ConvergingWater

QOD - 07/30/07

2007-07-30T22:45:00.000-04:00

"Better do a little well, than a great deal badly." - Socrates

QOD - 07/26/07

2007-07-26T22:24:00.001-04:00

"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the
sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink …" - Thomas Paine

Quote of the Day - 04/20/07

2007-04-20T11:23:00.001-04:00

"Without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other
goods." - Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)

Quote of the Day - 02/20/07

2007-02-20T08:05:00.000-05:00

"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing." Abraham Lincoln

Quote of the Day - 02/16/07

2007-02-16T08:12:00.000-05:00

"No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted." - Aesop

Quote of the Day - 01/24/07

2007-01-24T23:09:00.000-05:00

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." - Benjamin Franklin

Quote of the Day - 01/21/07

2007-01-21T12:50:00.000-05:00

'It is not our condition, but the caliber of our soul, that makes us happy.' - Voltaire

Quote of the Day - 01/09/07

2007-01-09T08:16:00.000-05:00

"Capital isn't that important in business. Experience isn't that important. You can get both of these things. What is important is ideas." - Harvey S. Firestone

Quote of the Day - 12/12/06

2006-12-13T19:28:00.000-05:00

"When all think alike, no one is thinking very much." - Walter Lippman

Quote of The Day - 12/05/06

2006-12-05T08:17:00.000-05:00

"The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal with, but whether it's the same problem you had last year." - John Foster Dulles

Quote of The Day - 11/28/06

2006-11-28T11:20:00.000-05:00

"A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds." - Sir Francis Bacon

Quote of the Day - 11/21/06

2006-11-21T07:56:00.000-05:00

"When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us." - Alexander Graham Bell

Quote of the Day 11/14/06

2006-11-14T07:46:00.000-05:00

"The man who has confidence in himself gains the confidence of others." - Hasidic Saying

Executives Rank Marketing Most Critical Area for Next Generation of Business Leaders

2006-11-02T16:14:00.000-05:00

According to a survey of U.S. senior executives, marketing will be the most important area of expertise for the next-generation of leaders.

The study, commissioned by the Institute of International Research, sought to identify key areas for leaders. Marketing was the clear choice, with 31% of votes, followed by 20% for operations and 16% for financial expertise. Sales and engineering were deemed least critical to leadership with 11 and 6% respectively.

While marketing departments are often struggling to effectively measure effectiveness and the related battle for internal credibility, studies such as this provide evidence that marketing is making significant headway in proving its value within organizations.

Marketer Seth Godin attributes the rising recognition of marketing to fierce marketplace competition. Being good enough is no longer good enough, said Godin. This is the most cluttered marketplace in history--just about everything is available everywhere, all the time. Leaders understand that spreading the word about their offerings is the only path to success. This survey hammers home that point--the success of an organization is driven by one thing: whether or not people choose to buy what you've got to sell.

- source marketingtoday.com

Marketing Conversant - 11/01/06

2006-11-01T12:21:00.000-05:00

Well, the hard thing about being a small firm is marketing yourself. While we help others in these very matters of marketing, branding, building the big 'mo', etc. - you have to remind yourself that you too have to market yourself - daily almost hourly.

You have to do direct mail, you have to follow-up via the phone, you have to update the website, you have to create and cultivate strategic partnerships. You have to go to the Chanmber of Commerce lunches and the assocication get togethers that you are a member of. You are constantly marketing and selling your services.

It would be nice to think that once you got to a level that you could cruise thru this part of your business but no the business landscape changes, the economy fluctuates, clients leave, personnel change so these things keep you grounded in staying focused on the prize.

It's not about getting more clients necessarily, it's about doing great work for your clients so they come back and thru that word of mouth they market for you.

Got to go now - we need to do some great work - and to do our cold calling!

Blogged with Flock

Quote of the Day - 10/31/06 - Happy Halloween

2006-10-31T09:11:00.000-05:00

"Energy and persistence conquer all things." - Benjamin Franklin

Gus - Corporate Mascot

2006-10-30T14:47:00.000-05:00

Gus is a Boykin spaniel and the company BS detector.

Gus - Corporate Mascot

2006-10-30T14:25:00.000-05:00

Hi,

Here is the corporate mascot, Gus.

QOD - 10/20/06

2006-10-20T20:21:00.000-04:00

Let honesty and industry be thy constant companions, and spend one penny less than thy clear gains; then shall thy pocket begin to thrive; creditors will not insult, nor want oppress, nor hungerness bite, nor nakedness freeze thee. - Benjamin Franklin

Blogged with Flock

Great Info and Word to Work By - 10/18/06

2006-10-18T13:43:00.000-04:00

The following is from a web piece by Vickie L. Milazzo, founder and president of the Vickie Milazzo Institute.

Everything Is Marketing. The success of acompany is based more on the marketing of the product than on theproduct itself. Everything is marketing, from the way you say “Goodmorning” to the contacts you make on an airplane to your company nameand brand, your wardrobe and vocabulary. Here’s how to approach eachaspect of your business like a marketing genius.

Treat every opportunity as a marketing opportunity.The waiter at your favorite restaurant might introduce you to a newclient. A stranger in the elevator at your bank is a potentialreferral. You always create where your next client comes from.

Realize that not all marketing opportunities are created equal.Sticking business cards under 30 windshield wipers in a parking lotisn’t as effective as speaking to 30 people at a luncheon. Speaking to30 people at a luncheon isn’t as effective as exhibiting at a nationalconvention attended by thousands.

Be your own number-one fan.That means announcing your achievements. This is hard for many people,but if you don’t do it, who will? With humility, let people know whenyour business wins an award, you have an upcoming speaking engagementor you add a new service. Announcing your achievements also lets yourclients know they bet on a winner.

Know that your existing clients are your best prospects.It costs much more to get a new client than it does to increase thecash flow from an existing client. The best client is a loyal one.

Never stop marketing, no matter how successful you become.When you get busy, you may be tempted to cut down on marketing, butthat’s the time to rev it up. It’s always time to send out morepromotional packages. It’s always time to call on new prospects. It’salways time to update and optimize your website. Don’t wait untilyou’re going hungry to replant the garden.

Blogged with Flock

QOD - 10/03/06

2006-10-04T15:49:00.000-04:00

"It's not what you know, but who knows what you know." —- Dave Opton

QOD - 09/21/06

2006-09-21T10:58:00.000-04:00

"Do or do not. There is no try" - Yoda

QOD - 08/17/06

2006-08-17T15:04:00.000-04:00

"Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it, the tree is the real thing." - Abraham Lincoln

QOD - 08/08/06

2006-08-08T07:24:00.000-04:00

"Great ability develops and reveals itself increasingly with every new assignment." - Baltasar Gracian

QOD - 07/25/06

2006-08-01T00:13:00.000-04:00

"Character and personal force are the only investments that are worth anything." - Walt Whitman

QOD - 06/27/06

2006-06-27T13:18:00.000-04:00

No quote here - just a rant.

I'm firmly convinced that there is a real lack of professionalism in the market place to day when it comes with dealing with prospects. If they can't honestly tell you the truth up front, then why do they bother at the end to tell you they don't want your product or service. Why don't they just go quiet forever and then you want waste anymore time on them. I know why - they don't wnat to burn a bridge for if their decision fails, then they have recourse. What they don't understand is that you get to the breaking point on the time and money and lost opportunity costs on other deals that if they do come back to you, you want to tell them to bugger off. But you can't because you need the deal. What a vicious circle.

QOD - 06/08/06

2006-06-08T18:47:00.000-04:00

"Toil to make yourself remarkable by some talent or other." - Seneca (5 BC - 65 AD)

QOD - 04/04/06

2006-04-04T09:10:00.000-04:00

"Rough and tough and hard to bluff." - Unknown

QOD - 03/19/06

2006-03-19T11:57:00.000-05:00

"The goal of marketing is to create the desire to possess." - Anon

QOD - 03/03/06

2006-03-03T13:32:00.000-05:00

"It's not what you know, but who knows what you know" Dave Opton

QOD - 02/20/06

2006-02-20T15:11:00.000-05:00

"Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute. What you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Begin it and the work will be completed." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

QOD - 02/09/06

2006-02-09T12:12:00.000-05:00

"A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way." - Mark Twain

QOD - 02/08/06

2006-02-08T08:13:00.000-05:00

"Never innovate to compete; innovate to change the rules of the game." - David O. Adeife

QOD - 02/06/06

2006-02-06T17:15:00.000-05:00

"Our life is what our thoughts make it." - Marcus Aurelius

Santayana's quote

2006-02-01T09:32:00.000-05:00

The previous quote is one of the first I ever really remembered. And, it so applies to marketing too.

I see people reuse programs because they 'think' they were successful before but in fact were horrible failures. They rerun them because they don't undertand marketing and they don't capture, measure and analyze the results of the program. If you don't do that, you have no clue as to the impact that program has on your market so your program is doomed to fail - maybe you get lucky and it's successful despite any idea as to why yet to think you will repeat that success again is a fool's dream.

You must plan, measure and analyze your programs or your failures will just repeat, money will be wasted, market share will shrink and your products die.

QOD - 02/01/06

2006-02-01T09:15:00.000-05:00

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." George Santayana

QOD - 01/27/06

2006-01-27T11:40:00.000-05:00

"I would prefer even to fail with honor than win by cheating." - Sophocles (496 BC-406 BC)

QOD - 01/26/06

2006-01-26T11:09:00.000-05:00

``I believe that if you see a competitor drowning, you stick a fire hose down his throat.'' - Patrick Bryne, Overstock.com CEO

Missed the QOD - 01/25/06

2006-01-26T10:08:00.000-05:00

Sorry I missed posting the QOD yesterday - I was in travelling. Fun Fun Fun!

QOD - 01/24/06

2006-01-24T08:40:00.000-05:00

"We look at the present through the rear-view mirror. We march backwards into the future." - Marshal McLuhan

QOD - 01/23/06

2006-01-23T09:40:00.000-05:00

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." - Albert Einstein

QOD - 01/20/06

2006-01-20T09:31:00.000-05:00

"There is always room at the top." - Daniel Webster

QOD - 01/19/06

2006-01-19T09:10:00.000-05:00

"When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece." - John Ruskin

Today's QOD continues the planning theme of yesterday

2006-01-18T09:55:00.000-05:00

While we thank the gods that marketing and sales of products and services is not war, it is a battle to win.

Win the minds of the prospects and customers so that you can sell more goods and services. And to win, you must plan and put it in writing with the appropriate goals, tasks to accomplish and measurements. They don't have to be complex or voluminous they just have to be.

So, like Sun Tzu said don't be defeated before you start, plan your efforts and your market share and sales revenue will increase.

QOD - 01/18/06

2006-01-18T09:27:00.000-05:00

"Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win." - Sun Tzu

Rate of Change

2006-01-17T08:49:00.000-05:00

When I read the previous QOD...quote of the day...from ol' Jack Welch of GE, I wonder how many people apply this to their own marketing and messaging efforts.

Most firms only look at the rate of change internally (I think about molasses here - slow!) and never really gauge the effects of external forces except from a short-term perspective. Better marketing and messaging will help in the short-term but longer term, the 'right' message comes out and becomes part of your market's community voice and raises and reinforces your brand.

So when companies only look inward, they think 3 'wrong' things about marketing and messaging:

- that they can do it ourselves

- that marketing and sales are the same thing and

- that if they do marketing that they only have to do certain pieces of it.

OK - maybe some firms are able to do it better than using external resources but the vast majority of the small to medium sized companies and even the big ones put out 'suffering' and suffocating marketing efforts and thereby suffer from the lack of results - muddled messages, brand abandonment, cluttered websites, same ol' boring PowerPoint pitches, etc. Sometimes, external talent can help you focus on getting that message honed and fine tuned that you might normally be missing by your internal focus.

Next, marketing and sales are not the same. Marketing is product, pricing, placement and promotion. Sales is moving product or services to generate revenue. That doesn't sound like the same thing to me nor should it to you. Remember one thing - 'market' the vision and 'sell' the product (that is from the wisest person I know and it's not me).

Also, you have to have a marketing plan with tangible goals and objectives so you have something to monitor and measure. It is difficult to measure ROI on your marketing efforts if you don't have a plan and you are trying a shotgun or a Chinese menu approach to marketing. An external expert or your internal staff can help you build a plan that has the measurements in it so you can track the results. Remember - plan the work and work the plan.

Finally, GE is renown for their quality efforts - Six Sigma and all that stuff - and it applies throughout GE. So, do you think the GE execs and marketing people are over there 'winging it' on their marketing and messaging efforts? Nah - they're planning their work and working their plan. And, so should you or as Jack says, 'the end might be in sight.'

QOD - 01/17/06

2006-01-17T08:08:00.000-05:00

"I am convinced that if the rate of change inside an institution is less than the rate of the change outside, the end is in sight." - Jack Welch, ex-CEO of GE

QOD - 01/16/06

2006-01-16T09:44:00.000-05:00

"He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils; for time is the greatest innovator." - Francis Bacon

QOD - 01/13/06

2006-01-13T15:35:00.000-05:00

"In a time of drastic change, it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exits." Eric Hoffer

QOD - 01/12/06

2006-01-12T08:45:00.000-05:00

"It takes a long time to bring excellence to maturity." - Publius Syrus

QOD - 01/11/06

2006-01-11T15:14:00.000-05:00

"Out of clutter find simplicity." - Albert Einstein

QOD

2006-01-10T08:47:00.000-05:00

"Focused attention will win over brains and brawn everytime." - Unknown

Cable TV

2006-01-09T13:41:00.000-05:00

Hi,

We had a cable line run to the kitchen where we installed an under the cabinet TV that has AM/FM, CD/DVD and if we hook it to the phone line you can use it as a phone! Too cool!

2006-01-09T13:09:00.000-05:00

Gus - Team ConvergingWater Mascot
- a great Boykin Spaniel but not much of a hunting dog!

Xmas at Riverbanks Zoo

2006-01-05T20:22:00.000-05:00

I took some of the kids to the zoo before Xmas. It was my first visit to the zoo at Xmas and it was great.

While alot of the animals weren't out or sleeping, it allowed me to see the zoo from a different perspective. It's like when you breakdown your messaging to the bare minimums and the greyness of the limbs of the tree is all you see.

Sometimes you need to get back to the basics and review the important messages we need to make sure that our prospects and customers hear.