Seth Godin on a Roll

3 back-to-back brilliant posts:

Authenticity

(snip) Authenticity, for me, is doing what you promise, not "being who you are." That's because 'being' is too amorphous and we are notoriously bad at judging that. Internal vision is always blurry. Doing, on the other hand, is an act that can be seen by all.

The Rational Marketing (and Irrational Customer)

(snip) The problem is that your prospect doesn't care about [charts and tables and graphs and brochures]. He cares about his boss or the story you're telling or the risk or the hassle of making a change. He cares about who you know and what other people will think when he tells them what he's done after he buys from you.

Sorry, You Can't Be Our Customer

(snip) There are interactions marketers have with prospects where the prospect wants something and the marketer or organization just isn't interested in delivering it. These interactions almost always end badly.