Mike

A Reality Check On Your Marketing Strategy

A Reality Check On Your Marketing Strategy The ‘Marketing Strategy’ is the way we have come up with for achieving our marketing goals and it should include two mandatory elements: – Which target consumers whom we can reach, hold a viable potential to buy whatever we intend to sell? – What is the offer (the entire marketing mix) we will be presenting to these consumers in order to appeal to them…

A Basic Sales Planning Strategy That Really Works

A Basic Sales Planning Strategy That Really Works There are six steps to generating new business and increasing your company’s revenue, all this takes is a little profiling and you can make all subsequent sales actions more effective. I firmly believe that planning is key and the answers to their questions often relate back to this simple sales planning method. Step 1 – Get access to historical…

How much is your time worth?

How Much Is YOUR Time Worth? For Entrepreneurs and Business Owners Only.   Our most precious resource is? Time, we only have a limited amount of it. A while ago I was reading a Leadership book, can’t remember the author though. On the first page he had three numbers, they were: 168,                 480                  &                     960 Anyone know what they are? 168, the number of hours…

Employee Engagement & Disengagement,    How Much Is It Costing YOU?    Employees are NOT paid for warming a seat for 8 hours a day.   i.e. just turning up and doing just enough not to get fired which, in the opinion of the majority of HR heads, what most people are doing.   A few years ago, Gallup, conducted a poll, pre COVID, on employee engagement in the Middle East, their findings, which I’ve…

The Woodcutters Story 4 of 4

Have You Sharpened Your Axe? Story 4:     A young man approached the foreman of a logging crew and asked for a job.    “Let’s see you fell this tree first” said the foreman.    The young man stepped forward and skillfully felled the large tree.    The foreman was impressed and said to the young man: “You can start on Monday.”    Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday came and went.    On Thursday…

The Woodcutters Story 3 of 4

Sharpening Your Axe – An Inspirational Story 3:   Tom, a wood-cutter, worked for a timber company for five years but was never given a raise.   The timber company then hired Jack and within a year Jack was given a raise.   Tom resented Jack being given a raise after only a year and went to his boss to complain about it.   The boss said, “You are still cutting the same number of trees you were…

The Woodcutters Story 2 of 4

The Wood-Choppers Contest Story 2: Once upon a time there were two men in a wood-chopping contest.   They were tasked with chopping down as many trees in the forest as they could from sun-up to sun-down.    The winner would be rewarded with both fame and fortune.   From morning till noon, both men steadily chopped and chopped.    By noon they were neck and neck, but then one man took a break and…

The Woodcutters Story 1 of 4

  Abraham Lincoln is regarded as one of the most important presidents in American history.   He was well known for his energy and productivity.   Abe Lincoln’s productivity secret was to use sharper tools to get the job done more efficiently.   He said: “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”      Lincoln, who was a skilled woodcutter before…

Strategic Thinking and the 5 Whys

Strategic Thinking and the 5 Whys Quickly Getting to the Root of a Problem Why use the tool? The 5 Whys is a simple problem-solving technique that helps users to get to the root of the problem quickly. Made popular in the 1970s by the Toyota Production System, the 5 Whys strategy involves looking at any problem and asking: “Why?” and “What caused this problem?” Very often, the answer to the first…

The 7Ps of the Marketing Mix

The 7Ps of the Marketing Mix Product What do you sell, describe it in terms of Benefits / Outcomes? What does it Achieve / Avoid / Preserve? How does it Change / Improve the life or work of your customer? Price What does it Cost? How do you Charge? How does the customer Pay? Could there be a better way? Promotion How do you Reach your customers? Marketing, Advertising, and Public…

The 4 Key Marketing Principles:

              Specialisation     This is the product, service, customer, market area of technology where you focus all your efforts             Differentiation Your Competitive Advantage Your area of Excellence / superiority. Your U.S.P. How is this relevant to me, the buyer? Where are you, or, where could you be  The Best?             Segmentation Who are the customers who most appreciate…

Strategy vs Tactics Part 2

Strategy vs Tactics Part 2 If you don’t have a strategy, you are part of someone else’s strategy.” — Alvin Toffler   “Grand strategy is the art of looking beyond the present battle and calculating ahead. Focus on your ultimate goal and plot to reach it.” ― Robert Greene, The 33 Strategies of War   How are strategy and tactics linked? The best explanation of strategy vs tactics can be summed up by…

Strategy Vs Tactics Part 1

Strategy Vs Tactics Part 1 Key Differences Between Strategy Vs Tactics What is the difference between strategy vs tactics?’ is one of the most common questions that ‘crops up’ when I’m running training workshops or discussing creating marketing plans with businesses. It’s no surprise since the difference between these two activities often isn’t distinct. Yet, it’s an important question to answer…

Who Is Your Competition?

Understanding Your Competition Who competes with you for your customers’ time and money? Are they directly selling competitive products and services, substitutes, or possible substitutes? What are their strengths and weaknesses? How are they positioned in the market?   Your competitive analysis A good competitive analysis varies according to what industry you’re in and your specific marketing…

Why Experts Get Deserve To Be Paid More

The Ship Repairman Story, with a twist. Why Experts Get Deserve To Be Paid More A great ships’ engine failed. The ship’s owners tried one expert after another, but none of them could figure but how to fix the engine. Then they brought in an old man who had been fixing ships since he was a youngster. When he arrived he had a large bag of tools with him, he immediately went to work. Over a period…

How COVID Changed The World

How the pandemic has changed the world economy The coronavirus pandemic has reached almost every country in the world. Its spread has left national economies and businesses counting the costs, as governments struggle with new lockdown measures to tackle the spread of the virus. Almost 80 percent of companies in the UAE have admitted to being “strongly impacted” by the ongoing coronavirus…

Entrepreneurship Attribute 2 Ambitious

Ambitious What is it? Ambition is the motivation fueling the planning and strategizing of the development of a business. Entrepreneurs will face hurdles when launching and running any business. These hurdles may be overcome through ambition. An ambitious entrepreneur sees business obstacles as opportunities to grow and failures as learning experiences. Why is it important? Goals are key elements…