B2B Marketing Blog
Recently by Iain Lovatt

Too many customers?

December 19, 2009 7:45 PM | By Iain Lovatt
Would anyone agree with this statement? Could a business ever have too many customers?What do we mean by too many?For some time now I have been thinking the issue with UK businesses and the future is not having too few customers but having too many. Too many of the wrong sort and too few of the right sort in my view. Businesses have conducted economy of scale marketing programmes and reaped the reward they deserved. The majority of the customers they have acquired through blanket mailings, mass email campaigns and telephone marketing programmes are too small, not profitable, very expensive to service and distract companies from acquiring...
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Is marketing worth it?

November 17, 2009 9:42 PM | By Iain Lovatt
If marketing is so great why is it the first budget to be cut when the going gets tough?...
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Is the customer king?

November 12, 2009 12:56 PM | By Iain Lovatt
These days, consumers have more choice than ever before, through more diverse channels - from storefront to mail order to online. Expectation is higher than ever. Companies that fail to live up to that expectation find customers leaving without comment - the majority of dissatisfied customers will not complain, they will simply change suppliers. Those businesses that introduce an exceptional level of customer service are differentiating themselves from the competition in an increasingly saturated marketplace. Which is why it is so surprising that business, to a large extent, is still failing to address the issue of customer service. According to...
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Why does the world spin around

October 21, 2009 9:30 PM | By Iain Lovatt
A vexing question but one that only the youngest amongst us seek an answer to as we have deemed to have grown out of asking such simple questions by the time we hit five or six.  But why does the earth spin around?  I don't know or if I did I have forgotten the answer now I have reached the big 50 plus. Bring on the Omega 3 and fish oils to help me lubricate those old memory cells. But now I am at the top of the tree such questions are below me to ask. I need to seek...
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Why are postal workers not a special case

October 13, 2009 4:58 PM | By Iain Lovatt
Why do certain groups assume they are a special case? Why are some groups not impacted by the changes happening in the world right now?As far as I can understand the postal workers want to save the postal service for the country and are fighting the modernisation proposed by the management (real 70's speak here, anyone else remember Red Robbo of Longbridge and how well did he do?)In reality the public are no longer interested in the postal service. The market has declined and the decline is accelerating, people use the internet to shop and communicate and the postal service is as...
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Why marketing counts for so little

October 13, 2009 8:52 AM | By Iain Lovatt
My recent experience with my mobile phone service provider has made me re think the value of what we do for clients and how we should approach the marketing of products and services in future.   The service provider in question is a client of ours at Blue Sheep and spends a not inconsiderable sum of money with us and we in turn have a dozen data cards on the business with them and the family have three phones that consume on average £150 worth of hard earned money each and every month. I like the brand I love the...
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CRM is dead – long live CIM!

June 25, 2009 2:27 PM | By Iain Lovatt
Let’s be frank, building customer loyalty and gaining share of wallet are strategic imperatives for all businesses. Most marketers should be very aware that research highlights that an increase in customer retention by only five per cent can lead to a significant uplift in profitability. Combined with the fact that acquiring a new customer is five to 10 times more costly than retaining an existing one, it is no surprise that many companies are desperately looking into retention strategies. The challenge lies in combining excellent retention activity while maintaining acquisition activity – fundamental for long term business survival.To achieve this,...
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Analytics uncovers green shoots

March 31, 2009 9:31 AM | By Iain Lovatt
Clearly it would be foolish to think that marketing budgets have not been affected by the recent downturn or to ignore companies have also had to reduce the headcount within marketing departments. Regardless of these developments however, should we all not be looking forward and stop continually focusing on the negatives? I actually believe that for those companies that remain optimistic and focused, there are still opportunities available. To discover where these lie and how to capitalise on them will be the key to businesses success. The answer to finding these will ultimately be found in the raft of customer...
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Analytics uncovers green shoots as not all customers are King

March 30, 2009 4:29 PM | By Iain Lovatt
Carrying on from my last blog I would like to start with the summary that clearly it would be foolish to think that marketing budgets have not been affected by the recent downturn or to ignore companies have also had to reduce the headcount within marketing departments. Regardless of these developments however, should we all not be looking forward and stop continually focusing on the negatives? and we should be focussing our efforts where they are liley to get a bigger and better return. I actually believe that for those companies that remain optimistic and focused, there are still opportunities available....
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