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. [...]

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 [...]

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. [...]

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 fulfil their orders; but that estimating was limiting [...]

So many service providers treat it as a given: that their businesses are fundamentally different from those that sell physical products. On the surface, it seems an innocuous enough assumption. There must be an essential difference between the sales processes of firms that sell physical products and those that sell intangible services. When I’m asked [...]

Now here’s a common concern. How do you harness the obvious revenue-generating benefits of discounting – without damaging your corporate image? If, like Super Cheap Auto, you are positioned as a discounter in your particular industry category, promoting reduced prices may enhance your corporate image. But, if you wish your market to perceive you as [...]

If you stop and think about it, there are probably many companies you deal with automatically. You don’t stop to think about price, quality, service, or convenience – you just instinctively make your purchasing decision. We might be talking about your printer, your doctor, your real estate agent or your computer supplier. But then we [...]

For most of us, advertising is a little like prayer. We’re not sure it provides any benefit, but we do it anyway, just in case! Of course, one difference between advertising and prayer is that advertising costs you money. And, as a professional manager, your job is to maximise your return on capital. In other [...]

Use our simple five-step formula to turn under-performing advertisements into high powered sales tools. Bill King and son, Stephen, were facing a dilemma, common to many business people. They had a great product on their hands. Something handymen and tradesmen would jump at. But they were having trouble launching it into the marketplace. As the [...]

If it’s done well, newspaper advertising can be an extremely cost effective way of attracting new customers to your business. However, done poorly, this is one sure way to waste large amounts of money in an amazingly short period! Newspaper advertising gives you access to a large audience for a very low cost per reader. [...]