Entrepreneurs are always focused on goals — what our goals should be, what we can do to more efficiently achieve those goals and what goals we can set next. We’re always pushing ourselves to get to the next thing.
Because of that, many of us focus heavily on transactions. It might be sales, web traffic or newsletter signups. We like to analyze the quantifiable behaviors of our customers and companies.
Unfortunately, this kind of mindset is often short-sighted. When you’re only thinking transactionally — how to close one more sale or get 100 more email subscribers — you often fail to see the big picture.
The shift to thinking strategically can help your business immensely. Let’s look at what it means to think strategically and how you can become a more strategic thinker.
What is the difference between transactional and strategic thinking?
In the marketing world, a transactional mindset means you’re focused on getting the sale. Your eye is on the prize, and you’ll do what you need to do in order to convince a customer to buy.
Strategic thinking, on the other hand, focuses on how you can help the customer solve a problem or fill a need. While the ultimate outcome is still to get a sale, strategic thinking often involves getting to know your customer better and building a relationship beyond the initial sale.
Strategic thinking allows you to think at a high level to create long-term marketing plans for repeat customers, as well as build and develop new tools, services or products that solve your customers’ needs.
Why is it important to think strategically in marketing?
Transactional thinking gets the job done, but not always as efficiently as possible. Transactional marketing can often come across as pushy or untrustworthy. A good example would be the stereotypical used car salesperson.
When the purchase is made, the customer might find that it isn’t really what they expected or what they wanted. If they’re unhappy, you then need to handle returns, bad reviews or negative conversations about your brand — potentially pushing away would-be customers.
Strategic thinking in marketing puts the customer’s needs at the forefront of a business’s decisions. Rather than just trying to make a sale, the business focuses on what it can do to solve its prospects’ problems.
This creates better customer relationships in a few different ways. Let’s dive in.
1. Customers are more likely to trust you.
Customers like to know that they’re being heard. If you’re putting in the effort to get to know them and the struggles they’re facing, they’ll take notice — and they’ll see that you actually care about them.
This can Strengthen trust within your target audience, encouraging them to come to your brand with issues or challenges they need to solve.
2. Customers will be happier with their purchases.
It’s never fun when a customer isn’t happy with what they bought. Whether or not they’re able to return their purchase, it can hurt your bottom line. You’ve invested money in converting this customer only to leave them unsatisfied.
If you’re paying attention to your customer’s needs, you automatically have a better chance of ensuring their happiness in what they purchase. And if they’re happy, they might just tell their friends and family members about you.
3. Customers will build long-lasting relationships with your brand.
We all want repeat customers. Unfortunately, if you’re not thinking strategically, that can be hard to do.
Strategic thinking allows you to view the whole relationship life cycle with your customers, encouraging them to buy again and again. You can also develop new products or services to keep repeat customers interested and solve additional problems.
Think more strategically.
Thinking strategically involves an entire mental shift. Rather than just focusing on the sale, look at your target audience and the challenges they’re facing. When you start to look at your business as a problem-solving agency over a money-making venture, it will become easier to make that shift.
Talk with your audience. Create customer personas, and spend time getting to know the people to whom you’re marketing. As you get to know them better, you can develop strategies that appeal directly to them and make their lives easier.
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The exterior of a building in which Thinking Electronic conducts business. Credit: DIGITIMES
Circuit protection device specialist Thinking Electronic Industrial has increased its focus on automotive device applications, with the segment poised to account for 18% of the company's revenue in 2025, up from 12% in 2022.
Informatica (INFA 0.85%) stock investors had a good day on Thursday. Shares of the cloud data management specialist rose 10% in early trading compared to a slight decline in the S&P 500. The daily spike was enough to push returns to over 20% so far in 2023, above the broader market's 17% increase to date.
Thursday's rally was powered by a second-quarter earnings report that showed solid sales momentum for the business.
Informatica revealed after the market closed on Wednesday that revenue rose 1% in fiscal Q2 (ending in late June). Looking deeper into the sales trends, its cloud subscription sales jumped 37% thanks to higher demand for data management services.
The company saw encouraging success in attracting large clients to its platform. The count of customers committed to over $1 million in annual subscriptions grew 22% to 213. "Q2 was another strong quarter for Informatica," CEO Amit Walia said in a press release. Wall Street was also pleased to see the company deliver positive free cash flow and a modest operating loss, surpassing management's short-term forecast on each of these critical metrics.
Informatica is projecting accelerating gains ahead, too. Sales growth should speed up to 8% in the third quarter, which translates into roughly $400 million of revenue. Operating profit will be solidly positive on a non-GAAP (adjusted) basis, too.
On the downside, management left its sales outlook for fiscal 2023 unchanged even though the company outperformed in this area in Q2. But Informatica hiked its projection on adjusted earnings and cash flow. Combined with the accelerating growth trends, these factors all contribute to a brightening outlook for the software-as-a-service business.
Investors will still want to watch key metrics like operating profit. Informatica needs to continue winning new clients in the data management space as well, especially in its AI-powered platform.
Maintaining positive momentum in these areas could help Informatica extend the stock price rally deeper into 2023. Yet investors should brace for volatility with this stock as the company works to demonstrate a clear path toward sustainably positive annual earnings.
Getting older adults who are failing mentally to relinquish their car keys can be challenging. But those conversations are necessary, said researchers who found a majority of adults with cognitive impairment still get behind the wheel.
Michigan Medicine researchers studied this issue in a South Texas community. They found that more than 600 adults over age 65 in Nueces County had cognitive assessment scores -- scores of thinking and memory -- that indicated a likelihood of impairment.
Among them, more than 61% were current drivers. About one-third of their caregivers had concerns about the drivers' abilities to safely navigate the roads.
"It is likely appropriate that some with mild cognitive impairment are still driving, but for some it may not be," said senior author Dr. Lewis Morgenstern, professor of neurology, neurosurgery and emergency medicine at University of Michigan Medical School.
"Patients and caregivers should discuss these issues with their healthcare providers and consider on-the-road driving evaluations to ensure safety," Morgenstern said in a school news release.
About 1 in 9 Americans ages 65 and up lives with Alzheimer's disease. That's 6.7 million people. Millions more have related dementias.
These conditions can affect neuropsychological and visual skills that reduce the ability to drive safely, the researchers pointed out.
Dementia had medium to large effects on driving impairment, according to a 2017 review of motor vehicle crash risk. People with dementia also have an increased likelihood of failing a road test compared to those without.
The study authors found that the more cognitive impairment any individual had, the less likely they were to be driving. Also, many study participants limited their total amount of driving and avoided driving at night or in the rain.
Discussions between caregivers and people with declines in thinking about driving are difficult, the authors noted. Concerns include loss of autonomy, potential embarrassment and, perhaps, increased workload for the caregiver.
It's best to start these conversations early, while the care recipient is able to understand, the authors said.
"Close family may have discussions with aging loved ones about Advance Driving Directives," Morgenstern said. "These are agreements between an aging person and a loved one about having conversations about driving cessation."
The study results were published recently in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. This research was supported by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on cognitive decline.
Copyright © 2023 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
While results may be the most important thing, they’re not the only important thing. Things like treating clients with respect, maintaining an open line of communication, providing information so clients aren’t left in the dark about their case, and making sure clients get their payments on time and in full after the case is over, are all qualities you should look for in a law firm.
Do I Have A Case?- Obviously, it’s important to know whether or not your case is worth pursuing. You shouldn’t have to pay for this opinion from a qualified legal expert, nor should you be obligated to hire that lawyer simply because they gave it to you. https://glennarmentor.com/do-i-have-a-case/
Do’s and Don'ts- Decisions you make immediately after the accident, regardless of what kind of accident it is, may have a profound effect on your case and settlement. Here are some basic “Do’s and Don’ts” to help you make the right decisions after you’re injured in an accident caused by the carelessness of others. https://glennarmentor.com/dos-donts/
Glossary- Commonly used legal terms and their definitions that you will hear throughout the litigation process. https://glennarmentor.com/glossary/
Pay It Forward Scholarship- Every year, hardworking at-risk high school students from our community are awarded a $10,000 scholarship to pursue higher education and change their lives. Recipients are selected by an independent panel of community leaders based on a combination of attributes, including student performance, drive, ability, need, desire to seek a college degree, and more. To learn more or apply click the link. https://glennarmentor.com/pay-it-forward/
Some courses are not always what you expect, as they can include a number of modules there to supply students a wide understanding of the subject.
Speak to your course director to find out about the different modules, and learning coming up, as while it might not be what you expect now, it may be in the future.
Your course director can also recommend an alternative course of action, such as, swapping to another course that might share similar modules/credits.
You can also speak to your course representative who can resolve issues, and will also work closely with the course director on your behalf.
Contact the Student Wellbeing team to discuss study tips, and learning styles, as well as, learning stress management techniques to help you study, and perform better in exams.
Even though enterprise data sources, such as resource planning and customer relationship management systems are critical for analytics, retrieving data from them is a tall order.
As innovations continue to rock the data space, Informatica SuperPipe for Snowflake was devised to get mission-critical data out of hard-to-get places at a 3.5 times faster replication and ingestion rate, according to Rik Tamm-Daniels (pictured), general vice president of ecosystem alliances and technology at Informatica Inc.
“One of the big ones you mentioned is SuperPipe for Snowflake, and we think about the different types of needs for data integration,” he stated. “Reducing the latency of data, making it more real-time, that’s what SuperPipe’s all about. We see up to about three and a half times faster performance than our previous kind of change data capture replication technology. It’s a huge leap forward, leveraging some of the latest Snowpipe streaming capabilities from Snowflake.”
Tamm-Daniels spoke with theCUBE industry analysts Lisa Martin and Dave Vellante at Snowflake Summit, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed how Informatica has partnered with Snowflake Inc. to enhance the intelligent data management sector. (* Disclosure below.)
As generative artificial intelligence and large language models – think ChatGPT – continue to gain steam, Informatica seeks to revamp the data management sector using AI. This can be illustrated by the fact that the company recently rolled out Claire GPT and extended its Claire copilot capabilities, according to Tamm-Daniels.
“When you think about the LLM space, there are really two angles for us in generative AI,” he noted. “The first is those models need data … we’re also invested heavily in using generative AI to really revolutionize data management, and so we announced our Claire GPT and Claire Copilot at Informatica World back in early May to address those kinds of opportunities.”
By incorporating generative AI into the data management cloud interface, Informatica is able to turn metrics into a pipeline of integration and connections. This is highly transformative because a text box offers more options, Tamm-Daniels pointed out.
“Claire GPT, the idea is I think one of the big transformative things about generative AI is it actually lets you take some very complex and nuanced requests, express them in pretty significant descriptive English language descriptions, and then actually turn them into something actionable, executable,” he noted. “On the Claire copilot, that’s all about … how do we bring the power of generative AI to help make better decisions, to help have assistive technology, to recommend data quality transformations or items that you be concerned about.”
Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of Snowflake Summit:
(* Disclosure: Snowflake Inc. and Informatica Inc. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Snowflake, Informatica, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)
THANK YOU
Dr. Ron Young, Founder and Board Chair of Trove, Inc. Ron specializes in psychological coaching & transition consulting.
Critical thinking is a fundamental cognitive process that enables individuals to objectively analyze, evaluate and interpret information to make informed decisions and solve complex problems. It involves employing reasoning and logic, questioning assumptions, recognizing biases and considering multiple perspectives. It requires self-monitored, self-directed, self-disciplined and self-corrective thinking. Critical thinking is essential in a world of information and diverse opinions. It helps us see things more clearly and avoid being misled or deceived.
Critical thinking is crucial in various aspects of life, including education, professional endeavors and personal decision-making. In academic settings, it allows students to comprehend and engage with complex subjects while discerning valid arguments from fallacious ones. In the workplace, critical thinking empowers individuals to analyze problems, devise creative solutions and make informed judgments. In everyday life, it helps individuals navigate an increasingly complex world by making sound choices and avoiding cognitive biases. It is our primary defense against misleading or "spun" information.
There are many benefits of critical thinking.
Critical thinking helps us trust our gut feelings and think independently. It enables individuals to make logical and well-reasoned decisions based on evidence and objective analysis. It encourages the consideration of all relevant factors and the evaluation of potential consequences, leading to more informed choices.
Critical thinking facilitates the identification of underlying issues, the generation of innovative solutions and the evaluation of their viability. It encourages individuals to approach problems from different angles and consider various perspectives, increasing the likelihood of finding effective resolutions.
Critical thinking supports self-reflection. It helps individuals recognize and challenge cognitive biases that hinder clear judgment. Individuals can better overcome confirmation bias, groupthink and the availability heuristic (judging the likelihood of an event based on recall of similar events) by understanding and questioning their assumptions and beliefs. It requires a commitment to overcoming the tendency to see the world from a narrow, self-centered perspective.
Practicing critical thinking fosters effective communication by enabling individuals to articulate and defend their ideas with logical reasoning and evidence. It encourages active listening, empathy and the ability to evaluate and respond to counterarguments, leading to more constructive and meaningful discussions.
Using critical thinking enables citizens to see the whole picture by better protecting against biases and propaganda. It reduces partisanship and a “we/they” mentality.
How can you cultivate critical thinking?
Foster a mindset of curiosity and an eagerness to explore and understand the world. Talk with people from different backgrounds, cultures, political affiliations or religions. Ask probing questions, seek new perspectives and engage in active learning. Learn from people who hold different viewpoints.
You can do this by learning to break down complex problems into manageable parts, recognize patterns and identify cause-and-effect relationships. Remember, not all opinions are equal, and some are flat-out wrong.
Develop skills to evaluate the credibility and reliability of information sources. Be aware of bias, assess evidence and differentiate between fact and opinion. Guard against "swallowing information whole" or believing that "If it's on the internet, it must be true."
Engage in reflective thinking by evaluating your thoughts, beliefs and assumptions. Consider alternative viewpoints, and be open to changing your perspective based on new information.
Be humble and aware that you could be wrong. Knowledge is an ongoing process; be open to admitting mistakes or gaps in understanding. Embrace a growth mindset that values continuous learning and improvement.
The third tier in Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a sense of belonging. One aspect of belonging is connection. All humans have this need. Without critical thinking, we are vulnerable to making our group's beliefs our own rather than evaluating which beliefs align with our values.
Rather than defining yourself by a particular view, ask whether a different view aligns with your values. When we identify ourselves by the beliefs of our reference group (religious, political, etc.), we look for ways to justify our ideas. In doing so, we deny ourselves access to critical thinking.
When you practice critical thinking, it will be evident in several areas:
Rely on facts rather than emotions or personal biases. Follow five distinct steps, called the five A’s: ask, access, appraise, apply and audit. Gather relevant information, evaluate the evidence objectively and consider different perspectives before making decisions. Then reevaluate them as you learn new information.
Approach problems systematically by defining the issue, gathering relevant data, brainstorming potential solutions and evaluating feasibility. Engage in collaborative problem-solving to benefit from diverse perspectives. Open-mindedly consider alternative systems of thought. Recognize assumptions, implications and practical consequences, then adjust as needed.
Solve complex problems by clearly and effectively communicating with others. Utilize critical thinking skills to articulate your thoughts clearly, listen actively and engage in respectful and constructive dialogue. Challenge ideas through logical arguments and evidence rather than resorting to personal attacks. Respecting people with different views does not mean you agree with their opinions. Evaluate, formulate and communicate questions with clarity and precision.
Apply critical thinking to ongoing personal and professional development. Seek opportunities for further education, engage in intellectual discourse and actively challenge your beliefs and assumptions.
Critical thinking is a powerful cognitive tool that empowers individuals to navigate the complexities of the modern world. Critical thinking enhances decision-making, problem-solving and communication abilities by fostering logical reasoning, analytical skills and an open mindset. It enables individuals to overcome cognitive biases, evaluate information effectively and make informed choices. Cultivating and applying critical thinking skills benefits individuals and contributes to a more thoughtful and rational society. Embracing critical thinking is essential for fostering intellectual growth, facilitating progress and addressing the challenges of the 21st century.
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