As most of our card printing customers are entrepreneurs, we've decided to put together a list of what we're reading here at the office. Here’s what we’re reading this week at Plastic Printers!
“Loyalize” Customers By Remembering Their Needs—What do red pepper flakes have to do with customer loyalty? Everything, in fact! In this post for LinkedIn, Management Consultant Don Peppers uses a perfect service experience at a Ritz-Carlton hotel to observe how simple interactions with your customers, remembered and recalled, can establish loyalty for years to come. Don also makes some excellent reflections on how the education and appreciation of your customers’ habits cement their devotion in the face of competition. If your customers already trust you with their information and preferences, it makes it easier for them to buy from you—and less appealing to buy from a competitor.
10 Eye-Opening Books Every Entrepreneur Should Read—While there are hundreds, if not thousands of books that try to motivate and improve your career path, there are fewer books that successfully pull back the curtain to show the uglier truths of getting ahead in business. As a bookend to his “Top 10 Motivational Books of All Time,” Inc. Magazine’s Geoffrey James details the 10 books that show “exactly what we’re up against.” However, rather than just a list of de-motivational accounts, each of these books takes an unvarnished view of what can add to business dysfunction—and details exactly what can be done to remedy the situation.
5 Habits of the Most Creative People—This past week, Fast Company released their 2013 list of the “Most Creative People in Business.” As an easily digestible sidebar, Drake Baer showcases the vital habits of five members from this elite list— PayPal founder Max Levchin, Facebook India’s Kirthiga Reddy, rap artist Kendrick Lamar, actor Bryan Cranston, and Comedy Central’s Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele. Spoiler alert: it’s all about curiosity, collaboration, leadership, and consistency. Click through to see why.
What are you reading this week? Let us know in the comments!