B School or Pizza Night?

 

Skip B-School, Go out for Pizza instead.

My wife & I are out for our weekly dinner:
Cold ante-pasta for two, pizza, BYOB claret.

A woman comes in with two children.

Owner: Are you here for a pickup?

Wife: No. We're here for dinner. My husband is
picking up a bottle of wine. Can you bring us
two glasses.

The husband comes in carrying a brown, paper bag.
I have a bad feeling about this.

Wife: Where's the wine?

Him: I thought we'd have beer instead...

Silence.

I feel chills up my spine.

As we get ready to leave, my wife goes to powder her
nose. I pay the check. 

Before we leave, I say to the woman,
"My wife & I weren't able to finish our wine, would you like
it?"

She says thank you. I pour her a glass. 

As we leave, she says in a loud voice--for her husband's benefit--not mine, "What a nice man. What a very nice man."

The B-School lessons:

1 Bait & Switch:  He offers a customer 

Pizza and Wine--he delivers Pizza & Beer.

2 Over promise [wine] Under deliver [beer]

In cans, not even bottles.

3 Market penetration from a competitor

Seizing the opportunity, a competitor 

delivers a free sample of wine.

4 Inventory optimisation.  Why 

leave inventory on the shelf when

you can use it to attract new customers?

5 Marketing strategy:  From the old canard

"Marketing:  Find a need and fill it."

6  Shelf space optimisation: Create 

additional shelf-space by rotating 

stock or giving discounts or by repurposing.

7 Revenue enhancement: What I gained

with the bottle of wine will see diminishing

returns--hence, I put the product into circulation

and add benefits to the investment in the wine.

8 Consumer demands:  Consumers want wine,

I deliver wine.

9 Market expectations:  The market expectations

were not fulfilled.

10 Sales

11 Customer retention

12 Customer Service

13 Product distribution

There is so much to be learned if you simply

see things in a new light or from a different 

perspective.

Regards,

Slim

Box 33
Pen Argyl, PA 18072
Etats-Unis

Copyright © 2022 Robert Asken
All rights reserved

If You Can Label It You Can Sell It

"If you can label it, you can sell it."

"The Alchemists tried turning lead into gold and failed.  The Marketing People succeeded by selling lead to the Alchemists.

The Quotations of Slim Fairview. (c) 2017

Remember the pet rock?  Adopt a Cabbage Patch Kid?  Here we go.

LABELS

When I was young, a label spoke to the quality of the merchandise. Dunhill tobacco pouch, Florsheim shoes.

Today, a label speaks to the price of the merchandise. Everything does come with a price.  But many times the price is more than dollars and cents.  Every label has a price.

If you carry a Birkin Bag, you'd better be a celebrity.  If not, you will be viewed with contempt for parading around with a $60,000 pocketbook.  On the other hand, if you wear Birkenstock Sandals, don’t you also pay a price; a price for marketing yourself?  You are marketing yourself, aren't you?  Really?  Aren't you?

Florsheim Shoes, Gucci Loafers, Birkenstock Sandals are all quality products. Different price ranges, but all quality products. And each sends a different message.  Who are you labeling your product for?

Label v. Logo.

You're logo is not the little picture you hired that graphics designer to create for you.  Your logo is, in fact, how your customer feels when buying, wearing, or using your product.  Your label is what your customer tells other people he paid for your product--not in dollars only.  To understand logos, read my article "YOUR LOGO".

There is, of course the cynical approach.  Two outstanding examples of that are:

P.T. Barnum:  “There’s a sucker born every minute.”

H.L. Mencken:  “Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.”
 

Now, we move onto serious marketing people.  For this we have the Four Marketeers.

• Redesign

• Reconfigure

• Relabel

• Repackage

These are the four cavaliers of successful marketing.

There is an old saying on Madison Avenue.  “Half of all advertising works.  But nobody knows which half.”

The issue, of course, is not advertising.  The issue is marketing. And, I've said this repeatedly.  Marketing:  “Find a need and fill it.”  

Don’t get T-Boned at the intersection of Marketing & Madison.  Marketing Trumps Advertising

Relabel

WHY THE BUY IN?  Is that the hard question?  No.

If you'd read my article "MARKETING 1959" you will already know that wearing leggings (snow pants) made you a target of derision and teasing.  I remember the "consumer pushback" as my Mom tried getting me into my leggings. 

Then, one day, my buddy had to wear them.  And someone began, "Ha, ha, you had to wear leggings."  But he was ready. 

"They're not leggings, they're ski pants".

 

Suddenly they became an icon of cool.  Okay, why the buy in?  Why did the other boys in the class suddenly buy into the premise?

Two reasons: 

In part, to be a part of it all if they had to wear them.

In part for protection from derision if they had to wear them. 

Call it relabeling, not rebranding.   You’re not switching from the discount store brand to the designer brand. The product was renamed.

  

For example:  My Dad wore a robe.  Noel Coward wore a dressing gown.

However, one of the most brilliant relabeling strategies was employed by Japanese Automakers. 

When US car manufacturers wanted to enhance revenue, they outsourced their work off-shore.  This was an effort to cut costs.  However, you don’t sell a lot of Oldsmobiles in a country where people earn $5. A day.

When Japanese auto makers wanted to enhance revenue, they opened plants in the US and hired American auto workers.  What happened? 

Japanese automakers began selling cars that were made in America by American workers. 

There will be more to come.

If you find anything here to be helpful, please don't hesitate to send me a really tricked out Mac Book and to tuck a few dollars into the envelope along with the thank you note. 

Sincerely,

Slim

Box 33
Pen Argyl, PA 18072

slimfairview@yahoo.com 

Copyright (c) 2013 Bob Asken

All Rights Reserved.

Marketing 1959

Think you're a marketing guru?


In 1959 leggings were not a fashion statement.  They were, for the purposes of this discussion, what a 6 year old boy wore to school in winter when his Mom was feeling specially cold.

As with galoshes--a medieval form of footwear designed to torture enemies by forcing their children to wear them to school, leggings were an embarrassment.  They were a scarlet letter, a hair shirt, the wrong team jersey worn on Superbowl Monday.

Then, one day, they were no longer leggings, courtesy of one of my friends.  They were now ski-pants--and they were cool.

Flash forward: 1964. Penny Loafers. Ugh!  (I had a pair of Beatles Boots!)  They, too, were a target of derision.  Then, again, courtesy of my buddy who showed up for school in a pair of penny loafers.  They were no longer penny loafers.  They were now Weejuns.  And they were cool.

When and where did I learn marketing?  In 1959.  In the first grade.  That is when and where I learned how to spin.

Grade one, my buddy is running for Class President.  I must have been one of the cool kids.  I was one of two people chosen to count the ballots.  It was a close race.  One vote decided the outcome. 

The last vote was written on a piece of blue paper.  It was for my buddy.  The vote was cast by a mutual friend.  The friend who was responsible for our friend being elected.  How so?

As he informed us that he knew that the blue piece of paper would be the last one chosen.  Spinmeister.

And you consider yourself a marketing guru because you studied marketing?

I've been studying marketing since your parents were forced to bear the shame of wearing  galoshes to school.

Warmest regards, 

Slim

slimfairview@yahoo.com

Copyright (c) 2013 Slim Fairview
All rights reserved.

JCP and 1000 Pennies

This is the follow-up to my article Your Logo. There I offered a brief compare and contrast analysis between JCP® and Macy's®.  This is the extension.

One thousand pennies equals $10.00 (ten dollars).  That is the value of the coupon offered by JCP, heretofore known as J. C. Penney's.  On television, this has been reported as JCP sends customers letter explaining why they don't offer coupons. The letter included a coupon.  

However, shoppers seldom, if ever, conduct a review of the stock prices, the growth curve, or the business news before going shopping.


Your Logo

Your logo is actually how a customer feels when shopping in your store or buying your product.  How the customer feels is the why of 'why a customer goes to your store'.

Let's watch a customer in Sears®.  A Mom, with several children, sees a dress.  The dress is $11.00. Mom knows she can buy that dress at Family Dollar® for $7.00.  The difference?  Well, two dresses means a third dress.  Eight ($8.00) dollars can be a night's meal.  Two nights for a smaller family. 

Have you ever heard this conversation?

"The mall is crowded.  I can't find a parking spot."

"Just park over by Penneys.  We can go through Penneys into the mall.  We just have to remember we parked by Penneys."

That is not very flattering.  Is it true?  Do you know?  Did you ask?  Did you issue a statement saying how much your customers love shopping at JCPenney?

Your Catalogue

Does your catalogue look inviting?  Or does your catalogue look more like a catalogue for clip-art? Do you know? Did you ask? Whom did you ask?  Now we have this conversation:

"Can you put that picture of the sweater on my website?"

"Not a problem.  A simple copy-paste. No extra charge."

"Thanks."

Sorry, folks, but I found the catalogue uninspiring.  Of course, that is only my opinion.  How are your sales figures? Your profit figures. Your stocks?

I've walked through JCP.  Nothing enticed me to stop and look.  I've walked through Macy's. I stop, I look, I shop.  Men's Clothing. Men's Shoes.  The place where they sell that cookware stuff. (Real people do not speak the same language as the people in marketing.)


Slim Fairview's Illustration of Empirical Analysis.

Did you try it?  Yes.
Did things get more high, good, better? No.
Did things get more low, bad, worse? Yes.
Conclusion?  Don't do that.

Of course, only you can know what is going on inside.  However, it seems intuitively obvious to the casual observer that you might not know what is going inside the shopper's head.  You may not know what the shopper is feeling.

Miracle Marketing

JCP is not Walmart. JCP is not Macy's.  As Jim Cramer pointed out: Gimbel's.

There are some things the marketing department cannot do.  For example: For the last two months of every year--the prime shopping time--Macy's becomes the Miracle on 34th Street.

"Uh, since the United States Government declares this man to be Santa Claus, this court will not dispute it. Case dismissed"


What? How? Who? Why? 

What are you?
Who are your customers?
How do your customers feel?
Who does your marketing?
Why? 

Rethink the way your rethink the problem. Rethink the way you rethink the solution.

JCP: a thousand pennies.

Regards, 

Slim 

Slimfairview@yahoo.com

Copyright © 2012 Slim Fairview

Sam Walton's Claim! Valid?

I am certain it has been discussed.  

The change in Walmart's business model:

From:  "Always low prices, always."

To:      "Spend less. Live better."

Is it valid?

Be a regular consumer for a moment.  This is a slice of life with the pennies rounded off the way real people do when they talk to each other. [sic]

100% Colombian Coffee.

Walmart?          $  8.00

Supermarket?   $12.00

Savings?          $   4.00

Jif Peanut butter?

Walmart?          $ 4.00

Supermarket?   $ 5.00

Savings?          $ 1.00

Total savings?  $ 5.00

Saturday night?

Hamburgers?    $ 4.00

Steak?              $ 8.00

Savings?         -$ 4.00

Offset?             $ 5.00

Saving?           $ 1.00

Saturday night, steak instead of hamburger + one dollar in savings.

Sam Walton's Claim:  "Spend Less. Live Better."  Validated!

Regards,

Slim

Slimfairview@yahoo.com

Other articles by Slim Fairview

Your Logo  http://sidestreetjournal.blogspot.com/2012/09/your-logo.html 

Doing a Store Remodel  http://sidestreetjournal.blogspot.com/2012/10/doing-store-remodel.html

Copyright (c) 2012 by Slim Fairview

All Rights Reserved.

       

Doing a Store Remodel

1. The Walk Through.

Walk through the store.  

• Using a marker, mark all the shelves that must be replaced.
• Make a list indicating location and size of shelves.
• Order the number of shelves.

2. Storage Containers

• Determine the number of containers you need.
• Allocate the necessary space and draw up a layout of what goes where.
• If you delegate authority to a subordinate to transfer material from delivery to containers, give that subordinate the layout drawing.
• Store shelves by size in one container leaving room for workers to move shelves in and out.

3. Shelf Change Procedures

• Using two pallet jacks, have workers load 9 shelves on the first leaving the second jack empty.
• Have workers proceed to the start location.
• Remove 1st new shelf.  Place it on second jack.
• Remove stock, placing it on stack of new shelves.
• Remove old shelf.
• Replace with new shelf
• Place old shelf on second jack.
• Replace stock.

• Proceed to second location.
• Remove new shelf from stack. 
• Place new shelf on second jack.
• Move stock to new shelf on second jack.
• Take old shelf out, place new shelf (from first jack) in location.
• Replace stock.
• Put new shelf back on first jack, place old shelf on second jack.
• Repeat until all shelves on the first size to be replaced have been replaced.

Begin process with second size shelf.

NB  When all nine (9) shelves have been changed, return to container to load nine new shelves on first jack and place old shelves in designated location in container.


3. Displays Cleaning

When cleaning, organising, zoning the displays, do not be tempted to place one worker in each aisle.  Rather, place four workers in each aisle.  Have one supervisor present for each of two aisles.


4. Supplies

While this may seem intuitively obvious to the casual observer, have supplies on hand for the workers to use in cleaning the displays.

• Scrapers
• Spray Bottles
• Rags
• Paper Towels
• Screw Drivers
• Ladders
• Carts

Scrapers should be obvious as is the case with the rest.  However, the difficulty arises with ladders and carts.  (This includes pallet jacks.)

Ladders are needed for top shelves.  This is why we have four people per aisle.

While "Corporate" Policy can create difficulties with "canned patter": We don't use shopping carts. Shopping carts are for customers, we will try to work around that impediment despite the fact that shopping carts are used by staff and associates throughout the store throughout the day.

L-Carts should be assigned and organised.  Just as with storage containers, carts should have designated supplies in designated places.  Leads should be responsible for conveying this to their staff.   Other matter: paint cans, paint brushes, rolls of labels, fixtures, and other material should have a designated destination--period!

Product.  What do you do with the product when you remove it from the shelf to clean the shelf?  That is the test question.  Common sense would dictate that a portion of the L-Cart have that purpose.  However, the L-Cart is too small.  Answer?  Rethink the corporate impediment to common sense, efficiency, cost-effectiveness and other desirable ends.

5. Mentor

Have someone with experience in dealing with people not unlike contractors to tip off new project managers.  If a door does not close properly, don't let your corporate project manager listen to excuses not unlike:

• The wind keeps the door from closing
• We had our best carpenters install the door
• We adjusted the bracket as far as it will go
• Blah, blah, blah.

6.  Leadership


"You can't lead if you can't manage."  Slim Fairview: From The Quotations of Slim Fairview

There has been too much said about leadership training.  So many people lack basic management skills:

• Organisation
• Process Management
• Referent Authority
• Formal Authority
• Confident
• The confidence of superiours
• The support of superiours.

Therefore, I have posted links to three articles on the matter.

• You Can't Lead if You Can't Manage

• You Can't Lead if You Can't Manage 2.0

• Impediments to Executing Strategy

Best Wishes 
Best of Luck

Warmest regards,

Slim Fairview--Creative Consultant

If anything herein was helpful, please do not hesitate to send me a really tricked out Mac and don't hesitate to tuck more than a few dollars into the envelope with the thank you note.

Regards, 

Slim

slimfairview@yahoo.com 

Copyright (c) 2012 Slim Fairview
All Rights Reserved