Budding inventors or entrepreneurs can want to make the world a better place. "I want to offer double glazing without the hard sell". Motives aside how would a double glazing company get along if they did not deploy a full range of direct marketing communications? Behaviour has traditionally been about market concentration, pricing, barriers to entry and exit, or information. In addition it is also about character.
Homeguard Direct ( http://www.homeguarddirect.co.uk/) sell insurance. In one case they managed to sell insurance to a 97 year old man without his signature. This then came up as a direct debate mandate with his bank. His bank were unwilling to stop the direct debit as it was a mandate - and being 97 he may have forgotten. The company refused to withdraw the direct debit without a letter in the full knowledge that he was unable to write through severe arthritis. Homeguard Direct also sell insurance for SKY TV. Issues over direct debate mandates have arisen http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/08006226710. They had previously been called hygiene eclispe and sold protection for drains and plumbing. They also had a reputation for making false or misleading statements on the phone.
In this situation Homeguard direct are selling insurance in the Worthing/ Littlehampton area of the country. There are a large number of elderly people. If you set up an ethical insurance company and lined the companies up together - which one would make the most sales? If "snake oil" sales was the winner, starting up an ethical insurance company would only be making a stand rather than making the most of an opportunity. If you are unwilling to adopt the "strategies of the market" do not enter.
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
Sunday, 28 February 2010
Do your values matter?
Our values are drawn from ourselves and our culture. A well defined set of values could be a "moral code". Do these matter in business and more specifically marketing?
There is a sweet point for your business - where your market opportunity matches some of your values and some of your resources.
Some of your values will not match your resources and some of your values will not match your market opportunity.
For instance someone with strong religious beliefs may find that including all of their beliefs does get an amount of business. Religions are networks and this may have a good or a not so good match with the market.
Having the religious beliefs in the first place has little to do with business, but the decision of including it as a focal part of how you target people in your market is.
The difficulty with values are that they are very personal. It is therefore difficult to make decisions about which personal values are and which are not included in your business. Without values your business may lack personality. If you choose the values that the largest part of the market has - but you do not actually share in, then you may appear false.
Some individuals have issues with including some of their values but ignoring others. A selective moral code may be dangerous, but this is a business, not an individual.
Plugging into your market is not just about market analysis. It is also about people and how they can be involved in taking the opportunity to market.
There is a sweet point for your business - where your market opportunity matches some of your values and some of your resources.
Some of your values will not match your resources and some of your values will not match your market opportunity.
For instance someone with strong religious beliefs may find that including all of their beliefs does get an amount of business. Religions are networks and this may have a good or a not so good match with the market.
Having the religious beliefs in the first place has little to do with business, but the decision of including it as a focal part of how you target people in your market is.
The difficulty with values are that they are very personal. It is therefore difficult to make decisions about which personal values are and which are not included in your business. Without values your business may lack personality. If you choose the values that the largest part of the market has - but you do not actually share in, then you may appear false.
Some individuals have issues with including some of their values but ignoring others. A selective moral code may be dangerous, but this is a business, not an individual.
Plugging into your market is not just about market analysis. It is also about people and how they can be involved in taking the opportunity to market.
Friday, 26 February 2010
Resources - are they important?
Lots of people have dreams and business owners are no different. Business owners dream of the large or very profitable customer, or lots of very large and profitable customers.
Some business owners chase dreams without sufficient resources. There are examples where a business can improve its credibility superficially to get meetings with a large customer, and sometimes you hear stories of the business succeeding with a large order.
Unfortunately this is not the most common occurrence. To get orders there are benchmarks or rules of thumb on the resources needed not only to gain a customer, but to get repeat business.
For instance look at high street shops. Shops work on 3 key principles:
If you are very specialist you may get away with a location that is a long way away from the centre of a city or a town, but in general, location is important to gain awareness and sales.
Whilst we do not all own shops - the shop and the location are resources. If you were a jeweller and wanted to attract the rich and famous then a location in central London, possibly Regent Street would be good.
Taking another example - if you want to tender for government work they will ask you to fill in a tender document for work of any size. The difficulty with this is that your business may be too small, or your track record to insignificant to even get an interview.
Can you improve your credibility artificially?
The short answer is no. However there are things that you can do right that make effective use of the resources at your disposal. In other words you match the resources to the best market opportunity available to you.
Plugging into your market is about focussing on key potential clients, working out what they need from you in terms of service, appearance, capability and your long term future. They must see you as a good bet and feel better about trading with you rather than someone else.
Some business owners chase dreams without sufficient resources. There are examples where a business can improve its credibility superficially to get meetings with a large customer, and sometimes you hear stories of the business succeeding with a large order.
Unfortunately this is not the most common occurrence. To get orders there are benchmarks or rules of thumb on the resources needed not only to gain a customer, but to get repeat business.
For instance look at high street shops. Shops work on 3 key principles:
- They get lots of people walking past
- They get the right people walking past
- They have an attractive offer that entices people to walk in
If you are very specialist you may get away with a location that is a long way away from the centre of a city or a town, but in general, location is important to gain awareness and sales.
Whilst we do not all own shops - the shop and the location are resources. If you were a jeweller and wanted to attract the rich and famous then a location in central London, possibly Regent Street would be good.
Taking another example - if you want to tender for government work they will ask you to fill in a tender document for work of any size. The difficulty with this is that your business may be too small, or your track record to insignificant to even get an interview.
Can you improve your credibility artificially?
The short answer is no. However there are things that you can do right that make effective use of the resources at your disposal. In other words you match the resources to the best market opportunity available to you.
Plugging into your market is about focussing on key potential clients, working out what they need from you in terms of service, appearance, capability and your long term future. They must see you as a good bet and feel better about trading with you rather than someone else.
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
Don't Operate In The Dark - Plug In To Your Market NOW
Have you ever tried to plug in a lamp in the dark? You grab the plug and then thrust your hand towards the wall. Maybe you find the socket but by then you have scraped away a strip of wallpaper and you are getting increasingly anxious as you try to fit the three pins of the plug into the three holes that you know are there. Darkness ensures that the orientation of the plug is pure guesswork. You know it should all fit but somehow it does not.
This is not unlike the approach taken by many small businesses to the markets that they operate in. They have great products or services which they just KNOW will be bought by people. Somehow business just has not been booming - why?
The marketplace is huge so you need to focus quite a bit. What area of the market should you be aiming at, how do you identify it, what resources do you need to exploit it? If you can identify this niche clearly (think of being able to use a torch in the lamp example above), and you have the right product or service (think compatible plug and socket) then you are almost there. You still might need some help in actually delivering but the guesswork has gone and you can actually focus on making money.
This is not unlike the approach taken by many small businesses to the markets that they operate in. They have great products or services which they just KNOW will be bought by people. Somehow business just has not been booming - why?
The marketplace is huge so you need to focus quite a bit. What area of the market should you be aiming at, how do you identify it, what resources do you need to exploit it? If you can identify this niche clearly (think of being able to use a torch in the lamp example above), and you have the right product or service (think compatible plug and socket) then you are almost there. You still might need some help in actually delivering but the guesswork has gone and you can actually focus on making money.
Thursday, 18 February 2010
Plug into your market - Why is it useful?
Henry Ford had a 57% share of the car market in 1918, but by 1936 this was down to 26%.
Ford's issues were around his dedication to mass production whilst his competitors offered colour and customisation.
Ford's issues were that he did not listen or respond to critical factors evident in his market. In 1922 he said “you can have any colour you want as long as its black” in response to General Motors's range of colours. He did not like things that he could not control, like advertising. He did not understand it, possibly as he did not listen to other people.
This issue of listening to your market and acting on it is highlighted by many inventors by evident in many small companies. Getting good quality information is perceived as difficult and acting on it may conflict with what the company is about.
In producing lots of business plans we have found that items such as cashflow forecasting or marketing planning can be difficult to get right unless care and attention is placed on the research and analysis. Making decisions can also be difficult, especially if the solution represents new ground.
Out of deperation companies can react and “advertise”, but without the backgroun where they spend their promotional budget may have more to do with the attraction of the advertising company rather than an overall strategy. This may mean that the returns from a campaign may not work or may not work as well as they might.
Plug into your market is a service offered by the PRD Partnership Ltd that focuses on locating and analysing the critical factors relevant to a particular market and then supporting the business in developing appropriate marketing approaches. This is suitable for new products and services, companies wishing to grow, or companies who are finding their market share or sales diminishing.
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