A Commerce Carol Concludes   

… "No, Spirit! Oh no, no!" he cried. "This can't be written in stone. Oh, tell me there's a different future possible, a happier future, one I have a hand in helping to create and not destroy." …

When last we left Ebenezer Marketer, he was standing in the middle of his bedroom after a three-Advil™ night of being escorted through the Ages of e-Business Past and Present by a parade of exceptionally brilliant Green Spirits, each of which bore a striking resemblance to yours truly. (If you missed that part, you really shouldn't: click here.)

Wanna know what happens next? As if you couldn't guess!

E. Marketer gave himself a pinch and winced at the result, then raced to his mirror. Looking in and finding his own reflection, he took to laughing a little insanely, "I'm here. This is really me! And I'm not standing on the precipice of my office building.” He raced to his window and threw open the sash, craning his head far into the crisp morning air. Everything looked comfortingly normal.

His first act was to buy a turkey, which he delivered in person, for Tiny Tom's Christmas dinner. The missus invited him to dine, and he obliged, spending his day and evening picking more at the wealth of Tiny Tom's sales knowledge than the meal's trimmings. In fact, on the spot, he offered Tiny Tom a consulting position with his firm (and was to retain several other new staff with backgrounds in sales and consumer psychology).

During the days that followed, E. Marketer gnomed away in his office, leaving his staff to muse at the explosions of chuckles that would emerge from behind his closed door and wonder if they should start looking for new jobs. But the chuckles only reflected his growing enthusiasm for a whole new way of looking at online sales. Soon, they became very familiar with previously unknown considerations such as AIDAS, the 5-step expert selling process, conversion and retention ratios, trust and privacy, customer service, loyalty, and the now-famous term E. Marketer coined: EON (Ease of Navigation).

People still marvel at the complete change that came over E. Marketer and his e-commerce philosophies. It wasn't just that he became far less pompous in his dealings with folks; the new leaf he turned over that day wound up making both his own business and the businesses of his clients more profitable than any had imagined. Old E. Marketer was showered with praise and became a model for all thriving e-enterprises. True success and satisfaction were his at last.

Everyone knows E. Marketer wound up subscribing to Grokdotcom. What they do not know is this: every time a new issue appeared on his computer screen, the small green character in the upper left-hand corner gave him a salutary wink!

Special Announcement Following the Show

If you'd like more information about the many issues E. Marketer and many others have had to grapple with, be sure to visit the Grokdotcom Archives (click here) .

Have a Happy New Year!