 June 2009 - In this Issue ...
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Myths About Marketing to Older People
As the population of the world ages, anyone over the age 50, maybe classified as ‘old’ in some circles – not that they would consider themselves old. Here are some tips if you want to market to them
- Myth: The majority of older people suffer from poor health.
Fact: Very few older respondents reported having a serious health problem; only 5 percent are in any kind of institution.
- Myth: Most older people are isolated
Fact: Most older people have strong networks of friends and relatives.
- Myth: Older Americans have little discretionary income.
Fact: The over-50 group has more discretionary income than any other age group, controlling 80 percent of money in the U.S.
- Myth: Productivity drops as people age.
Fact: Studies show that older workers perform as well, or better, than younger workers.
- Myth: It is important to stress leisure when marketing to older people.
Fact: Most older adults are looking for involvement, not leisure.
- Myth: When marketing to mature customers, it's important to create strong age-specific features.
Fact: Older people do not respond well to offerings that are strongly identified with age.
- Myth: Most older people would like to be young again.
Fact: Most older people are quite content being older.
- Myth: Mature consumers are tight with their money.
Fact: Mature consumers are tight with money for goods and services needed to maintain their lifestyle, but free-spending when it comes to enhancing their lifestyle.
5 Steps to Bust the Recession
Vigorously analyse your business
Get an accurate, up-to-date snapshot of your company's financial health. Pull together a comprehensive 2 to 5 year financial history of the business (paying special attention to the cash flow) and begin looking for trends in key financial ratios. Then, use a benchmark to compare your data to other companies in your industry – if you can’t do that, then maybe joining a Round Table is a good idea?
Identify internal weaknesses
During good times, companies hire too many employees, acquire too much inventory and extend credit to customers with whom they should not do business. When sales and profits start to fall, these excesses become painful. Look at every aspect of the business to identify internal areas of weakness, including:
- Over staffing
- Overly liberal credit terms
- Too much or slow moving inventory
- Chasing revenues as opposed to profits
- Increasingly ageing accounts receivables
- Declining quality standards
Identify areas to trim before sales go flat, so you can make cuts in a logical, rational manner.
Develop a contingency plan
Consider organising a Profit Enhancement Planning (PEP) team. The PEP team will likely find numerous cost containment opportunities.
Prepare an opportunity-based business plan.
Your business plan should describe not just how you will survive an economic downturn, but also how you will thrive and subsequently rebound. Accordingly, the plan should include a combination of financial data (including your worst case forecast) as well as a strategy for acquiring new business.
Begin searching for opportunities within the industry
Pay special attention to competitors experiencing financial difficulties, but don't rush out to buy them yet! Business valuations tend to remain excessive during the early stages of a possible recession. Wait until prices become more realistic before implementing an acquisition strategy.
There are also opportunities to lay the foundation for expanding into new marketing territories as well as begin searching for outstanding hires in all key functional areas.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Economic corrections come and go yet companies continually fail to prepare for them.
If you have a well managed company with good cash flow and a strong balance sheet, there should be no reason for undue alarm. Now is the time to see where you stand, take precautionary measures, and start positioning yourself to take advantage of the opportunities to ride the next economic wave.
3 More Traits that You Share with Einstein
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We received some great feedback last month on looking at our old mate Einstein and our new 21st century entrepreneurs:
- Strong positive attitude. "Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character." An excellent manifesto for us to live by.
- Naps. Einstein was supposed to be a big believer in midday siestas to recharge the brain. Some companies--Google and Nike, to name two--have created nap-friendly guidelines for their employees. There may be a lesson there for up-and-coming entrepreneurs.
- Rise above the mundane details. The stories of Einstein having a closet full of the same suits are exaggerated, but the point of the story is made: He didn't want to spend intellectual and chronological capital wrestling with one of life's mundanities. The definition of mundane details will vary from person to person--you say spreadsheets, I say boring--but know what you consider mundane and hire someone to take care of those tasks before they get neglected and drag the company down. Howard Hughes--before he lost the keys to his sanity vault--didn't like the administrative day-to-day duties of the company he inherited from his father. He hired someone to handle it, and that person turned Hughes' $1 million company into a $75 million empire. The other lesson there is "hire well."
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Since we last spoke the progress from Zoe has been minimal. Nothing really visible. Nothing really noteworthy. Nothing at all . . . which got me thinking . . .
If I didn’t love my daughter, would I be bored and look for something else or would I just take her for granted and not give her any time.
So if our staff are not showing differences in their performance or behaviour do we just assume that they are not progressing. Absolutely not . . . just like Zoe is developing but not visibly, our Team are doing the same. So it is important we keep observing their behaviour and providing valuable feedback to them, to keep them improving.
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Zoessons
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Until next month, stay well and keep Active! ~Justin Tamsett
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