What they buy teaches you how to sell

Food for thought gathered from around the web and served fresh to you.

Buying our way through 100 years

How much have people changed in the past 100 years? Not as much as their spending habits. Visual Economics’ 100 year graph tracks shifts in buying patterns. See what we value more today than we did a century ago. Specifically, see how much more we spend on transportation now as contrasted against a century earlier.

Tale of the Christmas register tape

The spend this Christmas told a story of value-centric consumers. See updated sales performance numbers for leading retailers across the country as gathered by The Wall Street Journal.  The winners made their case on value. Those who didn’t lost big. Consumers made a choice for quality and set frivolous purchases aside. Zogby concurs, reporting Americans expect to make less in 2009 which will only intensify the importance an authentic value proposition in your advertising. Roy H. Williams predicted this buying behavior back on December 8, 2009. How are you making a value case in your advertising?

The most ridiculous thing I’ve ever hoid

Those who curse the changing market would be wise to seek the tutelage of Groucho Marks. How do you  crack the code and get your business on top? Seth Godin sums it up: when the market changes, change with it or get left behind.

Hating Wal-Mart won’t hurt them, but it could kill you

That old man at the front door who greets you. The clerk who leads you to the product you can’t find. The person who answers the phone and cares enough to make sure you get an answer you can use.  My partner Tim Miles points out how customer service, once the domain of the little guy, is being appropriated to make a big impression by the big guys. Beating them at that game isn’t a simple matter of out-nicing them. Get the details here.

How big do you want your toys?

Saving your sanity sometimes means getting away and doing the unexpected. Like, say, playing with real-life Tonka trucks–the kind used to build roads and buildings. Dig, in Steamboat Springs Colorado, allows you to play out your big truck fantasies.

Here’s even better news: they do birthday parties too. Sounds like a road trip!