Events Calendar
Posts Tagged ‘business growth’
Are plastic buckets trying to tell us something?
In the aisles of my local supermarket there has recently appeared a colourful collection of plastic buckets borrowed from the Homewares section and deployed throughout the store to catch the large number of drips from the ceiling that have resulted from a prolonged period of heavy rain.
The display of buckets looks like a cross between some contemporary art installation and an obstacle course for toddlers.
On the day that the buckets appeared, I visited a client at his office and found him mauling his desk into the middle of the room, because he’d arrived that morning to find that an overnight ceiling leak had splashed onto and spoiled all his paperwork from the day before, and now he’d have to do it all over again.
That’s the trouble with leaks, he said – you don’t know you’ve got one until it’s too late… until it’s already making life difficult or is ruining stuff. And taking out insurance doesn’t help. No matter how watertight (excuse the pun) the precautions we might put in place, it can’t prevent leaks happening.
We were discussing this – the client and I – as we created a small island of furniture in the middle of his office. It led us to talk about how a business could be “leaking” sales without anyone actually realising it, until something bad happens. To be honest, the turn in the conversation was probably because our meeting was to discuss ways to improve his team’s sales performance.
So here’s my question: what measures have you put in place to prevent your business from leaking sales, that you’d be willing to share? What advice, tips and suggestions would you pass on to others? What have you learned that works and, equally important, that doesn’t?
Why there’s no such thing as “Sales and marketing”
One of the surest ways for an organisation to fail to succeed is to treat Sales and Marketing as the same thing. This workshop shows the differences between “sales” and “marketing”…. So you can do both better.
For: People with some responsibility for “marketing” in their organisation.; People with some responsibility for “sales”; People with responsibility for both.
Click here for more info.
Are you wearing your lucky underpants today?
It’s long, pink and slim and (stop sniggering at the back!) is my “lucky” tie. “Lucky” because I’ve won three business pitches in as many months wearing this tie. Coincidence? Of course it is! The tie is no more lucky than a bowl of muesli or the hole in my sock.
I long ago gave up believing in Father Christmas, fairies and that inanimate objects possess magic powers. However, I acknowledge that lots of people do believe that the most unlikely things can bring luck, good or bad.
We believe in good luck charms, rabbit’s feet, four-leaf clovers. We cross our fingers for luck, we touch wood. It’s supposed to be bad luck to walk under ladders, but good luck for a black cat to cross our path. (What happens if a black cat crosses our path while we’re walking under a ladder?)
Sportspeople are notoriously superstitious. Footballers, for example: if they’ve had a good game will pull on the same socks they were wearing in the same order they put them on for their next game in the belief that this will somehow bring them good luck. Actors believe it’s actually bad luck to wish each other good luck before a performance so they say “Break a leg” instead.
In business, you need more than luck to survive and thrive. In business, as in life, luck is what you make it. If you go into a business situation thinking you’ll probably do well, you probably will. Luck is an attitude of mind and, as we know, good things often happen for us if we have a positive state of mind. The opposite is equally true for a negative mind set. Which means we are all responsible for our own luck, good or bad.
As someone once said, the harder I work the luckier I get.
So, no, I don’t really believe a pink tie is responsible for helping me gain new business. Still, no harm in wearing it at my next pitch, is there…?
*What about YOU – do you have any small talisman or ritual you keep “for luck”?
Marketing & business review for a bespoke travel company
U— is a brand new, sole trader travel company specialising in bespoke holidays to European destinations. The m
an behind the enterprise was formerly an accountant who wanted to turn his hobby of helping organise other people’s holidays abroad, into a paying business. He asked The NAKED Marketing Company what he could do to “lay the foundations” for future growth.
My main concern was that no market research had been done into who future customers might be and why they might use U—, so the enterprise was founded on wishful thinking rather than a proper business plan.
U—- had a DIY website, which I felt needed a major overhaul in design and content, including photographic and video content, to give it a more professional look and “feel” and to make it attractive and “sticky” for visitors.
There was a need to identify and target hoped-for customers through direct marketing and direct mailers, personal presentations, networking and small-scale exhibitions.
Giveaway content on social media would, I felt, introduce his service to a wider audience.
I also suggested exploring the possibility for joint ventures with other travel agents and companies associated with travel goods and services.
There was also capital to be made out of occasional local publicity.
U—- is a small scale and local business and so I felt marketing and business growth efforts should be focused on his local community. Successes from here would provide a springboard to wider marketing efforts.
PS. If you’d like a business growth specialist to cast a professional eye over ways to sustain and grow YOUR business, please visit the website, follow link and make your request.
Thanks, guys
My thanks to Make Mine Media for the little corporate video they made me as a surprise gift for my birthday
