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TUESDAY, JANUARY 26, 2010 A WEEKLY E-NEWSLETTER COMPILED BY SAM GEIST
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MARKETPLACE LESSONS
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My wife and I just returned from a week-long cruise with my son, his wife, her parents, and their four children, to celebrate his 40th birthday. By the end of the cruise I was asking myself how do I make it easier for my clients to do business with me--just like NCL made it easy for us.
We wanted to re-arrange which rooms we were in and consequently needed to change our keycards accordingly. We dreaded the hassle we expected. The customer service rep smiled, entered the new rooms into the computer, issued new key cards. Two minutes. No problem.
My grandson has severe food allergies. The maitre d' took his order personally for each meal, brought his food separately for each meal. No problem.
We wanted to disembark as late as we were allowed. We picked up the color tags for the lastest departure. Got off when it was convenient for us. No problem.
Phoning friends and family upon our return we told them about how pleasant--how easy NCL had made it for us.
LESSON LEARNED:" 'Making it easier' is an effective business strategy--and a free marketing opportunity."
-Sam Geist
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THE STATS
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While companies recognize the importance of measuring how effective their marketing efforts are, few are actually doing it, according to this landmark study of more than 400 companies.
- 25% of companies believe they are managing their marketing efforts effectively
- 75% of participants expressed interest in measuring the performance of their marketing initiatives, yet:
- only 27% of companies are fully integrating their marketing measurement insights into marketing planning
- only 20% believe they excel at measuring the performance of marketing initiatives
- only 24% believe they are improving business results based on this information
- 98% of those companies that excel at marketing performance management practices, are gaining or maintaining market share.
--CMG Partners/Chadwick Martin Bailey
---------------------------------------- Where will the jobs be in 2018? NPR has summarized their findings:
- In all industries there is expected to be a +10.5% change in numbers of employees.
- +43%, computer systems design
- +81%, technical consulting
- +19%, health care
- +11.9%, natural resources, construction and utilities
- -7.6%, manufacturing
- +4.3%, trade
- +9.9%, transportation and warehousing
- +3.9%, information
- +6.8%, financial activities
- +23.3%, professional and business services
- +18.8%, education, health and social services
- +8.5%, leisure and hospitality
- +9.2%, government and advocacy.
--NPR
Click here for detailed information about the specific jobs/services within each category list.
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| THE QUOTES |
"It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers."
-James Thurber (1894-1961)
Author, Cartoonist
"Marketing leaders and their organizations are under increasing pressure to demonstrate the value they deliver in their businesses, especially in today's tough economic environment. The study clearly shows that if done right, marketing performance management -- the practice of measuring, learning from, and improving upon marketing strategies and tactics over time -- can deliver bottom line results and prove a key differentiator in highly competitive markets."
-Mark Carr, CMP Partners
(Marketing consulting firm)
For more information about the study from which this quote was taken see
THE STATS below.
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| SITE SEEING |
Innovation, is it product related or marketing related or a combination of both?
Read this article and decide.
http://www.forbes.com/2010/01/22/retail-marketing-products-barbie- hyundai-cmo-network-les-berglass.html
Read this article about the value of flexibility over long term planning as the focus for your strategic plan.
http://online.wsj.com/article/ SB10001424052748703822404575019283591121478.html?mod=dist_smartbrief
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Connect with Sam Geist
  
Reproduction for publication is encouraged with the following attribution:
From "QuickBites," by Sam Geist. (800) 567-1861 http://www.samgeist.com
Sam Geist lectures, facilitates workshops and conducts training seminars on sales & marketing, the changing marketplace, leadership, differentiation, customer service and staff motivation. His three books, "Why Should Someone Do Business With You... Rather Than Someone Else?" "Would You Work for You?" and "Execute... or Be Executed" are available in bookstores everywhere, published by Addington & Wentworth Inc.
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