Marketing Eye Blog Articles
What keeps you awake at night?
Some say a sales manager never sleeps. Constant questions seem to plague their minds - will I make that budget? How will I close this sale? Have I got the right team for the right job?
What if there was a way to help answer these questions? Some miracle program whereby sales managers no longer have to stress about the duties and targets of their entire sales team, but just focus on their own task at hand. A program which can change those plaguing questions from “Will I make that budget?” to “we will make that budget”
I received an email from the Sales Coach Academy, who provides a powerful and proven sales coaching program for sales managers. I was asked what are my biggest sales frustrations? What traits my ideal sales team would posses? And pretty much what keeps me awake at night?
The aim of the short survey is obviously to work out the needs of Sales Managers, what frustrates them and what concerns them most about their sales team. It provides questions that more or less allow you to vent your sales frustrations, so that the Sales Coach Academy can base their coaching programs around the areas of high interest to sales managers.
I strongly suggest you take the survey if you have been involved in the sales industry throughout your career – which most of us have! Perhaps we can finally get some answers to those questions that keep us awake at night!
Alison Lovatt, Marketing Eye.
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It is remarkable how much you can fit into a day, let alone a week.
I am travelling to the US on 22nd March to meet with some people over there; potential investors, key influencers, government and industry leaders. Organising my schedule and fitting everything in is near impossible. 10 days just isn't enough. But for this trip, it will have to do!
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A reason, a season, a lifetime - why are people in your life?
Mar 07, 2012 Written by Mellissah SmithI sat down with my friends who were also in business and watched Jack Welch talk about his story of how he changed GE and his philosophies on business.
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While we may learn history throughout our education, as an adult, unless you are particularly interested in historical events and people, knowledge on the past can be somewhat limited.
Today, I was asked to market something that has so much historical significance in Queensland, but is yet unknown by most of Australia. It is perhaps some of the best poetry that I have ever read. Up there, in some ways, with Keats, Shakespeare or Blake.
If you haven't read it already, pick up a copy of Pen Blossoms by Mary Rattenbury, published in 1936. It will literally take you to another place.
Like Nostradamus who predicted the French Revolution, Adolf Hitlers ruling and the death of Princess Diana, Mary Rattenbury predicted an invasion of Australia by the Japanese.
Sometimes the best marketing for the future, is to take a look at the past. Look at past authors, poets, artists and gain insight into their work. You never know what piece of brilliance you may pick up and how relevant it is to today's market.
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FxPro Super Rugby Tonight @ AAMI Park - How to make your sponsorship work
Mar 01, 2012 Written by Mellissah SmithRugby is the sport of gentlemen. I remember years ago going up to Brisbane to watch Australia play Italy at Ballymore Stadium. Everyone was well dressed, drinking champagne and premium beers, chatting away. The stadium was full of professionals and die hard rugby fans. The atmosphere was exciting and full of life.
Of course the Kiwi's vs the Aussie's is the biggest match in the game particularly if you are from either of these countries.
Sponsorship is a hard one to measure. I know Qantas do an amazing job with their sponsorship of the Formula One in Melbourne each year. You would have to be sleeping under a rock if you didn't associate Qantas with Formula One in Australia. Their marketing team does a phenomenal job of maximising their sponsorships.
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What's in a media kit : Things have changed in 2012.Have you?
Feb 27, 2012 Written by Mellissah SmithThis got me thinking. What should go in a press kit (or media kit) in 2012?
Here are some things you should be considering;
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There are many reasons for this; namely, is that I don't want to give too much away in case, heaven forbid, someone copies.
But I have this blog, which many wonderful people read, and it's very real. It tells it how it is. If you read the blog daily, you would pretty much know who I am, what I think about business and be getting a fair share of stories that may or may not relate to your own small business experiences.
Last week, I talked on how to get your business to the next level. Well, I am there. I have had enough holidays, and I am completely and utterly committed to taking my business to the next level. My enthusiasm for Marketing Eye and what it has to offer is contagious. I know this because every meeting I have of late, people make comment.
Marketing Eye is successful in Australia. I am proud of its accomplishments and what it provides the businesses we work with. We are innovative to a point, that many of our competitors copy our website word for word, our service offering and as much as they can - our spiel. But they are never going to be us as we will always be the innovator, the thought-leader and the risk taker.
Shedding some tears can be a good thing...(this blog is for women only)
Feb 27, 2012 Written by Mellissah SmithAs a woman with a fairly robust exterior, that to the outside world is fully focused on business, my principals and the people I care about, I am largely seen as a confident woman with the world at my feet.
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Pinterest.. more than a passing interest for small business marketing
Feb 26, 2012 Written by Mellissah SmithMaking Hitwise's Top 10 Social Network list beating Linkedin and Google is no easy feat for this unassuming social media platform that is the newest social media platform in town.
It is the best platform for business today particularly small business - especially if you are a visual person and your small business clients are visual people too.
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per·fect/ˈpərfikt/
Adjective: Having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be.
Verb: Make (something) completely free from faults or defects, or as close to such a condition as possible.
Noun: The perfect tense.
Nobody is perfect. I know. I have worked hard to be more 'perfect' in so many ways and have learnt the hard way that that is not possible. No situation in life is perfect. It can be good or even great, but not perfect. No human being is perfect. No house is perfect. No business is perfect. No animal is perfect. No holiday is perfect. No experience in life is perfect.
Perfect is not attainable, but being better is. Improving your status quo through dedication, perseverance, focus, compromise and a big picture view, can help you get your world closer to 'perfect', but don't be disappointed that you never get there.
Turn your small business into a BIG one : Easy to implement ideas
Feb 22, 2012 Written by Mellissah SmithMarketing Eye has hit this point many times and each time we have done a situation analysis and made business decisions on where to go. Right now, we are in expansion mode with the US market firmly in our sights.
If you are in this position, think about what your Big Hairy Audacious Goal is and work out how realistic it is given your current resources and capabilities. Things to consider include;
Expand into new markets
But at the end of any relationship whether it is with a supplier, client, employee, friend or partner, is really the beginning of something new and exciting. It just sometimes takes people longer to get over the last relationship than needed.
Don't bag the tech geek in your office - you will need him! Marketers be warned!
Feb 21, 2012 Written by Mellissah SmithThe rise of the tech geek in the world of marketing has been fast and furious. In fact, they have become more important to marketing than marketers themselves. How the world has changed!