Am I (as accused) just a cranky old curmudgeon?
SME network meetings can be very useful, and sometimes amusing, as well as being a considerable consumer of time and patience. They often seem to be infested with 'life coaches' and various brands of 'personal coach'. Coaching plays a crucial role in all...
What retailers can learn from the Game of Thrones
The 'Game of Thrones' series is an unlikely metaphor for Australian FMCG retail. There are however commonalities. Intrigue, politics, intense competition, vendettas, invasion by 'wildlings,' dumb decisions motivated by ego, desperate defence of the status...
The formula for trust, and how to lose it.
Building trust is a process, long term, incremental, and very fragile. Trust given has always been earned, it is never just 'given'. Sometimes trust applies to institutions. We expect anyone holding office in an institution to act in particular ways that...
Cambridge Analytica and Facebook stretch the boundaries of digital privacy.. Further…Again
The Channel 4 expose of Cambridge Analytica last week has started a firestorm of commentary. Rightly so, but is it not ironic that the tools CA used to swing the US presidential election are now being used against them after the tactics were revealed?...
Why Wesfarmers is taking Coles through the checkout
It is no great surprise to me that Wesfarmers are spinning off the Coles supermarket business, and associated liquor and variety businesses. It also makes sense that they are keeping Officeworks and Bunnings, both stunningly successful businesses in...
A marketers explanation of Internal Rate of Return.
This post should be read by marketers in conjunction with the earlier one that explains Net Present Value. IRR partners with NPV as another tool in the investment choice toolbox. Both use as their basis, the forecasting of cashflow to make choices...
‘Burley’ is a great metaphor for marketing
As a kid, I used to go fishing with my dad sometimes, usually off the rocks around Sydney's northern beaches. He was a good fisherman, often came home with dinner when others around caught nothing. His explanation of his relative success was hard...
8 habits to generate a return on your investment attending network meetings
As small business owners, most of us go to network meetings of some sort. BNI, Rotary, your industry association, the local SME network, whatever it is, with the idea that we will make connections with people who may, at some point be useful to us,...
How to apply logic to the development of KPI’s
'If it matters, measure it' There are many variations in that old saying, but it holds true. How therefore do we end up with hundreds of measures that seem not to matter? Fear. Fear of missing a measure that does matter, so we create metrics for...
The rise and rise of the digital milkman
The retail gorillas, Coles and Woolworths may still have 75% of grocery market share, but they are in the gunsights of a horde of hunters, all using new fangled weapons developed from the base of 'Digital' in a myriad of ways. Meanwhile. The gorillas are...