Now here’s a tough one … What would you do if you were providing a service that appeared to be identical to the service offered by your competitors – in spite of the fact that yours was clearly the superior offering? That was the problem faced by a large commercial cleaning contractor with whom I […]
You know, I’d hate to be a marketing manager in a typical service-based firm. The problem is, in such a firm, there’s precious little for a marketing manager to manage! Here’s a person with no authority, no direct reports, a tiny budget, and no process to oversee. A person who’s only mandate (to ’get the […]
I’ve discussed in the past that an assumption that underpins the design and management of most sales processes is that conversion (rate) is the primary driver of sales. The Sales Process Engineering method recognises this assumption as erroneous. In most all sales processes, opportunity flow (volume) is the primary driver, not conversion. It’s quite easy […]
At best ‘brand’ is a useful word. At worst, it’s a dangerously misleading management tool. It’s hard to talk about marketing without using the word brand (or one of its derivations). Believe me, I’ve tried! But in spite of (or, perhaps, because of) its useful nature, the word brand is functionally bankrupt. More often than […]
My friend Jamie Hayes (whose Sydney gym was featured in edition 4 of AdVerb) likes to remind me that people don’t visit fitness centres any more. “The truth is,” he says, “they never did!” Jamie’s point is that, while almost all gyms have been calling themselves ‘fitness centres’ for the last ten years, their customers […]
A message for those business people who insist on competing on price: go ahead! That’s right. If you have a cost advantage, flaunt it. Cut your prices, build marketshare, consolidate that cost advantage and annihilate your competitors. So what’s the catch? Well, to successfully compete on price, you need to be able to manufacture, market […]
Why mysticism and marketing are incompatible bedfellows Imagine the reaction of your local doctor if you presented yourself with a cough and a slight fever and proceeded to inform her that you were suffering from tuberculosis! Can you imagine her obediently writing a prescription for Isoniazid and reporting your bad news to the relevant health […]
It’s a conversation I’ve had time and time again. JR-M: Does that advertising campaign work? Marketing manager: It’s a little hard to say. JR-M: How do you mean? Marketing manager: Well, the phone doesn’t ring, but at least we’re getting our name out there. There they are, those nine terrible words: but at least we’re […]
[Note: the following post concludes with a challenge. I hope you’ll consider proposing a solution!] I can’t stand it anymore. If I hear one more (otherwise intelligent) person mention the concept of a ‘profitable customer’, I’m going to scream! The concept of a ‘profitable customer’ is as big a nonsense as that of a ‘profitable […]
