David Winch
|
21st Century Sales & Marketing
David Winch's December 2008 Bulletin
Welcome to the first issue. I can't hope to cover all aspects of Sales and Marketing every time, but I do hope that in each issue there will be
something for everyone.
In this issue
START-UPS AND OTHER COMPANIES
Wealth creation, derived from the huge knowledge and science base in this country, is critical for the UK's continued prosperity. But turning ideas
into saleable, profitable products is not the same as merely turning ideas into products! It is crucially important to create value from any technology,
for all stakeholders. If you want to make a quick buck, technology exploitation may not be for you.
In all businesses, but especially start-ups, you need to have experienced Sales and Marketing people. If not, you stand a good chance of failing,
unless those involved in the organisation accept this premise and invest in becoming experienced, extremely rapidly.
Every business can be likened to a three-legged bar stool.
SUCCEEDING IN SPITE OF YOURSELF
What do I mean by 'succeeding in spite of yourself'? Well, many businesses will say they are getting what they believe to be acceptable
results. Of course they would like to do even better but either they are not really sure how to achieve this, or they are unaware that improvement is
possible for them, and anyway, we've just said the results are acceptable!
Many businesses I meet are suffering from one or more of these faults:- They don't focus on any particular type of
customer
- They don't know what is likely to be appealing to their customers
- They don't know why their customers buy from
them
As a consequence they continue to:- Waste money
- Underperform
- Squander their
potential
WHY BOTHER GOING TO NETWORKING MEETINGS?
Why do you bother going to networking meetings? Why do you- Get up before dawn?
- Have a shower before the
central heating's come on?
- Drive several miles in the cold, dark and rain?
- Consume rather more caffeine and cholesterol than you
ought to?
So what's your answer? While you're thinking about it, let me tell you mine. I go to networking meetings for four key
reasons:- To meet strangers
- To recruit and train my surrogate sales team
- To be recruited and trained
by other people into their surrogate sales teams
- To enjoy myself, and help others do the same
I hope your reasons and objectives are
along approximately similar lines. How can you best go about achieving them?
MYTHS AND OTHER FOLKLORE
Urban legends are not hard to create. Repetition builds believability and the internet helps enormously. Then the tale is reinforced by
being published in Wikipedia or some other reference source, which seems to automatically attach trustability to every entry, even though they are created by folk
like you and me.
Several surround global warming and 'green' activities.- Mobile phone chargers
For example, some say that the power wasted by chargers is a big issue for mobile phone users. In truth, if you upgraded your handset in the past two
years - and you almost certainly did - then the energy used in its manufacture probably far outweighs the energy used in the charger, even if that is of an old
design. And if you upgraded your charger at the same time, modern chargers have a much lower standby consumption than those of only three years ago.
Quick Links
David's Website
David's Blog
David Winch
Pain relief for Sales and Marketing - Practical Help to grow your business
(You are most welcome to send the contents of this bulletin to colleagues and friends; please may I ask you to forward it in its entirety, rather than
"cut-and-paste".)
David Winch works with businesses whose Marketing function is not fully effective, with the result that they are worried about meeting their sales and
profit goals. David helps them generate more readily convertible enquiries by sharpening up their promotional messages, communicating these messages in
more compelling ways, and introducing systems to measure the effect of these changes.
Copyright (c) 2008 David Winch
All rights reserved.
You may copy or distribute this bulletin as long as this copyright notice and full information about contacting the author are attached.
The author is David Winch. Contact david@davidwinch.co.uk
or call +44 (0)7940 703895.
|
|
