I know, I know. I'm not exactly giving fresh information here but it never ceases to amaze me.

I'll give you 2 examples. 1 long, 1 short.

# 1: I was in a football tipping competition against a friend of mine. I lost. At the end of the season I owed him 7 cartons of the best beer here in Australia. $350 worth of beer. Damn!

Anyway, this friend lives 2,000 kms away. I don't know him real, real well but in the same city I have my oldest friend (since school days buddy, camping buddy, diving for crayfish, drinking buddy, in his wedding buddy).

So I called up my old friend, I'll call him Dave (after all that's his name....... an oldie but a goodie!), and asked Dave to drop over the 7 cartons of beer.

A week or 2 later Dave and his wife came up to my city for a few days R & R. We went out to dinner as we always do. Now Dave and I, being the oldest of friends, cannot offend each other. We're blokes. It's an impossibility here in Australia for old, old male friends to offend each other.

"Let's Flip A Coin"

Dinner came to $150 and Dave said" Let's flip a coin for it." So we did. And I won.

We went out for some post-dinner drinks. Another $50. Another flip of the coin. Another win to me! Woooohoooo.

My Wife Was Horrified

My wife was horrified! She couldn't believe that Dave paid for the beer and delivered it. And she couldn't believe that Dave and his wife Elanora came to our city and we went out for dinner and I flipped a coin to see who pays.

My thinking with Dave was the exact opposite: My thinking was "Sucker!"

(After all this is a guy who crashed into my little Gemini car in his Landrover 20 years ago when I was stopped at a red light. He then proceeded to keep accelerating and trying to push me into the middle of the intersection!)

I was thinking that my $350 was down to $150. $200 in just 2 flips of the coin - did I say Wooooohooo already???! And the fact that I hadn't paid Dave the original $350 I owed him for a couple of weeks was even better!

Anyway, my wife wouldn't hear of it. She has applied pressure like only a wife can (all the married guys reading this blog are going "Yep, Brendon, I hear what you're saying.").

And get the upshoot of all this: I paid Dave his $350 for the beer. And the $200 for the dinner and drinks!

Dave rang today when he got the money in the mail. The only word he left on my voicemail? "Sucker!!"

# 2: When my wife is away I don't make the bed. I figure it's only going to get messy again as soon as I get back in. That drives her insane. Even though she doesn't have to sleep in it (I so don't get women!).

It's an unmade bed that she doesn't know about. And it drives her crazy!



Shouldn't Women Figure Out How To Market To Women?

Shouldn't women market to women? Of course they should.

When I look at a marketing strategy the first thing I do is try and understand the market. I check out what influences the market. I immerse myself as much as possible into the target's culture. And that's usually okay.... except I look terrible in a dress so I have a lot of trouble with the immersion thing there.

If you are one of the market you are trying to target then you have a big, big advantage over a guy like me. A guy who isn't in sync with the target market.

Even though I have tons of marketing experience, don't discount your experience. After all, no one knows you better than you.

Regards

Brendon