I was in a fabulous restaurant last week, talking to the owner. The food was exceptional and prices reasonable, so it was great value for money. We got chatting about the impact of the recession on his trade. He benchmarks himself against his competitors in the town, but I was curious when he avoided comparison…
When times are tight you want to cut your fixed costs and make the most of your sales opportunities. There are two ways you can cut costs – first, if some part of your business is broken beyond repair, extreme measures may be the solution. In the same way that amputation might be the only…
Do you need a marketing calendar? Are you one of those people who has lots of great ideas, starts them but then they trickle out? Or perhaps you’re just really busy and forget to do things that you know are important, but that never quite make it to the top of the To-Do list? We…
Last week a recruitment and temp agency told me that demand for telemarketing staff has massively dropped in the last few months. I don’t know about you, but with things being tighter at the moment, I have increased my marketing rather than cut it. I’ve also paid a lot of attention to doing more of…
In 2004 the business was called Richmond House Mortgages & Loans and was a typical small broker providing mortgages and insurance to local clients via word of mouth marketing. By early 2008, the company had grown to sell as many as 225 mortgages per month under a new name, The Mortgage Broker Limited. Fast Growth…
Even the best idea without enough follow-through will end in failure, but a poor idea with total commitment to follow-through will get good, or even great, results. Hence business success is so often 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration. This came back to my mind this evening while I watched "All Over The Shop", the BBC2 programme…
When a rabbit strays onto a road and gets caught in the glare of the headlights, it freezes on the spot. It hopes that by standing still it won’t get hurt by this strange predator with shining eyes. This strategy comes from evolution. When a hungry beast is out hunting for food, it looks for…
Too often, marketing is about image and has nothing to say about the product itself. It is trying to position the product in some way to catch the eye of a trendy few. The trouble is, when the trend passes, so does demand for the product. You can learn from what the "big boys" do…
No, not YOU! I’m talking about all those calls and interruptions that keep happening every day, stopping you when you’re in mid-flow on something and making it really tough for you to concentrate on getting stuff done. But you can have better time management, with just a little effort. Most people tell me they don’t…
Recession is heavily in the news at the moment. It’s the economists way of feeling that they have something useful to contribute to the news headlines. There’s a great post on Research Loudmouth called Recession Therapy where the author sees packed shops in London’s Oxford Street while the press is all doom and gloom. Let’s…