neglect it, don’t promote it, and they let it move to the bottom shelf. The manager continues to be complacent and allows inventory and replenishment to become unreliable. Of course, customers aren’t going to purchase a hard to find, poorly stocked product – so they stop buying. The product manger gets to blame the customer and “lack of demand” instead of “I lost interest.”

Sure, products and programs run their course, customer needs change, and should be replaced by something more appropriate. On the other hand, you need to have the patience – and attention – to stick out your strategy.

Don’t allow Shiny Object Syndrome or ADHD to distract you.

Artwork © Tom Fishburne

Starbucks Coffee Company
on Monday the 17th of May in the year 2010
has “jumped the whale.”*

Starbucks announced today they will start offering Starbucks Natural Fusions, flavored coffee beans in grocery stores.

For those of you who remember when Starbucks was more about quality than quantity, flavored beans were considered the devil. If coffee was plotted on a Monopoly game board. Starbucks was “Boardwalk” and flavored coffee was “Mediterranean Avenue.”

Starbucks roasts its coffee darker than most – thus the nicknames: Tarbucks or Charbucks. Starbucks did this to draw out the natural flavors in coffee. Great coffee doesn’t need additives for great flavor, it requires the right beans roasted for the right amount of time. Great wineries don’t add apricot, honey, or oak flavoring to their wines; they grow, blend, and age grapes in a manner to draw out those flavors.

Starbucks is dumbing down their coffee to make money in the flavored coffee category. Just as they dumbed down their coffee to enter the instant coffee market with their VIA product.

It doesn’t matter if you’re making THE premium quality product. You could make the best quality, gourmet, all-natural, organic, fried pork rinds in the world… But, you’re still selling fried pork rinds.

To drive sales, Starbucks should focus on the “specialty retailer” part of their business and improve the quality and experience in their stores. Starbucks used to be about providing a delightful in-store experience; hand-crafted beverages, community, quality.

Starbucks wants to become consumer product conglomerate – with focus on getting their products in as many channels as possible.

Last week I wrote about Seattle’s Best Coffee, Starbucks little sister brand, and despite a new logo – have no real news to share. Flavored beans and instant coffee are a perfect fit for the Seattle’s Best brand, and would be quite newsworthy for the brand. Let Seattle’s Best offer the gimmicky coffee, keep Starbucks premium.

(I know what you’re thinking… Isn’t a dark cherry mocha Frappuccino a gimmicky coffee? Yes, it is. And the topic for another post! That’s how Starbucks is trying to be more like Dairy Queen than the king of coffee.)

There is a decision-filter product managers and marketers often forget when there is an opportunity to make more money.

“Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”

Just because Starbucks found a way to make a higher-quality flavored coffee, doesn’t mean they should.

The Phrase: Jumping The Shark (and Jumping The Whale)

Jon Hein, the guy who coined the phrase, says that jumping the shark is the “defining moment when you know that your favorite television program has reached its peak. That instant that you know from now on… its all downhill… From that moment on, the program will simply never be the same.”

The phrase originated from a climactic scene in American sitcom Happy Days in September 1977. In this story, the central characters visit Los Angeles, where Fonzie (Henry Winkler), wearing swim trunks and his trademark leather jacket, jumps over a confined shark on water skis, answering a challenge to demonstrate his bravery. (Source: Wikipedia)

*Here, with Starbucks dismissing one of it’s founding quality principles, a shark isn’t large enough marine life. Jump the whale is the scale. Particularly, for a coffee company named after a character from the book Moby Dick. In the novel, Starbuck was the ‘coffee-loving’ first mate.

On Wednesday May 12th, Seattle’s Best Coffee, announced the beginning of their “brand transformation” with a new logo that (as they put it) matches their “optimist outlook and simplified approach to great coffee experiences.”

Over the next months and years, they plan to “show up in new ways and different places. Places where great coffee should be.”

This tactic is premature and not customer-ready.

Starbucks purchased Seattle’s Best in 2003. It was positioned in press releases as a way to offer coffee lovers a different taste profile than what Starbucks offers.

The two key drivers for buying Seattle’s Best discussed within Starbucks were:

• For their food service business, and
• To have a sister brand – of a lower tier – that would allow Starbucks (the corporation) to open in sites not suitable for the Starbucks brand. (Keep Starbucks positioned as premium, yet don’t lose business in those other spaces.)

Other than opening in Border’s bookstore locations, Seattle’s Best hasn’t done much during the past seven years.

And, each time one of those “second tier” locations became available, a Starbucks was built instead.

This has also helped to create a situation where consumers no longer see the gap of service / experience / quality between Dunkin’ Donuts and McDonald’s / McCafé.

One of the original intentions was to not broadcast Seattle’s Best as a sub-brand of Starbucks… Rather to leave them perceived as separate and even, competitors.

Other than making Starbucks seem even BIGGER and intent on taking over the world – there isn’t much value in promoting Seattle’s Best connected with Starbucks. So it makes no sense why Seattle’s Best is being promoted with the tagline:

“The next big thing from Starbucks isn’t Starbucks.”

Unfortunately, more than anything, Seattle’s Best is showing us what NOT to do.

What’s Confusing

• Why Should Customers Care? Other than a landing page, a new logo, and a homemade video – there are no other changes. Especially none that benefit customers.
• Seattle’s Best has killed their own thunder. When they do make a meaningful change, it will be expected versus a surprise. They will “owe it to us” versus surprise and delight us.
• The ‘hope it goes viral’ video featuring Seattle’s Best employees breaking into the bell tower of Starbucks headquarters and covering up the Starbucks siren logo with the new Seattle’s Best logo doesn’t make any sense.

  Covering up the old logo with a new logo is what businesses do when one business buys another.

  Based on this tactic – to the average consumer – it appears Seattle’s Best has purchased Starbucks.

[Starbucks Bought By Seattle's Best?]
• Why is Seattle’s Best being promoted as “the next big thing from Starbucks?” What good does it do to promote Seattle’s Best as a Starbucks product?

  Seattle’s Best was recently launched at the coffee brand at SUBWAY sandwich shops. The ads feature the old logo. It would seem to make sense to wait to launch Seattle’s Best in SUBWAY until after the brand transformation? Especially with exposure Seattle’s Best is getting of the old log in SUBWAY ads.

What To Do Differently

Seattle’s Best has no news now. Stop trying to generate buzz and excitement for something that doesn’t yet exist.

1. Make changes that benefit customers. (A spiffy logo is not a customer benefit). Do something new, different, or better than now:
   • Better product,
   • Better prices,
   • Better environment,
   • Better service…
2. Relaunch this new, different, better at all locations on one day. Surprise customers – like an overnight beauty make-over.

   I visit my Seattle’s Best location today and BAM! – there is a new logo on the building exterior, new menu boards, new cups, new logo on products, on the aprons, new ads, and SUBWAY locations change as well. All this unveiled the same day – all at once. Wow!

   THAT is a brand transformation!

   Instead, they’re are doing it piece-meal. Instead of a beauty make-over, we have to watch them slowly grow out their hair… So slow, will we care that it is happening (and I quote) “over the next months and years.”

3. Until there is anything truly newsworthy to share – keep this information internal .

   • Focus on getting buy-in and participation from your franchise team.
   • Get your employees on-board and excited.
   • Focus on whatever it is that is going to make you better than you were – other than a new logo.

What do you think?

This week, I’ve returned to the United States (Washington DC) after living away (in Amsterdam, Netherlands) for nearly four years. It was a great adventure that exposed me to international culture, history, interesting people, and – of course – marketing and remarkable ideas.

While packing for the move, the theme song to the 70s sitcom “Welcome Back Kotter” came up on iTunes… I thought the ‘welcome back’ lyrics were apropos.

(listen here)

I look forward catching up with North American culture, while maintaining the memories and lessons I gained while living in Europe.

Welcome back,
Your dreams were your ticket out.

Welcome back,
To that same old place that you laughed about.

Well the names have all changed since you hung around,
But those dreams have remained and they’re turned around.

Who’d have thought they’d lead ya (Who’d have thought they’d lead ya)
Here where we need ya (Here where we need ya)

Yeah we tease him a lot cause we’ve hot him on the spot, welcome back,
Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back.

Paul “Up Your Nose, With A Rubber Hose” Williams

Imagineer Jargon: “Weenie”

The Imagineer Term

Weenie – Walt Disney’s playful term for a visual element that could be used to draw people into and around a space.

According to Disney Imagineers, a weenie is big enough to be seen from a distance and interesting enough to make you want to take a closer look.

The best weenie examples are the castles in each Disney themepark. Pictured is Cinderella Castle at the end of Main Street, USA at Walt Disney World in Florida. Weenies are critical to Imagineer efforts at laying out a sequence of story points in an organized fashion.

Broader Marketing Interpretation

In design – whether it is retail space, package design, instruction manual, or website – it is important to progressively reveal layers of information, and not overwhelm customers. Visually guide them, offering weenies as they move deeper and deeper into your space.

Convenience and grocery stores draw customer deep into locations by putting most commonly purchased items in the very back of the store. Their strategy is to draw you in past products you may impulse purchase. This creates an incremental purchase and increases their average check.

If you create products, how do you draw customers in through your packaging?

Apple Computer does a great job with this. When you unpack an Apple product, you experience several layers of reveal… First the lid of the package, where you’re greeted with some sort of welcome… Then typically another reveal – perhaps removing the styrofoam cover from atop your PowerBook… Then when you start the product, you’re typically greeted with some sort of welcome message.

If you’re a retail business, what visual magnets or weenies do you offer your customers from a distance to attract them to your location? When they arrive, how do you draw them deeper in? What is big enough to be seen from a distance and interesting enough to make you want to take a closer look?

Image source: Laughing Place.

Being the first, the best, or the only one doing something (and in a way meaningful and relevant to your customers) is a strategy your company can use to stand out from your competition.

Something that is relevant to all your customers is how they compensate you for your products or services. Adding a spin to the way they pay may be a way to help your business be remarkable.

Most of us heard about the restaurant* that offered “‘pay-as-you-wish” pricing? There are no prices, and the waiter doesn’t bring you a bill. At the end of the meal, you simply leave what you feel the meal was worth. “Pay as you wish”‘ as an idea wasn’t new, but it was in a restaurant atmosphere.

Many “new” ideas are simply existing ideas combined in non-traditional ways. Old ideas remixed to form new ones.

*The pay-as-you-wish restaurant concept may not be that successful, seems I should have learned and remembered the name of the restaurant that started it. Yet, being remarkable doesn’t mean you have to be world famous. You only need to be memorable enough to be the stand-out choice from among your potential customers’ choices.

Methods of Payment to Explore

Below is a list of common (and not-so-common) payment methods. Apply these to your business, and create a new approach that allows you stand apart from your competition.

Some of these may have more technical names than what I’ve dubbed them. Please correct me in the comments section below.

Per Hour/Day (Increments)

Your company pays you every two weeks. Military personnel receive monthly payments. The plumber charges by the hour.

Deposits

The management company charges you a month’s rent upfront when you sign your apartment lease. They use this money to pay for any damage you might have caused to the apartment during your stay. It also prevents tenants from skipping town and breaking

Fixed Amount (Excess Pays More)

I have an allowance of 300 instant messages per month on my phone. After 300, I pay on a per-IM basis.

When you lease a car, the contract limits the total number of miles you can put on the car. The dealer wants to make sure the car can be leased again after you return it. If you exceed the allocated mileage, you pay a premium for that extra use.

Soft Pricing (Negotiable)

Though one could argue that all pricing is negotiable, I’m talking about the type pricing you especially find in international markets and swap meets.

If you pay the posted price for that leather jacket in Florence or for that Mickey Mouse gum ball machine at the old Drive-In Swap Meet, you’re a sucker. The process includes their making you a stupidly high offer, and you countering with an equally low offer, and the final price somewhere in between.

Barter/Trade

Instead of money in exchange for services or goods, you pay with services or goods. The local printer will print your flyers for free if you help her with her marketing plan.

Bandwagon/Economy of Scale

The more you buy, the lower the price. You can order 1,000 business cards at a cheaper per unit price than for 500. There is a new product/invention site where the price of newly invented products reduces as the total quantity is ordered.

Custom vs. Off the Shelf

It comes in white, black, or silver. That’s it. You can pay more to have a red one if you want. Heck, you can have it any color you want if you’re willing to pay for it.

With D.I.Y. (do it yourself) being back in style, you can have someone hand-craft a messenger bag to hold your laptop. Compared to a mass-produced store bought item, the bag could:

• be cheaper because it is made by a local crafts person who charges for materials and a bit of labor. (They make these because they enjoy it; they made them with love).
• cost you an arm and a leg because it is one of a kind and hand-crafted from special leather by artisans from exotic locations.

Generic vs. Branded Pricing

An item is priced more cheaply because it is a generic brand, not a name brand. Store or generic brands are less generic as they used to be. (I think stores have learned they can drive incremental sales and charge more than generic and still less than name brands by offering “store brands.”)

Back to the car example: Top tier luxury cars are expensive and generally constructed with the same priced, quality materials, yet prices can differ by tens of thousands of dollars because you pay for the logo, the brand.

Privilege Fee (Because We Can/Opportunistic)

I’m not a fan of this one, but it is common. For example, I have a cat, and not only is the management company for my apartment charging an initial pet deposit, but also monthly pet rent. The company charges us $25 more a month to keep a cat in the apartment. Why? Because they can.

Points/Credit Systems (Custom Currency)

I love companies who give employees benefits as a flexible point package. An employee has 50 benefit credits to spend. They can distribute them among medical, dental, vision, sick days, or vacation days as they choose to support their needs.

You don’t wear glasses? Why pay vision coverage you won’t use? Use those points toward more dental coverage for your braces. Reward the healthy by allowing them to put unused sick days toward vacation days.

Layaway

The store holds the product for you and removes it from the sales floor so no one else can buy it. You pay the store in installments, and when you’ve paid the total balance, you can take possession of the item.

One Time Set-Up Fees

My printer will make a custom die-cut for my funky shaped brochure. That first order will be expensive. Thereafter, any time I need more brochures printed, they will be less expensive.

In Bulk/Per Unit (Parts)

In Bulk: Warehouse membership stores (Sam’s Club, Cosco, etc.) is where you can save a bundle on per-unit pricing. That assumes you need a two-gallon of mayonnaise or a year’s worth of razor blades. It’s cheaper to buy bulk foods (out of those plastic bins) than to pay for the pre-packaged, advertising items.

Per Unit: While traveling, I forgot my iPhone charging cord at home. When I went to the local Apple retailer, they had a jar of cords and of ear phones at the counter. How smart is that? I didn’t need to buy a whole kit … just the separate part. (They offered them in bulk, come to think of it).

One Part Free/One Part Fee

Give the razor blade holder away for free, charge for blades. Give me the Kindle e-book reader for free, charge me for the books. Charge me less for my latte when I bring my own re-usable cup. It is good for the environment and reduces the cafe’s cost of goods.

Cut / Percentage/Commission / Tips / Incentive

Your sales person makes commission based on how many qualified leads they bring in. Restaurant staff in North America is awarded tips for itsr service. The electronics store is offering a pizza party to the store that sells the most TVs this month.

Free Trial/Free Trial With Limits or Catch

Free trial is a great way to reduce risk for the customer. Test driving a car or trying on those earrings are methods that allow us to try before we buy. A secret of those selling jewelry is that they know if you “try it on” (sample/trial) you start to imagine that object in your life. Trying it on increases the chance of purchase. Once they get you behind the wheel of that car, you see it as yours.

I’m not a fan of the 30-day free trial that automatically activates if you don’t cancel. It is presented as a no-risk, “we are doing this so you have the convenience of keeping it if you like it.” More often than not, the vendor counts on you to forget to cancel and become a customer by default.

Automatic Renewal

You opt into automatically opt having a product/service renewed at the end of the payment cycle. The magazine will automatically charge your credit card, and you won’t “miss an issue.”

Though pitched as a convenience for the customer, I’m convinced this is more about reducing the risk of customers dropping out if faced with the decision of re-entering their credit card to make yet another purchase.

Scarcity, Access Based/Seasonality

Scalpers make a killing selling last-minute tickets to desperate concert-goer-wannabes.

We used to pay more for fruit and vegetables that were out of season. To get fresh strawberries in the winter used to be a miracle.

However, now that we’ve made the world smaller with fast transportation modes, you can have nearly any food at nearly any time of the year. And hotels also have seasons; it is cheaper to stay in the hotels during off-season/non-tourist season.

Or Best Offer (OBO)

A classic pricing method for yard and tag sales. That TV is going for 50-bucks … or best offer. OBO can turn into an auction situation.

Per Project/Value-Based/Scope-Based

As a consultant, I haven’t charged a per-hour rate. I charge per project. I work with the client’s specific needs to determine the right price for the scope of the specific project.

I would charge more to help them develop plans for a $20 million than a $20 thousand project. Clients pay based on the value of the project.

Subscription (Magazines)

A yearly fee gives you access to a fixed number of installments. Magazines. Netflix. Jelly-Of-The-Month Club.

I pay an annual fee to Amazon to be a “Prime” member, which allows me free shipping. This makes buying from Amazon less costly than chain bookstores.

Per Person (Admission)

We buy tickets to the movies, sports events and conferences this way.

Auction (Highest Bidder)

Traditional auctions and eBay demonstrate this model. Low demand, your price is low. High demand, and those who really want it, have to pay for that right.

Per Idea (Quantity)

Brainstorming remarkable ideas can be like looking for a pearl in oysters. The more oysters you shuck, the more you increase your chances of finding a pearl. Why not charge clients for the total number of quality ideas generated? More ideas equal more pearls.

Pay When Service Is Not Needed (Insurance)

We pay a monthly premium to protect ourselves from car damage, from something being stolen, from getting sick. While it seems costly, it pays for itself when used.

Based on Return (ROI)

Charge your clients based on the results they gain from your products and services. If the ad agency’s radio ads helped me generate x amount of business, they get x% in payment. This is an incentive for them to push for your success.

All You Can Eat (All You Can Consume)

$19.95 all you can eat buffet. My mobile phone provides me with unlimited data as part of my plan.

By Weight

We buy produce, meat, and fish this way at the grocery store.

The Price Is Right

When someone is willing to sell something if the right price is named. Your neighbor (who doesn’t really want to move) puts their $1 million house on the market for $1.2 million. If someone is willing to pay that, they’ll sell!

Different Combinations / New Ideas

• Could a bookstore charge by weight? Or offer a book of the month club. One price, and for twelve months I take any book I want.
• What if the plumber charged by the job instead of by the hour? By value? Stopping a pipe from flooding your house is worth more than unclogging a drain.
• A PR firm who charges when there wasn’t a crisis? You pay them only if things were going well. This is incentive for them to do things regularly to keep your business in good shape.
• What if Weight Watchers charges me only when I’m losing weight. If I’m gaining, something’s not working.
• What about combining subscription with all you can eat? (We do this for a gym membership; one price gets you free access). As a member, I pay a once-a-year membership to a restaurant chain. In return, I receive a card that allows me unlimited, free items.
  • At Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill And Bar, the program would allow unlimited meals. (Drinks cost extra.)
  • At Starbucks Coffee, I get unlimited drinks, of any size, anytime I want. (Food items costs extra.)
  • Maybe the movie theater can charge a one time fee for access to a year’s worth of movies. Who goes alone? Who doesn’t buy popcorn and treats at the refreshment stand?
• Back to the buffet. What about charging by weight? Weigh me when I enter the restaurant, and charge me by how heavy I am when I leave? (I’m sure if someone tried this, during end-of-the-day clean up, staff would find rocks and weights hidden in the restaurant from people sandbagging their initial weight.)

Closing Challenge

Is there a way for your company, with a change in pricing strategy, to be the first, the best, or the only? What other clever payment schemes have you encountered?

This article was originally published on the Marketing Profs DailyFix Blog.

I had to stop and share this with you. Something truly inspiring!

While I have had the opportunity to view the Sistine Chapel in person – I dare say this Vatican website is almost better than the real thing! The detail you can see on this site is truly incredible.

Explore The Virtual Sistine Chapel

Rarely does a website – a bunch of pixels – capture such beauty.

Turn your computer speakers on. Make your browser window as large as possible.

Enjoy!

Within the next 30 days, I will be returning to the United States after spending nearly four years in the Netherlands – moving from Amsterdam to Washington DC.

While I have kept on top of the major headlines (I understand there is a popular TV show called Lost, Whoopi Goldberg has a leaky bladder, and the President is African American)… I have not kept up with US advertising, nor many of the new products. (I do know about the iPad).

I’m expecting a bit of a culture shock. (My mom keeps telling me to brace myself…)

What is going to be great will be the “outsider” perspective and “fresh eye” approach I may offer regarding marketing, products, messaging, etc…

I’ll post my articles with the tag “outsider insights.”

Also… I’m happy to offer my thoughts on any specific questions you may have.

This will be fun!

The latest and best-selling book by Chip and Dan Heath, Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard offers advice on how to champion change and ‘switch’ behaviors.

Dan Heath provided interviews to bloggers last week as part of the Post2Post Virtual Book Tour.

Check out these posts to get direct-from-the-author, behind-the-scenes information about the book. Here are the three stops from the tour:

Site	Date
Brand Autopsy John Moore	Mon. Mar 29
CEO Blog: Time Leadership Jim Estill	Wed. Mar 31
Innosight | Innoblog Renee Hopkins	Fri. Apr 2

For more information and free resources about Switch, please visit the book’s website. You can also read more about the authors – Chip Heath and Dan Heath.

Thank you to Dan and Chip Heath for participating, and to John, Jim, and Renee for participating in the tour! Thanks too, to publicist extraordinaire, Mark Fortier, for helping us get copies of the books and arranging the interviews with the authors!

Today we’re at the midpoint of our virtual book tour featuring Chip and Dan Heath’s best selling book: Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard.

Stop No. 1

On Monday at the Brand Autopsy site, Sir Wilton Norman Chamberlain III provided a dramatic reading of Switch.

Stop No. 2

Today at the CEO Blog: Time Leadership, Jim Estill features a Q n’ A with the author, Dan Heath. Great behind-the-scenes information about the book.

Stop No. 3

On Friday, the tour will continue and conclude at the Innosight | Innoblog.

Enjoy the tour!

I’m pleased to announce, that next week the Post2Post Virtual Book Tour will be featuring the latest, best-selling book by Chip and Dan Heath, Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard.

Get a behind-the-scenes perspective as author Dan Heath provides interviews to three bloggers from popular sites listed below. Here is the full schedule…

Site	Date
Brand Autopsy John Moore	Mon. Mar 29
CEO Blog: Time Leadership Jim Estill	Wed. Mar 31
Innosight | Innoblog Renee Hopkins	Fri. Apr 2

For more information and free resources about Switch, please visit the book’s website. You can also read more about the authors – Chip Heath and Dan Heath.

Hope to see you at Brand Autopsy on Monday!

This short stack of used sticky notes contains, without exaggeration, tens of millions of dollars in good ideas. I wouldn’t classify them as “great” or “revolutionary” ideas. Not rocket science. Most, fairly basic.

Yet, if these ideas were acted upon, they would drive tens of millions of dollars of business for the people who thunk them up.

The team figured out what we need to do. They’ve identified the right ingredients for success. Not a bad outcome for a half-day of brainstorming and less than $20 in supplies.

With that said, however, coming up with the right, bright ideas was the easy part.

It will require discipline to figure out HOW we will do it.

The greatest ideas in the world are of little value unless action is taken to implement them. Without action, ideas are mere intention.

The team who created the ideas needs to convert them into programs. Members need to delegate goals, assign tasks to the appropriate departments, set expectations and timelines.

This HOW step isn’t that much more difficult than the WHAT step. The ROI for figuring out HOW is incredible. Nevertheless, HOW is where companies get distracted, bogged down and stalled.

It is exciting to understand the potential in this stack of papers. All the ingredients are in there. To materialize the millions of dollars, the chef needs to gather the cooks and follow or create a recipe. They need to follow or build their HOW.

• What do you do to drive action in your business?
• What process or steps do you use?
• How does your chef pull together the cooks?
• How do you HOW?

This article was originally published on the Marketing Profs Daily Fix blog.