How do retailers create irresistible ‘customer flypaper’?
As a very young kid, I remember my grandmother having flypaper stuck around her kitchen. From time to time she would smear something smelly on it, which doomed any flies in the neighbourhood. Wouldn’t it be nice to have ‘Customer flypaper' for your business?...
Australia Day, January 26, 2020.
Sunday is Australia Day, and the bushfires consequences, and the possibility of more in the next short period, is at the forefront of peoples minds. In recent days however, we have had dust-storms that have been truly frightening, and intensive storms,...
3 factors creating an existential crisis.
I recently found myself in the position of refereeing a 'debate' over lunch on climate change between 2 zealots, one from either side. One who was a passionate advocate of the argument that it was real, and would kill us unless we did some challenging things,...
3 questions to juice up your sales productivity
Word of mouth, the endorsement of a happy customer, is the best marketing you can have. We all know that, 'Word of mouth' is the gold standard, the original social media. Why then do we spend so much time and energy focussed on the next customer? Finding, engaging and...
What is the core KPI of Marketing?
The answer just has to be ‘Sustainable Margin’. An enterprise can only do three things to increase margin, however you choose to define that term. Lift prices. Expand sales. Decrease production and operating costs. Options 1 and 2 are often seen as mutually...
Very rarely am I embarrassed to be Australian
Craig Kelly created such a moment this week, spouting idiotic nonsense on British morning TV. Kelly is the MP for Hughes, at the southern end of Sydney's metropolitan area, which he won in 2010, succeeding well respected liberal Dana Vale when she retired. ...
Is marketing losing its humanity?
Marketing, when I first started was a mind-set that had at its core, the customer. The information we had was by todays standards in the dark ages, and we had to work really hard for it. We pored over sales and basic market research reports by hand, working with...
How do you become a local overnight success?
The great irony of the moment is that we have never been so 'connected' but so alone. We are both connected and isolated by the digital tools that have emerged. This contradiction is slowly leading to the emergence of hyper-local initiatives that have the...
5 key factors to consider when planning your budgeting process.
The new year will bring budget season. For most, it will be an addition to the day job, but it is a critical activity that is often treated with less application of critical and creative thinking than it demands as a precursor to superior performance. Following are 5...
January 1, 2020. An introspective.
It is the end of another year, in fact a decade. 'What have I achieved' seems to be a fair question. For 24 years I have worked as a 'boutique' consultancy. Some may think this is just another word for 'one man band,' and they would be correct, however, there...