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Monthly Archives: February 2010
“They just don’t get it!”
How many times have we heard this as a smart front line operator expresses frustration with the attitudes of the executive suite, the redundancy of the business model, or the strategy being pursued, as again, the “bosses” appear to fail … Continue reading
Posted in Change, Management, Sales, Strategy
Tagged Change, customer, Management, Sales, Strategy
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Everyone is entitled to my opinion.
It has been interesting listening to the “debates” over the last week or so on two different topics, the latest of the seemingly endless versions of a NSW transport plan, and the redevelopment of the area of Sydney harbour now … Continue reading
Posted in Change, Innovation, Personal Rant
Tagged Change, change management, communication, Personal Rant
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Is more always better?
It seems that most innovation is aimed at getting more of the same for the same price, rather than making the experience with the product better. Every time I see an ad for a new car, it seems to have … Continue reading
The answer is inside, just ask the question.
How often is the “next big thing” hiding in your organisation without you knowing? Fairly often is seems. Probably the classic example, is the development of the first digital camera by a Kodak engineer , Steven Sasson in 1975. Kodak, … Continue reading
Posted in Change, Innovation, Marketing, Strategy
Tagged change management, Innovation, Strategy
4 Comments
Seeds of their own destruction.
What will be the continuing impact of the development of housebrands by retailers, and the current heightened value awareness of consumers? Most FMCG suppliers lose sleep over the retailers undermining their profitability by hogging shelf space with far cheaper imitations … Continue reading
Posted in Branding, Marketing, Sales, Small business
Tagged category management, retailer, SME
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Information Vs Mystique.
Many brands over time have been built by using “mystique” as an ingredient, generally in the form of information withheld, scarcity, price, and the stories that surround the product. In this connected world, we are bombarded with information, almost everything … Continue reading
The end of the book as we know it?
As publishing goes electronic, and the hype about the Ipad, Kindle, and other reader technologies, evolves, and drives behavior changes, publishers need to consider how they are going to market, as most consumption of books is still generated by seeing … Continue reading
Posted in Change, Management, Marketing, Sales
Tagged category management, Management, Marketing, Sales
1 Comment
End of the gate-keeper.
The gate keeper role is progressively becoming redundant as web tools evolve to offer many other avenues to get “inside” a prospective customer. The most aggressive commercial gatekeepers have traditionally been in the acquisition roles, and finding ways to butter … Continue reading
Posted in Management, Operations, Sales
Tagged change management, customer, Management, Marketing, Sales, supply chain
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Customer Value Proposition
What do you do that others cannot? What enables you to deliver value for a group of customers or potential customers with something in common, which is increasingly nothing to do with demographics, that your competitors cannot match? Answer those … Continue reading
The song remains the same (with apologies to Led Zepplin)
The retail end of music industry as we currently know it continues to be in trouble. This New York Times article is now a bit old, but I am pretty sure the marketing challenge has not gone away. Imagine, … Continue reading
The “organic” approach Vs the “planned” approach.
Much of what we read encourages us to experiment, test, and adopt and adapt the better ideas as they survive, and evolve. I am a great advocate of this approach, but the downside is that an apparent ad hoc mindset, … Continue reading
Posted in Change, Innovation, Management, Strategy
Tagged Management, Marketing, performance assessment, Strategy
1 Comment
Legacy strategies
We spend time and effort managing our way through legacy IT systems, recognizing the impact they have on performance, and the cost benefit of spending the capital to replace them. However, we rarely think about strategy in a similar manner. … Continue reading
Knowing more by knowing less
Engaging a consultant usually means you have a problem that is deemed to require outside expertise. This begs the question, “why would you engage someone who knows less about your business and its problems than you, to assist solving a … Continue reading
Posted in Change, Leadership, Management
Tagged change management, Leadership, performance assessment
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Rule of three
For a long time as a consultant, who has done a fair but of sales training in a B2B environment, I have fallen back on a foundation proposition made up of three parts. When planning a sales strategy to sell … Continue reading
Posted in Change, Management, OE, Operations, Sales
Tagged customer, Management, Operations, Sales
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Do you still get what you pay for?
My Father always said, “you only get what you pay for” so he instinctively related price to value. Now, the web has changed everything, and increasingly, “Free” is being used as a means to attract a target to trial, to … Continue reading
Brands are just like people
During the brand development process, to the extend that is it deliberate, most conversations are about the activities that supposedly drive the objective measures of success, sales, margins, market share, household penetration, and so on. However, during qualitative research, brands … Continue reading
It must be in the cultural DNA.
The corporate left brain/right brain conflict is alive and well in Jetstar. Currently Jetstar is spending on TV advertising their Asian destinations, pushing that they are not just a cut price airline, at the same time they are facing a … Continue reading
Posted in Branding, Change, Leadership, Marketing
Tagged Branding, customer, Leadership, Marketing
2 Comments
Web savvy – a no brainer.
On the web, you have lost control of the conversations that can impact on you, anyone can say virtually anything they like, and unfortunately because it is “out there” it can gain traction, take on some credibility. If you cannot … Continue reading
Managers, leaders and entrepreneurs.
Engaged in a recent discussion about the nature of leadership, I fell back on the old chestnut that managers manage things, but leaders decide what to manage, which got me through until a “smartie” asked “what about entrepreneurs”? Took a … Continue reading
The strategic reality of climate change.
The emerging reality of the emerging “carbon economy” irrespective of the regulatory regime that emerges is not only an operational and regulatory management issue, but a strategic one because of its potential to create and destroy asset value. Over time, … Continue reading
Posted in Leadership, Personal Rant, Strategy
Tagged change management, climate change, Personal Rant
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