"Statistics are no substitute for judgment." Henry Clay

"The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order. "Alfred North Whitehead

"Some men's words I remember so well that I must often use them to express my thought. Yes, because I perceive that we have heard the same truth, but they have heard it better." Emerson

Sally's Apizza is a legendary restaurant in New Haven. Serving thin-crust "apizza" since 1938, Sally's has earned the reputation of being "the best." Folks stand on line for hours, no matter the weather, the fans of Sally's will not accept substitutes. Right down Wooster Street is another legendary restaurant Pepe's. Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana was founded in 1925 and was the first to offer the now famous New Haven style thin-crust apizza. Pepe's is famous for their white pizza topped with clams. Fans of Pepe's, and there are a great many, will not accept substitutes. They too stand on line for hours in all kinds of weather waiting for a table.

Sally's and Pepe's each offer a product best described as "insanely great" (to borrow a term coined by Tom Peters). The product is the only marketing needed. The customers, rabid fans, serve as the most credible of all possible product evangelists.

The play's the thing.

Not pizza, apizza. Groceries worth the wait, worth standing in the rain for. "Without salesmanship we could not sell anything. If we could not sell anything we might as well not make anything, because if we made things and couldn't sell them it would be as bad as if we sold things and couldn't make them." Stephen Leacock