Competitor Analysis – Do You Really Know What They’re Doing?
I've been preparing some marketing material for work and as part of it I did a competitor analysis. I had a think about who my competitors are in the financial planning industry in Adelaide, and listed out the differences between their businesses and mine. I looked...
Sales Idea for Financial Advisors: Don’t Put All Your Eggs In One Basket
I've mentioned before how I work in the financial planning industry. I own a financial planning business, and also do some business coaching with financial planning businesses and other service businesses. I've been a fan of Don Connelly for a while. I've...
Effective Client Surveys from a Hotel
A friend of mine travels regularly for business and usually stays in the same hotel in each city. She works in a similar industry to me and we share an interest in sales and marketing and delivering good customer service. A couple of weeks ago she stayed in a hotel...
Marketing Messages That Work – From Robert Middleton
From time to time I'll feature articles from experts in the services marketing industry. I've featured articles from Robert Middleton in the past and I've found another one from his blog archives that I've found to be very helpful. I've been working through...
Ultimate Entrepreneur Toolkit – Available Again
How to Master Your Inner Game of Business and Life A week ago I came across a promotion from a group of business building experts who each contributed one of their books or products to the Ultimate Entrepreneur Toolkit. The promotion sold the combined books at 95%...
Switching Costs
You may not have heard about switching costs before, but you've certainly experienced them. In this article I'll explain what switching costs are and how they can help you retain clients. What we learn from Apple I have a Creative MP3 player, and I recently bought a...
Word of Mouth and Dave Barnes
I play guitar and try and write songs, but I'll never be good enough to make a living from it. But I respect guys who do play and sing well enough to make a living out of it. Tonight I downloaded an EP called You, the Night and Candlelight from a guy called Dave...
How an Electrician Builds Trust and Value
In this blog I write for people who sell professional services - people who sell knowledge or expertise. I frequently talk about how this can be somewhat intangible to the client and how we need to find ways to make the product more real. Ways this can be done...
Getting The Temperature Right
On my drive into work today I noticed an electronic sign out the front of a business that alternated between displaying the time and the current temperature. You've probably all seen something similar wherever you are in the world. There's a few around the city where...
Information, Knowledge and Expertise
I was reminded today about how much the internet has changed our lives. Information You want to find information, it's all there. More information is available for free today than ever before in history. Whatever you're interested in, you can Google any questions...