Failing is not the same as failure.
It is often said that for successful innovation to occur, you must be prepared to" fail often, fail cheap". Early testing and prototyping speeds up innovation cycle times, the longer a project proceeds with issues unnoticed or unfixed, the harder they become to fix,...
Marketing Pareto
Italian mathematician Vilfredo Pareto's observations that resulted in what is now commonly known as the "80/20" rule, are well understood. As a young marketer, Lord leverhulme's wry observation that he knew half his advertising was wasted, he just wish he knew which...
A rolling retweet gathers lots of moss
Ever wondered about the credibility gathered and built by the tweets, posts, and content created that then become used, and shared, and re-shared? The opposite of the stone, the more something is shared, the more it gathers moss, the virtual credibility we all seek on...
Social media, a sales tool??
Most of my networks are small businesses, and pretty much everyone I talk to who is using social media in some way consider it as a part of their sales strategy, a tool to increase sales. Many would concede it is a marketing tool first, but why do it if sales do not...
The data or the story
I recently sat through what should have been a very interesting presentation. The proposition fascinating, the data extensive, the qualifications of the presenter exemplarity. It is a pity, but a few minutes after it was over, none of the data was remembered. All I...
The “welcome quotient”
Social media is a part of the marketing toolbox, an increasingly important one, so why does it so often get shuffled out to the side, assigned to the 20 year old intern, when it can have a profound impact on your customers and market?. Marketing is all about demand...
3 way framework for sales performance management.
Sales, or as I prefer to call it, "Revenue generation" is the core of every business. No sales, no business. However, the thinking around performance assessment and management of sales is generally pretty superficial. The demarcation of sales and marketing has also...
Leaders, and those who lead.
I am constantly struck by the so called "failure of leadership" displayed in all sorts of places from the top of our political, economic and social system, to the bottom. People who reach positions of power, positions that have as an inherent component that power to...
6 Rules of successful e-sales
Business is based on relationships, and generally the relationship comes before the business. As a result, you have to find a way to identify those with whom a commercially sustainable relationship is possible, then offer them sufficient value for them to buy from...
Social Media is older than Facebook
Nearly 500 years ago, March 1517 to be exact, Social media was born, and rapidly demonstrated its power. On that warm spring day, Martin Luther "posted" his list of "95 Theses on the power and efficacy of Indulgences" on the local social media site, the church door,...