Has digital killed the sales funnel?
Almost every organisation I have dealt with uses some variation of the accepted sales funnel model. Start by gathering as many leads as possible, then progressively whittle them down through the funnel until you have a customer. The practice is always way more chaotic...
7 tactics small business should be better at doing
Small business owners seem always struggle to find the ways to build their business. B2B, B2C, does not matter, the challenges are similar. How do you identify, engage, then build towards a transaction and relationship with people to whom your product or...
Barriers and opportunities for small business innovation in supermarkets.
Small business suppliers to supermarket chains are substantially compromised by the lack of resources to innovate. Peter Drucker stated 50 years ago that innovation is the only really sustainable competitive advantage, and the passage of events have proved him...
VW’s marketing lemon
VW advertising has helped redefine the practise of marketing and advertising over 60 years, and in the process built a brand valued in their last balance sheet at $US23 billion How much of that 23 Billion has been trashed by the unfolding fraud? The value of a...
11 things Social Media will not do.
Social media presents enormous opportunities for small businesses to connect with their customers in ways not imaginable just a few years ago. However, like every new tool that comes along, it can be misused and certainly abused, and is certain to be touted by...
The HUGE downside of “Free”
"Free" is a really powerful word, it gets used often to gain attention, and put urgency into a call to action, particularly if the "free" period is short. How many of us have not reacted at some time to the siren song of "Free?" However, "free" has a huge downside....
How to calculate Share of Wallet.
The calculation is easy, sales over total wallet, the problem is in defining the denominator, or what is in/out of your wallet. The definition of the wallet is the really hard bit, the debate however, can be extraordinarily useful in terms of focussing the attention...
Beginners guide to small business blogging
Writing a blog can be confronting, and often small business owners shy away for the commitment. Make no mistake it is a commitment, but so is anything worth doing. After 6 years and 1400 posts, and a lot of reading of posts by others, I have learned a bit, I...
How to stand out on social platforms. The 9 ways.
My small business clients ask me this all the time. They know they have to stand out on Social Media, but the question is how? The necessary steps and supporting processes are now pretty well understood, but not easy to execute. 1. Find a niche and own it. This...
15 rules for dealing with supermarket buyers
Respected Australian Food industry journal Australian Food News published a terrific rewrite of a presentation I gave some weeks ago to a group of food industry CEO’s reflecting on the years I have spent in the industry. After 40 years, I thought there may be...