Dodo Loves Marketing

Some conflicts are hardly noticeable as they ebb and flow through our daily social encounters. Others grow into intense disputes that spawn interpersonal tragedies. The severity of conflict ranges from insignificant Annoyances through a middle range of Clashes to severe Crises that threaten the life of the relationship.

Just as a golfer selects the proper club for the shot, and a mechanic chooses the right tool for the job, different levels of conflict call for different strategies. ..more

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The purpose of planning the context, is to create a setting for effective communication.

Location

A private place that is free from interruptions should be selected. Importantly, phone calls and people walking in should be prevented. Even music should be eliminated. Moving objects or people are visual distractions. The meeting should occur in a private room that other people will not inadvertently enter. A place where neither person feels on home turf, or a site preferred by your Other is best. ..more

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Simply engaging in face-to-face conversation in the appropriate context while complying with the Cardinal Rules helps people manage their differences and build more satisfying relationships.

But the sceptical reader is asking, ‘What about skills? Aren’t special skills needed in the Dialogue?’

How old are you? You have that many years’ experience in the school of life. You have learned more than you may realise about how to communicate, about how to get along with others. Of course, we also learn ineffective communication patterns along with more positive skills. But, on balance, most adults who are able to maintain friendships, hold jobs, join groups, and survive the crucible of family life possess sufficient communication skills. ..more

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The plan that you use must be:

• clear and specific in its content
• easily understood by all who use or see it
• capable of accepting changes at both a detailed and broad level, and
• capable of being used to monitor what’s actually happening.

The simplest forms of the project plan that will do this for you are:

The Gantt chart, and The Critical Path network. ..more

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One of the most striking trends in recent years has been the globalisation of markets, organisations and industries. Its impact can not only be seen through the global reach of well-established brands like Coca-Cola, Marlboro or Gucci, but it is also apparent in markets as diverse as computing, automobiles and consumer electronics. Nor is the trend towards globalisation confined only to products; we see similar transformations in services such as banking, retailing and satellite TV. ..more

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Level 3: At this level customers expect partnership. They want you to listen to them, to be responsive to them, to make them feel they are on the same side of the fence as you.

Service businesses have long realized the importance of this partnership expectation. That’s why Wal-Mart positions hearty senior citizens at their front door to smile a welcome and remember names. That’s why all airlines create loyalty clubs offering special treatment to frequent fliers. And that’s presumably why video stores offer a “staff picks” section: “We’re like you. We watch videos, too.” ..more

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But home furnishings alone are not going to be any marketer’s or retailer’s “salvation” anymore. It is going to be harder and harder for home furnishings retailers and marketers to get consumers to invite new furniture pieces or purely decorative home furnishings objects into their homes. Today’s consumers are looking for ways to scale down, throw out, and otherwise eliminate clutter from their homes.

While consumers are spending less money on major furniture pieces and decorative accessories, they are “hungry” for more and better tools, equipment, and accessories to enhance their living experiences in the home. For example, gourmet cooking and dining is an experience that more and more Americans desire to pursue in their home kitchens. As a result, they are willing to buy all kinds of things they don’t need but will enhance the cooking and dining experience. This characterizes consumer psychology for so many discretionary and luxury products. ..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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Purchase incidence of aromatherapy and scented household products rose sharply in 2005 to reach 49 percent, up from 42 percent of U.S. households in 2003. Consumers are turning away from candles as the primary delivery option for household scent toward other alternatives, such as potpourri, steamers, and sprays. By lighting fewer candles, they are expressing a desire for safer, more healthful alternatives for home fragrance. Concerns about indoor air pollution, open flames, burning petroleum-based waxes, and possible leaded wicks are becoming an important issue for consumers. ..more

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Sixty-two percent of U.S. households purchased candles in 2003, down slightly from the 65 percent who purchased in 2001. That makes candles the second most widely purchased home product category, after stationery and greeting cards. With nearly two-thirds of American households buying candles in 2003, there is little new growth available in the marketplace. The simple fact is the candle market has reached a plateau and further growth will be hard for marketers and retailers to come by easily.

Candles and Candle Accessories Snapshot

Since 2000, retail sales of candles have dropped 12.2 percent, while sales of candle accessory items, such as displays, candlesticks, decorative jar lids, and lighting and extinguishing accessories, have grown 44 percent. Overall the sales of candles and candle accessories were about even in 2002 with sales in 2000. ..more

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Before televisions combine with computers, you would think TV sets would combine with videocassette recorders. You can buy combination TV/VCRs, of course, but most people don’t. Recently we visited a consumer electronics store that had a wall full of such products.

“How are sales of your combination television/VCRs?” we asked the clerk. “Infinitesimal,” he replied.

Nor are many combination washer/dryers sold. Or microwave/stoves. Or telephone/telephone answering machines. Or copier/printer/fax machines. ..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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Everyone talks about convergence, while just the opposite is happening.

Whenever a new medium hits town, the cry goes up, “Convergence, convergence. What is this new medium going to converge with?”

When television hit town, there were stories everywhere about the convergence of TV with magazines and newspapers. You weren’t going to get your magazines in the mail anymore. When you wanted an issue, you would hit the button on your TV set and the issue would be printed out in your living room. (We don’t make these things up. We just report the facts.) ..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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There are thousands of successful businesses that started on kitchen tables. Laura Ashley, for instance, started as a ‘corner of the kitchen‘ business and went on to make millions. However, just because a business starts on the kitchen table doesn’t mean it should end there. If you intend to spend ten hours a day at work, then it makes sense to give some thought and time to the environment you work in. If you plan to entertain clients, then making sure your office is presentable is even more important. ..more

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Just under one-third of households (30 percent) bought lamps and lighting accessories in 2003, about equal to the purchase incidence in 2001. While lighting is an essential component of everyday life, it also serves a decorative function, with lamps being a key decorative accessory. The effects of lighting are a key element for creating a mood of peacefulness and harmony in the home. People buy lamps and lighting as much for need as desire, making them essential yet discretionary. ..more

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In 2003, just under half of U.S. households (48 percent) bought picture frames, a slight decline from the 52 percent. With more people buying digital cameras and thus having new pictures to display in their homes and offices, the picture frame industry has responded by offering new designs in frames that add visual interest and contribute to the overall presentation. Appreciative consumers are spending more on picture frames as a result. ..more

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People often think of ‘networking‘ as something that is only done at high-powered levels. Not so. Letting mothers at the school gates know about your services, swapping information with friends at the rugby club is all networking. ‘I found that other mums were my best customers,’ says Sarita, a beauty therapist. ‘When my sons were invited to tea with their friends, they’d often mention that I ran a beauty business and I got plenty of of clients that way !’

You cannot afford to be too indirect about offering your services. On the other hand, old contacts may be put off if you continually pester them for work. It is better to engineer a meeting about another matter and then explain what you can do for them, rather than endlessly cold calling. Persistence may pay off — but it can also put people off. This is why ‘forums’ for networking are so important. ..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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• First, do your homework. Find out if anyone else in the organization is working — or has worked — from home. Your union as well as the personnel department may know. If so, arrange to have a drink or meeting with them, to find out how they tackled the subject, how the arrangement works or, if it has stopped, why it ended.

• When I decided to move to the Isle of Bute, in Scotland, I thought I’d have to leave the bank,’ says Kevin Attwood, Strategic Planning Development Officer for Nat West who now works two days from home, and three in London. ‘In fact, I kept the move so quiet that when I told my boss I’d moved to Scotland over the weekend, he was flabbergasted. When we had lunch I said flippantly, that if I’d got my act together I would have come up with a strategic plan for teleworking. He told me to come up with a proposal. I rung up people in the bank who were already working from home some of the time and talked to them extensively before coming up with my plans. Listening to their experiences helped me make a convincing proposal.’ ..more
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