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In a marketplace increasingly defined by customer categories with
high expectations for service, quality, and responsiveness,
companies are discovering that traditional mass marketing
approaches are giving way to more targeted approaches that
communicate directly with their customers. But to many consumers,
direct marketing has a bad reputation, associated with intrusive
door-to-door salesmen, dinnertime phone solicitations, junk mail,
and, most recently, e-mail spam. In Direct Marketing in Action, a
team of experts in the field dispels common myths and
misconceptions about direct marketing and showcases the most
current practices, principles, and techniques. The authors cover
the full range of issues that must be considered in developing an
effective direct marketing strategy, including competitive
analysis, information and data management, media and channel
selection, building brand loyalty, and measuring the results of
campaigns. Bridging the gap between research and practice, clearly
defining terms and concepts, and featuring numerous examples,
Direct Marketing in Action will serve as an essential handbook for
marketers and a comprehensive overview for students, teachers, and
researchers. From the dentist who sends check-up reminders to his
patients to the hotel chain that customizes room amenities based on
their guests' profiles, direct marketing is infused with the idea
that the best allocation of our marketing dollar is one that
focuses on and communicates with our particular micro market—and
reinforces the distinctive benefits that we provide to those
customers. In Direct Marketing in Action the authors cover the full
range of issues that must be considered in developing an effective
direct marketing strategy, including competitive analysis,
information and data management, media and channel selection,
building brand loyalty, and measuring the results of campaigns.
Bridging the gap between research and practice, clearly defining
terms and concepts, featuring numerous examples, and presented in a
format that can be read cover-to-cover or in modular fashion,
Direct Marketing in Action will serve as an essential handbook for
marketers and a comprehensive overview for students, teachers, and
researchers.
Redundant employees. Storerooms full of extra stock in case we need
it. Marketing money sprayed in all directions in the vain hope it
will create customers. Duplicate IT systems. HR policies that
fatten the corporate waistline rather than keeping it trim.
Budgeting exercises that result in more of the same, plus 2%.
Nearly every corner of most established businesses harbors
waste--wasted money, time, effort, or all three. As any runner can
tell you, a lean body runs faster and wins races. The same goes
when it comes to the competitive race all businesses engage in.
Lean companies innovate faster, market more effectively, operate
more smoothly, and achieve greater profitability. Eliminating Waste
in Business: Run Lean, Boost Profitability highlights common ways
that businesses across all industries waste money without realizing
it. Taking an analytical, hands-on view, this book challenges
universally accepted business practices--some even taught in
business schools--by pointing out how these practices drive waste,
and then showing how to eliminate it and reap the benefits. In
seven meaty chapters, operations expert Dave J. Orr, and sales and
marketing authority Linda M.Orr tackle some of the obvious and
easy-to-get-rid-of organizational fat and time wasters (meetings,
anyone?) that for whatever reason many managers are blind to.
They'll also show you how to employ lean six sigma and other
methods to improve improve operational processes, inventory
management, and more. But this book goes beyond these things and
covers such areas as marketing and advertising spend, headcount and
personnel administration, finance, and the many categories that
make up what is in many companies a bloated monster: overhead. With
an emphasis on employing technology and smart management to drive
down costs, this book will take a comprehensive view of the broad
spectrum of money and time wasters and show you how to get rid of
them once and for all.What you'll learn * The areas in which
companies waste the most resources * How established practice
drives businesses and business leaders to waste money * How to
distinguish waste from value * How to avoid cutting bone and muscle
along with waste * How to use various analytical and technical
tools to eliminate waste * How to use technology to drive down
costs in all areas * How to calculate ROI in each business category
and improve it by doing more with less Who this book is for
Eliminating Waste in Business is designed for any business leader
from basic supervisors to C-Suite executives. The concepts will
apply to all managers, including those in nonprofit and government
positions, and those in any industry or sector. A secondary market
for this book is MBA students. Students often learn commonly
accepted business and human resource practices in MBA courses, but
they have no idea that, in the real world, many of these practices
create waste.
When to Hire--or Not Hire--a Consultant: Getting Your Money's Worth
from Consulting Relationships is a hands-on, practical guide for
anyone thinking about hiring a consultant to set strategy, solve
problems, increase profits or revenue, develop new products, open
new markets, or improve efficiency. Consulting is one of the
fastest growing professions in the United States. According to the
U.S. government, there were 719,000 consultants in the U.S. in
2010, and you can expect an additional 274,000 by 2020. Cloaked in
expert status, consultants might seem to be the answer to many
business problems. You call someone in to solve a particular
problem or develop new markets, then send them away once the job is
done--while reaping the benefits of their expertise. Consultants
sometimes do work miracles, but once in a while they wreck a
healthy business. And far too often, the benefits gained by calling
in consultants disappear far too soon after they leave.Yet as
return on investment (ROI) and accountability for results become
bigger and bigger issues, business professionals in search of
answers to performance or strategy challenges are turning more and
more to outside guidance for help. Indeed, few businesses do not
use some kind of consultant at some point in their existence. But
how can you leverage the skills consultants can bring to the table
without adding undue risk to your operations? How can you
effectively manage the consultant relationship to get the greatest
benefit for the least cost? What metrics can support your decision
to hire--or not hire--a consultant? When should you use home-grown
talent to solve problems instead? That's what this book is all
about. While there is a multitude of books on how to be a
consultant, this is the first to help an executive determine when
to hire one. You will learn strategies to decide when a consultant
is needed and how to support that decision with hard evidence, how
to select the right consultant, how to set clear expectations, and
how to know when a consultant is either a valuable resource or a
hindrance to the company's success.The authors of this book bring
together two opposing perspectives. Linda Orr has served as a
consultant in many companies and situations, while Dave Orr has
hired consultants many times. Together, they can help you make the
most strategically and financially sound business decisions. This
books shows you how to: * Work through ROI and other issues to
support a decision to hire a consultant. * Maximize the benefits
consultants can provide. * Explore options other than hiring a
consultant. What you'll learn * Where consultants come from and
what qualifications you should look for. * How to compute ROI for
consultants. * When consultants can be effective and when they
cannot be effective. * How to select the right consultant, then set
expectations. * How to negotiate a consulting contract. * How to
form an effective consulting relationship. * How to fire a
consultant who is not adding value. * Your options besides
consultants to solve business problems.Who this book is for When to
Hire--or Not Hire--a Consultant: Getting Your Money's Worth from
Consulting Relationships is designed for owners and managers who
need help navigating the decisions to be made and the choices faced
when they need--or think they need--outside help. Most companies
use consultants occasionally, but many executives have not had the
experience of dealing with consultants and using them profitably
and effectively. It's also for those who have had a bad experience
with consultants and need a better process for ensuring a
successful relationship with a consultant. A secondary market for
this book is MBA students. Giving that the consulting industry is
so large, a basic part of strategy training should be when do you
outsource your management decisions. (Linda Orr plans to use this
book in her MBA classes.
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