For business to business direct mail, the key is getting your letter opened instead of thrown straight into the wastepaper basket.
Get this right and the results will be staggering – as this three minute video interview with one of my clients explains…
Read the full article on Advanced B2B Direct Mail Strategy Drives 50-60% Growth [Video]
I heard on the news this morning that Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple and the most successful innovator of recent years, has passed away.
I have been inspired by Jobs because of his passion and profound ability to relate to his customers and deliver precisely what they want.
Read the full article on R.I.P. Steve Jobs – One Of My Heroes
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Will you recognise your rescue?
Nobody could be blamed now for forecasting another recession, a second dip because the whole world is just too badly screwed up by the greedy bankers and the egos of the politicians.
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Dr Paddi Lund enjoying tea at his private dental practice
On Friday evening I went to dinner with a dentist from Australia who has consulted with England's rugby union team (helping them on their way to the 2003 World Cup), a major UK holidays firm and countless dentists worldwide. I wanted to interview him for the book I'm writing, "Double Your Business".
Read the full article on Dr Paddi Lund – The Mad Dentist, Sir Clive Woodward & Winning at Business
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When Andrew Withers, the managing director of Southern Fried Chicken, agreed to appear on The Undercover Boss, I bet he had no idea just how much he would discover about his own business.
Read the full article on Undercover Boss: Southern Fried Chicken
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When I looked for a free marketing plan template for my own startup business many years ago, I found great big complicated things that looked as if they had come straight out of an MBA course.
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One of my friends through my publisher Financial Times Prentice Hall is Heather Townsend, the author of the newly released "Financial Times Guide to Business Networking".
Networking is often one of the first strategies I'll recommend to a client looking for more work. It is especially effective for smaller businesses and startups because it allows you to build personal connections with people who then feel more comfortable to place work with you.
Read the full article on Financial Times Guide To Business Networking
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The phrase turnover is vanity, profit is sanity came to mind last week while writing the essential finance chapter of my new Double Your Business book.
Stephen, the owner of a CCTV business asked for my help with getting more sales. When I visited them, they had a big office and a number of staff. The business had grown to a decent size turnover but they were making practically no profit at all.
Read the full article on Turnover is Vanity, Profit is Sanity…
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I'm delighted to announce that work on Double Your Business is progressing well.
But what can you expect from the book when it's published?
Here's a description taken directly from the proposal agreed with my publisher, Financial Times Prentice Hall:
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People often ask what kind of results are possible through coaching programmes working with The Double Your Business Coach.
In this two and a half minute video, Paul Marsden, the managing director of Virtual Business Source Limited, explains how his sales have grown substantially in just 12 months.
Read the full article on Payroll Business Makes Four Times The Sales
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John Carmichael, managing director of Superwarm, rides the waves of change in 2011
Mary Portas has been enlisted by the government to try and revitalize the high streets of the UK, according to a story on the BBC website today. Good headlines for the newspapers, but there is a limit to what a business coach can do, no matter how good they are.
Read the full article on Mary Portas, Queen of Shops & King Canute
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The question of how to motivate staff has vexed the owners of small businesses for years. It seems that there are three big approaches used by most: try to be friends and lean on that friendship; offer rewards; use threats/punishments (these last two together are the carrot and stick approach).
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I was away on business overnight recently in Cardiff, and rather than sitting in the hotel I decided to go to the cinema.
Being a lone male, I tried to pick an action movie rather than getting caught up in a love story, as I didn't want to stand out as a sad lonely man in a sea of couples. So I chose the film with Matt Damon that I'd seen a clip from a week or two before called The Adjustment Bureau.
Marketing is hard. But the paradox is that when you accept that marketing is hard, you put a lot more effort into doing it, so it becomes a lot easier.
Most business owner/managers want it to be easy. They expect to get results from every single advert they place, from every leaflet drop they do, from simply putting a website up.
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Thanks to my coaching colleague in the USA, Steve Rovniak, for this article about what to focus on if you're learning to sell.
Perhaps you've just started up in business, or got a new salesperson on your team who needs to learn the ropes. Whatever it is, this article is a great reminder to keep things simple if you want to make the sale.
Read the full article on Learning To Sell: Your First Sales Meetings
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Increase your profits – don't leave money on the table
Learn how to increase profit for your business with these 7 practical strategies. Take 5 minutes to consider these 7 profit-boosting strategies – there's bound to be something in here that you can use today.
Read the full article on How To Increase Profit – 7 Simple Strategies
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Do you try to keep too many balls in the air at once?
I read a great post about overcoming procrastination at Ian Brodie's blog last week. Procrastination, in case you feel the need to look it up, is the urge to do other stuff instead of the important things that'll make you more successful.
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One of the simplest ways you can improve your sales is to use the simple construct of features and benefits when you're selling.
People don't buy the features of your product – they buy the advantage or benefit for themself.
Read the full article on Use Features and Benefits to Sell More
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I was recently interviewed by a great contact of mine, Sonja Jefferson, about how to use email as part of your marketing mix. So I've written these email marketing tips to help you get started integrating email into your own marketing.
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How do you know where to advertise? And is the back of a bus a good choice?
A few weeks ago I was out in the car when I came up behind a bus with an advert on the back of it.
Read the full article on Should You Advertise on the Back of a Bus?
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Running out of ideas for marketing your business? Check out the 133 marketing channels you'll find in the PDF file here. You'll need a reasonably up to date version of Adobe Acrobat to open and read it, which most people have installed on their PC anyway.
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An old friend called recently and asked, "Can you help my business grow?". After initially fast growth, he's pretty much steady state now.
Here's how he describes it in his own words, "I grew the business really fast for the first five or six years, but then it seemed to hit a barrier. I want to make my business grow again, I don't want to be stuck at this turnover forever."
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Munro Estates team celebrates
I was delighted to hear from Jonathan Bell and George Pirie, the directors and driving force behind the growth of Munro Estates earlier today.
Read the full article on Property Rental Business Quadruples – Taking Gold, Too…
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A while back, I got an enquiry from a guy who wanted help marketing his business. But when I asked him what business he was in, I got a five minute description that I couldn't understand.
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Two things this week that are very clever ways to make sales, but leave a bad taste in the mouth of many potential customers.
Do you think these class as clever strategies, or marketing scams? In my mind, they're certainly bordering on the scam side of things.
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