It’s highly unlikely that any pharmaceutical company would give Peter Nicolas a job! He rarely gets out of bed before 11:00 a.m. He seldom visits his office — and when he does, his only brush with any activity that even resembles work is a noisy tour of his troops, exchanging high-fives and boasting of market… “The wild man of pharmaceuticals and his even wilder ride to riches!”
"Incredulous. "Yep, that’s the best word for it", concedes Phil McGann. Phil is struggling to describe the reaction of fellow financial planners when he explains how things work at the Hudson Institute. "When they find out that our financial planners perform 8-9 consultations a day … that these consultations are all conducted over the telephone… “How the Hudson Institute turned its hyper-efficient sales process into a sustainable competitive advantage”
Following is the sad story of the entrepreneurial Harry Edgecliffe and his ruthless competitor Spot Pet Foods. Although neither Harry nor Spot exists, their tale provides a number of invaluable lessons for all marketers. Harry Edgecliffe is not a happy man! In recent months, the business he toiled for so many years to build has… “How Harry Edgecliffe’s success killed his thriving pet food business … and how you can avoid his strategic marketing blunders.”
Now here’s a tough one … What would you do if you were providing a service that appeared to be identical to the service offered by your competitors – in spite of the fact that yours was clearly the superior offering? That was the problem faced by a large commercial cleaning contractor with whom I… “How clean is clean: lessons from a monopolist”
You know, I’d hate to be a marketing manager in a typical service-based firm. The problem is, in such a firm, there’s precious little for a marketing manager to manage! Here’s a person with no authority, no direct reports, a tiny budget, and no process to oversee. A person who’s only mandate (to ’get the… “Is your marketing manager redundant?”
If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me what percentage of their sales they should be spending on advertising, I’d be writing this column from Aspen! Problem is, it’s simply the wrong question to ask. And I’ll show you why… Let’s assume that the objective of your advertising is to generate sales.… “Business marketing by numbers: How to dial up next year’s sales figures”
If you’ve attended any of our recent breakfasts, you’ll know that I am a big fan of e-mail perodicals – or ’eBulletins’, as I call them. Now, whenever I mention eBulletins, someone asks, ’But Justin, isn’t broadcast e-mail spam?’ My answer: ’Well it is, and it isn’t!’ You see, it all depends on your definition… “Is all unrequested e-mail necessarily spam?”
Human brains are well suited for some tasks, and poorly suited to others. Our grey matter excels at creative pursuits, but it’s easily stumped when it comes to even the most rudimentary logic. We are reminded of this regularly when we talk to subscribers about their management of promotional expenditure. Almost without exception, we find… “How to manage your promotional expenditure with absolute precision”
Imagine what you would say if your production manager attempted to justify the purchase of a new piece of capital equipment by arguing that the lease payments will bring you in line with industry benchmarks for capital expenditure! I’m guessing that you wouldn’t appreciate the employment of such irrational thinking to the purchase of machinery.… “What’s a customer really worth?”
Years ago, I remember consulting to a small printing firm. As is often the case in job shops (make-to-order manufacturers), estimation was the system constraint. Obviously, this wasn’t a good thing. It meant that customers wanted to buy printing; that production had the capacity to fulfill their orders; but that estimating was limiting the flow… “Why accurate estimating may be costing you sales”
