Core R&D groups, should they carry market awareness.

• Should they know where there product operates?
• Should they know what is their customers’ profile?
• Should they know sales cycle of their products?
• Should they think about numbers in terms of sales (or no sales)?
• Should they know the size of their market segment?

Please leave a comment on these points above.

I am planning to write an article and then a booklet on ‘Market savviness is not for field only’. Would love to see your comments before I write on the subject.

It has always been a myopic notion that branding is the sole responsiblity of the Marketing Department. Building a strong brand starts with a branded mindset of the people making up the organization. With a branded mindset, people become advocates of the brand they work with and work for. They become the living, talking, blogging and influencing personalities of the brand.

In Business World 2.0, not invovling everyone in branding is just like promoting your brand in smoke signals. You burn them all, but you don’t put the right message across. Engaging and encouraging your employees to your brand thrust is one of the best ways in reaching more audience, influencing more circles and gathering more followers.

Visit http://www.brandchannel.com/brand_speak.asp and read more on employee brand engagement in William Arruda’s “Employees are the Brand”

Depends on what kind of tin you’ve got though…

And if your name is Steve Jobs and your ‘tin’ is an iPhone, iPod or Apple Mac, well then not much talking is required. Is it?

Equally, when your audience is made up of your own people, brand advocates and maybe some ‘Apple-friendly’ journalists, how hard do you have to work on your ‘message’? Funnily enough, harder than ever.

See how Steve Jobs has been carefully crafting his ‘message’ over the years:

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/09/0929_jobs_presentations/1.htm

- flick through the (18) slides to see how he does it.

Because if you’ve ever done any presentations to your own work colleagues (especially when it’s the entire workforce or the company’s management team) you’ll already know they’re the hardest gigs. Forget just trying to hit the right tone for those “in-house” jokes (where it’s usually the sales team or accounts department that are the butt of the joke). People you work with day-in, day-out, know how things are really going and are often the toughest critics and the hardiest of audiences to win over. Bring on new clients or customers any day!

So even if you don’t have something as funky as a 3G iPhone to talk about. And never mind that your name is not Steve Jobs or even that you’re not the CEO of your company, every presentation should be approached as an exercise in ’story-telling’ – entertain, inform and educate.

Según el último informe de la Oficina Económica y Comercial española en Varsovia, el comercio entre España y Polonia se resintió en 2005 al caer el 5,7 por ciento, si bien en 2006 registró el fuerte aumento indicado.

Polonia es el decimocuarto cliente de España en el mundo, por delante de países como China, Suecia y Austria.

Así, durante el primer trimestre del 2007, España vendió a Polonia productos por valor de 593,6 millones de euros, el 28,2 por ciento más que en el mismo periodo del 2006.

Las principales ventas españolas fueron los automóviles, los frutos comestibles, reactores nucleares, calderas, máquinas, material eléctrico y manufacturas.

La Oficina Económica recomienda a las empresas españolas que se dirijan a sectores como el agroalimentario, textil, materiales de construcción, aparatos sanitarios e infraestructuras, por las interesantes oportunidades que presentan.

En cuanto a las importaciones, España compró a Polonia en el primer trimestre del año productos por valor de 652 millones de euros, el 3,7 por ciento más que en mismo periodo de un año antes.

La Oficina Económica no dispone de cifras exactas de inversión en el país, si bien destaca que el principal sector de inversión española en Polonia es el de la construcción, con empresas como Ferrovial y Acciona, seguido del de automoción y el industrial.

Según el organismo, el sector inmobiliario español ha entrado con “especial fuerza” en los últimos tiempos, especialmente en el segmento residencial, como es el caso de Fadesa, Realia y Acciona Inmobiliaria, entre otras. EFECOM

fuente: http://www.eleconomista.es/

Vaiba Passport of Brands,  es el Pasaporte de su Marca al mercado Polaco. Asesoramos toda empresa interesada que desee reorientar sus estrategias de marca y comunicación para incrementar su competitividad en el mercado internacional, posicionando su marca y comunicación a través de nuestros consultores especializados en el mercado de Polonia. Teniendo nuestra propia showroom en la ciudad de Katowice. Este municipio de Polonia, puede considerarse una de las más importantes ciudades socio-económicas tales como Varsovia, Cracovia, Wroclaw, Poznan y Gdansk donde se están consolidando una clase media con un poder adquisitivo que accede progresivamente a un patrón de consumo común como en otros países europeos.

Los empresarios españoles tienen que saber que pueden exportar sin miedo su producto y marca a Polonia. Este país resulta especialmente interesante no sólo por los incentivos fiscales centrales y locales sino porque no existen riesgos políticos y hay una cultura y elementos comunes que facilitan las relaciones, es decir la cultura Europea.

El 19 de diciembre de 2008, expusimos al señor JanWłodarczyk (Consejero del departamento de Promoción de Comercio e Inversiones de la embajada de Polonia en Madrid) nuestro modelo de negocio y “Business plan 2009-2012″, con la satisfacción por ambas partes de estrechar un lazo de unión profesional con la Embajada de Polonia.

Este lazo de unión viene como conclusión de intereses comunes por ambas partes para el asesoramiento a los empresarios, polacos y españoles, interesados en la cooperación económica entre Polonia y España.

http://www.vaiba.es

I’ve spent more than a decade working in market research, both quantitative & qualitative research, and still more years working with market research data in one form or another.  So, I’ve seen maybe not it all, but a whole lot.  I have managed and analyzed hundreds of surveys conducted by mail, on the phone, and online.  I’ve attended and moderated hundreds of focus groups.  I’ve managed segmentation surveys, discrete choice surveys, and I’ve randomized this and that and versioned that and this.  I’ve applied the unknowledgeable-management consultant’s favorite – conjoint analysis – and regressed and forecasted.  I’ve observed natural consumer behaviors, stimulated behaviors, and followed people while they operate cars, computers, and cell phones, and while they dined.  I’ve talked to people about death and dying and about surviving.  I’ve talked to people about how they shop, why they shop, and why they don’t like to bend over to pick up items on the bottom shelf when they shop.

My career gave me a fascination for consumer behavior, from the little decisions they make to the big, life changing decisions.  People are fascinating, and what makes it even more interesting, they very often don’t do what they say they do – imagine that!  Yes, consumers are captivating and indeed, understanding them and catering to them is the product’s best route to success.

I’m in a bit of a different professional position these days.  I use market research data, but it is of the most basic kind.  I currently conduct and use some customer satisfaction and general feedback data with a few qualitative interactions thrown in for good measure.  Yet as a supporter of market research and a consumer myself, I continue to complete surveys whether it’s a phone call at night, an online survey, or one in the mail, provided it is a legitimate survey and not someone trying to disguise themselves as a survey and then sell me a product or a politician.  I continue to respond as a fiduciary duty to my former profession and just to be helpful to the organizations out there attempting so dutifully to figure out their customers.  I continue to support data collection, even when it is excruciatingly painful.  And that brings me to this post.

Earlier this fall, I received a survey invitation via email for the purposes of providing feedback on school supplies.  What timing!  I had just completed purchasing school supplies for my son, and I will be in the market for the next 16 years by the time my youngest gets through high school.  This survey, I thought, would be interesting.

I go through the normal procedure of following the link.  I answer several demographic questions about my age, gender, household make-up, age of my kids, and income levels.  I answer these questions without hesitation because I know that I am one of probably 1,000+ answering these questions and that the 25-year-old analyst reading this data is not going to care about who I actually am (nope, not even my income level) for I am just one of a thousand.  (Just so you know, analysts care about percentages of the total sample; they don’t care about individuals in these instances.  Yes, you are special, but so are the other 999 people completing the survey.  It’s okay to let people know your household income and that you are a boy or girl, and etc. – trust me!  Now if they ask for a social security or credit card number – that’s different:  shut the survey down and/or hang up the phone – that’s not market research, that’s a scam.)

So I’ve now answered the demographic questions, and indeed, I am one of the target customers from which feedback is desired.  I am asked to continue with the survey.  I then answer several questions about which products and brands of school supplies I bought, which ones I considered, and from what stores I purchased the school supplies.  I was asked about how much I spent and how much I had intended to spend.  It was a nicely designed survey and I felt like I was really cruising through it and helping out.  And then it began – I fell into survey hell.

First, there was a battery of questions for every single product I bought and every single brand I considered.  Then there were batteries of questions for impressions of brands I had not considered.  The batteries were endless and included statements where I was to rate my agreement with things like:  “I feel like a leader for having brought this brand.”  “Others will admire me for buying this brand.”  “This brand is like me.”  “This brand is the only brand for my child.”  “This brand will make my child more successful.”  “I talked to friends and colleagues about this brand.”  “I encouraged others to buy this brand” – and many more questions along those lines.   Multiply these brand behavioral questions times the brands I considered and/or was aware of, times the number of back-to-school supplies I ticked off the list that I bought.  This was in fact, a survey that I may be completing for the next 16 years!

Yes, I was in survey hell, and not just at the surface.  I was in the hottest most uncomfortable level with no hope of getting to the surface anytime soon.  It is now several weeks later and having taken some time to recover from this experience, I have some advice to offer those of you developing surveys for your product or service or working with organizations that are doing so.

First of all, good market researchers/questionnaire designers realize that you never, I mean never, put people through endless list of questions on everything they did.  You randomly select a number of products for someone to evaluate.  Why?  Because I felt committed to answering the full survey, but by the end, I was clicking answers just to get through it (sorry about that – I still feel the guilt of providing bad data, but I just couldn’t take it anymore); others will just simply exit the survey.  There are several questionnaire programs that will randomly select a handful of items for a consumer to evaluate if it is the case that a typical consumer has purchased or considered more than 5 or 6 items and these programs will ensure that you have enough sample to analyze each item.  Ask consumers to evaluate more than 5-6 items with associated statements, etc., and your data will be flawed.  Good researchers protect the validity of their data and the sanity of their respondents.

Secondly, let’s think about the behavioral and brand leader issues related to buying a PENCIL!  Buying pencils and erasers are much different than buying, for example, a car, or apparel, or kitchen appliances or major electronics.  The latter are big ticket or emotional purchases that consumers may use to define themselves and that they may talk about with friends and colleagues.  If I’m going to be a brand leader or influencer, it’s going to be with these types of ego-type purchases – a pack of standard #2 pencils?  Not so much.  You might do some brand loyalty and behavioral segmentation on back-packs or on PDAs or other higher-profile supplies, but on pencils?  I’ve no clue what brand I even purchased for goodness sake!  But, I still was presented the battery of questions because I was familiar with some pencil brands.  Whoever designed this survey somehow believed that it was legitimate to apply brand and behavioral attributes/measurements used to describe the purchase process of a muscle car ($40,000) against the purchase of a pencil (40 cents).  Does that seem logical?  Remember that analogy:  the clock-builder will know how the clock is built, how it keeps nearly precise time, how the gears (now chips) work together, and about when it will need repair.  The consumer will know – what time it is.  I’m guessing that same analogy can be applied to the #2 pencil.  Good researchers question their logic and the logic of their clients who often get so caught up in their product they don’t understand its role and importance in the lives of everyday consumers. 

Third, and this one is important, good market researchers need to understand how the purchase is made prior to measuring and interpreting actual purchase.  The survey should have asked me how I made decisions about the purchase of school supplies.  You see, my school district, and all the ones around me (I talked to other parents, yup, I’m an “influencer”), gave me a list of supplies for my elementary-aged son.  They asked for specific brands and sizes and colors (emphasizing “washable” products, of course) because what happens is that we give the entire bag of supplies to the teacher who puts them in community bins.  The kids, when they need it, just get their pencil or marker from the bin.  Then they return it when they are done using it.  It’s a great idea – things don’t get lost, no need to label, there are not equity issues (all the same brand and size and color) and for the kids who cannot afford supplies, they are not left without.  So all this “brand leader/influencer” stuff the surveyor forced upon me?  Unfortunately, it’s all bad data.  If this bin trend for elementary students is a wide one, the individuals that should be surveyed are the teachers who are making the brand decisions, not me.  Good researchers do some research before they do the research.

So if you are a product manager or a market research consultant, I beg you, please consider your product, the product purchase process, and your consumers.  Make it easy for us to provide you good quality data.  Fewer and fewer people are responding to surveys, so please don’t push away those of us who still do respond.  And I should also say, lest I receive emails from pencil managers, I’ve nothing against the #2 pencil.  Why I am one of the few adults who still uses a pencil – not a mechanical pencil that breaks every time I use it – a real, sturdy, old-fashioned pencil that requires a sharpener.  Hmm, I wonder what type of consumer-segment that puts me in. . .

Hello again!

So I said that I would come back with more information to give you all about the company and some of my research that I have been doing, so here is some of my research so far:

Toyota, like many companies, is trying to “go green.” Some of the things that they are doing so far in that effort include the maintenance of more efficient, “greener” facilities that strive to waste less and get more done. They currently offer many different types of fuel-efficient cars, hybrids, and are currently experimenting with purely electric cars. Much of their research efforts go into the invention of and the sustaining of cleaner and greener new technologies and different scientific advances in “green technology.”

As well, they have strong employer/employee relationships and have high standards of communication. They go out of their way to make sure that all people in their company know what is going on, where, when, why, and how. Please do note, though, that their company is not perfect, and breaches in communication do happen. Even though they try to support and encourage strong relationships and build on their communications skills, there are times when even their best intentions fail, which is a probable cause of the recent events in which many of their new vehicles had to be recalled for electrical and/or system problems.

The company supports a diverse range of philanthropic works including the Toyota Driver Expectations Program that is specialized in teaching young drivers how to drive safely and how to be the best defensive drivers they can be. As well, they support the NAACP, the Japanese American National Museum, the American Indian College Fund, the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund, Operation Hope, and many, many more.

Note: All of this information was taken from and can be found at, (with much more information on the company), at http://www.toyota.com/about/our_values/ or you can visit the website’s homepage which is just http://www.toyota.com/ and surf around to the things that interest you the most.

More research will be posted later, this is all for now, though.

Thanks everyone!

It’s like the real estate agents mantra: location, location, location. You’ve certainly heard the phrase enough and may wonder what possesses agents to say it three times. Or you might think it pertains to three different types of locations — perhaps an excellent location, a mediocre location and a lousy location.

I’ll put your mind at ease. It means identical homes can increase or decrease in value due to location. It’s repeated three times for emphasis, and so you will remember the phrase. It’s the number one rule in real estate, and it’s often the most overlooked rule.

Well let me make this practical in the life of a Marketing Manager. If your business cannot be found on the web, your chance of being more than moderately successful is incredibly small.  I know it sounds a bit harsh, but let us be realistic, how can you expect a customer to have even the remotest chance of purchasing your product/ service if he does not get the chance to even make the decision. Our world is turning into a virtual place, where more and more people are looking for what they want online, via mobile or p.c. Are you where they are looking?

“But I have a website”, now this I hear constantly which is the reason for this article. A website is an investment only if real effort and resources are put into it. Firstly if  your site can only be found when you type in the exact URL, than your job is going to be extremely difficult for the rest of your stay at the company. Secondly if your site is no more than an online brochure you are going to have limited access to important decision making data.

I am not going to go into the meat and potatoes of this topic, as there are enough people talking about it on the web, so all I am going to say is your website is your first step of  access into a market you have not even dreamt of yet. It is a step closer to you welding your audience into being an active part of your brand, by involving them and their needs in your decision making processes. You can stop making decisions on assumptions and feelings, but on cold hard facts.

They must be able to find you not on your website URL name alone, but on key words of you industry as well. For example if you are in the finance industry, it helps for them to be able to type in ABC Finance and your site pops up in google, but what if they can type in “loans”, “investments” or even “financial advice” and then your site appears top of the search engines lists. It makes the marketing of your company a little easier don’t you think. Not to mention that your bottom line has to increase if your site traffic increases and you apply a couple of site conversion techniques on the site.

Here are some keywords you can type into Google to get some more advice and proffesionals who can help you achieve your goals.

• SEO and SEM. Please listen to me when I say to make your SEM successful use it as part of a campaign and not permanently just because it can be cheap, it will be more beneficial as part of a full blown campaign, for campaign ideas contact me from my website Laurence Botha.com.
• Website conversion techniques. This will help you with a bit more of a call to action, as well as keeping people on your site for longer. This means higher sales.
• What is a Content Management System( CMS) site? Please people stay away from flash sites!!! You can incorporate flash into a CMS site as well as get huge SEO benefits and capture data of your target market you never knew was possible.

There is the start that will lead you deeper into have a more effective online and world presence than you thought was possible. The amount of effort, time and money you put into this will determine your success. Luckily it is something you can do for a relatively low cost of you have the time it takes to learn and impliment it effectively.

For deeper insights into your online presence please contact me from my website Laurence Botha.com.

God Bless

Laurence Botha

vote for the best in DC

Here’s your chance to cast your vote for the best in social media, public relations and marketing in the Washington, DC area.  I can recommend up to six in each category in my Examiner.com Social Media column and my Examiner.com Marketing and Public Relations column. Please let me know your top rated in any or all of the following categories.

Comment your suggestions below (or email me, Mary Fletcher Jones, with your ideas).  My only caveats are that these should be available in the Washington, DC area and priority goes to local resources.

Thanks for your help!

P.S. I already identified local PR and social media professional organizations in another list, so you don’t have to include those.

1. Category: Online Resources/Web Sites/Blogs (these should be free resources; prefer Washington, DC metropolitan area)

A. Top 6 PR & Marketing:

B. Top 6 Social Media:

2. Category: Businesses (e.g., local contractors, free-lancers, vendors, agencies, retail)

A. Top 6 PR & Marketing:

B. Top 6 Social Media:

3. Category: Products (can be nationally distributed) – think technology, tools, books, services, etc. you can purchase (free resources should be listed in Category 1.)

A. Top 6 PR & Marketing:

B. Top 6 Social Media:

4. Category: Places (must be DC metro area, public, physical locations you can visit)

A. Top 6 PR & Marketing:

B. Top 6 Social Media:

5. Category: People (the most influential LOCAL thought leaders, movers-and-shakers, with links)

A. Top 6 PR & Marketing:

B. Top 6 Social Media:

Hey all you people out there! Since I’ve already told you a little about me, it is now time to get down to business. I am a college student, like I said, and I am currently taking a marketing class. The class requires us to complete a marketing project, and mine is on the automotive industry, in particular, the company of Toyota. I was wondering if you guys could help me out by giving me your opinions on Toyota, please? For example:

How socially responsible do you feel the company is? Have you ever owned, rented, or leased a Toyota, or has anybody you know done so? If so, what did you or your friends/family members think of your Toyota? If not, would you ever consider buying/renting/leasing a Toyota? Why or why not?

You may also just give me any opinions in general about what you think about the company or their products, or whatever it is you would like to talk about the most.

In the meantime, I will see about putting up some of my research on Toyota so far so that you all can see what it is that they are or are not doing so that when you go to post your opinions, you can be more aware of what is going on with them right now, and will be able to give more opinions.

Thanks everybody! That’s all for now, I’ll be on to post more later.

Did you get anything done today? OK, maybe is still too early in the morning, but how about yesterday? If you are anything like the typical worker, you can probably list a few things you’ve accomplished such as:

• read emails
• responded to emails
• sent emails
• deleted emails

See a trend here? If sometimes it feels like email is running your day, then you are not alone. The BBC reported that one third of office workers suffer from email stress, which I find interesting because email doesn’t really cause stress. It is how you deal with it that is the root cause.

On a previous post, I discussed some productivity boosters for those trying to manage the daily flood of emails, and this amusing chart (below) from HR Management reminded me of the constant struggle we all have when it comes to increasing our productivity while keeping our stress level low.

Stress vs. Productivity from www.hrmreport.com

If your office is anything like mine, your colleagues send you Youtube videos, web links, and other stuff that although very entertaining doesn’t help you get your projects done on time. Have you ever tried simply not checking email? The chart above shows in a funny way that you sometimes feel more productive when you are checking email, and that you may turn to it if you get bored, and from personal experience I have felt the same way.

Think back to your daily activities. When are you usually checking email? Is it the first thing you do in the morning? Right after lunch before you decide to finally tackle that week-old project? Are you using email to get your adrenaline up like a junkie?

Just close, shut down, disconnect and ignore your email for about 1 hour. If you are feeling extremely brave, then try going for 2 straight hours. That’s right, and no peaking! Ignore the email and focus on work. I bet you can get some stuff done today.

Some of my favorite tips on email productivity are:

• Five fast email productivity tips, from 43 Folders
• Top 10 email productivity boosters, from Lifehacker
• Inbox Zero is overrated, from ProductiveFlourishing

What is your stress level today? Close the email and ask yourself again in 1 hour.

In the past I have worked at many different workplaces, most of them in the food and beverage industry as a waiter.  I’ve done other jobs such as construction, landscaping, renovations, and labor jobs like digging ditches, moving, and junk removal.  The reason why I stuck with being a waiter most of the time was because I was able to increase my hourly worth depending on how good of a job I did, and, because it was socially stimulating.  I’ve had a side business for almost 10 years now (wow!), as an event coordinator and creative director where I organize and mange music and performance art events.  I’ve plugged away at the nightlife industry for a while, but finally in the last couple years, it’s starting to pay off.

It feels great to watch your own plan come together, especially when you make money and receive positive gratification from your friends and co-workers…

I grew up playing hockey, riding bikes, skiing, snowboarding and rollerblading.  I enjoy watching basketball, football, hockey, and soccer.  My newest sport is surfing, and my favorite.  As an event coordinator, I witnessed the magic of marketing and promotions.  Every now and then, I would go home with $100-$500 dollars.  For the first time, I experienced paying myself for the accumulative work and knowledge that I had applied to a project.

It’s a great feeling…I wasn’t trading my time for an hourly wage anymore!! The feeling of self gratification and freedom felt so good, that since that day it has been my mission to become my own boss and make money in ways that I enjoyed, on my own schedule…

At this time, I was job-to-job, working in a different restaurant or hotel every year.  It wasn’t the actual job itself that was unbearable, it was everything else; commuting in traffic, waking up to an alarm, being at work when I didn’t want to be, having to put up with difficult customers, difficult co-workers, management, and being on somebody else’s schedule that doesn’t care about me.  One of the worst things I had to deal with was early morning work shifts that start at 6am.

I have always had trouble sleeping, especially when I have to get up for something important, and I would only get an hour or two of sleep before I went into work.  Even if it was dead slow, I would still screw up because I couldn’t think straight.  I asked to not work in the early AM but there was no accommodating my request, so instead, they had a zombie showing up for work that looked like crap and messed up everyone’s order.  On the way home from work one day, I fell asleep at the wheel and drove up the meridian and almost killed myself.  Luckily, there where not any pedestrians in the way.  I dreaded these early morning shifts.

I always had confidence in myself, a trait I learned from my Dad…

When a friend of mine called me up a couple years ago and asked me if wanted to make money, I was all for it.  I asked what it was about, and all he could tell me was that he was excited and I had to see it with my own eyes before he could tell me any more.  I thought to myself, what’s the big secret? So I went to see what he had to show me, in person.  This was the beginning of my marketing career…so I thought.  The reason why he couldn’t tell me anything over the phone is because, “it would spoil it for me”.  I didn’t understand at the time why it had to be this way, but soon enough…

…I found out what the big secret was…hype.

You see, in direct selling or multi-level-marketing, the primary way that people are taught to grow their teams is by “chasing” people, rather than attracting people.  When you chase people to join your business, these people have no previous interest in joining your organization, however, these people still have money that can be wasted to make other people money.  This is what you call a “low quality lead”.

As making money these days becomes more and more deceitful, more and more innocent people get taken advantage of…

The way this works is quite simple, but completely unfair.  This is what happens…you get a call from somebody you know that invites you over for a presentation to discuss a money making opportunity.  I call these meetings “Tupperware Parties”.  At these Tupperware Parties there will be about 6-15 people that are all seemingly there for the same reason you are, to find out how to make extra cash.  There will be music playing, refreshments, smiles, and candies for you to be comfortable, and sometimes, they will even turn the thermostat way up for a psychological advantage.  You will notice that there is a lot of other people there just like you, but that’s not the case.

At least half of the people in the room are already in the business they’re trying to get you to join, but they’re posing as new prospects just to fill the room and add to the “hype” of the “opportunity”…

So what happens next is that during the presentation, they make it seem like this is you’re ticket to wealth and freedom!! And if you don’t sign up today and throw your money at it, you will never amount to anything more than where you are at right now.  They manipulate your emotions so that at the Tupperware Party, you feel like you can do anything and this is your lucky day.  They mislead you with dreams of traveling the world and driving fancy cars, and all you have to do is pay $500 or buy $1000 worth of juice, and you’ll be a millionaire!

However,

It’s all a big hoax in order to get you to throw your money at their plan. They know very well that 95% of all new network marketers are doomed from the start!

They just want your money and as soon as they get it, you don’t here from them again

…why?

Because you are replaceable.

So as long as these Tupperware Parties are happening, there will always be new people to take advantage of.  Are you ready for the worst part of it all? The reason why everyone at these Tupperware Parties are doomed from the start is because they don’t share crucial information with you that will ensure you’re success…they are teaching the “Tupperware Party” system of the 80’s that doesn’t work.

What they are not sharing with you is 2 billion people that are on the Internet at all times, and how to get a piece of you’re Internet pie…Why?

So that you direct everybody to their website only…

Anyways, if you’re still reading this, there’s good news! You don’t have to fall for this charade because, myself and thousands, if not millions of other people already have, and you can learn from our mistakes instead of making costly mistakes on your own.  So that is how I was introduced to this industry, and let me tell you, I believed the hype.  And it cost me.  Luckily I decided to stop listening to the bullshit advice I was getting from my up-line.  This included; bothering my friends and family, being fake excited, forcing people to come to Tupperware Parties against their will, talking to anybody within 3 feet of me about my business, duplication and of course, “Don’t try to reinvent the wheel”,and the list goes on and on…

I was actually expected to have a Tupperware Party everyday of the week! What a crock of Bull!  And all this time not one mention of marketing on the Internet, when they have their own Internet campaign fully operational…

As you can see, I clearly have been through the wash, more than once, which means you don’t have to.  Within my first 6 months as a new network marketer, I had spent all the money I had, throwing it blindly at these expensive “hobbies” without making a penny.  That is why I decided to think on my own, “outside of the box”.  My marketing career was finished, I had no money left, I was frustrated and was just about to give up when the light went off in my brain, and I started to research network marketing online, and see what the professionals were saying.

What I learned was the solution to my problems!!!

I found out that these people that teach the broken way of throwing Tupperware Parties, are fakes, phonies, and are the main reason why so many people fail in this industry.  I found out that no matter how good my product or service was, if I didn’t have high quality leads and mass exposure to my business…I wasn’t going far.  It was all about knowledge and wisdom of the industry, the product or service, and most importantly the system.  I had 2 primary businesses that have great new products and services, but I needed a way to get them off the ground and make some money.  Not only that, I needed to start making money as soon as possible, otherwise I would have to go back to my dreaded mediocre life.  I had a mortgage to pay, car payments, and an expensive lifestyle.  The only thing I did have, was time.  Time is money if you are making money with your time.  All of that changed when I found the solution to my problems… a system that generates high quality leads and makes money in the mean time!!  Enabling you to start and fund your own online business without going broke!

I knew there was an easy solution to making money in this industry.  I just had to find it.  It took me a couple years of searching, but it was well worth it…

During my search, I learned a lot of crucial information about how the professionals were making millions.  I studied the true guru’s of the online marketing industry such as Jay Kubasek, Mike Dillard, and Ann Seig.  Ever since I’ve been following the advice from these guys and plugging into their systems, I haven’t looked back.  I now have more freedom and time to spend with my family and friends, take trips around the world, stay healthy and fit, cook awesome food (I love to cook), celebrate life, watch the game, and my favorite…I have time to do nothing at all!

I am such a happier person now, after all isn’t the purpose of life to be happy? As I look back on my mediocre life in the past, I realize that anybody can do what I did.  If you have the same burning desire as I did when I got started, I invite you to join me.  I will show you how to do exactly what I did to get out of the mediocre life that we all know.  Some of my key inspirations to the birth of my marketing career are; the movie “The Secret”, the book “The Law of Attraction”, the reports “Magnetic Sponsoring” and “The Attraction Marketing Manifesto”, the “Inside Out” DVD, and the “Millionaire Mindset” DVD.

Thank you for your time.

“If you want to go somewhere, it is best to find someone who has already been there”

-Robert Kiyosaki

Sincerely,

Franz Wadler

To find out more about the online industry visit my website,

http://www.marketyourlifeback.com

Good day all.

I am not the author of the article below, but I cannot convey this messaage any more effectivley than is written here. I have included a biography on the author to thank him for the value he has added to my life. I encouraging you to please indulge yourselves in more of his written works.

Dustin M. Wax is a freelance writer and project manager at Stepcase Lifehack. He is also the creator of The Writer’s Technology Companion, a site devoted to the tools of the writing trade. When he’s not writing, he teaches anthropology and gender studies in Las Vegas, NV. He is the author of Don’t Be Stupid: A Guide to Learning, Studying, and Succeeding at College.

What motivates you?

While there are thousands, millions, maybe billions of answers to that question, a growing body of research, some of it dating back 50 years, shows two things that don’t motivate us very well – the promise of rewards and the threat of punishment.

It seems counter-intuitive, since after all we take it for granted that we need incentives to do work. It’s the basis of our whole economic system, for crying out loud! And yet, the research is abundantly clear: once a reasonable standard of living is achieved, rewards and punishment not only don’t motivate us to do more, better, or faster, they often demotivate us.

One classic example of this is a study involving lawyers asked to provide legal services for low-income persons. One group was asked to do so for a low fee, $10 or $20 an hour, while the other was asked to do so for free. Interestingly, the subjects asked to provide services for a fraction of their typical rate were unwilling to do so, while those asked to do so for free were overwhelmingly willing. By offering a small fee, the subjects were actually less motivated, since they could only think of the work in relation to their normal, much larger fees. The other subjects were not pushed to think about their work as an economic transaction (in which the fee was nothing) and so were able to imagine other ways in which the work itself was its own reward.

Rewards force us to consider our work in a limited way, even work that we might gain great satisfaction from doing without the promise of reward. In fact, offering incentives can limit not only one’s perception of the work but one’s ability to even do the work. Consider the “candle problem” (watch author Dan Pink’s TED talk on the candle problem for more information). Subjects are seated at a table against a wall, given a candle, some matches, and a box of tacks, and told to work out a way to burn the candle without getting wax on the table. In one study, one group was offered money for figuring the puzzle out, while another wasn’t – and the subjects who were not offered any reward did remarkably better.

(The solution, by the way, is to empty the box of tacks and set the candle up inside of the box – most people ignore the box at first, because they see it only as a holder for the tacks and not as part of the equipment available to them. People working for a reward have a much harder time making the creative leap to seeing the box as part of the puzzle than people who are not being incentivized except by the pleasure of solving the puzzle itself.)

I should clarify here: it should be clear by now that it’s not rewards in the abstract that demotivate us, it’s rewards that are external to the task at hand. We are actually very easily motivated by any sort of challenging work, which is why so many of our hobbies involve complex problem-solving (working on motorcycles, woodworking, gourmet cooking, reading mysteries, sailing, training pets, collecting rare things, fantasy sports, and so on). But when someone else offers us money (or some other reward) to complete the same problems, it gets shunted into the category of “work” and our creativity shuts down.

The trick to motivation, then, is to find the intrinsic reward in our work and to enjoy it. Note that this doesn’t mean that nobody should ever accept money for anything – before our drive for mastery and personal challenge lies our drive to survive! But there’s a reason why so many painters are willing to suffer for their art while so few people are willing to become hobby investment bankers – one kind of work has its own intrinsic motivation while the other, except for a very rare few of us, does not.

Knowing all that, there are a few things you can do to keep yourself motivated.

1. Have a mission.

Perhaps the single most motivating factor in our lives is the sense that we’re fulfilling a greater purpose. That’s why lawyers will do for free what they won’t do for cheap – the sense that they’re contributing to something greater than themselves. A lot of people have taken a page from the corporate world and written a short, one- or at most two-sentence mission statement, against which their actions can be evaluated. If your mission is, for example, “to make the world a better place” (which is maybe too vague to be all that effective, but it’ll do for illustration purposes) then knowing that some task is helping to make the world better can be very motivating, indeed!

2. Measure improvement.

While work that engages with the rest of the world can be very intrinsically rewarding and thus very motivating, so too can work that makes us better people. Personal growth is an important motivating factor. But most of us take little time to determine just what constitutes being “better” – we set goals like “be more moral”, “spend more time with family”, or “do my job better” but those aren’t very powerful motivators because they’re not concrete. This is the idea behind S.M.A.R.T. goals, goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Set goals whose progress you can measure – according to whatever metric matters most to you! – and keep track of your progress.

3. Make learning a primary goal.

An important part of personal growth is achieving or moving towards mastery – of a body of knowledge, of a tool or system, of a particular task. Work that helps us move closer to mastery is generally rewarding in its own right.

But it’s not always clear what, if anything, we’re learning. So I’d like to borrow an idea from marketing “guru” Seth Godin. Godin advises readers of business books, to “Decide, before you start, that you’re going to change three things about what you do all day at work. Then, as you’re reading, find the three things and do it.” This can apply to just about anything: ask yourself, as you start a new project or a new job or anything else, “What three things am I going to learn from doing this?” This will put you in a mastery frame of mind so that you’re aware of the learning you’re doing as you move through your various tasks.

4. Examine your life.

Alan Webber, the founder of Fast Company, keeps two lists in his pocket on index cards. One is a list of things that get him up in the morning, the other of things that keep him awake at night. Ask yourself what gets you out of bed in the morning, and what keeps you up at night. If your answers are positive things, you’re in pretty good shape – but if they’re not, you’re begging for a motivation problem. When you get out of bed eager to tackle the challenges of the day, and lay awake at night dreaming up new challenges, new projects, and new directions to take your life in, motivation comes pretty easily!

5. Separate work from rewards.

This is a tough one, because we often battle procrastination by depriving ourselves of something positive and promising ourselves we can have it once we’ve gotten some work done. The problem is that it paints the work we’re doing as something undesirable, something we wouldn’t do unless we had that grand latte, trip to the mall, or afternoon swim as a reward. In his classic, The Now Habit, Neil Fiore suggests that procrastination comes not from the nature of the work but from our relationship with it – work we see as drudgery that we have to do in order to get something we want is ripe for procrastination. Instead, he suggests we change the very language we use to talk about our work, emphasizing that we choose to work on a task or project. Work we choose to do – like hobbies – rarely suffers from motivation problems!

With all that we’ve discovered about what motivates people, it will be interesting to see how businesses, who have until now depended on perks, stock options, and other bonuses to increase motivation, will adapt. It’s become clear that, while rewards and punishments might have increased productivity on the factory floor, it actually hinders the kind of knowledge work that makes up the vast bulk of our economy these days. Already a few companies are experimenting, quite successfully, with ways of helping employees to discover the intrinsic rewards of their own work – Google’s 20% time, which gives engineers one day a week to work on whatever project they choose and which has resulted in products as crucial to the company as Gmail, AdSense, and Google News, is one prominent example – most managers remain convinced that their employees will never do work without the promise of a reward or the threat of punishment.

Which is kind of a sad commentary on all of our lives, isn’t it?

MIT School of distance Education Pune India

Recognised by DEC Govt of India

Post Graduate Diploma Course in Marketing Management (PGDMM)

Introduction
Marketing management is a business discipline focused on the practical application of marketing techniques and the management of a firm’s marketing resources and activities. Marketing managers are often responsible for influencing the level, timing, and composition of customer demand in a manner that will achieve the company’s objectives.
Marketing management therefore encompasses a wide variety of functions and activities, although the marketing department itself may be responsible for only a subset of these. Effective marketing strategies play the keyrole in the success and growth of any organisation.
Potential Careers
Industry has a great demand of Marketing Managers in today’s competitive world. This course will help opening doors of opportunities in a wide range of industries like Banking, Co-operative Credit Organisations, Insurance & Investment Companies, Manufacturing industries, Automotives, Information Technology firms, Pharmaceutical Companies, Telecommunications Companies, Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Companies, all Government and Semi-Government organizations, etc.

Fee Structure –

For Indian Resident: Total Fees Rs. 17000/- (Inclusive of Prospectus Fee, Registration Fee and Course Fee)

For NRI / Foreign Resident: USD 1700/- (Inclusive of Prospectus Fee, Registration Fee and Course Fee)

Exam Fee Per Attempt:

Exam fees per subject per attempt Rs. 200 / US $ 50 has to be paid by D.D at the time of Examination. For Subsequent attempts the exam fees will be Rs. 200 per subject / US $ 50 Payable at the time of examination. Total Fees to be paid in full at the time of admission in the form of Demand Draft drawn in favour of  “MIT School of Distance Education” Payable at Pune.
Duration: One Year.
Validity of Registration: Two Years.

Eligibility: Any Graduate or Diploma holder with three years of experience.

Contact for Admission – shiv

Mobile N0 – 09049002620

A few years ago, I opened my credit card statement to find a huge late fee and interest charges.  Being neurotic about avoiding such fees, I tend to take care of my payment expeditiously after it is received.  Immediately, I called to check whether the check had been cashed, and indeed, the automated banking system indicated it had cleared some time ago.

I then called customer service at the credit card company.  After making me listen to content I had no interest in hearing (my balance, my next payment due, my cash forward balance, and a few other things I never use), I was put in the queue to speak with a representative.  After a short hold, a live voice came on and asked for the card number, holder name, and a few security questions.

Having made it through the security process, the representative politely asked me how she could help.  I described the problem and reported that my check had cleared, etc., etc.  I heard some typing and she reported back that her records showed the check had cleared their system the day after it was due and therefore, that these charges were legitimate.

I informed her of the date the payment was placed in the mail which from my recall was one to two days after I received the bill.  I heard more typing, and indeed, she was able to find another date indicating when the envelope arrived to their processing center.  I of course informed her that the arrival date was well before the posting date and the due date.  She then went into the description of the process of receipt, posting, and clearing in their process.  It takes two days for this, and two-three days for that, and you should allow seven to ten days for the mail, and another two-three days for this.  I politely informed her that the number of days she just articulated would indicate that I need to mail in the payment before I receive the bill.  She then informed me that in addition, there was a hiccup in the processing system during this cycle as there was a note in her records.

After hearing this, I suspected that she would immediately take the charges off my bill.  But the offer did not come.

I informed her that the only part of the process I can control is my ability to receive the bill and promptly put it into the mail.  As for the rest of the process and any internal delays, I have no control and cannot be expected to be held responsible for it.  In short, “I don’t care about your process.”  And, I need you to take the late charges and the interest charges off this bill and any interest charges you might be thinking about charging me in the next cycle.

She warned me that I get only one “grace” removal of charges per year and if I used it now, I could not request another for a year.  My urge was to inform her that if this happened again, I’d be removing my business entirely.  It wouldn’t be hard as I just need to open one of the three credit card offers I receive in the mail each day.  However, I refrained, knowing that she was simply following the script in front of her, and the script did not allow for the insertion of common sense or problems with the processing system.

Now this isn’t an uncommon problem in business, with either external or internal customers.  Having been in a few organizations, there isn’t one where I have not experienced a failed process that has impacted my ability to get my job done.  And in each organization, I receive the narrative about the functioning of the process, how it is supposed to work, the forms I need to fill out (often with some indication that I’ve filled out an outdated form and I need to fill out the new form to really make the process hum), and of course, I’m informed of the value of the process to me.

And though I deliver the message, most times, with some tact, the message is still the same: “I don’t care about your process.”  What I care about it is that my expectation was not met.  The promise you made to me as an internal/external customer was broken.  The deliverable has not reached my desk, is not working or it is causing me extra, unplanned work.  It is compromising a deadline for the clients I serve or is further stretching my resources.  I don’t care about the forms or the fact that a box wasn’t checked because the software didn’t recognize my click on the box and the individual decided not to contact me to ask about the box, but rather to let the project sit until I checked in to see why I saw no progress or wasn’t receiving my deliverable (again, no insertion of common sense).  I don’t care that now there is a new form or about the hours of committee meetings it took to develop the new form or about the position of the form in the newly revised process flow chart that took still more hours of committee meetings to rearrange.  I don’t care.  I don’t care.  I don’t care.

Customers care about the product or service they are receiving.  How it goes through your system and the quality of your system, not so much.  They care about quality of the end-product or service and the deadlines explicitly or implicitly implied.  They want their expectations managed, and if you fail to do so, customers will defect.  External customers will find different suppliers; internal customers will outsource.  And they should.

So the next time you are putting together or refining processes, I recommend two “reminders” during your development phase.  First, articulate what the customer expectation is and write that as your “purpose.”  Is the purpose of the process to efficiently process a payment, develop a technology, receive an order and ship a product, receive a repair request and get a technician onsite?  Secondly, articulate what the cost of failure of the process is to the customer.  Is it unfounded exorbitant charges, late delivery of a gift, no power or phone service, loss of a sale, or loss of a customer?

And as you develop or refine that process, refer back to the purpose and the customer cost repeatedly.  Further, constantly remind yourself that the customer, external or internal, doesn’t care about your process or your forms, the customer cares about the purpose and the cost.  Don’t let the process be your purpose; make the process serve the purpose.

I can almost guarantee that when your focus is the purpose for the customer and the cost to the customer when failure occurs, the process you design will be efficiency-focused (fewer layers and fewer forms), and in addition, it will also include the opportunity to insert common sense.  Now that’s what I’m carin’ about.

Whether we are talking about branding a country, a politician or instant noodle soup, sincerity and authenticity is of utmost importance. It is such a shame that some self-annointed branders diminish the value of the discipline by ignoring these two most important things.

Branding is a promise. Branding is not spin, and neither a catchword. Rather it is a story that tells people how and why their needs may be answered by choosing to visit or live in a certain country, vote for a certain politician or grab this instant noodle soup from the rack.

 This story is not fiction, but rather a straightforward, factual narrative that talks about the value of the product or personality. It is a story that is written from a painstaking understanding of the consumers – how they want it told; what they want to read hear or see; and what really matter to them.

 At the end of the day, the branders’ role is only to tell the story the way it is. It is also their duty to ensure that they will have a good story to tell. This is why, they have to go back to the root of the matter: how well will their country, politician or instant noodle soup answer the needs of the market they serve?

Read Rosabeth Moss Kanter’s view on authenticity in branding and join the discussion: http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/kanter/2009/07/the-downsides-of-branding.html

Pero al mismo tiempo, son la generación que comienza a liderar el planeta, a acceder a los puestos de mayor responsabilidad, la generación en edad de tener y cuidar a sus hijos, y, sobre todo, el grupo social que quizá no tenga los mayores ingresos, pero sí las mayores necesidades de consumo.

CP Proximity presenta “La Generación del Cambio”, el mayor estudio realizado sobre los que ahora tienen treinta y tantos años, el público objetivo más recurrente en los planes de marketing y publicidad de infinidad de anunciantes. Un estudio basado en entrevistas a 5.000 consumidores y que ha filmado más de 350 horas de etnografías, realizado en 17 países en colaboración con la red internacional de CP Proximity, Proximity Worldwide.

Los “Cruisers” o vividores: se trata de personas con cierto complejo de Peter Pan, viviendo al límite de lo establecido y tratando sencillamente de buscar la diversión en sus vidas. Tienen grandes círculos de amigos, disfrutan de la fiesta y de las relaciones sin compromiso y sólo conciben su hogar como un lugar para dormir. Es el grupo menos estresado porque básicamente hace lo que quiere, pero eso les genera también una especie de insatisfacción crónica que les convierte en los más infelices. Aunque son sistemáticamente críticos con las marcas, pueden tener comportamientos muy consumistas con todo aquéllo que les pueda proporcionar una experiencia nueva y diferente. Comparten una actitud, no un interés concreto así que lo más fácil con este grupo es tratar de posicionarse como fuera de la mayoría o mostrar un estilo de vida deshinibido y que no parezca forzado.

Los “Nesters” o hedonistas urbanos: son individuos que se ciñen a un grupo de amigos más pequeño, al bienestar del hogar o de un barrio que sienten como propio. Es el tipo de gente que organiza cenas en casa y habla de la mejor frutería ecológica del barrio. Pero también son personas que están esperando a que ocurra el siguiente gran acontecimiento en sus vidas y eso les genera cierta ansiedad. Mientras tanto, están dispuestos a consumir las mejores marcas y los mejores productos, todo aquéllo que les proporcione una experiencia a la altura de sus vidas de diseño. Les gusta tener una casa bonita e invierten en piezas de diseño o en moda, aunque también saben ser prácticos Para las marcas este grupo es el que ofrece mayores oportunidades.

Los “Super-breeders” o superpapás: son padres que consideran a sus hijos el centro de sus vidas. Sin más. Quieren lo mejor para sus hijos y quieren que sus hijos sean los mejores. Son muy protectores, competitivos, puritanos, y les encanta todo lo que suena a fresco, orgánico, natural o sostenible. Por tanto, las marcas asociadas con lo natural, lo sano o la protección de los niños son las que tendrán mayor éxito con este grupo. Quieren que sus marcas les ayuden a conseguir su mundo perfecto. Aunque a veces la comodidad les hace traicionar sus principios y llevan a los niños a McDonald’s (porque tampoco quieren ser malos padres). Si la calidad les resulta convincente, el precio no será un problema si sienten que lo están dando todo por los niños.

En Vaiba, no perdemos detalle de las últimas tendencias y estudios de mercado, gracias a nuestros Coolhunters. Ofreciendo así a nuestros clientes un servicio “Cool Intelligent”.

fuente: CPproximity

Um Selbstkritik bin ich ja selten verlegen und heute kann ich schuldbewusst verkünden: Ich habe dem Blog all seine heil- und zweckbringenden Eigenschaften entrissen und ihn kalt im englischen Regen stehen lassen. Aber das muss er schon verstehen, der Blog. Er ist hier nicht der einzige, der meine volle Aufmerksamkeit braucht.

Weder Blog noch Leser (und vor allem nicht der Autorin, die morgen um 7:30 am in den Lake District fährt) kann man es jetzt guten Gewissens antun, seitenweise Vergangenheitsbewältigung zu betreiben. Alle drei könnten bei Information Overload schnell fremdeln.

Daher biete ich hier gerne mundgerechte Happen an Erkenntnissen zum Schnäppchenpreis. Anders als es mein MSc Marketing Course in großen Portionen zu Gourmet-Tarifen macht. Aber sowohl der Kurs, als auch die Schnapperhapper und mein genereller Aufenthalt hier dienen ja der Info- und Wissensvermittlung in kompakter Form. Konsequent also hier: Erkenntnisse in Schnelldurchlauf [Leseanleitung: Anders als bei der vernünftigen Wissensvermittlung, bauen die Themen nicht aufeinander auf – langweilig? Einfach überspringen.]

Stadt mit Persönlichkeitsstörung:

Birmingham macht mich fertig. Auf eine angenehme, verwirrende, erschreckende, prickelnde und lustige Weise. Alles was es braucht, ist das Wiederholen von 20 Schritten um festzustellen, dass sich der Charakter, die Szene, die Architektur (wenn man die Schaffensart der 60er bis 80er so nennen darf) und das Gefühl der Umgebung so schnell wandelt wie… pf… sowas ist mir noch nicht unter gekommen. Birmingham ist schlupfrig und scheint sich zu weigern, ein klares Statement abzugeben. Und nun das erstaunlich offensichtliche: Dafür mag ich diese Stadt, die sich bei viel Trostlosigkeit so sehr um Ideen und Farbe bemüht. Birmingham und ich – wir legen uns halt nicht einfach so fest.

Birmingham ist nicht London:

Gut, das war’s dann auch schon dazu.
Ach doch, noch was: Aber dafür ist es England. Wie mein geliebter Besuch sagte: „Sie haben Milieu-Studie gebucht? Sie kriegen Milieu-Studie!“. Und noch was: Ja, es gibt Momente, in denen ich mich wenig dafür leiden kann, dass ich nicht London gewählt habe. But there you go…

Freundschaft & W-Curve:

Mit diesem Begriff wird vermutlich seit facebook ohnehin sehr inflationär umgegangen. Aber vermutlich gilt hier das Credo: Wie man sich wohl fühlt, so ist man. Ich fühle mich damit gerade sehr gut und hab alle meine Kommilitonen wirklich sehr gerne. Anregen möchte ich da nur, dass es da noch das Tal der W-Kurve gibt. Und ich vermute, dass es dann doch wieder Annika und Ska sind, die die Kurve für mich wieder kriegen müssen. Die W-Kurve nehme ich momentan sportlich wie ein Fahrradfahrer. So arrogant das klingen mag, aber neu ist das nicht gerade, dass eine Mini-Depression plötzlich hinterm Mäuerchen hervorspringt, wenn man in einer unbekannten oder nicht vollkommen komfortablen Umgebung bzw. Situation ist. Das Wissen alleine hilft schon. Aber im Tal ist es dann manchmal doch ganz schön dunkel. Was da hilft (das bilde ich mir ein), ist wie damals in London oder in den Anfängen von München: Ein nettes Kaffee (und wenn es Costa oder Nero ist, dann auch mal gut) mit einer Zeitung und ein paar Gedanken an den Cockerspaniel und die zukünftigen Parkspaziergänge.

Old Joe:

J.R.R. Tolkien (ebenfalls ein Brummy) hat sich vom Uni Clocktower (Old Joe) zu seinen „Zwei Türmen“ inspirieren lassen. Wo das Gegenstück steht, habe ich vergessen. Muss ja Gründe für eine Fortsetzung geben – und ich weiß, wen ich da fragen kann.

The Beloved Ones Paid a Visit:

Dolle habe ich mich gefreut! Dolle war’s! Wir haben die Milieu-Studie erweitert und Umland mit einbezogen, wo es dann doch tatsächlich eine Kirmes und ein Disneyland gab. Ska, Heimo, Lukas! I love you all! Liebsten Dank, dass ihr hier wart. Besonders die Einheimischen im Pub haben sich gefreut über so viel Unterhaltung. Ich (und Stammgast John) wünschen sich eine Wiederholung.

Aston Villa vs. West Ham United:

Ein Kommilitone meinte, dass ich ruhig alle Fußballspiele im Stadion ansehen könnte. Alleine vor den Fans von West Ham soll ich mich in Acht nehmen. Schön, dass wir am 16. Januar zwei nicht in ihrem Block, aber doch welche von ihnen in unserer Mitte haben werden. Aber ich habe ja die richtigen Hooligans dabei. Und ich hab ein Tattoo. Mir kann keiner was.

Editors und Ozzy sind Brummies:

Da simmer jetzt platt, was?! Und nicht nur die Editors sind hier her, auch der gute alte Ozzy Osbourne. Ich überlasse es jetzt der Einschätzung jedes Einzelnen zu beurteilen, ob das jetzt für oder gegen die Einflüsse der Stadt spricht.

Per Ardua ad Alta:

Ist das Motto meiner Uni. Und bislang ist es auch nur das: Schlaue Worte, die noch nicht ganz Realität geworden sind. Pflichtmodule sind in diesem Term lediglich: Marketing Management, Strategic Marketing and Planning sowie Marketing Research mit Exams im Januar und Assignments&Presentations im November bis Dezember. Ich mag, was ich da studiere. Viel kommt mir vor wie Commen Sense. Und wenn ich doch wieder verwirrt bin, muss ich mich daran erinnern, dass Kommunikationskonzepte nicht bedeutend anders als Marketing Konzepte zu sein scheinen. Das heißt nicht, dass ich hier der Oberchecker bin. Mir macht es einfach bislang sehr viel Spaß. Hab heute noch zwei weitere Bücher bestellt. Lesen, lesen. Lesen. Lesen. Und ich gebe zu: Das Subject ist noch sehr jung und akademisch noch nicht so ausgetreten. Manchmal sehr praxisnah. Einem MSc vielleicht nicht immer angemessen. Aber ich versuche so viel Hirn, wie möglich zu geben, um es so schlau wie nötig wirken zu lassen.

Team Building:

Morgen früh geht es dann also nach Coniston zum Team Building. Da bin ich ja dann mal gespannt. Gerade bilde ich mir ein, ich hätte ein Kratzen im Hals. Aber das hört vermutlich wieder auf, wenn ich nicht mehr daran denke, wie furchtbar ich frieren werde.

Here to scout the world:

Mag ich genau so gerne wie die Conclusio: „… and by tomorrow it’s toast“.

Humor:

Momentan werde ich von Engländer immer noch darauf aufmerksam gemacht, dass es sich bei lustigen Bemerkungen um Witze verbunden mit Ironie handelt. Das ist nett. Aber überflüssig, wenn ich eh schon lache. Gleichzeitig aber auch nett. Es ist ja auch nun mal eine andere Kultur, in die ich mich da humortechnisch begebe. Und außerdem ein Gebiet, in dem ich mich nicht so flink bewegen kann, wie in meiner Muttersprache. Ich einmal verlegen um einen dummen Kommentar?! Richtig, das kommt selten vor. Aber in letzter Zeit halt dann doch immer wieder. Ob es jemals besser wird? Witzig in einer anderen Sprache zu sein (und das auch noch spontan und gleichzeitig gewollt – zufällig witzig gilt nicht!) scheint mir die Königsdisziplin aller Sprachfreunde zu sein. Mir fehlt es, in der Sprache, die ich die meiste Zeit spreche, gewandt zu sein. Aber Jammern hilft nicht. Nur ein Schluck Wein und Übung.

Last.fm Account:

JEDER, dem Musik auch nur ansatzweise heilig ist, sollte einen Last.fm Account haben. Und ich spreche da niemanden im Besonderen an. Und die, die ich nicht im Besonderen anspreche, wissen schon, dass ich sie meine.

Denn wo begleiten einen sonst so viele schöne und überraschende Rythmen durch die seitenlangen Abhandlungen von Eric Shiu und Kotler, Armstrong, Wong und Saunders? So lernt man doch gleich doppelt.

Gelernt und wiedergefunden zum Beispiel:

The Strokes – You Only Live Once

Johnny Flynn – Wayne Rooney

Tubelord – Dun Dun Dun Scissors Rocks And Tonne

Milburn – Cheshire Cat Smile

Bromheads Jacket – Poppy Bird

Und damit danke und bis vielleicht die Tage… man weiß ja nicht. Unberechenbarkeit ist vielleicht auch eine Tugend…

What do you want done today to keep your real estate business in the green?

The market is poised to take another upturn. Surely, you want to do something to keep your real estate business on top.

This is why you need an aggressive and strategic marketing professional who thinks progressively. You need someone who doesn’t only provide ideal solutions but someone who works with rolled sleeves to deliver effective and efficient results.

You badly need a thinker and a doer in your own fence to keep the game on.

Ken Lerona offers a deeper understanding on the dynamics of real estate branding and marketing. A strategic, aggressive and practical real estate marketer whose passion is to think and craft ways to keep your business in the green.

You might think that providing good service came naturally in the modern hospitality business.

Judging by my recent experience at a small hotel in Stafford part of a local UK brewery chain I can tell you that any hope that the principles of Service Marketing and Service Dominant logic might have found their way into this establishment is a folorn hope.

For those of you who are looking for a micro case in Service Marketing please feel free to use the following and distribute widely.

The Occasion
Myself and half a dozen old friends had decided to have a Polytechnic re-union in Stafford. The first time some of us had seen each other for over 25 years. I was sharing a room with my old flat mate.

The Problem
When we returned late (1.00 a.m.) from our night out and a meal at Pizza Express my room mate and I found we couldn’t get our room key from reception. This meant we had to sleep ‘rough’ in the reception area until 7.30 a.m. when the manager arrived.

The Context
I booked in first in the middle of the afternoon and was given a key fob with the back door key and the room key by the manager. I went to the room to unpack, and then handed the key fob back to the manager who explained that the bar shut at 11.00p.m. and that the key would be needed to get in after that time.

I hooked up with my friends, and my room mate met us at the pub without checking in. This meant that our key was in the hotel. The other members of our party had their key sets with them and so we believed there would be no problem in getting into the hotel.

We all returned to the Hotel and we got in using one of my friends keys. It was at that point we realised the Hotel didn’t have a night porter, their was no way of summoning staff at reception and notices or signage to guide us as to what to do. I was certainly not informed of this possibility when I handed my key set back earlier in the day.

The only option was to sleep in the reception area. I slept roughly on the floor or sitting at the table. My friend slept on benches.

At half past seven the Hotel manager arrived and the situation went rapidly downhill on top of the previous six and half hours sleeping as best we could.

The Service Encounter
When the manageress arrived on duty I explained that I had been unable to get to our room. She was bemused and even a little amused at our situation. As you might expect we were not in the most amenable of temperaments. I asked why there was no system for getting our key if it had been handed back to reception. The manageress said that we were told that we needed a key to get in after 11.00 which was quite correct. By ‘get in’ I assumed get back into the hotel. I then started to explain why we didn’t have our key set with us.

Her response:
i) We were irresponsible for not taking our key sets with us.
ii) We lacked common sense.
iii) We were incapable of using ‘logic’ to solve our problem.
iii) Why didn’t we ring the back door bell to get attention.
iv) We were abnormal because this had never happened in her experience.

My response:
i) Her process for key management was at odds with common experience in hotels. I had travelled the world on business for many years and never experienced such a problem.
ii) There was no indication that the outside door bell was the way in which to summon night service at reception.
iii) It was a wrong assumption on her part to believe that once inside the building we would necessarily think there would be a problem getting our room key.
iv) There was no signage or information clearly visible on reception about who to contact with emergencies or problems.

The Experience
This was a terrible experience. A bad nights sleep and a complete lack of concern from the manager.

This was complete mismanagement of a ‘moment of truth’
There was no apology.
There wasn’t a sincere acknowledgement of our problem.
There was no sympathy for the uncomfortable night we had experienced
Her attitude was patronising and sarcastic.
She was unable to accept any part she and her management team might have played in the problem.
There no grasp of the customer journey and where problems might occur.
There was no value added atonement
She would not listen to alternative explanations
She was intellectually incapable of grasping ‘how’ the situation had arisen and ‘how’ her guest management process couldn’t account for the situation that happened.

Significantly this incident demonstrated the impact of interpersonal skills. As if the ‘content’ of of what the manageress said wasn’t galling enough, her body language and tone were not exactly placatory. The ‘meta message’ of her communication was essentially one of contempt, and you could speculate that her approach to customers was mirrored in her approach to her staff. This was clearly someone used to having it her way and not tolerating different view points to her own.

The Outcome
The manageress was contacted later that day on my return. She was asked for the name of the person she was accountable to and replied by saying that she wasn’t accountable to anybody.

My room mate checked out after me. She offered 20% of the bill because he apologised to her for our part in the problem. We regard this as unnacceptable.

A formal complaint to the retail chain is being made.

What do you make of this?