Dodo Loves Marketing

In the early nineties Gallup began work with two of the largest retail brokerage firms in the United States. Both companies wanted help in selecting brokers. And both of them defined the role in exactly the same way—the broker was not paid to be a money manager, doing financial analysis, picking stocks. Instead he was paid to be a money gatherer, identifying high-potential prospects and then persuading them to invest their money with his firm. He was a salesperson. ..more

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Required steps are useful only if they do not obscure the desired outcome.

Mark B., a manager in a large consulting company, was taking the four P.M. flight from New York to Chicago. His plane had already left the gate and was lumbering over to its designated runway. Suddenly_ the captain’s voice crackled over the intercom, announcing: “There is a weather ground stop at O’Hare. At this time, no planes are taking off or landing. Some delays may be possible. We’ll let you know as soon as we hear anything.” ..more

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Sooner or later every manager is asked the question “Where do I go from here?” The employee wants to grow. He wants to earn more money, to gain more prestige. He is bored, underutilized, deserves more responsibility. Whatever his reasons, the employee wants to move up and wants you to help.

What should you tell him? Should you help him get promoted? Should you tell him to talk to Human Resources? Should you say that all you can do is put in a good word for him? What is the right answer? ..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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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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These levels of achievement will certainly help redirect an employee’s focus toward becoming world class. However, the manager’s efforts at career redirection will be forever hindered if all of the pay signals are telling the employee to look upward.

Although each of us is motivated by money in different ways, the fact of the matter is that few of us are repelled by money. All of us may not hunger for it, but only a tiny minority of us find money positively distasteful. Therefore the simple truth is that it will be much easier for managers to redirect employees toward alternative career paths if some of those paths involve a raise in pay. ..more

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Licensing, registration and inspection

It is amazing how many businesses require some form of licensing, registration or inspection. Bed and breakfast establishments, for instance, may need to be inspected by fire officers, to be registered with the local authority, and may even need planning permission and official approval of their signs from local planning officers. That’s before they start taking on catering, in which case there is another host of rules to contend with. These rules have been set up for the public good, wisely or otherwise. But many people do not know about them. Unfortunately, ignorance is no defence and you could end up being fined heavily if, for instance, your kitchen is not up to environmental health standards for a catering business, or if you are an unregistered childminder. If you make toys which do not comply with safety standards or sell clothes without the correct labelling, you could also end up in hot water. ..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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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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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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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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No matter what their background, education, financial standing and career opportunities, a characteristic all successful network marketers have in common is a positive ‘go-getter’ attitude; the kind of attitude that says: ‘Let’s give it a try.’

Entrepreneurs are people who make things happen. They are the people who refuse to sit back and wait for the good times to roll in. They make their own good times now, through their own actions.

What other characteristics do they share? They are tryers. They regard any experience as a learning experience of value. They recognize that small setbacks are part of the learning process, just as one falls when learning to ride a bicycle for the first time, but that success must come from trying. ..more

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How to start a conversation about networking

If you listen carefully to what people say, you can steer just about any conversation around to network marketing. These opportunities will come up continuously. Suppose you are at a social function. You meet someone new. During the conversation you might say in a relaxed and conversational way: ‘Education? Well, you know, John, I was looking at an article in Time the other day on the rising cost of education. Horrific! Luckily I heard of a great way to make money and results look promising.’ (The factual approach.)

‘Susan, you said to me a moment ago that you’d love to travel overseas every year. If I could tell you of a way to make this kind of money, would you be interested?’ (The question approach.)

‘Phil Turner? Of course, I know him. As a matter of fact he was very interested in a money-making idea I came across. It’s called network marketing.’ (The personal-reference approach.) ..more

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Some networkers dread objections. That’s the wrong attitude! You should welcome objections (strange as it may seem) because, as long as the prospect is raising objections, she is interested in the product and networking. What she is really saying is: ‘If you can show me my objection is unfounded, I’ll join.’ And that’s a much better situation than the customer who simply walks away and is not interested.

Also, a question is not necessarily an objection. It can be a sincere desire to know more; a sign of interest.

Often the prospect has doubts and uncertainties about network marketing or the value of the products you are selling. She may genuinely need time to think it over because the whole concept is new. An objection means that you have not really sold the prospect the idea of network marketing. You have not dispelled the fear that she is making the wrong decision and that the benefits you promise will not materialise. ..more

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