“Knowledge of yourself will preserve you from vanity."– Miguel de Cervantes

Here’s a case study illustrating why, despite having reasons to be confident in our intuition about how customers view the world, relying on that intuition can lead us astray. (Names have been changed.)

How well do you know your client? I mean really know them and their offerings? The gut reaction we usually hear is "of course, we know them." But often, there is an opportunity to differentiate your agency by demonstrating that you know them better than the other agencies you're pitching against.

Whether it’s Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Sam Walton (Walmart) or any other founder who managed to build a multi-billion dollar operation, the question will inevitably come up: “What was the secret?” While these entrepreneurs may mention timing, innovation and hard work as the reasons behind their success, they all emphasized the importance of focusing on the customer first.

If you have or know a child between the ages of 12 and 18, chances are you have probably heard about, or maybe even experienced, the jumping through hoops and bending over backward that the fan base of a certain pop princess endured just to see the dreaded ‘sold out’ alert flashing on laptop and mobile phones screens across the country. Taylor herself even referred to the experience as “feeling like [they went through] several bear attacks.”

The 2021 holiday season was a time of great celebration as families and close friends were finally able to (carefully) get back to spending the festivities together post-COVID. This year, it appears that people are ready to kick that up a notch as they get back to larger parties and other holiday events with bigger groups. As recently reported by ModernRetail.com, 77% of people plan to gather in groups this season, up significantly compared to 65% planning to celebrate only with immediate family in 2020. Additionally, 29% of those surveyed are planning to host a party and 61% answered “holiday parties” when asked what kind of celebrations they missed the most.