Monthly Archives: March 2010

Scoring a new client before it’s too late

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I’ve always found the issue of how to decide to work with a new client very interesting. For most people and businesses this is largely an emotional decision.

I was pleased to trip over a scorecard concept that seems to be very well balanced.

A simple, 5-question Business Development Scorecard will help you grade every new client and opportunity, helping to ensure that you stay on strategy and reinvent your firm one new client at a time.

Have a look at in full at www.winwithoutpitching.com

Simply, for every new client you bring in, large and small, ask yourself these five questions and grade the client/engagement to see if it’s moving you toward or away from your strategy.

Does this concept work for you?

Moonpig and Mother’s Day

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On a quick, random, un-scientific survey I’ve discovered that over two-thirds of my acquaintances have unsubscribed from Moonpig newsletters. Why? Too many reminders to send Mother’s Day cards.

Why are they sending so many reminders? To be helpful? Trying to bump their revenue? Well we can only guess, but surely their mailing list is a major asset; if consumers are unsubscribing at any significant rate it is a disaster.

Birds spotting in the supermarket

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Birds custard packaging 150x150 Birds spotting in the supermarketIs it just me or is the packaging of different Birds products too similar?

When you’re in a rush, legging it around the Co-op, the bloody Rum flavour Sauce is the Instant custard you are after. Now we have three pack of the stuff…and no one here likes it.

The fact it was reduced from 44p to 33p is no consolation at all.

Birds, help your customers with better packaging, please.

Changes in B2B marketing

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How has B2B marketing changed in the last decade? Well in our business physical brochures are becoming less common, PDFs are prolific, websites are the order of the day and there are many other changes as well.

I was pleased to read a nice, succinct article at marketing.co.uk that talks a little more about these changes in B2B marketing.

One of the factors that is changing these days with regard to B2B marketing is the brochure culture. We often relied on brochures to introduce our business. However, it is changing dramatically, these days. Businesses are moving away from printed brochures. So if you are thinking of making thousands of copies of your brochure, hold on for a moment and look around to see what is happening in your industry. Most of the niches have moved on to using online versions of their brochures. You will look outdated if you are going to run around with your printed brochures or send them through the post. You will also be able to reduce your marketing expenses by uploading your brochures online. It is much faster and easier to distribute your brochure to your target audience. Moreover, you can save a lot of money. Today not many people ask for brochures, rather they ask for a website URL. It is also much easier for your customers to review your brochures online as they do not have to carry it along with them, they can access it anytime from anywhere. So why waste your money and efforts on brochures. By going online with your brochures, you can go green.

Click here to read the full article.

Direct mail relevancy and accuracy

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Boden logo Direct mail relevancy and accuracyI’m not really sure who the winner is for wasted direct mail campaign effort this week. My favourites through the letter box this morning, and clear contenders, are:

Boden: A personalised letter with a £10 gift voucher to encourage me to use the catalogue they sent me a few weeks back. Sorry Boden, I haven’t received a catalogue from you, therefore your stream of restrictions and terms and conditions are of no relevance to me.

AA Insurance: A beautifully personalised letter inviting me to insure my car with the AA. The only real obvious blunder is that they are referring to a car that I sold nearly three years ago in August 2007.

I think my winner for the week is Boden.

Have you got any corking examples of poor, irrelevant or inaccurate direct mail? Please share.

Incoming search terms:

  • kevin harrington email
  • boden direct marketing

Resignations have increased in the year to Feb 2010

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Resignations have increased in the year to February 2010, despite growing fears over job security. Data collected from 43,312 individuals in 197 organisations also reveals that earning power has dropped dramatically in the past year, with ‘take home pay’ heavily influenced by where people work and what they do.

“It is clearly time for business to grow up. We can no longer afford to reward people with pay rise after pay rise especially as all the evidence suggests that money isn’t the main motivator anymore. Instead, employers must concentrate on building remuneration packages that incorporate earnings with development opportunities, offer flexible approaches to work and recognition of the need to better engage with staff.”

Read the rest of this article at the Chartered Management Institute site.

Surely it is time to take a better look at how we engage staff and to start using incentives and recognition tools to our advantage?