I. INTRODUCTION

On September 16, 2011, President Obama signed into law the American Invents Act ("AIA"). Enactment of the AIA caused some significant immediate changes to US Patent Law and practice and started the clock on many more to come. The AIA gives ample time to prepare for the later changes, which should include recommendations discussed herein.

A. Introduction

Although contact management (sometimes known as Customer Relationship Management or CRM) has been around for over twenty years, most organizations still do not fully appreciate what these management tools can do for them.  Rather than just acting as a glorified address book, businesses should regard management of the database as mission-critical and harness the power that smart use and analysis can bring to a company, not only in terms of communication, organization and efficiency, but as the catalyst for growth.  Intelligent implementation and attention to contact management will help with developing your products/services and markets and keeping you competitive.

I. INTRODUCTION

Imagine a day at work when people came into your office every so often and politely removed a shoe, then a sock, trousers, etc., eventually leaving you completely naked.  Unfortunately, this happens far too often to many businesses respecting their goodwill. 

A business typically starts small with profound values and standards.  To attract business, the fledgling business often will afford leniency that unwittingly compromises or even strips the business of these values and standards.  Once a business’ reputation, which is derived from its practiced values and standards, is tarnished or denuded, gaining or even maintaining market share becomes increasingly difficult.

This work takes a brief look at how this happened to one unfortunate business, and steps that you can take to avoid winding up naked.

By Scott Spanbauer
Emerging Strategies Marketing and Product Development and LeadCrafting CEO

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How do you define "brand"? Marketing experts will generally answer along the lines of "a brand is your company image". But a brand is more than just your company image. It also includes your customers' experience and the expectation you set when doing business with your company. In short, it is promise.