I need examples of companies overcoming initial reluctance by customers. Typically companies have to overcome inertia, hesitation, fear of making a mistake, lack of role models, and even having a lousy product. Thanks!

The “availability heuristic” is the related concept that the more easily people can think of example, the more often they think it happens. For example, people think murders occur all the time because of news coverage and television shows, but far more people die because of suicide. I’m looking for positive examples where you notice [...]

Have you heard of the practice of hiring people to cry at funerals? Could your fill me on how this works? The more details the details the better: which country? Are there levels of crying? How much does it cost? Etc.

Robert Cialdini tells a great story about how the people of Ethiopia provided money to Mexico in 1985 despite the crushing hardships in Ethiopia. This was because Mexico supported Ethiopia when Italy invaded it in 1937. I'm looking for more examples of reciprocity that's above and beyond the call of duty. Please stick them in [...]

A salient point takes the truth or the fact and makes it communicate the impact of your decision. All salient points are truthful but not all truths are salient points. For example, imagine if a label on the cheeseburger you were about to eat said, “Eat this, and you’ll gain half a pound” instead “Total [...]

The Twitter developer community is doing backflips because Twitter bought an application called Tweetie. Here’s my advice to the community.

If you’d like to stay on top of photo-editing, Alltop has you covered: Lightroom.alltop Aperture.alltop Photoshop.alltop And, of course, there’s general photography coverage at Photography.alltop.

I wrote an analysis of yesterday’s big news that Twitter bought Tweetie. Check it out here. It’s an interesting issue of separation of church and state versus serving customer needs.

My buddies at LinkedIn help me create a list of ten ways to use the service if you’re a small business person. Read about them here. There is also a great collection of LinkedIn tips and tricks at Linkedin.alltop.

We’ve certainly got iPad covered. First, here is a compilation of reviews of Apple’s new wonder gizmo. Second, here’s iPad.Alltop which is dedicated to ongoing coverage of it.

If you’d like to follow all the news about Toyota, be sure to go to Toyota.alltop and Autos.alltop. We aggregate hundreds of websites and blogs there.

Duke University, Stanford University, and the University of Rochester created a consortium of universities called Futurity. All the partners are members of the Association of American Universities (AAU) or of the Russell Group. Futurity then publishes the very best research news from these universities. We then aggregate this news into a easy-to-scan site called Futurity.Alltop. [...]

Do you want to stay on top of the press releases that are published by PRNewswire? We’ve aggregated them for you at PRNewswire.alltop. This is a very easy way scan hundreds of press releases in seconds.

Having a great time in Vancouver. If you want to see how great, check out my pictures from Day 1 and Day 2.

We’ve all been sucked into doing something stupid, right? Fortunately, Steven Greenspan has written a book called Annals of Gullibility. In its conclusion he explains how to avoid gullibility, and I’ve provided a synopsis for you. Read the full story at the American Express Open Forum. More on psychology if you need the advice.

By definition, good marketers are empathetic. That is, they have a capacity to understand and care for the needs of others. Bruna Martinuzzi explains how to be empathetic over at the American Express Open Forum.