Sunday, November 30  

Trust makes it so easy

One of the absolute best things to get from a client is their trust. Once we have that we can provide great solutions at a great price. There's no 'mucking around' trying to 'sell' the client on an idea or solution as all you need to say is:

"Okay, here's the problem. These are the options. Here's my recommendation."

It's easy, fast and very effective.

One of the people I had dinner with last night was an old friend of mine. She runs a company that has had what's called a Content Management web site developed for her. And things haven't gone too smoothly.

The site is cumbersome, difficult to update, the developer is very slow to respond to doing things on the site, etc. It's been an ongoing problem for 6 months and she still hasn't got the site going properly.

She asked me to take a look and give her some advice

We identified the major issues in a 10 minute chat. I provided a solution for her in the next 5 minutes.

And it is a fantatsic solution (modesty never has been one of my strong points!).

Step 1: Register a new domain name (her old one was way too long) - done
Step 2: Organise hosting - done (saves her over $1,000 pa)
Step 3: Get the site redesigned - will do that on Monday
Step 4: Integrate the new Content Management System into the design - should take a day or 2

Because my friend knows me and trusts me, everything is just so easy.

I'm not too sure of the point of that story! Maybe it's got to do with trusting experts - you'll get a much better job that way.

See ya!

Brendon the Expert

Smart idea I hadn't seen before

I went out for dinner last night with my wife (Mel) and 4 friends to a little restaurant called Lilly Pillys. It's located just down the road from us in the local shopping centre.

Nice little joint with great food and very friendly service.

My wife tried to book us in for dinner there last week, but the place was booked out. This is what the waitress told Mel on the phone:

"Because we are all booked out tonight, when you next book in you receive a 10% discount off the total bill."

One very simple strategy that left my wife delighted and very eager to try the restaurant later. A great example of creative thinking on how to exceed the expectations of your customer before they even try the restaurant.

Anyway, I'm going back to bed as I have a small hangover after the wine and beer!

Cheers.

Brendon

Friday, November 28  

Do I or don't I?

How would they know?

I went to Melbourne a couple of weeks ago for a couple of nights. And Sydney as well.

These places are 2,000 and 1,000 kilometres away from me. I booked my accommodation direct via the net. Nothing unusual there.

Do these places know how often I book accommodation?

I've never heard from any accommodation place I have ever booked. Via the net or via telephone. Ever.

Just how stupid are they????

They have my email address. Stick it in a database. Send an autoresponder email saying "Thanks for staying", "Here's what's on next", "Want a Christmas break?".

Whatever. Just make me an offer. Because I can't buy until someone offers me something. And I'm much more likely to buy when someone offers me something. As are you. As is anyone.

They don't know how often I book accommodation. I might book every week. They have no idea. So they should keep making me offers until they do.

The people who have purchased from you before are much more likely to buy from you again. So ask them to buy. Simple really.

Cheers Big Ears.

Brendon

Thursday, November 27  

.....and I forgot

Don't know if George who I mentioned in Wednesday's blog, reads the blog or not. But today he emailed and is paying the full amount and he gets the 5% discount.

That's a 50% strike rate for that invoicing strategy! You never know until you ask.

George has basically said "I trust you Brendon and I'm sure you'll do a great job." And that's a great way to start a business relationship.

Brendon

What would you think if this happened to you?

We finished some work with a client the other day. After much thought and review (we rang his staff to find out his interests) we decided to buy him a book as a "Thanks for your business" gift. I bought it tonight - it's a best-selling book written by one of our clients we manage (always support your clients wherever possible).

The offices next to us have been empty for a year or so. New tenants move in next week. We've decided to buy them a bunch of flowers and a bottle of wine to say "Welcome to the joint. Hope your business prospers."

Both of those things are out of the ordinary

I'll guarantee that the client very rarely (if ever) gets a "Thanks for your business" card and gift.

And I'll guarantee that the people moving in next door will be surprised, delighted, amazed and grateful (not quite that excited, but you get the idea!).

Will those things generate us more business? Specifically, I have no idea.

But I do know that us being nice and thoughtful to others has generated us a lot of business over the years.

Be different. Be daring. Do something stupid. Stand out and your business will get recognised, talked about and visited.

Have a good night.

Brendon

So near, yet so far

One of the printers in our office is a Xerox Phaser - a laser printer that spits out pages faster than you can say "Spit out pages."

We've had it for 15 months. The printer came with a 3 year warranty - basically if it misbehaves, we'll get a replacement if it can't be easily fixed.

The printer started jamming about 3 weeks ago. Just every now and then initially, but before too long it was every 2nd page being jammed.

A call to the Xerox centre fixed all - they'd sent us a replacement printer on the Monday (we rang, I think, on a Thursday). Excellent! No fuss, no hassle. Just great service and a wonderful solution.

And then they stuffed it up completely!

Monday became Tuesday. And then Wednesday. And then Thursday. When we rang today to see how far away the new printer would be (knowing that the new one was on its way made us more and more intolerant of the malfunctioning one).

"It's in Brisbane (100 km away). It will take 3 days to get it to you."

Jo and I went to see a client in Brisbane today. We then drove (we arranged this with the guy on the phone) an out-of-our-way 50 km to pick up the new printer from the Xerox place.

That is, in my view, hopeless. How do these companies actually make any money? Do companies have a documented policy of "Let's give the custoimer crap service and hope they never bother us again."?

All I wanted was a printer fixed. Instead I got a week of broken promises.

Seeing inept companies on an almost daily basis makes me think it is easy for any businessperson to succeed. Provide outlandishly fantastic service and you simply cannot fail.

* Will I ever buy a Xerox product again? Nope.

And that old saying that an unhappy customer will tell 10 people. In this day and age of the web, it's more. I just told over 1,000!

Give great service. Every bit of research I've ever read says that better service = better profits. It ain't rocket science. Even if it costs you a few bucks here and there, the benefits are substantial.

Cheers.

Brendon

Wednesday, November 26  

Oh George.......and Deb!

A few posts down I mentioned that we would trial our "Pay 100% upfront and receive a discount" invoicing system.

Yesterday, George purchased some services from us. He opted for the 50% deposit.

Today Deb purchased some services from us. And she opted for the 50% deposit.

I didn't ask them what their reasoning was, but I'd guess that there is still an inherent risk in handing over money. Handing over less money = less risk. I will ask them once we have done their work and see what they say.

My guess is repeat clients might be the ones most likely to take up the discount.

Cheers.

Brendon

Another one bites the dust

A Victorian, Australia company has bitten the dust and closed up shop. The company ran seminars on getting rich quick. Real quick.

One of the apparent hooks was that people would become millionaires within a year, even if they started with no money.

It was real estate education that they offered and they had quite a few takers.

And here's the best bit. The seminars (2 day) cost $15,000 to attend. Some people reported paying up to $50,000. Many people borrowed off the seminar company to attend.

As distressing as people losing that much money is, there is a lesson here.

That is a great example that you can pretty much sell anything. There are people out there that will buy your good, decent, well-priced product. You just have to find them. And that bit's called marketing.

Cheers.

Brendon

Tuesday, November 25  

The reason why I'm not the designer here

Further to the blog below, I've had a go at doing the map. You can check out my efforts here.

Everyone in the offices hates it - but I think it's just jealousy! They simply cannot believe that I'm good at so many things.

And if I keep writing that, I might even start to believe it!

Cheers

Brendon "Van Gogh"

Monday, November 24  

What the world needs now is love, sweet love - can't remember who wrote that

Shocked enough??

From Michael Jackson, to war, to the lyrics of the latest rapper..........it goes on and on. And on and on.

Part of being a good marketer is being able to 'feel' the public mood. What might appeal to your market. All the research in the world doesn't compare to a smart person taking a look around. Call it intuition if you like.

And right now I'd suggest the world needs some positive stories. People are crying out for them.

As you work in your business day after day after day, you'll develop a great sense of what works (and doesn't work) to attract the sort of customers you want. Don't dismiss your thoughts just because some fool marketing expert trots out a line of research and rhetoric.

Cheers.

Brendon

I'm not so smart (could you at least act surprised!)

It's okay. You can drop the shocked look now!

I emailed a guy who I'm meeting in the office on Wednesday. He hasn't been to the office before and is from a city 100 km away.

I wrote quite a detailed email providing detailed directions and instructions. I've done that plenty of times.

You know what I'm leading to, I can tell................................how easy would it be to do a map on a word document, convert it to a pdf file and upload it to the web site.

Next time anyone wants directions, I just send through a link and it's done. A full colour perfectly detailed map!

I'm going to stop writing now and start the map. I'll upload it later and show you my artistic skills!

Do you have a place that could use a map? Do you have a large store - maybe your customers need a map of your store? Could a map be useful - one more great way to differentiate you from your competitors.

Cheers.

Brendon

Sunday, November 23  

Having daughters increases your divorce risk - what this stuff teaches businesspeople

A recently released survey indicates the following:

* The presence of daughters in the family increases the chances of the parents divorcing (in every society studied)

* Compared to families with 1 boy, families with 1 girl are 25% more likely to divorce! - that's in Vietnam (that figure reduces to 5% more likely in the US, but even that figure is doubled if the family has 3 daughters)

* Women with sons are more likely to remarry than women with daughters

* If a single woman is pregnant with a son, she is more likely to marry the father than if she is pregnant with a daughter

* Following the birth of a son, fathers average an extra 118 paid hours at work. If the child is a girl, the extra number of hours worked drops to 54

(Check if your mouth is open. My jaw dropped when I read this research.)

What does that all tell us? Plenty, I'd say.

Some of what it tells us scares me a little. Maybe men 'value' sons more. And by using the term value I mean a whole range of quantitive and qualitative aspects.

Maybe having daughters reduces the mother's emotional dependence on staying in an unhappy marriage.

Maybe..................maybe lots of different things.

But one- (1) thing I'm certain stuff like this does tell us.

It tells us that humans are animals. We are a animals with deeply ingrained beliefs, value systems and behaviours. We act like animals in that much of what we do might well be there because of thousands and thousands of years of natural influences closely related to the survival of the species.

As businesspeople, we need to look beyond the fact that some of us might find the above info unpalatable. We need to be aware that we can't easily predict human behaviour in many cases.

We need to be aware that us humans are animals. We have animal instincts. And we do behave in predictable animal ways despite our very best efforts to act 'civilised'.

Cheers.

Brendon

Friday, November 21  

Queensland man furious at lack of birthday gifts!

Yes.

The man is not happy. Apparently he has web site where he writes quite often. And he has mentioned his birthday on more than one occassion. He's not very subtle.

When the postman arrived today, this man (let's call him Brendon) ran excitedly to the door. But alas, no gifts from readers. He sulked all day long!

Yes, it's my birthday! Happy birthday to me!!

Not to complain or anything ;-( but what a great advantage for any supplier to have made a note of my birthday at some stage and sent me a card. Or an e-mail. Or called.

Business is about relationships. People buy more from people they like. People like being wished happy birthday.

Can you get hold of your customer's birth dates?? Give them a call on the day, offer them a discount on the day, send them a card. Acknowledge your customers and like them.

Not only is it nice to do, but it's nice for business!

Have a good weekend. I'm off to dinner with my gorgeous wife.

Brendon

Thursday, November 20  

Your market segments - focus

When shopping, guys buy the clothing they try on in 65% of cases (for women it's 25%). So get guys to try stuff on.

If a retail store employee speaks with a customer (even if it's just "Hello") the conversion sales rate increases. Get your staff to acknowledge every customer.

There is a well recognised and researched correlation between the amount of time spent in a store and the number of sales - more time in the store = more sales. Woman shopping with a female friend spend, on average, almost twice as long in a store than when a woman is with a male friend.

Do what you have to do to get the shopper to spend more time in your store

So if you have a store that sells women's stuff, then make sure the guy is well catered for (so he doesn't stand around bored and make the woman leave sooner).

That could be as simple as a couch with a TV playing sport. A couch and some sports/car magazine. Whatever.

Identify your market segment and then market your business to them. Look after them. Find out what works and do that.

Cheers and have a good night.

Brendon

Labels: Business Management

Tuesday, November 18  

Virgin Blue - what's in a name?

I'm flying Virgin Blue from the Gold Coast to Sydney tomorrow. I was just on their web site checking something when I came across a bit of news on one of their pages.

"How we got our name

We asked Australians to put forward ideas in a radio station competition and were overwhelmed with over 3,200 responses.

The name Virgin Blue was chosen after rigorous consideration - an outstanding choice because it personifies us perfectly."

Mmmmmmmmmmm.

Actually I don't think that's quite right.

I subscribe to a magazine called AdNews. And a story a month or 2 ago quoted an agency associated with Virgin Blue as saying they actually came up with the name and then went to the public to ask for their input. They never had any intention of selecting a new name - they just wanted a nice PR story.

And it is a nice story. Some guy thinks he picked the already selected name, and he gets free flights forever.

That's the Virgin Blue way. Smart, innovative, aggressive.

What can you do to make the news?

Cheers.

Brendon

How much would a dehydrated man in a desert pay for a drink?

Owen, a regular reader, sent this one in after reading 'The Latest' blog yesterday talking about supply and demand.

Apparently there are Coke vending machines in Japan that vary the price of each bottle of Coke depending on the outside temperature! How simple, how clever, cool is that!

Cheers.

Brendon

Monday, November 17  

Sydney town - the town of the perfect example

The city of Sydney has quite a bit happening at the moment. Australian Idol final on Wednesday, I'm visiting the city on Wednesday - not for Idol ;-) - and the Rugby World Cup.

As important as me visiting for the day is (!) the Rugby World Cup is having a bigger impact. I've just been checking out the accommodation. Most places are booked out for the next week.

And on some discount accommodation booking web sites, you'll see a funny thing. Instead of being 50% below the usual rate, these web sites are selling the accommodation at a 40% premium on the normal rates! (Check out Mercure Grand Apartments Darling Harbour - the normal rate is $480 a night. Now selling for $680 a night!)

What a great example of supply and demand.

In my business, when I do stuff we charge more than when someone else does it. The reasons for that are pretty basic.

* I know more stuff.
* I'm quicker at doing things.
* I'm better at doing some things.

I provide better value.

If what you provide your customers gives better value than the competition, maybe you should be charging more?

Remember, it's not about the price. It's about the value.

Have a good night.

Brendon

I've turned into the most boring person in the world

I knew this would happen. It was kind of inevitable. After all, I am my parent's son.

I've turned into the most boring person in the world.

It started on the weekend. As you can see from the blog below, I went away with some friends of my wife's and all of the associated children (about 30 of us in all).

There's a hint right there. I have no friends of my own. I have to use my wife's friends as friends. Sad really.

On this weekend we stayed at a place call Midginbill Hill. It had a bunk house, huge mess hall, bushwalks, swimming, horse-riding, tennis, table tennis and volleyball. And I loved it! Pathetic, right?? What kind of loser actually enjoys all of that stuff?

But wait, there's more.

I flogged everyone at table tennis. There were 6 dads there. The closest any of them got to me in table tennis was 8 points (it takes 21 to win). I was the King of the Table. What sort of person is good at table tennis?? What am I doing with my life?

Is there a Table Tennis Anonymous?

But it gets worse. Much worse.

On Saturday we all sat around a campfire, roasted marshmallows and, get this, talked. We talked and talked. For hours. Probably 5 hours. I enjoyed that too.

Barbeques, bushwalking, tennis and volleyball on Sunday. Then a drive home and I was in bed by 8 pm.

I'm so ashamed!

But it really hit me today when I was eating sushi for lunch again. I have sushi most days. And I go to the local gym. And I swim most days.

I have an unpublished screenplay. Wait till I catch you at a party and tell you how great it is and how it starts of with this guy.................oh, never mind.

How boring am I?

The day is nigh

I'm 37 in a few days time (I know, I know..................I only look about 22. Maybe 23 at most.). My idea of fun used to be this -

* drinking,
* gambling,
* golf,
* womanising,
(Please note: the above is in alphabetical order only)

Then more drinking, chasing women, gambling and golf. Again, not neccessarily in that order.

The times are a changing. What I want has changed. What I buy has changed. I've moved from one market segment to another. I'm buying different things - different holidays, different drinks, different sporting equipment (Those ping pong paddles cost a fortune!)........the list goes on.

As we run our businesses we need to keep in mind that it is an ever-changing market out there.

The person who one day is a cool, ultra-hip party boy might just metamorphise into a boring father of 3 who plays freaking table tennis.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh.

Cheers

Brendon "King of the Table" Sinclair

Friday, November 14  

I wear the pants in my house (I don't even believe that!)

I'm going away for the weekend to some resort place a few hours drive away. I'm going with the wife and children and a whole bunch of her friends.

Basically all I have to do is get home at 6 tonight and drive down there. That got me thinking.

I have never, ever selected (or really had any input into) where my family goes on holidays or for breaks together. And a quick ring round of some friends confirms the same thing.

Our wives or partners make all of these decisions. (Us guys just do what we are told!)

Who makes the decisions in buying your product? Who should you be marketing to? As a quick example, I remember some stats from years ago that children under the age of 15 influenced the type of new car purchased in something like 40% of cases (I'd guess it is even more today).

If I had a holiday business I'd be marketing almost exclusively to women. Because in my experience, they make all of the buying decisions. Not the most scientific of research, but I'm guessing it would be an effective strategy.

Have a good weekend.

Brendon

Wednesday, November 12  

Being sensible and nice is sensible and nice

One part of our business has gone from strength to strength lately. So much so that we are creating a new division for it.

I went to regsiter the name the other day and it was rejected because it was apparently too close to a name of a business that is completely different to ours.

I appealed the decision, not really expecting any chance of success. What must happen is that the registration people ring up the people with the similar name and see what they think.

The people with the similar name must have said something along the lines of:

"That's fine. Give him the name. There wouldn't be much chance of confusion with what we do."

Result: the name was approved.

Try not to worry about the things that don't impact on your business. Focus on what you do best. That's the only way to a successful business.

Have a good night.

Brendon

Danno - why he'll be a big, big success

I received an email a while back from Danno. Danno had just purchased my book and emailed me before he received it:

"Bought the kit tonight after realizing the kit is probably worth its weight in cash just with the forms, contracts and systems alone - let alone your knowledge, which to me, is virtually priceless...............Really looking forward to studying it and putting it into practice."

I knew then that Danno was going to get a great benefit from the book. Not because it's a great book, but because Danno has a great attitude. Danno is receptive, open and eager to learn.

With an attitude like that, Danno is on the road to success.

I'm lucky enough to work with a guy called Justin Herald. Justin has built a multi-million dollar company in just 6 years, starting with just $50.

Justin does a lot of public speaking these days and really pushes the message that your attitude is a mirror for your life. If you have a positive and upbeat attitude, you'll have a positive and upbeat life.

If you have a dull and meek attitude, you'll have a dull and meek life.

You see, we are governed by our attitudes. Change your attitude and you'll start to change your decisions. Change your decisions and you'll start to change your actions. Change your actions and you'll change the results.

Back to Danno

Danno emailed me yesterday:

"Your kit has changed so many aspects of my life (for the better) that I wanted to extend the most sincere thank you that I could muster up via email.......Thank you!"

That success has more to do with Danno's energy, enthusiasm, positivity and attitude than anything else. Sure, my book may have been the catalyst for change, but Danno was open and receptive to learning some new things. And that made all the difference.

Here's another saying: If you think you can, or you think you can't, either way you're right (Henry Ford).

Danno thinks he can. So he can. And he will.

If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got. If your life or career or business isn't where you want it to be right now, then do something about it. It's up to you.

Cheers.

Tuesday, November 11  

Why I'm not that keen on employment contracts

If my lawyer is reading this he'll probably get some chest pain!

I've never been big on employment contracts. We are about to put one of the team onto permanent and the extent of our 'contract' will be a letter welcoming her as a permanent employee, with a bit of info about salary and benefits.

But there will be no locking in of timeframes.

I want the team here to love coming to work, to get well paid, to get bonuses, to get surprises, to be challenged and inspired, to be motivated and invirgorated. If the company isn't any of those things then I deserve to lose the great team that we have.

My lawyer would disagree with my feelings toward employment contracts (I've never actually asked him). But that's because he's a lawyer and his mind works differently!

Have a good night.

Brendon

How to toss $25,000 away without really trying

A company I know a little about has recently had an identity crisis. You see they are the manufacturers/distributors of sporting clothes. They have the product manufactured by a contractor and distribute it out to their retailers.

But like many distrbutors, they became frustrated at the perceived lack of support of their product by the retailers. And the retailers were taking a whopping margin for very little work (in their eyes anyway).

So the manufacturer/distributor had a bright idea (insert light bulb here!).

"Why don't we sell direct to the public and stop supplying the retailers!"

Excellent thinking. Not.

Here's what happened.

Step 1: Retailers drop product. Cash flow stops.
Step 2: They set up a system to sell direct to the public. This is limited to internet/fax/phone orders.
Step 3: Took infommercial style ads on a national morning TV show (spots were $7,000 each - they took 2, creative and production were close to $8,000, set up of phone order taking company for the expected deluge - $3,000).
Step 4: Wait for huge order numbers.
Step 5: Keep waiting.
Step 6: Think to self "Ooooops, what have we done?"

I know what you are thinking...............for the record they sold 200 products. Margin was $8 per product. That's a loss of $23,400.

You can't be all things to all people. It is very, very difficult to set up the infrastructure to be a distributor of products. It is very, very difficult to be a national retailer (especially without any experience).

Stick with what you know best and focus on that.

P.S: I doubt there will be a happy ending for this company. They didn't know the going rate for any advertising media at all and simply don't have the budget to get awareness of their new distribution model out to their market. They are now stuck between a rock and a very hard place.

Cheers.

Brendon

Saturday, November 8  

Let's talk

I run a marketing workshop most Fridays. And on Friday afternoon the team here close the office at about 3 pm and we have 'Friday afternoon drinks'.

Both of these things are creative outlets.

The overwhelmingly consistent comment I receive about the marketing workshops (we send invites out to local businesspeople), is that just talking about marketing crystalises what they need to do in their mind.

And our drinks after work always produces some great ideas for our business and clients. Just yesterday we came up with some fantastic ideas for products for a new client.

Talking is great. Talking gets you focused on the issue at hand. Throwing ideas back and forth is a great stimulant.

Brainstorming/throwing ideas around/whatever you want to call it. Take a minute (or an hour or a day or a week) to step back from your business and think about the big issues.

Involve others - whether it be your own team, partner, mentor, etc - and you'll get a fresh perspective and some great ideas and solutions on how to build a better business.

Cheers.

Brendon

Qualifying your customers for best results

I'm sitting at our outdoor table by the pool as I write this. My wife and son are cooking pancakes for brunch. Along with some 'real' coffee. It never ceases to amaze me how technology can connect me to you at any time of the day or night, at just about anywhere in the world...........

Anyway, on with the shoe...........

Part of the marketing process is not only attracting people to your business, but it's about attracting the right sort of customers to your business.

If the local Porsche dealership offers a free test drive to anyone this month, they would have hundreds of takers. But that would be a waste of the dealership's time and resources.

You see, there are a few characteristics Porsche buyers share. Chief amongst those would be having $200,000+ (or the finance) to spend on a car. That narrows the market down.

The next major characteristic would be a genuine desire to purchase a Porsche.

How do you qualify your customers? Are you spending too much time and effort on people who don't really want, or aren't in a position to buy, your service or product.

And qualifying your customers can be simple.

Ask questions. Plenty of questions. Assess their ability to pay, their desire to purchase what you are selling, etc. Just like the Porsche salesperson will do.

And if you want a living breathing example of how to qualify potential customers, wander into your nearest luxury car dealership and express an interest in taking a car for a test drive.

Now sit back and wait for the qualifying questions that will decide if you get behind the wheel or not!

Have a good weekend.

Brendon

Thursday, November 6  

"Let me send a big clapping..."

Nguyen from Vietnam sent me a charming email yesterday. He was impressed with my book and wanted to let me know.

"I have written this letter for describing my EXTREMELY IMPRESSED feeling with your product.....Let me send a big clapping to your excellent product."

Donal wrote: "I just wanted to write to you to express my gratitude to you for producing such an outstandingly helpful book."

Tina said: "OH MY GOSH!!! Have I found the product useful?!? It's completely revamping my business approach."

Now the above isn't to brag...who am I kidding???! Of course it is - I'm a male. We all have big egos!

No, really. I have a point!

It's fantastic to receive nice words about your work. Sure, it can help others decide to buy. But the simple thing of saying a sincere "Thanks" means a lot.

I don't write enough nice notes. I should write more. It makes people feel fantastic, happy and worthwhile. And the funny thing is that when I write nice letters to others, I feel good (sounds a bit selfish when I say it like that!).

Go on..........write a nice email or letter to someone. They will love you for it.

Have a good day.

Brendon

Here's a new concept - what do you think?

Howdy. Here's a way (and I've never seen this mentioned before) to make more sales.

It is simply this: Get your customers to decide to buy from you quicker. The quicker the decision is made to buy from you, the more sales you can make.

So it stands to reason that you should encourage your customers to make that buying decision as quickly as possible. And the best way to do that is to encourage the most powerful sales tool - word of mouth.

Position your marketing efforts to generate as much word of mouth referral and comment as possible. Nothing works better at getting a buying decision.

What can you do to encourage word of mouth?

Cheers

Brendon

Wednesday, November 5  

I'm gonna be a star!

I attended a taping today of a presentation of one of our clients. Her presentation was about goal setting.

Jo (our client) talked at length about procrastination. It was a fascinating presentation (and I got my head on the tape a few times!!).

* What's the main thing you want to achieve?
* What's holding you back?
* What resources do you have to overcome what's holdng you back?

Okay, now get those resources together and make a start. Today!

(And Jo made it sound so much easier and better!)

Have a good day.

Brendon

Sex. When, where and how.

That got your attention!

I'm talking about sex in advertising. There seems to have been a shift lately towards using fairly graphic sexual imagery to promote anything from shoes to shops, clothes to cars.

I've just been involved in a debate regarding the use of sex in advertising.

But is it a good thing? Hmmmm, not too sure.

Superficial advertising doesn't work. Relevant, strong advertising with a message does. That's probably the key message.

Regardless of whether you use gorgeous women or men, or plain Jane or Joe, make the message the focus. Sell the benefits of your product. Be strong, clear and focussed.

That's good advertising.

Cheers.

Brendon

Sunday, November 2  

Convenience in business (and my horse came second!)

I flew home from Melbourne yesterday (to the Gold Coast). The two- (2) hour flight went quickly because I was well stocked with newspapers.

Had a great day time with the client, then checked out the National Gallery and spent Saturday at the Flemington races watching the Derby (the horse carrying my hard-earned ran second - d'oh!).

In one of the papers I read on the plane I read an interesting story - for the first time the % of people organising their own air travel and accommodation is greater than those using travel agents.

It's because of the very same reasons I mention in the entry below - convenience. Price is also a factor of course. It can now be cheaper to do it yourself.

The point of this post is here:

** Travel agents need to make booking travel with them even more convenient. And cheaper. **
(And that is a great lesson to us all that we need to make buying our product or service as convenient and easy as possible)

If we do that we'll all sell more stuff.

Have a good day.

Brendon the Horse Betting Loser!

Breaking the rules in your advertising - why you shouldn't do it

I take a look at a lot of other advertising agencies. Many of them advocate "breaking the rules."

But in advertising, the general rules are there for a reason. A good reason.

You see, advertising works best when it sticks to pretty simple rules. Our main rule is this:

Communicate the message as clearly and simply as possible.

Once you start breaking that rule, you are in a bit of trouble. Sure, be different - but that usually means being clear!

The best example of this might be many TV ads at the moment. Here's what they all do: (not all, but you get the message!)

* Stick a car on a mountain top.
* Turn up the music.
* Have the car drive down the winding road quickly.
* End ad.

Boring. The same. No differentiating message.

Have your advertising communicate your message. And yes, it is probably better if it's different - if only because that means it is clear.

Regards

Brendon