11 research traps novice marketers stumble into, regularly.
The implication of the word 'research,' is that you are setting out to understand something. All too often over the years, I have observed situations where that is not the case. Market research can be a money trap, consuming resources with little or no payback. It can...
A marketers explanation of ‘normalising’ your P&L.
You will not hear the term 'normalising' the P&L very often. When you do, it is often an indication that the business is in a frame of mind open to change. It is a common starting point of valuing a business, a process that has two basic buckets: Financial...
6 questions to assess: ‘How strategic is your data’?
Data is inherently tactical, just numbers without intelligence. It takes structure, capability development, and governance to turn it into a useable asset that adds value. In the absence of a structure that is designed to enable the identification, analysis,...
9 trends to consider to profit in the Post-Corona economy.
Everyone and his dog is making predictions about the shape of the economy, post corona, a state that is seemingly moving out of our grasp currently with the resurgence of the bug. The reality is that the cards have all been thrown in the air, never has the...
The trouble with SMART goals
I love smart goals, they provide a road map, discipline, and a definition of what success looks like. Over the years they have proved to be very useful. However, as I get wiser, I realise there is one vital element missing from Smart goals: Compounding. Compounding...
9 questions to determine customer centricity.
It seems almost every business owner I meet claims to be customer centric, yet, ask their customers, and you get a different response. Human nature is that we put priority on what is important to us, rather than looking at something from the other side...
How to double your sales at very low cost.
Every business needs a flow of leads that can be turned into a transaction, and better still, a relationship that includes numerous transactions. You have current customers, who are, hopefully, very happy with your service and products. What better source of...
‘Lean’ is simple: Here’s how
An application of Occam's Razor to all the fluff and consulting clichés around lean thinking and implementation, brings lean back to its simplest form possible. It has only 2 elements. Learn to see waste. Once you teach yourself to observe the waste in a...
6 critical things to think about emerging from the Corona Coma
As we hesitantly, with stumbles, come out of this lockdown, we will see the landscape has changed. For some, it will be a land of opportunity, for others, a wasteland. Rather than seeing it as a calamity, those who choose to see it as an opportunity, will be...
The 8 benefits of ‘Numerical Ambidexterity’ to marketers
Being a useful marketer has many foundations, most of them untouched in the course of a marketing degree. One of the 'must have' but seemingly rare skills amongst most so called marketers I see, is a relationship with numbers. In a seeming paradox, I do not...