What's your agency's standard for quality? It seems unrealistic to expect quality standards of 100% . . . after all, nobody's perfect. Wouldn't life be a lot easier and less stressful if everyone accepted a certain amount of predictable human frailty and built in a margin for error? It could even be called something impressive and positive sounding-'acceptable quality level,' for example.

'So dawn goes down today, nothing gold can stay.'
Robert Frost
'There are no more power elites.'
Manuel Castels in The Information Age
The painfully obvious implication of these quotes can be seen in the business world: IBM pulls its PCs out of retail venues because it no longer considers them profitable. The Wall Street Journal reported that in 1998, there were $301 billion in sales via the Internet, while the manufacturing sector did $350 billion in overall business. It took the Internet roughly 36 months to reach this figure; manufacturing needed 150 years.

A NEW LOOK AT THE SALE OF LIFE INSURANCE TO CHILDREN More children die from injuries than from disease, reports a Wall Street Journal item which quotes specialists at the Johns Hopkins Children's Ce...

AGENCY ACQUISITIONS: BUYER BEWARE! by Sharon Cunningham Dont overpay for an acquisition! When Quaker Oats purchased Snapple Beverage Company in 1994 for $1.4 billion, they...

ASK AN EXPERT: PRODUCER lsquo;NON-COMPETE AGREEMENTS by the IIABA Virtual University Faculty The terms 'Non-Compete,' 'Non-Solicitation,' and 'Non-Piracy' are often used in...

While driving down Boston’s Massachusetts Avenue one Saturday afternoon, it dawned on me that every bus stop shelter along this popular main artery sported advertising signage for Apple’s iPad 2. Assuming that many bus riders were not target customers for a product selling between $500 and nearly $900, the two of us in the car thought that spending advertising dollars at bus stops seemed like a waste of money.

EIGHT WAYS TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT MAKING SALES IN TODAYS ECONOMY by John Graham These eight selling lessons can apply in any economy. Stunned. Confused. Shocked. These thr...

EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION: WHAT WORKS by Chris Burand How do you motivate employees? Chris Burand has made several basic observations over the years about what works in this area a...

FULL CIRCLE MARKETING by Mike Manes Your agencys marketing program should answer four key questions. Life is a Circle Marketing is about Life! At a...

GROWTH VS. PROFITABLE GROWTH by Chris Burand Revenue growth for its own sake doesnt make sense. In an industry that prizes sales, its no wonder that so many sales p...