Or "Embracing the naive prospect" by Seth Godin, the marketing guru.

Seth points out some valuable insights for anyone that sells to a target market of consumers that are making a "once in a lifetime" purchase. (i.e., a DJ for a wedding, or a Realtor that deals primarily with first-time home buyers)

At first, I thought I would be pointing to this mainly for the benefit of other Realtors, obviously with the first thought coming to mind of how I deal with first-time buyers and sellers of businesses and real estate every day.  Then I realized that beyond my bubble there are industries that deal with this "naive" type of customer every day, too.

Now "naive" in this sense is not meant to put down anyone, it's just to acknowledge the experience level of your target market. 

Wedding vendors are a great example of this -- the wedding process is not something that most people end up going through enough to be experts at it (let's hope not, at least).  It is a crazy time trying to plan it, and even if you have a wedding planner, you still had to pick that person.

Visit Seth's site and see what he has to say about how to deal with these "naive" consumers.  I think his insight was right on track.

I would love to hear how anyone else is dealing with this issue in their own businesses.  I submit that this blog is one of the ways that I am addressing it in my business.

... [for comments and other articles, visit Richmond Business & Commercial News]

There has been quite a bit of noise lately about payday lenders and their very high (some would say "predatory") interest rates.  Last Tuesday, 12/5/06, House Bill 619 was defeated in the Virginia House of Delegates.  The purpose of the bill was to repeal the Virginia Payday Loan Act of 2002, which had exempted these payday loans from the maximum interest rate of 36%.

Anyone with a checking account, an ID, and evidence of a job can borrow against their next paycheck, with a "payday loan".  The concept is simple enough, and sounds like it does the job exactly as the payday lenders proponents say it does.  They say that these loans help people in real financial distress dig themselves out of a hole.

The problem is that the interest rates and the policies are set up such that cause these individuals who borrow this way end up in a downward spiral that is very difficult to break.  The opponents of payday lenders say that other options exist for individuals that need to borrow, and that the payday lenders are taking advantage of people that have no choice.  Every state around Virginia... [for the rest of the blog, visit Loan Sharks or Saviors? on Richmond Business & Commercial News]

 

 

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I know New Urbanism isn't a brand new mode of thought, but I just came across a great resource with lots of articles and case-studies on it.  I'll be diving in and learning all I can, since I've always been a little murky on the details.  Expect to see more references to New Urbanism in future posts, and while your waiting check out the "Field Guide to New Urbanism".  (I think this link is open to the public.  If you can't access it, let me know and I'll figure something out.)

New Urbanism combines traditional planning and modern technology to create places that break the conventional suburban mold to strive for environmental balance, social integration and a sense of community amongst a mixture of ethnic groups. Find out if this...

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Be careful when you copy/quote content for your blogs!  It is a common concern and as well it should be.

Many blogs (including this one) quote content and use stories posted elsewhere as a source for their own content.  The main point to keep in mind is to only quote as much as is necessary, and paraphrase when possible.  Good blog etiquette tells us to linkback to the source whenever possible.

I definitely run into this issue (being more of a news blog), and have gotten better about it over the course of my blog.  If I don't have any commentary to add to an article, then I try not to post it.  I do hope, however...

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