Archive for August, 2009
Advertising, which half works?
Aug 14th
Advertising is becoming increasingly more scientific in its approach, as online advertising grows in importance. Google has recently introduced a “bid simulator” for its adwords programme.
Essentially the simulator will allow advertisers to see what could have happened if they had bid differently on various key words in the previous week’s advertising campaign. Advertisers can then use this historical data to make better judgements on how to alter their bidding patterns to maximise on impressions and click throughs for their key word campaigns.
“The feature provides increased transparency into the AdWords auction and gives you the insight to make more informed bidding decisions to meet your advertising objectives,” said a Google adwords spokesman. However he also cautioned;
“The bid simulator requires historical information in order to provide click and cost data for different bids. If a keyword didn’t receive many clicks in the last seven days, it isn’t possible to simulate clicks and cost.”
Retailing tycoon John Wanamaker once said, “I know half the money I spend on advertising is wasted, but I can never find out which half.”
Google are starting to prove this is a fallacy.
While it’s important to be able to quantify results from advertising, it also helps if an advert is memorable thus giving it a long shelf life.
This still remains one of my favourite ever ads:
What are your favourites?
Word of mouth recommendation
Aug 12th
The best form of advertising is word of mouth recommendation (wom) . Not only is it free but it is testimony to how happy your existing customers are with the service provided by your company. If you want your company to really expand I don’t think you can rely on this alone, but the amount of wom you generate is a great indicator of how your company is perceived in the market place.
Of course word of mouth feedback can be negative as well as positive, and as we all know bad news tends to travel further and quicker than good news. Therefore it’s all the more baffling when you hear about poor service from companies that should really know better.
A friend of mine recently bought a pair of boots and a pair of shoes ( a female friend surprisingly 
) from two different stores. The shoes were created by Stella McCartney and were bought from a well known store in the Manchester Trafford centre. A week after buying them the lining on the inside of the right shoe split, so armed with the receipt she decided to take them back. The Manager looked at them and advised her that nothing could be done as the fault was obviously due to the way she walked…..
My friend pointed out that she had had her feet all her life and this problem had never occurred with any other shoes she had purchased, but the Manager was insistent that she wouldn’t change the shoes or refund her money. Incensed by this attitude my friend wrote to Stella McCartney’s company explaining the situation, including comments about the attitude of the staff in the store where she had bought the shoes.
She duly received a letter apologising profusely for the problem with the shoes and offering a full refund on the purchase. To get the refund involved returning to the original store where, despite the letter and the receipt, it still took 20 minutes to persuade the Manager who dealt with the original complaint to process the refund.
How the Manager believes this approach is serving the store and enhancing its reputation is beyond me! Stella McCartney’s company have reacted well to the letter of complaint but suffer from the association of arrogant service provided by the staff in the Trafford centre store.
Contrast this with the experience my friend had with her boots. They were a pair of Jimmy Choo boots and after buying them she practically lived in them to the extent that she wore down the heel on them. They were obviously an expensive pair of boots and she wanted them repaired, but wanted to make sure that they were repaired to a suitable standard.
So she decided to ring Jimmy Choo’s customer service department and ask them where they would recommend she take them to have them repaired. She was quite happy to pay to have them repaired as she was delighted with the boots and they had already served her well. However, rather than give her a company near to where she lived, they insisted that she send the boots back to them where they would resole and reheel them free of charge.
For a relatively small investment of time and effort the return in the form of goodwill and word of mouth recommendation is tremendous. Yes, Jimmy Choo’s can be expensive but the quality of the product is only matched by the quality of the after sales service provided.
It is surprising how many companies still take customers for granted and view after sales service as a nuisance and an irrelevance. The culture at Jimmy Choo’s is clearly one where the customer experience is crucial to the success of the company.
Gaining new customers is hard work at the best of times and is even more difficult in today’s economic climate. All the more reason to take the long view, that looking after your current customer base will help retain them and encourage them to tell others just how great you are to do business with.
What more can you do to make the buying experience for your clients more memorable?
How many ways are there to expand a business?
Aug 7th
Just been sent an e-mail about a website offering coaching qualifications and help in setting up a coaching business. Apparently they can show me 228 ways that a business can expand its revenues and profits…. wow, impressive, and so precise! 228.
The e-mail advises me that to set up a similar business all on my own will cost approx $120,000, but they can supply me with everything I need, including support and guidance, for less than $5000. What’s more I’ll be in profit after two months.
I love sales pitches, there’s a lot to be admired about a well crafted sales pitch, the effort that goes into it and the way desire to buy is built. You just need to remember a few basics, the sales proposal should be based on meeting a customers needs, you should demonstrate honesty, integrity, enthusiasm, empathy and you shouldn’t over egg the pudding!!
Here’s a clip from “Boiler Room” where the lead in the film (who is in sales) is giving some “encouragement” to a cold caller he gets at home…
enjoy your weekend! I’m off to count up the number of ways you can increase revenues and profits. Target 229……
When did we learn to stop negotiating?
Aug 6th
Conversation with my 8 year old….
“Dad, can we get the new Wii sports resort game?”
“How much is it?”
“£40″
“£40!! No way, come on we need to get some food from Tesco’s. I’ve got a £6 off voucher if we spend over £60 and we need to stock up on some stuff.”
In Tescos….
“Look Dad, they’ve got Sports resort and it’s only £38!. What does VAT free mean?”
“Looks like they reduce the price by the amount of VAT, so it’ll be about £5 cheaper”
“Oh, so it’s only £33?”
“Yes, I think so”
“So with the £6 off voucher you have, it will only be £27?”
“erm,….”
“Well I’ve got £25 saved up, so if you give me this weeks pocket money today, we can buy it can’t we, and we’ll save loads!”
Doh! Out flanked by an 8 year old….
There is so much we can learn from children when it comes to sales techniques…..
Does it matter if the leader is male or female?
Aug 2nd
In today’s Sunday Times Harriet Harman is interviewed about her views on politics and the role men and women should play in running the country:
Harman feels strongly that voters are fed up with “boys running the show” and is convinced that every big organisation needs women at the top.
“Men cannot be left to run things on their own,” she explains. “I think it’s a thoroughly bad thing to have a men-only leadership. In a country where women regard themselves as equal, they are not prepared to see men just running the show themselves. I think a balanced team of men and women makes better decisions.”
In 2005 Caliper, an American based management consultancy, and Aurora, a UK based organisation, conducted a year long study to identify characteristics of female leaders that distinguished them from their male counterparts in terms of leadership qualities.
The findings broke down into 4 basic areas:
1) Women leaders are more persuasive than their male counterparts.
2) When feeling the sting of rejection, women leaders learn from adversity and carry on with an “I’ll show you” attitude.
3) Women leaders demonstrate an inclusive, team-building leadership style of problem solving and decision making.
4) Women leaders are more likely to ignore rules and take risks.
I hate sweeping generalisations that dictate that “all men are….” and all women are…”, and I’m not sure the above findings hold true for women and not men, but in my experience the women I have worked for in the past have been better managers than the vast majority of the guys I have worked for.
I think what is important is the ability to develop an effective working relationship with your direct reports. Is that easier for women rather than men?
