The widely predicted January retail bloodbath has begun as early and viciously as the sales did a few weeks before Christmas. The outcome of this will change not only the business landscape but also the landscapes of many towns. Yet retailers have let it happen to themselves in so many cases by sticking their heads in the sand and ignoring simple sales and marketing practices.
Retailers are blaming the economic situation. Mmm. And they’re blaming online e-tailers. What?!
The facts are that ‘physical’ retailers have seen the internet & economic trends coming and done either little or nothing about them in most cases. They have failed to understand why people visit shops and why people buy online, and what the relative advantages of both are. The simple fact that many online retailers have seen themselves as fighting the internet for the last decade rather than embracing it is just beyond belief.
Most retailers believe that the online e-tailers have them beaten because of price. Wrong. Or convenience. Wrong again. The main reason that e-tailers are forging ahead is because of information. It’s the way that e-tailers are able to get the details of prospects and customers and use that information intelligently that is key. An online e-tailer can continually remind its customers and prospects exactly why they should do business with them; whether that’s because of price (or the perception of better pricing), convenience or any other USP.
The sad thing is, physical retailers could have been doing this for years but it never occurred to them. It never occurred to them to get their customers’ details let alone to continually keep in touch with them or offer them relevant new products. It never crossed their minds to continually tell them about a home delivery service because they never bothered to dream one up. They never thought about telling everybody who bought Widget LX that Widget GLX had just been launched, or about the wonderful in-shop service, the advantages of professional fitting, or of their…. you get the point.
If you’re in retail and have no system of gathering and effectively using customer details – however manually – then get very excited. Implementing some basic practices here could have an utterly amazing effect on your business at a time when many in the sector don’t know what to do apart from slash prices still further.
Monday, 29 December 2008
Tuesday, 23 December 2008
Three Wise Moves
Three things it’s great to do over the Christmas period:
On Your Marks. The working days over the Christmas period give you a great opportunity to ensure that your plan for the coming year is either complete (if you’re running to the calendar year), or on track (if you’re not). This applies equally to your fiscal, marketing and personal plans.
Get Set. Spend some time on housekeeping. Get your office space cleared, empty your inbox and feel really clear-headed for the coming year.
Go… and enjoy spending some time with your friends and family. It’s Christmas! Go and do something different and allow your mind to focus on something else for a few days. Go on!!
Thank you to you all for reading, for your comments, your referrals, and for your business during 2008. I look forward to helping you take control of 2009.
Wishing you a very Merry and Peaceful Christmas,
Jon
On Your Marks. The working days over the Christmas period give you a great opportunity to ensure that your plan for the coming year is either complete (if you’re running to the calendar year), or on track (if you’re not). This applies equally to your fiscal, marketing and personal plans.
Get Set. Spend some time on housekeeping. Get your office space cleared, empty your inbox and feel really clear-headed for the coming year.
Go… and enjoy spending some time with your friends and family. It’s Christmas! Go and do something different and allow your mind to focus on something else for a few days. Go on!!
Thank you to you all for reading, for your comments, your referrals, and for your business during 2008. I look forward to helping you take control of 2009.
Wishing you a very Merry and Peaceful Christmas,
Jon
Friday, 19 December 2008
Beating the Paradox Conundrum
There are so many confusing paradoxes in the world of business.
Woolworths’ problems stemmed from the fact that it didn’t have any particular focus, yet there are many companies that are failing because they didn’t diversify enough.
Many businesses enjoy success because they take risks – Porsche’s Cayenne off-roader for example. Many cause themselves problems because they do – take Toshiba’s now-defunct HD DVD format. Or who could forget the calamitous Sinclair C5?
Some ventures fail because the board or the owners give up too early. Others because they didn’t give up on something early enough.
Some will say your primary focus should be to maximise the value of each client above all else. Some say you should have as many clients as possible to spread risk.
If you do lots of marketing people will think you’re desperate. If you don’t do lots of marketing you’ll fail.
Whether you succeed because you do one thing or succeed because you do another is down to the perceptiveness of the people in charge to consider a situation – maybe a situation that hasn’t even presented itself yet – make a decision on it and then take conclusive action. Even if that decision is then to do nothing about a particular situation. The problem is that if you do nothing because you’ve considered nothing then you’ll be a very mediocre business, and one thing that’s absolutely black and white in business is that mediocrity always fails in the end.
It’s simple to explain how to make decisions that will more often than not bring you out on the right side of the paradox: you drop all your own pre-conceived notions about how right you are about something, learn to always be researching and taking calculated risks, map out your end game with every venture, continually communicate your core values, and ensure you can deliver.
Easy to explain, not always so easy to do. Which is why perceptive decision makers are a rare and often very wealthy breed. Why not decide to be one?
Woolworths’ problems stemmed from the fact that it didn’t have any particular focus, yet there are many companies that are failing because they didn’t diversify enough.
Many businesses enjoy success because they take risks – Porsche’s Cayenne off-roader for example. Many cause themselves problems because they do – take Toshiba’s now-defunct HD DVD format. Or who could forget the calamitous Sinclair C5?
Some ventures fail because the board or the owners give up too early. Others because they didn’t give up on something early enough.
Some will say your primary focus should be to maximise the value of each client above all else. Some say you should have as many clients as possible to spread risk.
If you do lots of marketing people will think you’re desperate. If you don’t do lots of marketing you’ll fail.
Whether you succeed because you do one thing or succeed because you do another is down to the perceptiveness of the people in charge to consider a situation – maybe a situation that hasn’t even presented itself yet – make a decision on it and then take conclusive action. Even if that decision is then to do nothing about a particular situation. The problem is that if you do nothing because you’ve considered nothing then you’ll be a very mediocre business, and one thing that’s absolutely black and white in business is that mediocrity always fails in the end.
It’s simple to explain how to make decisions that will more often than not bring you out on the right side of the paradox: you drop all your own pre-conceived notions about how right you are about something, learn to always be researching and taking calculated risks, map out your end game with every venture, continually communicate your core values, and ensure you can deliver.
Easy to explain, not always so easy to do. Which is why perceptive decision makers are a rare and often very wealthy breed. Why not decide to be one?
Friday, 5 December 2008
When Should Becomes Must
It’s that time of year again when people are asking what the coming year has in store.
For many businesses next year will be a year when ‘should’ becomes ‘must’. All the things you know you should have done this year but haven’t got round to, your business must embrace next year. Because 2009 won’t be very forgiving for those who don’t. We simply have to maximise the manifold opportunities that are out there.
I’m sure you already know that….
* You should learn about the importance of building and keeping good customer relationships
* You should get good at relationship-based email marketing
* You should become good at demonstrating your expertise
* You should properly embrace the power of the internet / blogging / social media
* Big companies should learn to react like smaller companies can
* You should check your overheads on a regular basis
* You should find the time to congratulate your top people
* You should get rid of deadwood
* You should get really good at managing your staff’s time
* You should make internal & external communications as clear as possible
* Sales teams should become better at using their time
* Sales people should be either sharpened up or shipped out
* You should add new marketing strategies
* You should continually be improving your sales processes
* You should have a proper system for lead management
* Marketing strategies should be continually tested and measured
* You should realise it will never quite be the same as it was before
* You should ensure that everything you do or invest in is adding value
* You should always value your loyal customers more than anything else
…..but next year a big gap will open up between those who take action and those who don’t. Big companies must stop deliberating around the board table and be decisive. Small companies must leverage their power to make quick decisions. All must realise that the new territory is going to feel very strange at first.
Oh, and by the way, you really should put all of this into a plan.
Monday, 1 December 2008
How to Make Business Networking a Part of Your Marketing Mix
Business networking, as I’ve reported here before, has exploded in recent years and the trend is continuing. It’s no longer the preserve of the smaller business either, with more and more SMEs and even large corporate businesses now foraying onto the networking scene.
Yet more and more people are saying it doesn’t work. So what’s going on?
Last week I spent some time at Andy Lopata’s workshop on business networking strategy. Andy is without doubt the expert on business networking – he works with many large companies and trains their staff on getting the most from networking. He says the problem lies in that many people ‘play’ at networking. They give it a go with no real expectation as to what they’re going to get out of it or, just as detrimentally, what they’re going to put into it.
The fact is that networking is now very sophisticated in the UK, so rather than just turning up somewhere for breakfast, you should look to build a proper networking strategy as part of your marketing mix. Of course many people aren’t doing this so with record numbers of people heading into networking without a strategy, it’s no wonder many are falling out of it.
So if you’re going networking and want to make it a success, here are the key points you should know:
1. Understand why you’re doing it. Consider the mix of profile building and personal development as much as the referral generation.
2. Write down a plan with your goals on it. Writing down your goals influences your behaviour which of course influences your results. Your networking plan should link in to your overall business plan.
3. Based on the above, choose the right group or groups. Consider both on and off line networking. Many people erroneously choose their networks based on what times they meet or where they meet. Are these the groups that will help you to reach the goals you have set yourself?
4. Measure your return. Your financial return can be measured not just by your sales performance, but also in terms of savings generated on supplies or time taken to achieve other projects. Your return in terms of personal development or profile might be more difficult to measure but you should certainly look to put some value on your personal development.
5. Consider the message that you want to get over to people. Make it succinct, precise and jargon-free, and be consistent in delivering it. Tell people exactly what makes good business for you and also the kind of people that it’s useful for you to meet.
6. Help others as much as possible. You’ll find people are more willing to help you either because you’ve helped them or the fact that you become valuable to the group.
When you look at it this is just a list of common sense marketing principles; just don’t forget them if you’re going networking. If you don’t apply them you risk becoming one of the people wondering why networking doesn’t work when perhaps you really didn’t know what you were there for in the first place.
And the opportunities are passing you by.
Yet more and more people are saying it doesn’t work. So what’s going on?
Last week I spent some time at Andy Lopata’s workshop on business networking strategy. Andy is without doubt the expert on business networking – he works with many large companies and trains their staff on getting the most from networking. He says the problem lies in that many people ‘play’ at networking. They give it a go with no real expectation as to what they’re going to get out of it or, just as detrimentally, what they’re going to put into it.
The fact is that networking is now very sophisticated in the UK, so rather than just turning up somewhere for breakfast, you should look to build a proper networking strategy as part of your marketing mix. Of course many people aren’t doing this so with record numbers of people heading into networking without a strategy, it’s no wonder many are falling out of it.
So if you’re going networking and want to make it a success, here are the key points you should know:
1. Understand why you’re doing it. Consider the mix of profile building and personal development as much as the referral generation.
2. Write down a plan with your goals on it. Writing down your goals influences your behaviour which of course influences your results. Your networking plan should link in to your overall business plan.
3. Based on the above, choose the right group or groups. Consider both on and off line networking. Many people erroneously choose their networks based on what times they meet or where they meet. Are these the groups that will help you to reach the goals you have set yourself?
4. Measure your return. Your financial return can be measured not just by your sales performance, but also in terms of savings generated on supplies or time taken to achieve other projects. Your return in terms of personal development or profile might be more difficult to measure but you should certainly look to put some value on your personal development.
5. Consider the message that you want to get over to people. Make it succinct, precise and jargon-free, and be consistent in delivering it. Tell people exactly what makes good business for you and also the kind of people that it’s useful for you to meet.
6. Help others as much as possible. You’ll find people are more willing to help you either because you’ve helped them or the fact that you become valuable to the group.
When you look at it this is just a list of common sense marketing principles; just don’t forget them if you’re going networking. If you don’t apply them you risk becoming one of the people wondering why networking doesn’t work when perhaps you really didn’t know what you were there for in the first place.
And the opportunities are passing you by.
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