Dodo Loves Marketing

LEVEL 2: CLASHES

The central message is designed to help us manage differences in good relationships. Clashes happen in good relationships.

Despite our best efforts, Annoyances sometimes accumulate and grow into Clashes. How do we know when the line has been crossed? Indications are:

• Repeated arguments about the same issue, perhaps spread over days or weeks.
• Arguing over an increasing number of issues.
• Feeling less co-operative toward the Other.
• Feeling less trusting of the Other’s honest good will toward us.
• Remaining angry at the Other for a longer period, perhaps hours or days.
• Beginning to privately question the value of the relationship. ..more
  
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The activities of your implementation project won’t always happen in the way or at the time that you plan them to. The way to counteract the difficulties that arise from these diversions from your plan lies in the way that you create and use your implementation project monitoring and control system. When created and used with care, this system will identify the project’s drifts and divergences and provide you with what you need to put your project back ‘on line’. ..more

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In a process-orientated company, many of these new performance indicators used in benchmarking and elsewhere are non-financial. That is, they will focus management’s attention upon the truly critical areas of performance — i.e. those that drive profitability and align the business unit with its strategic goals. In the case of marketing logistics, we might expect to see metrics that capture such things as customer satisfaction, flexibility and employee commitment. Management meetings should therefore begin their agenda not with the financial review — that will come later — but with a review of non-financial performance indicators. These will necessarily differ between organisations, but may include: ..more

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About a quarter of American’s $7.385 trillion in personal consumption expenditures is spent on their homes. Spending on the four walls that shelter us topped $1.145 trillion in 2002, and spending on household operations, which includes all home furnishings, cleaning products, stationery and writing supplies, utility expenditures, and domestic services was $748.3 billion. Housing expenditures are rising faster than spending on household operations, as rock-bottom mortgage rates have encouraged more Americans to either buy into the housing market for the first time or trade up to larger, more expensive homes. ..more

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According to one famous futurist, “Someday in the near future I’ll be watching Ally McBeal. I like the outfit she’s wearing. So I put my hand on the TV screen and she‘ll interrupt the program and say, ‘Faith, do you like what I’m wearing?”Yeah,’ I’ll say. ‘I like your suit.’ And she‘ll say, ‘Here are the colors it comes in.’ I’ll tell Ally that I’ll take just navy or black, maybe both. And she‘ll say, ‘No you won’t, Faith. You’ve already got too many navy and black outfits in your closet right now. I think you should try red this time.’ And I’ll say okay, and the next day the red suit is delivered, in my size, to my home.” ..more

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To help him prepare, ask him to write down answers to these three questions before each meeting:

A. What actions have you taken? These should be the details of his performance over the last three months. He should include scores, rankings, ratings, and timelines, if available

B.What discoveries have you made? These discoveries might be in the form of training classes he attended, ..more

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If you want to be sure of creating the best impression you might decide to hire an interior designer. Alternatively, Laura Ashley charge £500 for a styling consultation for three rooms, refundable against purchases of £500 or more. At the most basic level:

• Rooms in one neutral colour, particularly white and cream look larger than their actual size. ..more
  
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Shyness affects just about everyone under certain situations. While most people cope reasonably well with occasional shyness, there are some who live in a personal prison, unable to reach out and make friends or relate positively to others. Being shy at work can severely limit work effectiveness, unless of course, you work generally on your own with little or no contact with others.

Shy people present themselves at work in many varied ways. There is the quiet wallflower who fades into the background and is not often noticed. At the opposite extreme, there is the raging extrovert who can be loud, aggressive and abrasive, but who finds it difficult to relate on an intimate level to others. In between, there are many other people, such as the knocker, the person who knocks or degrades others. ..more

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Market research is also invaluable in pricing your product or service. Ron Flounders, of Hertfordshire Business Link, which offers free advice to start-up businesses, says that all too often people work out their pricing ‘back-to-front’. They ask themselves how much they need to earn, what their costs are, and then price the product accordingly — regardless of what the market will pay. In fact, what you need to do is market research to establish what price the market will pay, then work out your costs and from that see whether it is worth going into business at all.’ ..more

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It is a sad fact of life that most small businesses require capital to start up. There are a few businesses which require only the minimum of equipment and stationery (journalism, PR and teaching, for instance), but most will require some form of outlay either for equipment, for stock or both. Then there are other considerations. You may need a budget for advertising, for accountancy and legal fees, or even for adapting your living room.

Before you even try to raise money, it is well worth thinking about the minimum amount needed. If the business is in the fledgling stage, try to keep only to the bare essentials — there will be time for a mahogany desk and state-of-the-art printer at a later, more successful stage. ..more

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There are thousands of grants and low interest loans available for small businesses. The problem is finding out what they are and whether your business qualifies. Some fields are more liberally provided with grants than others. For instance, the Crafts Council has a setting-up scheme which allows selected craftspeople to receive a grant of £2,500 for maintenance and up to £5,000 for equipment (they pay half of equipment costs), provided they apply within two years of setting up. While this would not cover your start-up costs entirely, it could certainly be a very useful addition. Other areas where grants may be forthcoming include : ..more

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With reference to a particular person X at work, do you frequently

• Wake up in the morning and immediately think ‘Oh no, I’ve got to face X again today’?
• Store anger throughout the day about X?
• Find yourself frequently in conflict with X?
• Experience jealousy about others‘ ability to get on with X?
• Back away from confrontations with X and then get angry at
  yourself because of your inability to act appropriately?

• Disagree or have arguments with your boss, who unfortunately is X? ..more
  
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10. Wait for the call to come through

Stay at your desk until the call comes through. If you disappear the call charge is still ticking away. Nothing irritates the person at the other end more than hanging on for an incoming call.

11. Make maximum use of operator time

The operator is probably very busy at peak times but not so busy at other times. He or she may be busy for only 50 per cent of the time and may like to take on additional work for off-peak times. ..more

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Long telephone conversations are obviously expensive. Calls should be planned and precise but, in addition to keeping the conversation as short as possible, consider other ways of reducing the telephone bill.

1. Check for overcharges on your telephone bill

By keeping a close eye on all the detail and by checking against your own records it may surprise you how often you may be able to identify an overcharge. Perhaps you don’t even look at the telephone bill but please don’t leave it to the telephone company. Treat it like any other supplier’s invoice and subject the account to scrutiny. Get out the last three years’ telephone bills and compare the quarterly charges item by item, line by line. ..more

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Employ more than one travel agent

Some firms get locked in to one travel agent, but by giving them a monopoly you could be the loser. Go to several travel agents to get comparative quotes for the same journey. Then you will see just how complex air fare structures can be and how a travel agent with a competitive spirit can save you a small fortune. In-house travel offices give good service but are they working as competitively as they can in a non-competitive environment?

Plan overseas trips

Overseas travel is so expensive that the maximum amount of planning should go into each trip. How often have you seen export sales executives sitting around waiting in the hotel foyer for their contact to arrive? Perhaps the reason for his delay is that your agent is out making last-minute appointments around town — a job which should have been done weeks ahead. ..more

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Markets are becoming more international, distances are shrinking, more and more executives travel more frequently on overseas trips; travel expenditure is an area of potential waste that once brought under control, can significantly reduce your cost burden.

Check the necessity for the journey

Check the reason for a journey, check that it has been planned properly and that there are clear new objectives. Check that existing objectives cannot be attained by means of cheaper communication such as telex, telephone or fax. ..more

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11. Test the product thoroughly prior to launch

Your new product won’t get off the ground unless you test it before the launch. Customers hate being guinea pigs and will start looking elsewhere for supplies, as well as returning faulty goods for recompense.

12. Plan the termination of a product’s lifespan

If a new product is intended to replace an existing one, it is essential to time the introduction of the new product so as to allow stocks of the existing product to be sold first. Be careful not to ‘land’ stocks of old models on a valued customer’s lap, as he will resent being overstocked and be unable to take up stocks of the new model. Try to find a market that will willingly accept the old models so that all your valued customers can be involved to the full in the new product launch. ..more

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Managers enjoy being involved in success and so will be full of enthusiasm as sales of a new product start to take off. Expansion and sales development from an increased range of products or a wider geographical area will not find enthusiasm or hard work wanting.

But how do we foresee the end of a product’s lifespan? Be prepared for it with a policy for new products and product improvements.

1. Prepare a product improvement plan

If your present products are selling well you cannot be blamed for feeling satisfied. However, your competitors are watching you with envy and will not have been idle. They are probably working at this very moment on a product with a few advantageous features, so don’t ever think that your current product design is the ultimate. There will be changes in style, custom, fashion, new technology etc. Ensure that your programme of product improvement keeps you ahead. ..more

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Often when we decide we want something, we want it now, and when we do not get it straight away, we feel that life is unfair, that we have been treated unjustly, even cheated. Sometimes we convince ourselves that it is because others, and even forces beyond us, do not want us to have what we want. In choosing to believe that we have been singled out, we may rationalise that we must do unto others before they do unto us, or, at the very least, get in first before others, rather than adhere to the Golden Rule of treating others as we would wish to be treated. In taking things personally, we convince ourselves that the acquisition of our desires is at the mercy of the inquisition by others. ..more

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The only way to gain and keep the goodwill and high esteem of the people we work and live with is to deserve it. Each of us will eventually be recognised for what we are because of our motives, not for what we try to be through our moves. Having the right motives will always win over making the right moves, yet, often prompted by personal ambition, we focus on gaining quick success by learning artful techniques. In the long run, no technique, no matter how clever, can conceal the motives a person has in his or her heart.

Many businesses focus on making all the right moves with the understandable motivation of greater return. Indeed, the majority of employment training is on specific competency techniques to ensure that the right moves are practised. But the motives behind practising the right moves are not always in harmony with what the business purports to be in business for. ..more

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