Dodo Loves Marketing

Making The Deal

When you finally find a car that looks good, runs well, and seems like a fair deal, go back with a parent or friend—someone who’s more objective than you are. It’s easy to get infatuated with a car and miss some of the troubling details. Be sure to ask the owner about the car’s history of accidents and repairs. You may not get a straight answer, but it’s always wise to ask. Also, ask for records of maintenance and repairs. A person who keeps a file of receipts is generally someone who takes care of cars.

If it still looks like a good deal, take it to a mechanic. He can run simple tests on the car, inspect the brakes and fluids, and tell you if there’s anything scary lurking out of view. If the car has big problems, look for another—you don’t want to be buying someone else’sproblems. If the car passes your mechanic’s inspection, make an offer. ..more

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The Alternative

Good news! There’s another way to go—an alternative that won’t wipe out your finances now or drop you in debt’s bottomless pit in the future. Here it is: Pay cash for a good used car.

I know that most adults think I’m crazy when I tell you this. New car dealers will boycott. Banks will call me a heretic. And maybe even your parents will write me nasty letters. I don’t care. I’m standing my ground. Paying cash for a good used car is the only way to go.

I’ve got to warn you—if you decide to follow my advice, you may be in for some serious resistance. People will tell you that buying a used car is just buyingsomeone else’s problems. After all, why would they be selling the car if there weren’t something wrong with it? Good question. Here are some good answers (and if you paid attention earlier, you already know them): ..more

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For many people, buying a car is their first big-time investment. But for most of these investors, it’s also their first leap into debt’s bottomless pit. Can you actually buy a good car without going into debt? How can you keep from losing your shirt to an unscrupulous seller? I’ll show you how to pay cash for a great, reliable, used car—and why doing it any other way is just plain silly.

The New Car Myth

When most people dream of owning a car, they think of a new car. They’re shiny, they’re reliable, they’re great fun to show off to your friends. And best of all, they have that intoxicating new-car smell. ..more

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I’m about to tell you some stuff that a lot of people don’t want you to know. You see, youth marketers are growing filthy rich off your hard-earned cash, and what I’m going to tell you will foil their schemes. That’s because the three investment tricks you’re about to learn will show you how to invest more of your money into your future, not theirs. If you follow my advice, you won’t be putting any of them out of business. But if a bunch of readers like you try these tricks, a few of them might have to drive BMWs instead of Lambourghinis. What a shame.

Here’s another shame. These tricks are so simple, you’d think that more people would try them. But most people don’t. Instead, they squander all their cash on stupid purchases, then complain that the rich keep getting richer, while they just keep getting poorer. It doesn’t take an economics degree to figure out that those marketers keep getting richer off their money— money that they practically throw at them. ..more

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Lots of people give money every once in a while—usually when someone asks for it. But the real power in giving comes when you give every month to the same causes. The best kind of giving adds up, little by little, month to month, year to year, like a savings account. But with giving, you’re saving more than money. If you’d like to give a portion of your income regularly, here are some steps to help you get started.

GETTING STARTED

1. PICK A PERCENTAGE

Choose a percentage of your income that you’d like to give each month. Work with that bonehead-easy budget I showed you to make sure that you can afford the amount you commit to. ..more

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As you head into the third and final section of this book, you may still be wondering about what kind of business you actually want to launch. You may have the fire in your belly. You may be in The High- Performance Zone. You may have spent hours thinking about a business plan. But you may still be uncertain about where to go from here. Well, this session on franchising may be just what you’re looking for.

Globally, franchising growth has been explosive.

America has really fueled the explosive growth in franchising. In fact, in America, franchising accounts for ± 42% of all retail business and ± 10% of the gross national product. In America, six million people are involved in half a million franchise outlets. In Australia, on the other hand, franchising accounts for 25% of all retail business. ..more

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The first and totally obvious way to save up your money is to put it in the bank. Duh. You know that. But you may not know exactly how banks work, the various accounts they offer, and why it’s important to shop around for your banking needs.

Banks and savings and loans are good at coming up with fancy names for their accounts; names like “Advantage Plus Mega-Money Super Savings Certificate Account.” But most of their accounts fit into one of four basic categories:

1. Basic savings accounts (sometimes called passbook accounts) have little or no minimum balance and pay minimum interest. Advantages: You can withdraw your money whenever you want (no minimum deposit period), and you earn more interest than if you hid the money in that secret place near your bed (shh!). Disadvantage: You don’t earn much interest. ..more

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Bank CDs (Certificates of Deposit) are a smart investment for teenagers. Unlike most other investments, gains are guaranteed, and the interest rate is higher than a regular savings account. And because your money is locked up for the prescribed time period, you can’t spend it on a new wardrobe in a fit of insanity. If you have money sitting in a savings account or piggy bank, stick it in a CD and start earning some real interest.

But there’s just one problem. What if you don’t have the $500 or $1,000 minimum to open a CD? Three solutions:

1. Sweating. Save your allowance, store up the birthday checks, work a few extra hours—and above all, spend less. ..more

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The next is all about how to spend money wisely. But before we go there, I want to wrap up this savings business with a few facts about your future. Here’s the first one: People who don’t learn how to save in their teenage years rarely succeed in doing so as adults.

That’s a scary fact. It’s so frightening that you’d think more adults would warn you about it. Sadly, they don’t. And the adults who do warn you get their message drowned out in the blitzkrieg of advertising pitched at you by every marketer and merchant who’s after your cash.

If you take the advertising’s advice, you’ll abandon your savings goals and spend all your money on piles and piles of stuff—stuff that gives momentary pleasure, some laughs, a few thrills, and maybe an occasional jolt of sillypride as you parade it in front of your envious friends. And two or three years from now, you’ll have a pile of worthless junk and be no further toward your dreams. ..more

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Package Deals

Stores often package more than one item together, then tell you that you’re getting a lower price than if you bought each item separately. But if you don’t want everything in the package, why spend more money for it? If they’re offering a great deal on something if you buy a case of them, do you really need that many? It doesn’t matter if they’re cheaper by the dozen if you only need one or two. Know what you came for, and leave with it.

Impluse Buys

Stand at just about any checkout counter and you’ll be surrounded by this trick: candy, key chains, toys, magazines, doodads—racks and stacks of cheap stuff just waiting to jump into your shopping bag. Stores put this junk at the sales counter because that’s where you’re most likely to make impulse buying decisions—choices without a lot of thought to them. ..more

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Discounts, savings appeals, and urgency ploys are the most popular sales tricks. But there are many others. Here are a few to watch for:

Bait and Switch

The “bait” is usually an advertisement offering something at a ridiculously low price. When you go to the store to check it out, the salesman tells you it was already sold, then offers you something else—at a higher price. For example, a dealer might advertise a killer deal on a new car. When you show up, the car has been sold, but you can buy the same model, with more features, for just $1000 more than the advertised model. You’re sold. ..more

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If you end up getting a loan, make the payments on time. If your payment is late, the lender will usually report this to a credit bureau; everyone looking at your credit report will know. If you mess up two or three times in one year, it looks really bad.

If the loan has no early repayment penalty (can you believe you’d get in trouble for paying back someone too soon?), pay it off as rapidly as possible. Even with an extra $10 in each payment, you’ll pay it off much faster and save interest. If you have money in a bank account and you don’t need it for a couple of years, use it to pay off the loan. Then deposit your monthly loan payment into your bank account instead. You’ll be the one earning interest on the payments instead of the lender. ..more

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Being primed and ready for the unexpected has always been a valuable talent. In today’s turbulent business environment, where mergers, acquisitions and reorganizations are changing the face of American business, managers need that adaptability more than ever. What are the skills that allow good managers to respond readily to change? There are five principal ones:

1. Problem-solving ability. Because we’re a global economy dominated by multinational companies, problems are appearing much more quickly and they are more severe than they were before. There is a lot of ambiguity and there are many paradoxes. Along with polished business smarts, you must also be problem-smart. Your antennae must detect problems early and be sensitive to potential difficulties before anyone else’s. Your intuitive powers must be razor-sharp so you can detect a problem’s early warning signals. Once found, you can determine the appropriate solution. ..more

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You’ve just been offered a plum post as manager of a large division in an international corporation. Before uncorking the champagne and calling all your friends with the news, consider:

Ideally, managers of decentralized operations are expected to act like autonomous, free-ranging, market-sensitive executives—much like the classic entrepreneur. But in reality, you are often trapped in a hierarchical middle, held accountable for profit-center responsibility while, at the same time, chief executive officers and their surrogates violate your autonomy without recognizing it, sometimes even going behind your back to intervene on divisional turf.

If you are offered a division manager’s job, talk to the CEO (it will be the chief operating officer in a very large corporation) and ask, “What kinds of decisions do you see yourself getting involved in?” ..more

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More and more managers are on the move. By the time they reach their late forties, general managers have assumed from three to nine managerial posts. All else being equal, a manager’s functional background, experience and special competencies will determine how that person takes charge, according to Dr. John J. Gabarro, professor of organizational behavior at the Harvard Business School, who carefully monitored the management experiences of 14 new executives over a three-year period.

Some managers make the transition in easy, sure strides; others falter and fail. Here are some touchstones for a safe voyage: ..more

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A promotion is a victory, an accomplishment to be proud of. As excited and enthusiastic as you are to make your mark in the new job, there are unseen stumbling blocks on that higher rung that can trip you up if you’re not very careful.

Here are some common problems that recently promoted managers encounter and suggestions for handling them:

• Letting go. This is one of the biggest difficulties for newly promoted managers. They are more familiar with the problems of the old job and know how to fix them. And they usually feel more comfortable operating in the realm where they excelled.

Suggestion: Withdraw by delegating to people you have confidence in. The more you feel your staff is up to the job, the easier it will be. Reassess each person’s skills from your new perspective. ..more

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The climate of some organizations is more conducive to informal cooperation than that of others. But, whatever the tone of relationships where you work, your job will go more smoothly if you build a trusting rapport with your colleagues and other employees. Here are some ways you can benefit from widening your personal network:

• Exchange of information. What’s the top brass thinking? How is a multide partmental project really going? What personnel changes are in the wind, and what implications does that have for your group? Who has been talking to whom? Answers to questions like these are often gotten faster through casual conversation than through official channels. ..more
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Some children dream of becoming doctors and astronauts, and some adults dream of becoming CEO. Haven’t you often felt that you could do just as good a job—if not a better one—than some of the CEOs you’ve met?

Perhaps you do have the makings of a leader: People look up to you– and not just your subordinates. You’re a resource, a diplomat without portfolio, a consultant without the title. At meetings, you cut through irrelevancies to the heart of a problem. If you can’t solve it, you know what steps are necessary in finding a solution. You may, indeed, be destined for bigger things.

There are no guarantees that you’ll make it, but you stand a better chance if you can help matters along. Some pointers: ..more

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Mentoring isn’t new. What is new is that it’s more important as a career tool for senior managers than it was in the past.

The old theory about mentoring was that it was a stage you went through and eventually outgrew as your career advanced. This is no longer true. At the higher rungs of the corporate ladder, career paths are more complicated, pointing up the benefits of either having a mentor or acting as one.

Realizing the importance of mentoring, a number of prominent companies (Johnson & Johnson, Merrill Lynch, Bell Labs, National Cash Register) have established formal mentoring programs. Bright managerial prospects are assigned a mentor rather than having them go through the accidental, often serendipitous, process of finding one on their own. ..more

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John Ahearn has been burned twice now by someone he had long considered—well, not a close friend, perhaps, but a close colleague who, in the past, could usually be counted on for counsel and support when Ahearn needed them.

The latest incident occurred this morning. At the project meeting, Alan Thomas had taken the floor and systematically demolished the main points in John’s proposal. A real hatchet job, although John had to admit that it came across as very polished and professional. And the executive vice president had bought it, leaving John alone, out on a rather shaky limb. ..more

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