I had McDonald’s today.  I love McDonald’s.  I always have, and likely always will.  But every time I leave McDonald’s I feel hungrier than when I arrived.  I’ve heard it’s actually done on purpose.  That it’s a combination of the salt and fat in their foods that actually stimulates your hunger, so that you will buy more food.  I don’t know if that’s true or just an urban legend.  (I smell — or is it taste? — a Mythbusters episode.)

But it got me thinking — how do you keep customers hungry?  This is an important question that all businesses must answer.  It’s also personal because I run a successful freelance consulting business as well as a successful start-up photography business (with my wife).  And in both cases I’m forced to keep thinking about customers.  While there are lots of ways to run a business, I think (good) businesses do three things to keep customers hungry…

Read the rest of the article here.