Goblessed

were in the audience. He acknowledged them. Then he told us how his father had wanted to be in show business - but did not pursue that dream because of his father's (David's grandfather) stubborn prejudice against a career in show business. David revealed an inner pain. Why? That shows that he is human like the rest of us. Reveal a little of your inner secrets - a failure, an imperfection, an unfulfilled dream. Don't pretend to be perfect. If you do - we will hate you. Instead be real - so those around you can see and believe that you are like them - human. Don't be seduced by the magic of technology I was surprised to see, that before the show started, the stage was empty. No props or equipment to clutter up the message and distract our eyes from Copperfield. Yes, technology was used - as tools to support and enhance the illusion. The technology was never allowed to become the show. Clearly, Copperfield was the creator of the illusions. Who or what is sending your mess...

efficiently if they can act on those differences. A business that tries to offer a single undifferentiated product with generic marketing support will always lose out to more nimble competitors who have specific targets and know how to serve them. We often work for health plans. In the Medicare Part D world for instance, health plans are struggling to make sense out of new regulations while meeting very tight deadlines. But todayÆs difficulties are going to give way to a market where segmentation will be of great benefit because mass marketing will not work. Which Segment? It is obvious that all competitors cannot target the same segment and succeed. A common mistake is to assume that you must focus on the "heavy buyers" who, in reality, are often not the most profitable group. For example, a consulting firm may decide to forego targeting Fortune 500Ö firms that are fiercely contested by the Big Four accounting/consulting firms and instead pursue middle market firms. ...

as the frequency of purchasing, total spending, or the mixture of stores shopped (switching, investigating, comparing, delegating decisions), or ò Characteristicsùsuch as geodemographics for consumers or SIC codes for businesses (health conditions, subsidy status, current coverage status), or ò Attitudesùsuch as financial sophistication, fashion orientation, or disposition to adopt new technologies (interest, optimism). The variables that are used to define the segments are called the "basis." The basis is chosen in light of how the segmentation will be applied. Direct marketers, for instance, carefully dissect their databases in terms of purchase behavior. Other segments are based on consumersÆ motivations and concerns. Marketer choose this because motivations and concerns are what cause consumers to act on an offer. We donÆt think that there is only one "correct" way of doing segmentation research, nor that there is a single set of segments waiting to be "...

measures of the quality of a cluster solution, they are no more important than informed managerial judgment. Researchers oftenl offer two or three possibilities to discuss. The "right" number of segments is subjective, but in practice companies tend to settle on four to eight segments. In a diverse, complex, and lucrative category more might be called for. Agreeing on the number of segments, as well as the labels that will be attached to them, always requires careful study of their full profiles. While the segments may be defined with one class of basis variables (e.g. attitudes about fashion and shopping), you always need to describe the segments in terms of other variables (e.g. demographics, spending, media preferences, preferred brands) that were not part of the definition of the segments. Application An important deliverable from most segmentation research is a tool for classifying other consumers into the segments. This could be a formula where by asking a small number...

is collecting emails. Several companies have already realized huge profit gains by simply adding one simple step to their business...collect your clients name and email address. Doesn't sound very profitable until you realize what you can do with that information. No I am not talking about spamming, I am talking about sending emails to your client that they can't wait to receive. One business that implemented this technique sells video games, hardware, ext. After walking up to the counter to pay for their merchandise the cashier simply asks for their information and includes the email address of the buyer. What better way to get someone back into your store than inviting them. So how do you send your clients an email without their getting angry and yelling spam? Send them legitimate offers that make sense. If you just email your client to tell them to come back to your store then their is no real reason for that email. In fact the person who received it might think it to ...

to see the resource box of this article. Title: Sell Your Successes: 3 Techniques That Can Lower Your Marketing Costs & Energize Your Business Word Count: 661 Summary: Looking for simple marketing and sales techniques to differentiate your business from the competition? Well here are 3 key ones that will help you humanize and personalize your marketing and sales approach to draw prospects in like a magnet! Keywords: marketing,testimonials,case studies,sell,selling,sales Article Body: I attended a seminar the other day at a local trade show and one thing that they mentioned almost in passing that inspired me was the critical concept of ôselling your successesö. Hmmmà ôSell your successesö û What could that mean? Simply put, when you walk the talk, talk the walk. Adjust your marketing and sales conversations and materials to reflect how your product or services helped someone achieve what they wanted. Now how do you do this? Well here are 3 techniques that when applied effectively...