Wizard of Ads Partners

"Impact in advertising today is 80 percent strategy, 20 percent copy. This makes it nearly impossible for good copy to compensate for weak strategy." - Roy H. Williams

A Monday Morning Memo for the Clients and Friends of Roy H. Williams

Hear Memo

You walk into a room, empty but for a table carved from crystal. Girdling the table are 11 other persons whose occupations are similar to yours.

You place ten thousand dollars on the table, your gift to the group. Each of the other 11 does the same. But this is a magic table. You don’t walk away with your own ten thousand. You get the entire hundred and twenty.

And so does everyone else.

The crystal table is a metaphor. Its benefits are real, but the stakes are much higher than a mere hundred and twenty thousand dollars. And you need not bring any cash. Bring instead the things you’ve learned over the years – your failures and successes, your experiments and discoveries, your golden nuggets of experience.

And everyone else will bring theirs. Are you beginning to see the power of a Peer Group?

Click to read more ...

by guest columnist Kathy Marsh.
of Kelly Services,Townsville, Australia

(edited from original article. Green italics by the editor.)


Happy, content, motivated staff lead to happy customers.
Happy customers lead to increased sales.

Often managers can get caught-up with the running of the business and forget about nurturing their most important asset - their staff.

At a time when the workforce is transitioning from loyal Baby Boomers to unsettled Generation Y workers, it is important to retain your best employees through successful people management.

Finding out what makes a contented and motivated workforce is essential, because people who enjoy their work and working environment will make a more effective contribution to the performance of the business.

And who is responsible for making a happy, content and motivated workforce? The Boss.

So what makes a good boss? Kelly Services latest Global Workforce Index sought the views of approximately 70,000 people in 28 countries.

Bosses were rated on four attributes –
1.    communication,
2.    leadership,
3.    team spirit and
4.    delegation skills. 

Employees were asked to score their bosses with a mark out of ten.

In Australia, the average score for bosses, as seen through the eyes of their employees, was a respectable seven out of ten.  This placed Australia in sixth place out of the  28 countries for the best bosses.

Workers felt that bosses were best at delegating effectively and weakest when it comes to communication.

Communication presents itself in all aspects of management and is an integral part of managing people. This is not only giving directions, but also creating a positive culture through recognition, feedback, praise and advice.

Communication also needs to be two-way. Employees who can voice their thoughts and make suggestions will be more engaged and are likely to contribute in positive ways to business performance.

Good bosses are also good leaders.  A solid role model who is respected by employees and who motivates with challenging goals will be more successful as a manager and will have better staff morale.

Leadership also plays a strong part in the culture of an business by establishing the protocols and values that guide workers. Allowing employees to engage in social interactions - such things as birthday morning teas or race day celebrations - will help to generate a team spirit and collective mission.

Delegation of work is also an important aspect in being a good boss. Providing stimulating and challenging work, responsibility and clear instructions will lay the foundation for good work ethic and performance from staff.

Often managers can get caught-up with the running of the business and forget about nurturing their most important asset - their staff.

The Kelly survey also found that only 65% of workers said that their bosses rewarded them for a job well done.

Simply taking the time to tell someone they’ve done a good job or provide some constructive feedback can make a big difference.

From the Editor: Need great staff? Email Kathy

As a business owner, how do you rate yourself on the 4 attributes. Can you see any room for improvement?

As an employee how does your boss rate on the 4 attributes?

Let us know.

"A plan without action is a daydream; action without a plan is a nightmare." - Japanese proverb

and the Smell of Fresh Paint

by Roy H Williams - Hear Memo

Commercially speaking, where are things happening in your town? Move to where the action is. Follow Best Buy, Home Depot, Starbucks and the other Big Boys who have already done the research.

Nothing draws a crowd like a crowd.

Media costs are escalating and the public is hiding from ads. These are just two of the reasons why a great location is more important today than ever before.

Expensive rent is the cheapest advertising your money can buy.

Is Walgreens able to afford great locations because they do a big volume, or do they do a big volume because they always secure great locations?

A high-visibility location communicates leadership. It implies that you do things better than your competitors.

The goal of advertising is to become familiar to your customer, to become part of their world so they think of you immediately when they need what you sell. All else being equal, customers choose the familiar over the unfamiliar. A great location makes you familiar to the public.

Are you in retail? Cut your yellow page ads dramatically or altogether. Add these dollars to your occupancy budget. (The yellow pages are a service directory. Don’t waste your retail exposure dollars there.)

Cheap rent is seductive and insidious. It ensnares even the brightest people.

Two weeks ago I was listening to a man tell me about his business when I abruptly told him that his problems were the result of a bad location. He hadn't yet told me anything about his location when I made the statement.

“What makes you think I have a bad location?”

“I knew the moment you told me which parts of your company were profitable and which were struggling.”

“But I didn’t think the location would matter for a business in my category. We’re a destination. We don’t need drive-by traffic.”

“How much do you spend for occupancy and how much are you spending for advertising?”

“Two thousand a month for rent. Seventy-five hundred a month on radio ads.”

“What would it cost to be where the action is?”

“About four thousand a month.”

“Take the extra two thousand from the ad budget. Four thousand for occupancy and fifty-five hundred on the radio will make you a lot more money.”

Your location tells the public what you believe about your company in your heart.

How proud is your location?

Roy H. Williams

PS – Real Estate developments are changing. Want to know how?

"We build great people, who then build great products and services." - Jack Welsh 

The Magic Question

By Holly Buchanan, co-author of the best selling book, The Soccer Mom Myth.

I recently met with one of the best salesmen I’ve ever seen (male or female). He owns his own house cleaning company. Many things impressed me about him, but what really got my attention was one specific question he asked.

"If there’s one piece of cleaning that must be done in order for you to feel completely happy with the service, what would it be?"

He went on, “I talked with a woman who said, ‘my stovetop is really hard to clean, but when it’s really spotless, I am a very happy woman. Even if you don’t do a perfect job on the rest of the house, that’s ok, as long as that stove top is look terrific.’ Is there anything like that we should know?”

I hadn’t really thought about it til he asked, but, yes, there was something I was really particular about – mopping the bathroom floors. I told him so.

What a terrific question – and I loved that he gave a specific example. Imagine if you could get this information from your customers. What’s the one thing that really matters to them that you must get right. Even if you don’t do a perfect job, what’s the one criteria that must be satisfied in order for them to feel really good about doing business with you?

I don’t know about you, but I’m going to work that question into the introduction call of every engagement from now on. I hope you will, too.

From the Editor: If you liked today's tip from Holly, make sure you subscribe to the SMM weekly newsletter.