• P&G To Lay Off 1,600 After Discovering It's Free To Advertise On Facebook

    "Reality appears to have finally arrived at Procter & Gamble, the world's largest marketer, whose $10 billion annual ad budget has hurt the company's margins. P&G said it would lay off 1,600 staffers, including marketers, as part of a cost-cutting exercise. More interestingly, CEO Robert McDonald finally seems to have woken up to the fact that he cannot keep increasing P&G's ad budget [...]

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    Market research as an industry is dying...true or false?

    I recently posted this question on a public forum and was quite intrigued by the answers. The question further addressed the issue that online surveys may be impacting the answer because it encourages a DIY (Do-It-Yourself) approach to research. Like anything, differing views provide tremendous insight that one can learn from and adapt. Here are just some of the comments - see what you think: [...]

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    2012 - fresh thinking but not necessarily a new beginning

    Prosperity.  Hope.  Success.  These are just some of the things we all look for as a new year begins.  Nothing wrong with that!  But how do we get there if we continue to do the same things we did last year - and the year before that. Here are a few ideas to get us thinking differently without having to challenge ourselves to create a totally new beginning for our future... Learn from the [...]

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    Where to go from here – focus on the role of the Controller/CFO

    Strategically oriented Controllers/CFOs often ask me how to upgrade the quality of the Finance function, and even more important, it’s perceived value as an integral part of the business. Most of these financial leaders often realize that to enhance their role and value (both for the business and for themselves) they need to go “beyond the numbers.” The chief financial officer of a [...]

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    What to look for in hiring a marketing company

    Many companies get reinvigorated early in the new year.  They set new goals and decide to “do things differently”.  Very often this includes deciding that they need help with their marketing, particularly if growth or increased sales pipelines are among their overall objectives.  However, if they haven’t hired a marketing company before, they may not know what to look for. Here are some [...]

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    The danger of Instant Gratification

    Our world has become  obsessed with instant gratification, and it has impacted on the way we do things as well as what we expect.  Since the digital world has started delivering instant gratification on many levels, the biggest danger is the expectations it has created, for the new generations and the old.  Each generation has a different viewpoint and a different capacity to deal with such [...]

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    Credit granting policies to improve cash flow

    In a recent article on Cash Management by the authors, we mentioned the importance of credit granting policies in the cash management cycle. This article elaborates on the importance of this and some of the issues that should be addressed in managing the sales processes, to facilitate the cash management that will follow. Management of Accounts Receivable is significantly influenced by a [...]

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    Reducing expenses

    Most businesses are constantly trying to reduce expenses but fail to go about it in a methodical way.  As a result, as with most exercises that are not well planned, insufficient focus leads to missed opportunities. One very valuable aid to reducing expenses is to utilize and frequently review checklists, on a regular basis and by more than one staff member. Five checklists covering different [...]

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    Interpersonal Communication - Encoding The Response

    Interpersonal Communication is a method of conveying a message from one person to at least one other person. This type of oral communication comprises three components: body language, tone of voice and the words themselves. The following percentages can be debated, but some studies indicate that body language accounts for about 55% of any message, tone of voice is 35% of the message, while the [...]

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    How many ways can you market your business?

    Whenever I speak to people about marketing their businesses there is one question that I always ask them: "How many ways are there to market your business?" OR, if said another way, "How many marketing tactics are there?" Then, the next question is: "How many have you tried?" Inevitably, the number that is mentioned is approximately 5 – 10 different tactics. And the number that most people have[...]

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