First Step Marketing

Reduce Packing and Freight Cost

Exporting companies need cost-effective packing and packaging in order to be competitive in world markets. Freight costs are based on volumes or weights and manufacturers can pay unnecessarily for thin air because of ineffective packaging.

1. Design products with freight costs in mind

Where possible product design should result in the smallest and lightest package to reduce freight costs. This can include products for local part assembly or completely knocked down. Local assembly costs can be less than freight costs and have the added attraction of providing some local participation. Read the rest of this entry »

How do you keep track of who is in your downline? All networkers, when they join a network, are given a personalised number. This number identifies them as belonging to a particular network. You may ask: ‘But how can I keep track of all the people in my downline?’ The answer is that you don’t need to. In network marketing each individual works three levels deep. You are directly responsible for the distributors you recruit (level one), the people they recruit (level two) and the people they, in turn, recruit (level three). That’s not too much to manage. Read the rest of this entry »

If a company’s strategy represents its overall approach tomaximizing business success—stated in terms of achieving certain sales, profits, product delivery, and employee turnover goals—then the mission statement represents a more generalized and idealistic vision of the company’s purpose in life. If done right, a mission statement can go a long way toward energizing everyone in an organization to achieve the ideal.

Unfortunately, in the rush to develop mission statements, many companies have established statements that are somehow too general and lofty. I have seen a number of missionstatements that commit companies to being “the producer of the highest-quality (name the product) in the world” or “the top company in the (name the industry).” In my experience, the best mission statements are oriented in either of two directions: Read the rest of this entry »

Only five years ago, most markets were dominated by a few leading companies, mighty icons with household names that seemed immortal. How quaint all that now seems. Today’s competitors are far more numerous, able, and fierce than ever before because they have to be: What used to be outstanding performance is now the norm.

A useful analogy is the sport of speed skating. In the 1980 Winter Olympics, American Eric Heiden accomplished an unprecedented feat—he won five gold medals Though it was unbeatable in 1980, twenty-five competitors surpassed Heiden’s record in Nagano, Japan, eighteen years later in the 5,000-meter race, and did so by at least 12 seconds. The gold medalist, Gianni Romme of the Netherlands, covered the distance in 6 minutes 22 seconds, eclipsing Heiden’s time by an unbelievable 40 seconds. For that competition, Heiden would not have even qualified. Read the rest of this entry »

In an age in which customers are scarce, any company’s best practices seldom remain proprietary. Business models are shamelessly imitated with inner corporate workings becoming public knowledge. Best practices travel at Internet speed.

People are becoming masters at imitation. If you don’t have a good idea yourself, you can always knock off someone else’s product. An imitation is not necessarily an exact copy. You use details to create a difference: the look, the product extension, the packaging—anything that can make the other company’s idea look less new And this is easier than it used to be. If once you could hold on to a secret formula for years or even decades, now it’s a matter of months or days before your competitors catch up and replicate it. Read the rest of this entry »

Imagine a modern Rip Van Winkle waking up from a twenty-year sleep, He would surely be amazed at how the world has changed: He would be bewildered by new technology, bowled over at the speed and clutter of life in 2001, dazzled by the sheer abundance being thrust at him. The torrent of new products, goods, services, ideas, and innovations vying for his attention would be shocking.

How would he react? I suspect, like people through the ages in suddenly changed circumstances, Rip would reset his bearings from his old perspective before cautiously testing the new water. Like a child who clings to a teddy bear well into adolescence, or a lottery winner who repaints the old house, he would cling to the familiar and be slow to embrace what is new. Read the rest of this entry »

The pursuit of marketplace victory is an emotionally charged topic. As the competition intensifies, so do the excitement and apprehension in those participating and watching. Top performers and winning teams evoke feelings of ecstasy and admiration in some, but agony and envy in others. Likewise, when the results of the battle over customers are tallied, some managers are electrified, while others are filled with dread.

Invariably, the managers most conflicted are those who had been within striking distance of winning, only to watch victory slip from their hands. They pursued strategies very similar to those employed by the leaders, but not with the same results. In fact, most of what this articles addresses would apply to them—if only they could notch up their performances.

“What’s missing?” they ask in frustration. “We do everything our toughest competitors do, if not more. It isn’t possible to work harder than we do, and still, we aren’t breaking through.” Adding insult to injury, Wall Street and the business press ignore their not insignificant accomplishments, charmed instead by flashier performers and upstarts despite the fact that these companies are yet to see a profit. As the “almost winning” managers will attest, there’s an elusive quality surrounding market leadership that deserves further comment in this final article. Read the rest of this entry »