The First Black Singing Prime Minister
No matter how good your product is, don’t forget the branding. I am a fan of the UK version of The Voice which has just come to an end for…
All these articles illustrate why you need to stay different. Difference, more than anything else, drives value and allows you to achieve higher returns on capital in your business. Most businesses fail to give Difference enough attention, not just when starting out, but over time as competitive pressures increase and things change around them.
Take Small Steps
Don’t let your enthusiasm get the better of you in achieving your business dreams. The last time I wrote an article about Mulberry, the UK fashion brand famous for its…
Sell Solutions Not Products
It’s amazing what great management can do with some deceptively simple-sounding strategic ideas. In the 1990’s, when digital printing came of age, traditional printers had a pretty bad time of…
How to Sell More
Sales folk go into battle every day to win business, but are they adequately prepared? If you are leading a business you could do a lot worse than read a…
Value from Maps
Provenance is a great source of value even without formal intellectual property protection. We are all familiar with provenance being a distinctive product characteristic; it often donates quality food from…
The Rule of Three
All things being equal the best connected people are the most successful. My mother, Mary, always used to say that “bad things always come in threes” so she would be…
Steak & Chips Shopping
If you own a cash cow you should milk it for all it is worth. Wiki Answers tells me that the term “cheap as chips” is derived from a time…
A Quick Question?
No, take your time, for best results. I was once told that there is nothing more attractive than someone who is attracted to you. I think there is probably some…
In The Frame
The service element of any business always has the potential to differentiate. The rather technical description of a Service on Wikipedia illustrates this intangible and insubstantial commodity with a picture…
Nichely Done
Focus and specialisation are sources of enormous wealth. I once asked an actuary friend of mine when I was going to die. I’m 1.93m tall; I weigh 89Kg; I don’t…