Edition 73: June 26^th 2008


In this newsletter...

News

Marketing Planning
80/20 Rule

Internal News

Humber Bridge Marathon
A P Robinson & Co Networking Event
Success at the Northern Lincolnshire Business Awards
Race For Life
 

News

Marketing Planning

You want to tell your target audience what you’re good at. Is it better to shout about yourself once – or should you contact customers repeatedly with different messages at varying times?

You want your prospective customers to get to know you and your existing customers to remain loyal to you. The way to achieve this is drip marketing. Drip marketing can raise your profile amongst your target audience. With a little imagination you can plan and execute regular campaigns which drip feed information about your business into the wider world. It is often more effective to get prospects’ attention through several small- scale actions than to open up the advertising tap fully only once.

Making contact with prospects or customers once per month is a good average depending on your industry. Create an annual plan which records what you should do every month, who has to do it and when it should be done. This will keep you from time-management problems and allow you to link your campaigns.

Working with a general annual theme will have a positive effect. Some suggestions include: celebrate 5, 10, 20 years of being in business and tell your customers and the local press about it; organise a discount or sales campaign; run a customer satisfaction survey and ask for your customers date of birth so that on their birthday you can send them a small gift or a birthday card; organise a competition; tell the community about how you are moving, growing or expanding for the future. Create a tight schedule – devising, developing and executing a campaign means little if you don’t stick to a plan.
 

80/20 Rule

Without going into an in-depth history of Vilfred Pareto, he observed that 80% of Italy’s income went to 20% of the population.  Interestingly, this observation translates to business extremely well.  And as a general rule, 80% of your revenue will come from 20% of your customers (or from 20% of your product offering).

So, knowing the basics of the 80/20 Rule, who are the customers that occupy the top 20% of your customer base? Here are 3 quick steps to get you started on your own 80/20 Analysis:

1. Print out the sales ledger for the most recent financial year by customer/client account number.

2. Save as an Excel spreadsheet.

3. Aggregate the information by “Buying Unit.”

4. Do the same again by product type.
 

Here’s what we’ve typically found:
 

* Remember this is a rule of thumb, so don’t spend too much time defining your customer segments – near enough is good enough.

So what does this 80/20 Analysis tell us?   

This business is heavily reliant on the top 5% of their customer base. If one or two of them defected, they would take with them, a large proportion of total sales.  It is also evident that a lot of time is being spent serving smaller customers, when they only contribute 18% of sales. 

One of the key questions we should be asking is, “Could time spent serving 79% of the customer base be better spent on the larger customers?  The ensuing discussion should focus on strategies to move customers in the large bracket to extra large, and then turning medium sized customers into large customers.

If you would like to discuss this principle further please do not hesitate to get in touch with Lizzy Dale, our Marketing Manager on 01472 345888.

Internal News


Humber Bridge Half Marathon

Our Practice Manager Pete Coles is running the Humber Bridge Half Marathon this Sunday 29^th June 2008 in aid of St Andrew’s hospice.The 13 mile race is one of the most challenging events in the north of England and we are very proud that Pete is running to raise money for this very special charity. After six months of training, we wish him all the best of luck.
 

A P Robinson & Co Networking Event

A P Robinson & Co, Lloyds TSB and Bridge MacFarland Solicitors are hosting a Networking Lunch at the Waltham Windmill Golf Club on Tuesday 15th July from 12.30pm (till 2.30pm).
It will be a great opportunity for you to promote your services; gain new business; find better suppliers and share advice with like minded people.
We aim to make you feel very relaxed and introduce you to new contacts by offering you the opportunity to network with all attendees.

If you are interested in attending, please contact Lizzy Dale on 01472 345888 or lizzy.dale@aprobinson.biz
 

A P Robinson & Co Success at North Lincolnshire Business Awards 2008

Our recently promoted Manager of Operational Services, Emma Stamp came runner-up for The SME Manager of The Year at The Northern Lincolnshire Business Awards 2008. We are very proud that Emma was recognised for this prestigious award.

Emma joined A P & Robinson & Co in 1997 and throughout that time was the first accountant to qualify within A P Robinson & Co in 2001 and in 2006 became a Certified Chartered Accountant. She has achieved all this whilst balancing her full-time career around two children.

After the awards, Emma said, “Although I did not win it was still an honour to be nominated. It is always nice to be rewarded for the hard work you put into your career and be recognised for it. I would like to congratulate Timberland Motorhomes for their win. I am also grateful to A P Robinson & Co for the training and the chance to further my career in the company which I hope can continue at the high standard I’ve set myself”.
 

Robinson girls Race for Life

On Sunday 22^nd June 2008, A P Robinson & Co had 15 members of staff complete the 5k Race for Life course to raise money for Cancer Research UK. The event took place with 2500 women on Cleethorpes Pier. Our A P Robinson & Co team ran in memory of Shirley Philipson, a valued member of staff who sadly passed away earlier this year to cancer.

The organiser Lizzy Dale said; “Shirley had worked as the cleaner in this building for almost 20 years. She was incredibly dedicated to her work and became a dear friend of the firm. We decided to participate to honour her memory and raise money to help a great charity.”

Relationship Manager, Sarah Clark finished the race in the top 10 of finalists out of 2500 partakers, in less than 22 minutes. Well done Sarah!