Top 6 – August 2013

timjsmith

Tim J. Smith, PhD
Founder and CEO, Wiglaf Pricing

Published August 2, 2013

Which of the following is most critical for a successful entrepreneur to have?

  • An Idea
  • Money
  • Employees
  • Customers

Which one? Customers, you goof.

  1. Who do you serve?
  2. What do they need?
  3. Why are you the best person to serve them?
  4. How will they learn this?
  5. “The difference between an idea and a profit-making business is the difference between an amoeba and a human being.”  -James T. Berger
  6. Ideas, money, and employees are results and inputs into a strategy.  Customers are the purpose.
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About The Author

timjsmith
Tim J. Smith, PhD, is the founder and CEO of Wiglaf Pricing, an Adjunct Professor of Marketing and Economics at DePaul University, and the author of Pricing Done Right (Wiley 2016) and Pricing Strategy (Cengage 2012). At Wiglaf Pricing, Tim leads client engagements. Smith’s popular business book, Pricing Done Right: The Pricing Framework Proven Successful by the World’s Most Profitable Companies, was noted by Dennis Stone, CEO of Overhead Door Corp, as "Essential reading… While many books cover the concepts of pricing, Pricing Done Right goes the additional step of applying the concepts in the real world." Tim’s textbook, Pricing Strategy: Setting Price Levels, Managing Price Discounts, & Establishing Price Structures, has been described by independent reviewers as “the most comprehensive pricing strategy book” on the market. As well as serving as the Academic Advisor to the Professional Pricing Society’s Certified Pricing Professional program, Tim is a member of the American Marketing Association and American Physical Society. He holds a BS in Physics and Chemistry from Southern Methodist University, a BA in Mathematics from Southern Methodist University, a PhD in Physical Chemistry from the University of Chicago, and an MBA with high honors in Strategy and Marketing from the University of Chicago GSB.