Modern science of applied market segmentation

Treating different people differently is the ‘universal’ truth of success in marketing, sales and service.  Are you still trying to treat everyone the same?  The result will be average customers experiencing average satisfaction, which means they won’t be your customers for very long.

Watch the video below for an insightful and entertaining discourse on the science of variability and how it applies to happiness for your customers.

How great leaders inspire action

An 18 minute video clip espousing a simple but insightful model for understanding leadership based on the application of biology (not just psychology) which has profound implications for how you run your business, provided you take the time to contemplate the far reaching implications and consider the changes it suggests you would make to everything including the practices of directorship, management, marketing, sales, service and beyond.

Research reveals why customers leave?

Based on a worldwide survey conducted across a range of industries every year since World War II, figures reported in the Capital Region Business Journal, August 2006 highlight the real reasons why customers leave one business in favour of another.  They are:Why customers leave

  • 68% - Perceived indifference
  • 14% - Dissatisfied with Product/Price
  • 9% - Sold by a competitor
  • 5%  - Influenced by a friend
  • 3% – Move away from the area
  • 1% -  Died

The actual reasons why customers leave are rarely the ones that they tell you; and the biggest reason of all is perceived indifference.

Once a customer has left it becomes more difficult and costly, if not impossible, to regain them.

Compared to the cost of replacing a customer, appreciation is arguably the cheapest and easiest form of marketing that your business could deploy.  And it’s even easier with the right tools such as RealCardSender.

Social media networking has arrived

If you still think social media such as facebook, twitter, linked-in and the like are just a fad; take a look at the following to make sure you’re not missing out on something bigger than the Industrial Revolution …

Finding and keeping the right people

It’s not that difficult, according to Ron Cacioppe writing in WA Business News (26 November 2009, p20) as below:

[During the past 12 months, the economic downturn resulted in a surplus of people on the labour market.

Companies worried about the loss of revenue and how to save costs, and many senior managers hoped they would be able to attract good people at a more reasonable pay rate when things turned around.

Things are turning around quickly in Western Australia in terms of the availability of people.

Chevron, Woodside and INPEX all have huge projects going ahead and are hiring people at a very fast rate. The mining, energy and construction companies are stepping on the accelerator once again to deliver projects, and need skilled people to help them get  the job done.

The State Training Board predicts an estimated 18,000 new jobs will be created per year in WA, while the Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA says it could be as many as 40,000.

Attracting and retaining the “right” people is once again on the strategic plans of companies as a high priority, and personnel recruiters are back in business.

While many companies think that paying people more than the company down the street will get them the people they want, the research doesn’t show that is the smartest way to attract and keep people.

A 25-year study involving more than 1 million workers by the Gallup organisation shows there are 12 factors that people want in their workplace. Read more of this post

Web marketing for SMEs

Small businesses in Australia are greatly underutilising the internet, according to an article in BRW (November 26 to December 2, 2009, p47) as below:

[Although more than 80% of small businesses in Australia use the internet, and almost 43% go online to place orders or buy products and services, fewer than 25% of these businesses actually extend such a service to their own customers, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reports.

Having grown accustomed to static $500 websites, many smaller companies balk at the cost of creating a more dynamic and effective web presence, and as a result are losing potential customers.

“It’s hard when you’re a small business - especially in the trades – we know that spending $20,000 on machinery or tools will increase your productivity, but you don’t really understand how investing that money in your website will boost your business,” business manager for the Melbourne headquartered construction company 4Walls, Kelly Savvides, says.

Nonetheless, by integrating search engine optimisation technology into the company’s website, 4Walls was able to respond in a more targeted way to web-based searches. And as a result, it could win more work.

“There’s no point in having an aesthetically pleasing website that no one can find,” Savvides says. “We only need to win one contract as a result of being easy to find on the web and we cover the extra cost of making it more functional.” Read more of this post

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