Monday, May 31  

Increased expectations

"Dad, can I have the buffet next time?"

Hello. Hope you had an enjoyable weekend.

I had a sporty weekend. It started on Friday afternoon. Jo and I left work early on Friday and had a game of tennis.

After an incredible, hard and tough struggle I managed to just win.......6-0, 6-0, 6-0. Hehehehe. And I mention this only to brag!

Saturday morning was spent watching my boys play soccer, Saturday afternoon I went on a 50 km bike ride with 3 friends.

Saturday evening I played a mate in tennis. The loser payed for dinner. Beat him 6-2, 6-4, 7-6. Then we went out for dinner and a few beers.

Sunday I went to the Gabba, Brisbane (100km up the road) and watched the Brisbane Lions football team play against the Melbourne football club.

My brother and I are members of the Queensland Cricketers Club. The Club's facilities are great - you can watch the game from inside (floor to ceiling windows), it has 2 bars, 2 restaurants, plenty of room.

The club also has hundreds of great seats reserved for members. So it's a pretty easy way to watch the footy.

My brother took one of his boys, and I took my son Jack.

The boys has a pie and drink before the game started. Sitting inside in comfort. The pie was hot. The drink was cold.

The club also puts on a buffet lunch. For $10 you can have chow down to a decent lunch.

So Jack sees this and says "Dad, can I have the buffet next time?"

The answer to that was "No. Unless you pay for it."

That's when my brother and I start reminiscing. When we were kids this was our day at the football.

1. Leave home from Burnside Ave, in New Town in Hobart, Tasmania. Walk the 2 kilometres to the local football oval.

It would often be raining, with a decent cold wind blowing down on us from the beautiful Mount Wellington that overlooks the city.

2. So the Sinclair boys - 5 of us - would arrive at the ground.

3. We'd then walk past the entrance and around to a side street called Ryde Street. There was an old, disused entrance there that was away from prying eyes.

4. One of the older Sinclair boys would climb up and over the barbed wire fence. The younger boys would then be lifted up to him and carried over the barbed wire. Once the youngsters were up and over the last Sinclair boy would make the climb.

So great! We're all in. Now what? Watch the footy? Nope.

Now we started work. In those days soft drinks came in glass bottles. These bottles were recyclable. You got 1 cent for each one when you had emptied the drink and returned the bottle to the canteen.

The Sinclair boys would start working the crowd.

"Can I have your empty bottle please mister?"

By doing that and going through the bins, we'd soon have enough to buy a pie and a Coke. The pie was usually cold, and the Coke warm. But that didn't worry us!

So we'd sit there eating our cold pie, drinking our warm Coke and watching football being played in the freezing cold and rain.

Those were the days!

Yesterday, we drove to the football. We parked in a car park about 50 metres from the entrance. Jack gets his hot pie and cold soft drink. He sits in a lounge chair to have it.

The game starts. He can either watch it from inside or sit in our reserved seats. We sit outside. It's about 22 degrees C.

We're sitting there watching world class sport. And then he comes out with that "Dad, next time can I have the buffet?" line!

Life does get easier. Although having said that, we certainly didn't have it tough as kids. But expectations have changed.

What we used to do as kids wouldn't happen for many kids today. The whole culture has changed.

Expectations keep rising

And I don't know if that's such a good thing. I see a lot of parents who never say "No" to their kids. The kid has the latest Playstation, the latest computers and the latest designer clothes.

Kids, whether they're 3 or 13, have an enormous economical influence these days. They are responsible for the purchase and/or choice influence of billions of dollars worth of buying decisions.

As businesspeople we need to be aware of their influence. And we need to meet the challenge of marketing to them.

Because parents usually don't make the decisions these days. It's often the kids.

Cheers

Brendon

Friday, May 28  

Search engine lead

Simple work for a terrific result

Our web marketing division of the business is getting bigger and bigger each week. We are starting to do a lot more search engine work and, with that, comes more research, more experience and more knowledge.

We were testing a few things out last week and happened to find out that the term "gold coast web design" is searched for 3-4 times a day on the web.

Because we've never optimised this web site for search engines, we didn't show up under that search term.

A few changes were done

I did some quick and pretty basic work on one of the pages:
http://www.tailored.com.au/web.htm


I then renamed it and uploaded it as this:
http://www.tailored.com.au/gold-coast-web-design.htm


Take a look between the 2 and you'll notice some word differences.

Anyway, I remembered to check today on Google to see if that new page had been picked up by Google. You betcha! # 9 for "gold coast web design".

Click here for the result in Google.com

Click here for the result in Google.com.au - we're # 7.

The point is search engines can be a good source of visitors to your web site (can be a huge source actually).

Take the time to learn how to make your site attractive for the search engines - it can pay off significantly.

The term "gold coast web design" is, as I said, searched for 3-4 times a day. But the term "gold coast web site design" is searched for about 12 times a day.

So I would be 3 times better off to develop a page for the search engines that would come up under "gold coast web site design" - our gold-coast-web-design.htm page comes up # 15 on Google.com for that term, but that could be improved even further with a specific page for that term.

That page we did was the reason we made a sale today for a small web site (the client found us on Google when he searched for "gold coast web design"). Little things can mean a lot in marketing your business.

Check out your search engine rankings and see how you could improve your web site to be an even better asset to your business.

Have a good day.

Brendon

Thursday, May 27  

Asking for help

Sometimes all you have to do is ask

Howdy. On 'the latest' blog I mentioned that we were putting together the new look and asked readers for some feedback. We've had plenty - and thanks to those people.

The feedback has been absolutely fantastic. Not fantastic as in "Brendon, your design ability is fantastic!!", but more along the lines of "Here are some ideas that might make it better for site visitors."

We've received some great ideas on the new design and the strategy behind each improved suggested has been sensational.

2 reasons for this post

The point of this post is to say this. Firstly, thanks to those who have provided some feedback.

Secondly, sometimes all you have to do is ask. The vast, vast majority of people are good and decent and helpful. It's a proven scientific fact that the people who visit here are:

* nicer,
* better looking,
* far more likely to get lucky with the opposite sex (or same sex - whatever takes their fancy!), and
* richer

than the rest of the population.

All you have to do is ask. Ask someone for help, ask someone for business, ask someone to buy. Quite often they will.

Thanks and cheers.

Brendon

Wednesday, May 26  

Building an opt-in database

Building an opt-in database

Hello. Hope your day is going well.

A couple of the online businesses I work with have built a significant portion of their business on their database. Having a permission-based email database can provide many benefits, the main 2 being:

* making special offers
* keeping in contact

Here's how to build such a database:

1. Web site

Have a newsletter subscription form on your web site (just like mine on the left)

Ask everyone who buys from you if they would like to join your newsletter for information on upgrades, specials, new products, etc. One of our holiday resort clients has a system on its booking form so the person can select from a drop down menu if they'd like to be added to the newsletter. 80% say yes.

Offer white papers, research results, articles, etc - ask people to provide an email address to receive these and if they would like to be added to your newsletter database.

I don't use that one (that's not to say it's a valid way of getting the info), but i figure if people are keen for the newsletter, they'll sign up.

2. Emails

In your email 'signature' add a link to your newsletter sign up form, along with a blurb about the benefits of joining.

3. Point of sale

If your customer has to give you their contact details, ask for their email address and include a "Tick this box to receive our newsletter" bit. Hotels use this all the time.

4. Develop a viral email marketing campaign

Make it as easy as possible for someone to:

a) recommend your newsletter to a friend (via a "Tell a Friend" bit on your web site), and
b) sign up via your newsletter (for those who forward it on)

5. Print ads

These can be used to easily entice someone to join your database. Just add a line or 2 that says something like:

"For early notification of our Super Sale, visit www.mywebsite.com and subscribe to our newsletter. It could save you thousands!"

=======

Many regular readers, and subscribers of my newsletter, will know that I don't do all of the above to get people to sign up to my newsletter. You see, I feel it is very important to be consistent with the marketing of your business.

What you do has to 'fit' with your business personality. For example, an email signature promoting our newsletter would feel a bit pushy for my business (being professional services). But, the signature promoting a newsletter would be a good fit for a retail business.

Although I think the effectiveness of email marketing has diminished significantly with the huge amount of spam that people have to deal with, done correctly it can still be a worthwhile activity that provides something of value to your customers and your business.

Have a good day.

Brendon

Tuesday, May 25  

Costing of Direct Mail

Costs of Direct Mail

Hello. Hope you had a great weekend.

We had a very Australian weekend. After the bike ride and kids soccer, we headed into the bush to camp. We camped beside a creek, took a few walks and sat around the camp fire and chatted (and roasted marshmallows).

At sunup we were taking a walk along the river bank when we spotted a Platypus, a Kookaburra was chattering in the tree and a Kangaroo hopped by about 30 metres away.

Can you get any more Australian than that??!

Why so expensive?

A few people have emailed me asking why the $3.50 cost per letter in the mail out of the one I mentioned below. Some people saw that as being expensive - on reflection I was probably being too conservative!

Let's take a look at a mail out being completed yourself. We'll assume it's 1,000 letters.

1. Who are you going to send the letter to?

A database list of quality contacts targeted to whatever it is you are after, will be about 60 cents a name and address.

That's $600 right there.

Give yourself another hour to manipulate, import and arrange the database the way you want.

Factors in another 1/2 hour for discussions with your list broker. Add in a few phone calls.

We'll say $800.

2. Letter. Firstly someone has to write it. We'll assume you'll write it yourself. A good letter takes me at least 4 hours to write. We'll be cheap and hire your services out at $40 per hour.

So the letter is written. Great.
Next, we need to print it.
That's 1,000 pieces of paper. ($10)
And 1,000 letters worth of ink. ($40)
Wear and tear on the printer. ($25)
And a bit of time feeding the printer. ($40)
And 1,000 pieces of paper to fold. ($160)

Total is about $435.

3. Envelope

1,000 envelopes. ($10)
1,000 envelopes ink. ($12)
1 hour feeding the printer. ($40)
1,000 stamps. ($500)
3 hours for putting on the stamps. ($120)

Total: $682

4. Brochure

6 hours of your time for writing - $240
$400 for a graphic artist to do the artwork
$400 to print 1,000 (you're usually better off to print at least 5,000)
Another hour of your time to organsie - $40

Brochure = $1,080

5. Order form

Let's say 2 hours for development - $80
That's 1,000 pieces of paper. $10
And 1,000 letters worth of ink. $40
Wear and tear on the printer. $25
And a bit of time feeding the printer. $40
And 1,000 pieces of paper to fold. $160

6. Stuffing envelopes

1,000 envelopes to stuff - $160

That all adds up to $3,672

Direct mail can be expensive (especially if it doesn't work). Keep control of your costs as much as possible (i.e. you can outsource most of it for far cheaper than you can do itself usually). And measure those results.

Cheers

Brendon

Saturday, May 22  

3 direct mail examples

How not to do Direct Mail

Howdy. Hope you are well and behaving. It's 6.30 on Saturday morning here and I'm in the office writing this.

Dedicated, huh??!

Many people I talk marketing with tell me direct mail is dead. It is certainly tougher than it used to be, but dead? Nope.

But some people make it tougher than it should be. Here's an example.

I have a letter on my desk addressed to:

General Manager
Tailored Consulting
1136 Gold Coast Highway
Palm Beach QLD 4221

That's not bad so far. Not personally addressed, but it's on my desk, opened and I've read it (you'll get a better response with personally addressed mail, but it is not always possible to get names).

Anyway, the letter is asking me to subscribe to an Advertising industry magazine.

Great incentive to subscribe

It's a well written letter with a strong call to action. There is a great incentive to subscribe.

There is also a brochure that details the offer and demonstrates the product via testimonials.

The mailing included a Reply Paid envelope.

Pretty good so far. Except for this point.

I'm already subscribed to this magazine and have been for 2 years.

Direct mail can be expensive. I'd estimate about $3.50 per letter for that mailing at a minimum. And like all marketing you have to try and get rid of as much waste as possible.

It's a solid reminder of another aspect of direct mail that we need to be aware of. Check your existing client list against your mailing database to see if you can weed out the duplicates.

That'll save you a couple of dollars - better in your pocket than the post office.

Have a good weekend. It's a great looking day here. The sun is up, the sky is clear. I'm off for a bike ride now, soccer with the kids at 8.30 am and then we're going camping out in the bush overnight.

Cheers

Brendon

Thursday, May 20  

Get a blog

Tip of the day

Don't really know why I call it the "Tip of the day". It's my first official "tip" I think.

I may have given this tip before. The tip is this.

If you have a web site you should do this. Put a blog on the home page.

The reasons are endless, but I'll give some here:

1. You can very simply add information to your web site
2. Search engines index blog content and that can really help your search engine ranking

If you go to Google and search for this:

increasing online bookings

This page is # 1 and 2 for the term.

Back in August, 2003 I published my most successful article ever (in terms of readership and interest). Picking a phrase from the blog: get the job almost everytime

Google ranks this site as # 1 for that term.

See the ranking here.

If you have a site and you don't use a blog, then it may be worth a look. I use Blogger (www.blogger.com) for this blog.

Have a good night.

Brendon

Closing 'the latest'

Closing 'the latest'

Howdy. You may have noticed some activity on this site over the past couple of days - aside from the usual writing.

You see, I'm starting to get the site ready for a decent change. That change will involve this:

* stop 'the latest' blog (this one. It's confusing having 2 places where I write stuff).
* different site design (don't know whether to start afresh or simply change this one a little)
* make the site searchable
* start selling products - e-books mainly (our own)
* put the 'free info' link on the side where people can actually see it
* make the 'faq' section about marketing questions and answers, rather than questions about this business
* delete the media section and free info section from the bottom and promote my book there

Here's my quick mock up of how the site might look. And feel free to email your thoughts at brendon@tailored.com.au. Thanks.

This is the last 'the latest' blog entry

I won't post on 'the latest' blog anymore. But I will go through the blogs and either write articles from decent blogs, or move them over onto the home page blog.

That way at least they won't be lost if they provide useful information for someone.

And by having just the home page blog, hopefully that will save some confusion.

Thanks

Brendon

Here's Laura!

New additions

Howdy. I'm just figuring out how to stick a photo on the blog. I figured it might make it more interesting if I can pop some photos up to illustrate a point.

My first point is this: my daughter Laura is beautiful. Please see above for proof if you don't believe me.

Note to all readers with sons - keep away from my daughter!

Cheers and have a good night.

Brendon

Site feed up

Site feed up

We've just put up our site feed for you guys who are interested. To set it up on your site just go to the link at the bottom of the page.

And my thanks to the wonderful, talented and just plain lovely Karine Joly from Your Webmaster for her assistance.

(BTW, if I've done this incorrectly blame me not Karine - you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.....or do what he is told in this instance!)

Thanks Karine.

Cheers

Brendon

Wednesday, May 19  

2 FREE Reports

2 FREE Reports

Secrets of increasing online bookings - a Special Report for the accommodation industry

10 great ways to send your online hotel, motel or resort bookings through the roof. Compiled by one of Australia's top web marketers...click here for the FREE Report

10 secrets of successful web sites - Free Report

The real secrets for a successful web site as developed by us after completing hundreds of sites and owning a hugely successful site...click here for the FREE Report

Cheers

Brendon

Measure advertising

Big shock this......

Howdy. Hope you are well.

Big shock coming....................I'm not very smart. Yes, I know. You can't believe it either!

We took an ad in a resort industry magazine yesterday (Tuesday) promoting our web site work. The ad was on the same page as a client's resort profile. In the profile the client talks at some length about the success of his web site - generating 20% of the resort's business.

On Monday we posted out the second part of a direct mail campaign to resorts in our city. The very same people who will be reading the ad.

We generated quite a few enquiries yesterday (and today already).

Measure each campaign

Any marketing we do must be measurable in terms of impact. With the ad and the direct mail campaign all coming together on the same day, it's been a little difficult to find out where the person contacting us first heard of us.

So we do this....

We ask that all important question:

Where did you first hear of us?

From that simple question we can measure our various campaigns and see what actually works. (Keep in mind that although someone may have first heard of us through the ad, the choice influence for contacting us may be the testimonial in the magazine profile by our client. Makes it a touch harder to ascertain what really works - but it usually is a combination.)

And here's my thinking on the marketing:

Tuesday: Resort magazine ad

Tuesday: Mentioned in resort magazine profile (same page as ad)

Tuesday: Resort managers receive direct mail letter

Tuesday: The ad and the letter both mention the FREE Report - Increasing online bookings

Tuesday: The online bookings free report link is added to the front page of our web site

Wednesday: Our local newspaper ad (looks similar to the resort ad) runs in the business section

That all ties together pretty well and should, I hope, generate additional interest beyond a one-off ad.

BTW, I'll put the online booking report and the web site success secrets free report at the top of this blog so that people responding to the ad can see them straight away.

Cheers

Brendon

Tuesday, May 18  

Online bookings free report

10 secrets of increasing online bookings - a Special Report for the accommodation industry

10 great ways to send your online hotel, motel or resort bookings through the roof. Compiled by one of Australia's top web marketers...click here for the FREE Report

Monday, May 17  

Learn something every day

Hello. I learnt a good lessson today from a guy called Tim.

You see, part of our ongoing marketing strategy is identifying poor web sites and approaching the owner with a bit of a critique and some suggestion.

We identified Tim's web site as needing some work. So I wrote him this letter (it's a pdf file).

I phoned up Tim today and his Secretary said he was on the phone. She took a message and said Tim would call back shortly. Sure, I thought.

I went out to get some lunch.

Sure enough, when I got back there was a message from Tim to return his call. So I did.

"Hello, it's Brendon Sinclair from Tailored Consulting here. I'm after Tim please."

Freeze frame!

Tim is a busy business guy. He has received a cold call letter from me trying to sell him web services. And then I'd called him and couldn't get him. This is how he spoke to me when I rang back:

"Oh Mr. Sinclair! Thank you for taking the time to return my call - I do appreciate it. Thanks so much for your letter. It was tremendous and I greatly appreciate the feedback to try and make our business even better......"

He said something after that, but by then I'd fallen off my chair!

In 5 seconds Tim had completely defined his business to me.

Just because he called me Mr. Sinclair. And thanked me for taking the time to call back. And for taking the time to assist his business.

No-one has ever called me Mr. Sinclair!

And that got me thinking......are we being too familiar in called each other by our first names. Because when you call someone Mr or Sir or Mrs or Ms, you create an enormous point of difference.

I was trying to sell Tim something and he still took time to thank me for trying (I didn't sell him anything by the way).

But Tim showed me that just the spoken word can have a tremendous impact on others in business.

Thanks Tim.

Brendon

Why most businesses fail

Why most businesses fail

It is simply staggering how many small businesses fail. For every 1 million small businesses now operating, in 10 years time just 40,000 will still be going. And of those, only about 7,000 will be profitable.

Probably the best example I see of businesses failing is restaurants. That seems like such a tough industry. No sooner is a new joint opened up that it closes right back up again. Costing the owners hundreds of thousands of dollars in many cases.

That must be so devastating for them.

From what I've seen in my time in business, the reason for business failure is always the same.

Bad management

There really are a million different reasons why a business can fails. But it always comes back to bad management.

Lack of funds = bad management. You should have either eben better capitalized to start with, or have raised additional funds earlier.

Market downturn = bad management. You should have identified it and acted to minimise the impact.

Back to the restaurant business

Just because you are a good cook doesn't mean you can run a successful restaurant.
Just because you are a good waiter doesn't mean you can run a successful restaurant.

A good businessperson can run a successful restaurant without even being able to cook a meal or wait a table.

If you haven't already, grab a copy of Michael Gerber's classic business book "The E-Myth". It is a brilliant look at the way business should be done.

Cheers.

Brendon

Winning at tennis

Greg's a loser!

Howdy. Hope you had a fun weekend. My went well. Real well.

You see, I played a mate of mine called Greg in tennis. Regular readers might know the name "Greg". Greg is the old friend who I talked about in a previous post - his was the romantic story of falling in love with an old school friend.

Greg just moved from being 3,000 kilometres away, to about 80 kilometres away.

Anyway.....

Let the games begin

Greg and I used to play tennis every week for about 7 years. We were fit, energetic and competitive. Because Greg is just 45 minutes away by car we have re-ignited the tennis battles.

We played our first game in about 12 years on Friday night at a court about 300 metres from the office. We were unfit, lethargic and very, very competitive.

Greg lost quite a bit of weight during the game. $100 to be exact! 6-2, 6-4, 6-1. I flogged him. He's used to be okay at tennis, but now he's hopeless!

I cannot see him ever beating me. Ever. Do you hear me Greg??! You're hopeless. I'm the best. You cannot beat me. It is impossible!

There's a reason for this post

Most people believe what they read. The mere fact something is in print gives it enormous credibility for people.

"If it's in the newspaper it must be true!" I've had perfectly sensible people say that to me.

This is the same reason that media coverage of your business can be so powerful. Media coverage is seen as an independent, third party endorsement of your business.

People won't believe an advertisement. But they will believe a release you send out that is run word by word in a newspaper article.

We've been sending out release after release for a client. The client was ready to call it quits last week when she received a call from a reporter from a local newspaper wanting to run a stroy. The interview has been done, the photoshoot complete.

The story runs this week and could be a massive positive for that client's business. All because people believe what they read.

I'm hoping Greg reads this!

Remember Greg. Brendon is a better tennis player than you! Believe it. But keep betting big!

Cheers

Brendon

Wednesday, May 12  

How to run an Ad campaign

How to run an Ad campaign (And how to win 'The Apprentice')

Last night I was sitting in front of the TV when the 2nd episode of 'The Apprentice' came on. The series has been run and won in the USA.

It's a reality TV show where a bunch of people perform a range of business tasks to impress the 'Boss' - Donald Trump.

Last night the two - (2) teams, Versa and Protégé, had to develop an advertising campaign for a corporate jet business. They had 48 hours to complete the task.

The Protégé team (all women) first had a meeting with the client and then set about developing their campaign. The campaign was characterized by having a high sexual innuendo component in terms of the plane being presented as a phallic symbol.

The Versa team (all men) just got straight into it and developed a campaign that was to be defined by being 'classy.'

The girls won.

Both teams had no idea. I would kick both of their butts and win! ;-)

Just kidding. I'm sure plenty was edited out of the development of the campaign, but here's a 6 step guide to what they should have done...click here for the full article

Learn something every day

Hello. I learnt a good lessson today from a guy called Tim.

You see, part of our ongoing marketing strategy is identifying poor web sites and approaching the owner with a bit of a critique and some suggestion.

We identified Tim's web site as needing some work. So I wrote him this letter (it's a pdf file).

I phoned up Tim today and his Secretary said he was on the phone. She took a message and said Tim would call back shortly. Sure, I thought.

I went out to get some lunch.

Sure enough, when I got back there was a message from Tim to return his call. So I did.

"Hello, it's Brendon Sinclair from Tailored Consulting here. I'm after Tim please."

Freeze frame!

Tim is a busy business guy. He has received a cold call letter from me trying to sell him web services. And then I'd called him and couldn't get him. This is how he spoke to me when I rang back:

"Oh Mr. Sinclair! Thank you for taking the time to return my call - I do appreciate it. Thanks so much for your letter. It was tremendous and I greatly appreciate the feedback to try and make our business even better......"

He said something after that, but by then I'd fallen off my chair!

In 5 seconds Tim had completely defined his business to me.

Just because he called me Mr. Sinclair. And thanked me for taking the time to call back. And for taking the time to assist his business.

No-one has ever called me Mr. Sinclair!

And that got me thinking......are we being too familiar in called each other by our first names. Because when you call someone Mr or Sir or Mrs or Ms, you create an enormous point of difference.

I was trying to sell Tim something and he still took time to thank me for trying (I didn't sell him anything by the way).

But Tim showed me that just the spoken word can have a tremendous impact on others in business.

Thanks Tim.

Brendon

Tuesday, May 11  

10 secrets of successful web sites

10 secrets of successful web sites - Free Report

The real secrets for a successful web site as developed by us after completing hundreds of sites and owning a hugely successful site...click here for the Free Report

Regards

Brendon

7 tips for radio success

7 tips for radio success

Howdy. Hope you're having a good day.

Here's my 7 tips for radio success:

1. Have a clear objective - just what is it you want your radio ad campaign to achieve?

2. How will you measure the campaign's success?

3. Who will you target with your ads? Age, sex, occupation, education, number of children, interests, etc.

4. How is your offering different to what your competitors provide?

5. Is the creative compelling? Does it grab attention?

6. Is the frequency of the ad enough?

7. Would an add-on component (i.e. live cross, on-air promotion, etc) improve the chances of success?

And remember, the professionals are good but no-one knows your business as well as you.

I once had a client run radio ads for his business that targeted 40+ year-old women. The creative on the ads made blatant illegal drug use references - the campaign wasn't effective at all and, not surprisingly, died very quickly.

Cheers

Brendon

Monday, May 10  

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day

Hello and Happy Mother's Day to all the mums.

My mum had 7 children. Doesn't deserve a present, she deserves a medal.

Eldest is a girl.
Then 5 boys (I'm the youngest)
Then another girl

Lyn - Nurse
Stephen - makes pre-fab kitchens
Peter - runs his own landscaping business
Bryan - runs his own fitness equipment and solarium hire business
Scott - manages his state's largest supermarket
Me - great golfer, handsome, charming and very smart. Also lies a lot.
Jane - Nurses aide

That's the family. Dad was a clerk in a mining company office. Mum, not surprisingly, mostly stayed home and looked after the 7 of us.

Cheers

Brendon

Making do

Hello. Our offices are about a minute from my home. We're above a Pizza place. And a cafe and a bakery. The Post Office (that we use 2 times a day) is 30 metres away. We're about 7 minutes from the airport. And 2 minutes from getting on the freeway.

Our offices are very functional. We have:

Reception
Jo and Mel's office (they share)
My office
Boardroom
Packing room (we run a couple of pretty busy Internet shops)
Tea Room

It's very much a working office. Nothing too fancy, but it is perfect for us.

Don't spend up big

I tell you that because I answer a lot of emails from people just starting out in business. Because people are just starting out they feel a need to buy the best of everything. I can see the psychology.

If your business has the nice office and the great furnishings, then it will be perceived as successful. Mmmmm, maybe.

But when you are just starting out it is tough, damn tough.

You need to be efficient with every single dollar you have. And buying the latest and greatest of everything isn't going to help.

Every single bit of furniture in our office is second hand. All purchased at bargain basement prices.

A rubbish bin is a rubbish bin is a rubbish bin. A desk is a desk is a desk.

Jeff Bezos from Amazon.com

I've been reading a book about the rise of the business Amazon.com and it's founder Jeff Bezos.

In the early stages this guy made his own desk from an unused door. Probably not because he could afford a desk, but because he wanted to show his employees that they need to be incredibly efficient with the resources they had. Not burn through money just for the fun of it.

And that's probably one of the reasons why Amazon.com is still going strong and didn't drop from the sky like so many other Internet start ups.

If it's good enough for Jeff, it's good enough for us.

And Jeff Bezos ain't that smart!

One of the Amazon.com employees tells the story of packing books on the floor in the early days (they could afford packing tables). Hundreds of books all over the floor.

Whilst he and Jeff were on their knees hour after hour, their knees would, understandably, start to ache.

He said to Jeff, "We've really got to do something about this."

"Yes," said Jeff. "We should buy some knee pads."

The employee looked at him and said, "No Jeff. Let's buy a packing table and stand at that to pack!"

=======================

I loved that story. Jeff Bezos has built a huge ground-breaking business. But can still miss the simple stuff just like me.

(I reckon Jack would get in and show those Amazon.com people how to really organise themselves).

Regards

Brendon

Sunday, May 9  

"You just have a rest and leave it to me," he said.

And I used to think it was my business........

I had Jack in the office again today for a few hours as we finished off the grunt work I described below.

Jack is a very, very serious little boy. Very kind hearted.

We were working away again today and my job was to print the envelopes. Which meant feeding in 50 at a time and having my feet up on the desk reading the newspaper whilst they printed out. The only thing I had to remember was to position the first envelope that came out so the other envelopes followed it properly and we had a neat stack.

I missed that a few times and made bit of a mess

Jack was beside me on a different printer feeding in this special paper one piece at a time. He was doing a lovely job. He slipped out for a minute to go to the bathroom and I took over.

When he came back he wasn't happy!

The envelopes were messed up. And I'd somehow jammed the paper he had been feeding in. He looked at me and said,

"Dad, you've messed up everything I've let you do. You just have a rest and leave it to me."

I had been told. An 11-year-old kid booting his father out of the family business!

Jack has a great eye for detail. I don't.

We've all got different strengths and weaknesses. Jack is good at task orientated, repetitive things. I'm too impatient and try and speed things up.

Recognise your own weaknesses in business and think how you can address them (Jack is available at $5 an hour).

Cheers

Brendon

Friday, May 7  

Slave labour or good parenting?

I've had a very busy couple of days in the office with a hundred different things on the go at once. Late this afternoon I was here by myself and had to basically sit down and do about 5 hours of grunt work.

Mind numbing sort of stuff (feed the printer, change printer cartridges and stick stamps on envelopes).

And then the wife and kids came in

Laura, my 13 year-old daughter, was going off to her Friday night hockey game. My wife and boys (Jack and Harry) were going with her.

That was until I offered Jack $4 an hour if he would stay and work with me for a few hours. Jack was very keen ($4 is huge money to an 11 year-old).

Jack and I worked side by side for just on four- (4) hours. Boring work but we had a great time. Jack worked real hard for that four- (4) hours and he absolutely loved it. By the end of it he had a huge pile of letters and stamped envelopes. Seemed to give him a real sense of achievement.

3 hours a night for three- (3) years

When I was a kid my dad was a cleaner of a night. He'd come home from his office job, have dinner and then head out to his office cleaning job. I was about Jack's age and started helping my dad each night (being the 2nd youngest of 7, I was only allowed this 'honour' after all of my old brothers and sisters tried it out and decided they didn't like it. Looking back, at 20 cents a night I can't say I blame them!).

I still remember I was paid 20 cents a night.

But I look back on those nights as some of the best timkes of my life. Working side by side with my dad. It was tough work. I'd have to race around as fast as I could and empty all of the office rubbish bins and ashtrays.

Then I'd burn the rubbish in a fire out the back.

Then it was back inside to dust, wipe out the grunge from the ashtrays and wash and dry the dishes up in the common room. Whilst I did all that my dad swept the floor, then mopped the flooor. Friday night was the big night where he had to polish the floors as well.

And Friday night was my idea of heaven

We'd finish working at about 8.30 p.m and then retire to the Common Room. There we'd play for what seemed like hours and hours on the Table Tennis (Ping Pong) table. Then we'd climb into the car and, on the way home, call into a local Milkbar and pull up a chair.

My dad would have a coffee and I, naturally, would have a chocolate milkshake. We'd drink our drink and have a chat.

Almost 30 years

It's been almost 30 years since my dad was the cleaner at the Department of Main Roads in Farley St, Derwent Park, Tasmania. I can still remember the address. I can still remember the entire office set up. I can still remember the Ferrari Dino 308 GTS poster on the wall in the Architects large office at the end of the building. I can still remember what we used to call the 'Monkey Room', where banana peels were in the rubbish bin every single night.

I can still remember where that Milkbar is and I can still remmber being allowed to steer the car for the final 20 metres to our house.

My son Jack is like most people. He wants a sense of belonging. A sense of being part of something bigger than himself. He wants a sense of having contributed and done something useful.

Like everyone really

And, like most of the stuff I write, I'll try and tie this back to marketing. And I'll do it here by saying this: customers are people. They want to feel part of something. Don't just sell them your product or service. Sell them the vision of what you want your business to be. Because iof you can do that, they'll come back time and time again to be part of that. To be part of something big.

Have a great weekend.

Brendon

Free Financial Info For Kids

Financial hints for kids

Howdy. I don't usually use this blog to promote things but here's an exception.

We have a client for whom we are doing some consulting work. She has a web site here: Financialiqseminars.com.au.

Check out the Free Report that is on the Home Page (it gets emailed to you). I read through it the other day and it makes a lot of sense for people, especially kids, to follow.

Well worth a look.

Cheers

Brendon

Wednesday, May 5  

What "The Apprentice" has taught me

Hello. Here in Australia the reality TV show "The Apprentice" has just started. In the show, a group of people start working for Donald Trump. He fires one- (1) a week until there is only one- (1) person left. That person then gets a job for a year at $250,000.

One of the contestants comes from a background of Internet success.

I've been speaking with some people yesterday and today and they seem mightily impressed by that. I was sitting there thinking "But I've done that."

And I do mention that success

I do mention that success where appropriate to demonstrate our expertise to a client or prospect.

But I don't think I do it enough. And I don't think I recognise the true value of that Internet success. And I don't because it was pretty easy for me. And it still is today.

But that devalues the amount of intellectual knowledge we have here in the office. When I think about it, we have a huge mountain of knowledge on Internet e-commerce.

The stuff we know is second nature to us now. But I would have been very, very grateful for knowing back then what I know now.

Experience is the best way to learn. BUt if you lack that, the learn from others. And always be open to new learning. You never know, one day you might be a New York billionaire with a bad hairdo!

Cheers

Brendon

Why you can make it big in business

Why you can make it big in business

I try and avoid these sort of 'peppy' type business tidbits. But this one occured to me today and I thought I'd share it.

I know quite a few millionaires and hugely successful business people very well. And I can say this.

Some of them aren't that smart, some are downright stupid and some seem to have no identifiable success traits that I can see.

No stopping you and I

What I'm trying to say is that if these people can make it big, then there is no stopping you and I!

If they can do it, then we sure as heck can as well!

You just gotta believe. And that's about as deep and meaningful as I'll get.

Cheers

Brendon

Tuesday, May 4  

What would you do?

Howdy. Hope you've had a good day.

Being in business, I'm aware of the costs of running my little business here on the Gold Coast. And I'm also aware, as I'm sure regular readers would know, of the importance of fantastic customer service.

Now, our fax machine goes fairly constantly. On an average day we'd probably receive 15 faxes. And that chews up the roll of film stuff that the fax machine uses. It's $14 a roll.

Today the fax machine was working away as usual and we didn't really take too much notice of it. We grab the faxes whenever we are walking past the machine.

Today the paper had run out and I tossed some more in (it's a plain paper fax).

Mel went to a lunch meeting

Mel had attended a networking function for a women's business group about 2 months ago. The last fax on the machine was an invite to their next function. Anyway, I put the fresh paper in and left the machine alone.

Another 120 pages of faxes spewed out. These were faxes to the database list of the women's business group. They'd obviously messed up their faxing and faxed the entire list of invitations to our number.

That wasn't great for our machine. (And I couldn't delete the faxes as I couldn't be sure that clients hadn't been faxing through important information.)

120 pages. That's a full roll of my fax film.

I called the organisation and mentioned they had faxed all of the invites to my number and they'd better make sure they also sent the faxes to their list correctly.

"Okay, we will. Bye," said the person I spoke with.

What would you do?

If you were the people who'd inadvertently faxed me through 120 pages of faxes, what would you do?

Here's some hints

I'm left with 120 pages of wasted paper. A bill for $14 for the fax roll. The cost of the telephone call. And probably 15 minutes work dealing with the faxes. And I'm annoyed (you could probably tell that!).

Here's what they could have done:

1. Apologised
2. Found out what sort of fax machine I have and buy me an extra roll or 2 of film
3. Sent me a ream of copy paper
4. Sent me a small gift to say "Sorry for wasting your time and thanks for alerting us to the problem."

Providing great customer service is a matter of tremendous importance for any business. Think outside the square. Think of how your systems and practices impact on others. And make sure that experience is a positive one.

Cheers

Brendon

Best business books I've ever read

One of the best business books I've ever read

I've been going through all of my books as I compile an article on good business books.

I've just finished one that I consider one of the best I've ever read:

"Growing a business" by a guy called Paul Hawken.

Paul provides a simple, straightforward philosphy on growing a business. No fuss, no nonsense. Well worth a read.

Brendon

Monday, May 3  

Turning the big 10

Hello. Hope you've had a good weekend.

It's a long weekend here in my state (Queensland, Australia) and I've ducked into the office for an hour or two- (2) to finish off work.

My youngest child, Harrison (Harry), turned 10 last week. We had his birthday party on Saturday in a local park. He had about 11 friends turn up for what was 3 hours of soccer, cricket, football, cake eating and cordial drinking.

Pretty much a 10-year-olds perfect party!

Every year is a party year

My kids, and all of their friends, have a birthday party pretty much every year.

When I was a kid, I only ever had one- (1) party. That was for my 10th because that was seen as a bit of a milestone. But these days, every year is a party year. Kids somehow we themselves as deprived if there is no big party.

It's a changing culture

It's a changing world and a changing culture. As business people, we need to be aware of changes in our market so we can react quickly to the changing market forces.

Here's an example: almost every gift Harry received on Saturday was a card with $10.

And he received that from almost everyone (he ended up with $90) because, kids being kids, didn't want to give him something different from the others.

Peer influence is huge

Peer influence is such as big influencing factor for children - if children are your market, then there are big advantages in looking at how you can influence them through word of mouth and being associated with the 'cool' kids (I was always one of the dorky kids).

Oh, one last thing.

If you're a 37-year-old, don't try and keep up with a dozen 10-year-olds playing soccer.

You'll only embarrass or injure yourself. Trust me on that one.

Cheers

Brendon

Some things just don't go to plan!

Some things just don't go to plan!

Saturday night was looking good. We'd had one of my son's 10th birthday at a local park. As his 2 cousins (sons of my brother) were leaving, they asked their mum if my 2 sons (Jack and Harry) could come to their place and stay the night.

Our daughter, Laura, had already organised to stay at a friends place that night. And as much as Mel and I love our kids, all we could think of was" We're free!! Free at last!!"

(I haven't got a picture of my lovely wife on this web site anywhere - here's the only one I have on this computer - it's the wedding pic. She's even lovelier now, after 15 years of marriage. And yes, she does read this web site.)

So, there we are. Saturday night. Free.

And here's where it gets boring. But after 15 years of marriage what can you expect?!!

Firstly, we grabbed a movie from the video store. Then we went and got some pasta and pizza bread from a local Italian Restaurant we hadn't tried before. Into the bottle shop on the way home (Liquor store in the US) for a couple of bottles of wine.

I'm looking good so far!

I served the food and poured some wine. We dimmed the lights. Made ourselves comfortable on the couch. Turned on the movie. Just as Mel was about to take her first sip of wine the phone rang.

Great. Just great.

And it was Lisa. Her oldest and dearest friend whom she hadn't seen for 3 years.

I'm sitting there watching a chick-flick by myself. So I figure, okay, she might be a while. I'll start on the food. The pizza bread was burnt. Tasted like an old gumboot (not that I'd ever tasted an old gumboot, but if I did I would expect it to taste like that pizza bread).

So then I tried my pasta. That was bland, tasteless and just plain awful.

So I consoled myself with the wine. That was pretty ordinary too.

I took Mel's meal down to her and she happily scoffed it down.

I went back to Billy Crystal trying to woo Meg Ryan. As if I cared!

* The movie finished.
* The wine had been drunk.
* The food was in the bin.
* I went to bed.
* And still Mel chatted on the phone.

The only thing that went to plan was that Billy won Meg's heart!

I tell that story for these reasons:

1. My wife can talked for in excess of 3 hours without drawing breath
2. Sometimes life doesn't go as planned
3. The quality of your product - be it food or wine or widgets or canoes or curtains - needs to be good. If it is, people will happily come back and buy again. If it's not, they won't return.
4. 2 bottles of wine and I sleep very, very well.

Cheers

Brendon