On Monday this week, I was chatting to Julie, my wife, about how the first piece of advice I ever give about improving lead generation into a business is about getting the core marketing sorted out. I even went to bed with the phrase “core marketing” bouncing around inside my skull, because I had a…
A couple of weeks ago, in a post called Improve Your Attitude, I noted that several people I work with, or had recently met, were achieving very different results and that their attitudes seemed to be reflected in their results. Fast-forward to this week and there’s a great book that describes exactly why this happens. …
There’s a headline news story today that incenses me. It’s a complete public relations fiasco for Maclaren, and will unfold over the next few days. It will cost them millions in lost sales in the UK alone. Here’s the background. In the USA, there have been around a dozen or so small children injured when…
Problems with Profit With high fixed costs and a quiet restaurant on many mid-week evenings, Andrew Rowbotham was frustrated that he was working so hard and yet not enjoying much fruit from his labours. Despite selling out on Friday and Saturday evenings, there was little profit to show at the end of each month. He…
200 years ago, it would take several days, maybe even a week or more, to communicate with somebody in another city or town. With the advent of email, the Internet and next day delivery (assuming no postal strikes!) we’ve now got that down to between instantly and 24 hours. So how have you changed your…
Had a fantastic week this week talking to a couple of clients. First, The Riverside Restaurant in Barnard Castle have now officially grown to twice their original sales, with profits to match! When I said to Andrew what had made the biggest impact, he said no single thing, but a combination of lots of changes…
Just out of a meeting with a client who runs a fantastic Sri Lankan restaurant in Balham – it’s called Hop & Spice and serves the most divine curries ever to pass through my lips. In fact, TimeOut magazine voted it 4th out of their top 50 restaurants, so I’m not the only one who…
Winning Ways While sitting quietly at the 2009 annual Business Awards ceremony of the regional newspaper, Philip Mashinchi of Bright Visions Ltd was delighted to hear his name called for Small Business of the Year. At the same time, he felt bad for another business in the room he knew he was up against, The…
Is your business at risk of doing a Woolworths? Last year, Woolworths gave a last gasp for air before sinking beneath the waves of change, after a 100 year history. They were comprehensively beaten on just about every front by Tesco, Sainsbury, Morrisons and Asda. And the writing was on the wall for years before…
Marketing plans don’t need to be complicated. Here’s a simple 5 step marketing basics plan that you can use to get the ball rolling… 1. Build a database of customers – capture their details simply by asking for them. Or you could get creative and capture them in other ways. Perhaps use a feedback card,…