A high performance sales person is one of the most valuable assets a company can have.
The purchase opportunity a consumer will pass up if left to their own isolated mind and will, the consumer will buy and pay twice the price if helped by a good sales person.
To better explore this notion let's take a look and explore some thoughts on home loan lending and the loan agent.
The loan agent for the modern day private lender is there for one reason. They are there to hold the borrowers hand, keep them happy, and most importantly to see them through the entire closing process. This is important because the borrower and home buyer has a lot to deal with. The never ending list of closing costs can be overwhelming and borrowers often want to back away as they become overwhelmed with all the financial obligations and contracts.
Because good sales people are hard to find and historically impossible to control, the typical employee to employer arrangement has proved a poor performance strategy.
Salary is a commitment and if the employer is wrong about the hired employee than they are out quite a bit of money. Sales people have a reputation of taking their own interest to the extreme. If they are guaranteed money this is gonna make managing them even worst. Why go the extra mile if there is no perceived self benefit?
Thus the commission has proven to be a great fit for the marketing and sales side of business operations.
Sales people are also good at extracting the highest price tolerable by any one given borrower. Thus loan origination points are a great match for originating loans. The sales guy is able to pull huge commissions and thus make a fruitful living and the lender carries zero risk.
By giving sales people a optional margin and commission take depending on the price obtained for any given product a company is able to give their sales reps greater opportunity for tremendously less risk. The price and risk is passed on to the consumer. If the consumer or borrower negotiates the price down to the bare minimum than they have avoided the extra cost of the reps allowable premium. The rep in this scenario still gets a commission. The commission is not as high as it could have been if they were able to get the consumer to purchase the product for a higher premium.
Sales people learn to live and cope with this uncertainty.
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Understanding Risk and the Certainty of Uncertainty
Showing posts with label marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label marketing. Show all posts
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Small Business Marketing - A Warning to Small Business Owners
As you may or may not know there are many outlets for dentist, family physicians, lawyers, and any other common local business owners to obtain professional help with advertising, marketing, and related efforts and needs.
What you may not know is that there is most likely no other consumer with in the marketing and advertising industry that is more sought out by marketing firms then this target market.
The reasons behind this is simple.
They meet the perfect sales and marketing business model.
Professionals such as yourself have a lot of money and excellent sources of cash flow. This is true of many folks. There are much bigger and fatter wallets out there that firms don't bother with because those “wallets” don't have the other key characteristic.
The consumer (you) has no idea of what to expect or what is possible in terms of results, cost (margins or the premiums you guys pay), or knowledge of what is involved in terms of providing the marketing and advertising services. This is really appealing when you couple that notion with the idea that you guys are as busy as you can possibly be. No time to explore your options.
These services, that local dentist and other medical professionals buy into, will charge very high prices for services the sales guy will promise to do for you. The services provided will often be much different and will account for much less of the firms cost then probably any other type of expense.
On top of this they will be sure to lock you down on some sort of residual service that will be about as much as a cell phone bill or a little less. This is so that in large volume the fees will add up but the amounts are small enough that the customer (you) will more or less forget about, not think about, or perhaps not care about. The margins are enormous.
If you own a small business you may find it more beneficial in both a financial sense as well as the overall marketing performance.
Related Articles
Articles of Organization - LLC
How to Market and Advertise Small Local Business
What you may not know is that there is most likely no other consumer with in the marketing and advertising industry that is more sought out by marketing firms then this target market.
The reasons behind this is simple.
They meet the perfect sales and marketing business model.
Professionals such as yourself have a lot of money and excellent sources of cash flow. This is true of many folks. There are much bigger and fatter wallets out there that firms don't bother with because those “wallets” don't have the other key characteristic.
The consumer (you) has no idea of what to expect or what is possible in terms of results, cost (margins or the premiums you guys pay), or knowledge of what is involved in terms of providing the marketing and advertising services. This is really appealing when you couple that notion with the idea that you guys are as busy as you can possibly be. No time to explore your options.
These services, that local dentist and other medical professionals buy into, will charge very high prices for services the sales guy will promise to do for you. The services provided will often be much different and will account for much less of the firms cost then probably any other type of expense.
On top of this they will be sure to lock you down on some sort of residual service that will be about as much as a cell phone bill or a little less. This is so that in large volume the fees will add up but the amounts are small enough that the customer (you) will more or less forget about, not think about, or perhaps not care about. The margins are enormous.
If you own a small business you may find it more beneficial in both a financial sense as well as the overall marketing performance.
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Articles of Organization - LLC
How to Market and Advertise Small Local Business
Monday, November 29, 2010
Business Basics - Taking a Look at the Competition
All businesses have competitors. All businesses must compete for customers and their market share. If there is any room for competing firms then you can rest assured that the applicable industry will see new competing firms.
For all those notions expressed above exploring the competition and the competitive environment of your industry is a necessary activity for any business.
Business competition can come in many different shapes and forms.
Competition can come from a local business, it can come from web based company. It may come from a substitute product or service. It may come from a vast variety of sources.
No matter what shape or form competition comes in one thing that is absolutely concrete and necessary for any small business is that one must understand the competition on a intimate level if you are to have any sort of chance at maintaining a long term competitive edge over your competition.
Considering Competition
What and how you go about examining and considering the competition will depend on your business. Below I have prepared a list of key areas to explore when considering the competition.
Local Competition
If local competition exists then this should be a definite focus of competition consideration. Taking a look at factors such as location, local advertising mediums, community reputation, and operation history are some very important aspects of local competition.
Competing Alternatives
Explore alternative products or services does the consumer have to choose from. Explore the strengths of these alternatives. Find the weaknesses of these choices. Figure out how you can exploit the weaknesses and offer one of your strengths that makes your product or service the superior solution to what ever problem or need your product fulfills.
Future Competition
What does the future competitive landscape look like?
Take a look at how new technologies will influence the competition. Examine the barrier to entries. How sturdy are those barriers. How can you make it harder for new competitors to get started. Try and create a generic game plan for dealing with a new competitor.
Related Articles
How to Prepare a Marketing Plan
Business Basics - Stay Competitive
3 Key Aspects of Every Business
For all those notions expressed above exploring the competition and the competitive environment of your industry is a necessary activity for any business.
Business competition can come in many different shapes and forms.
Competition can come from a local business, it can come from web based company. It may come from a substitute product or service. It may come from a vast variety of sources.
No matter what shape or form competition comes in one thing that is absolutely concrete and necessary for any small business is that one must understand the competition on a intimate level if you are to have any sort of chance at maintaining a long term competitive edge over your competition.
Considering Competition
What and how you go about examining and considering the competition will depend on your business. Below I have prepared a list of key areas to explore when considering the competition.
Local Competition
If local competition exists then this should be a definite focus of competition consideration. Taking a look at factors such as location, local advertising mediums, community reputation, and operation history are some very important aspects of local competition.
Competing Alternatives
Explore alternative products or services does the consumer have to choose from. Explore the strengths of these alternatives. Find the weaknesses of these choices. Figure out how you can exploit the weaknesses and offer one of your strengths that makes your product or service the superior solution to what ever problem or need your product fulfills.
Future Competition
What does the future competitive landscape look like?
Take a look at how new technologies will influence the competition. Examine the barrier to entries. How sturdy are those barriers. How can you make it harder for new competitors to get started. Try and create a generic game plan for dealing with a new competitor.
Related Articles
How to Prepare a Marketing Plan
Business Basics - Stay Competitive
3 Key Aspects of Every Business
Monday, November 22, 2010
Small Business - Why Most Small Businesses Fail
The vast majority of small businesses fail. Why is this?
Starting, running, maintaining, managing, and growing a small business is no easy task. In fact it is absolutely grueling, and at times will seem impossible impossible.
Why do so many small businesses fail?
I have come up with ten common reasons why most small businesses fail. By taking a look at some of the known small business killers we can learn from the mistakes others have made in the past and learn from their mistakes.
Below is a list of the top ten reasons that small businesses fail.
10 Reasons Why Small Businesses Fail
Starting, running, maintaining, managing, and growing a small business is no easy task. In fact it is absolutely grueling, and at times will seem impossible impossible.
Why do so many small businesses fail?
I have come up with ten common reasons why most small businesses fail. By taking a look at some of the known small business killers we can learn from the mistakes others have made in the past and learn from their mistakes.
Below is a list of the top ten reasons that small businesses fail.
10 Reasons Why Small Businesses Fail
- Lack of a Long Term Company Vision
- Failure to Establish Goals and Business Objectives
- Inadequate Financial Planning
- Not Listening to the Consumer
- Underestimating the Competition
- Lack of Leadership
- Ineffective Operations Procedure and Process
- Lack of Skilled and or Seasoned Business Talent
- Lack of Company Agility
- Failure to Communicate Internally
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Friday, November 19, 2010
SEO - On-Site Optimization VS Off-Site Optimization
The ultimate goal of both on-site optimization and off-site optimization are one in the same. The goal is to support the target websites SERP's and increase the relevant search engine traffic. This post discuses on-site sep vs off-site seo.
The differences are straight forward.
Off-site SEO is geared towards building incoming links that increase page rank and traffic. Another goal of off-site work is to build a positive reputation for the target site and to establish that site as a "go to" expert or authority on the particular niche of that website.
On-site SEO focuses on producing relevant content that awaits search engine users who find the target site. Also structure and design efforts focus on creating a make sense navigation structure that is user friendly. Also the design and structure should be easily read by search engine spiders who crawl the web as an effort to organize all the web pages in a vast index that determines when and where to place a search listing for any given search query that a user submits.
Both on-site and off-site are necessary components of search engine optimization.
The differences are straight forward.
Off-site SEO is geared towards building incoming links that increase page rank and traffic. Another goal of off-site work is to build a positive reputation for the target site and to establish that site as a "go to" expert or authority on the particular niche of that website.
On-site SEO focuses on producing relevant content that awaits search engine users who find the target site. Also structure and design efforts focus on creating a make sense navigation structure that is user friendly. Also the design and structure should be easily read by search engine spiders who crawl the web as an effort to organize all the web pages in a vast index that determines when and where to place a search listing for any given search query that a user submits.
Both on-site and off-site are necessary components of search engine optimization.
Three R's of Online Advertising
The three "R's" of online advertising are three important aspects that all advertisers need to consider when developing an advertising campaign.
This article will discuss the three "R's" of online advertising and why they are important.
3 R's of Online Advertising
Below is a list of the three R's of online advertising as well as a description and explanation of why they are important.
Reach
The reach of an advertisement refers to the portion and frequency the population of users are exposed to the ad. For example Google has a reach of approximately 150 million American Internet users which is approximately 80% of the US Internet user population.
The reach of an advertisement is important information for advertisers because it allows them to determine if the reach available is enough or not enough for their advertising needs.
Relevance
The relevance of an ad refers to the degree the ad is similar, useful, or "like" the content, needs, and interest of the user and what the user is currently doing. For instance, a advertisement for a divorce lawyer is relevant to Ralph a mechanic and a current search user who is researching divorce attorneys. That same advertisement is not going to be a relevant to Ralph three years from now when he is viewing the NYTimes.com story on Ford Motors.
The relevance of an advertisement is going to a big impact on the performance of the advertisement.
ROI - Return On Investment
The ROI or Return On Investment is the value or benefit that is received by the advertiser per dollar the advertiser spends or invest in the advertisement.
If the advertiser spends $200.00 on content network advertisements through Google and that advertising generated $10,000 dollars worth of revenue, then one can most likely say that given the cost of the product or service is not to outrageous that advertiser should probably turn up the dial on their content network advertising budget.
This article will discuss the three "R's" of online advertising and why they are important.
3 R's of Online Advertising
Below is a list of the three R's of online advertising as well as a description and explanation of why they are important.
Reach
The reach of an advertisement refers to the portion and frequency the population of users are exposed to the ad. For example Google has a reach of approximately 150 million American Internet users which is approximately 80% of the US Internet user population.
The reach of an advertisement is important information for advertisers because it allows them to determine if the reach available is enough or not enough for their advertising needs.
Relevance
The relevance of an ad refers to the degree the ad is similar, useful, or "like" the content, needs, and interest of the user and what the user is currently doing. For instance, a advertisement for a divorce lawyer is relevant to Ralph a mechanic and a current search user who is researching divorce attorneys. That same advertisement is not going to be a relevant to Ralph three years from now when he is viewing the NYTimes.com story on Ford Motors.
The relevance of an advertisement is going to a big impact on the performance of the advertisement.
ROI - Return On Investment
The ROI or Return On Investment is the value or benefit that is received by the advertiser per dollar the advertiser spends or invest in the advertisement.
If the advertiser spends $200.00 on content network advertisements through Google and that advertising generated $10,000 dollars worth of revenue, then one can most likely say that given the cost of the product or service is not to outrageous that advertiser should probably turn up the dial on their content network advertising budget.
Google Search Result Listing - Taking a Close Look
When a search engine user submits a search query to Google the user will get a search result page with search listings in order of relevancy according to Google search algorithms.
This article will discuss the make up and components of a search listing within a search results page.
3 Parts to a Google Search Listing
A Google search listing is composed of three main sections which are listed and described below.
Page Title
The first and most obvious component of a Google search listing is the title. The title is blue, bold, underlined, and linked to the applicable page.
Description
The second component of a search listing is the description which is a snippet of text that describes the contents of the page. It is generally two lines of text.
URL Line
The final component of a listing is the URL line which has three parts to it. The main one being the site URL which stands out because of the green text.
Next to the URL is a link in light blue which reads "cache" if a user clicks on the link they will be returned a page that is a copy of the page that Google has in it's index. The cache page will also feature highlighted keywords that the user originally used in the search query.
Next to the cache link is a link that reads "similar pages." If the user clicks on that link then they are returned search listings of similar pages in terms of content as determined by Google.
This article will discuss the make up and components of a search listing within a search results page.
3 Parts to a Google Search Listing
A Google search listing is composed of three main sections which are listed and described below.
Page Title
The first and most obvious component of a Google search listing is the title. The title is blue, bold, underlined, and linked to the applicable page.
Description
The second component of a search listing is the description which is a snippet of text that describes the contents of the page. It is generally two lines of text.
URL Line
The final component of a listing is the URL line which has three parts to it. The main one being the site URL which stands out because of the green text.
Next to the URL is a link in light blue which reads "cache" if a user clicks on the link they will be returned a page that is a copy of the page that Google has in it's index. The cache page will also feature highlighted keywords that the user originally used in the search query.
Next to the cache link is a link that reads "similar pages." If the user clicks on that link then they are returned search listings of similar pages in terms of content as determined by Google.
Google - The Company Basics
Google Basics
Google is a publicly traded corporation.
Google's mission statement and proclaimed purpose is to;
"...organize the world's information"
Google is best known as a search engine which is also the engine that allows the company to grow and prosper.
Google has much more to offer then just search. Google has and continues to create and develop new products and services on an ongoing basis. Many people have no idea how many products Google has to offer.
The Heart of Google
The heart and soul of Google is search. Thus the algorithms that power the search engine Google offers to the world is the backbone, life line, or the roots of the company.
Google search algorithms were created and developed in a dorm room by two Stanford students named Sergey Brin and Larry Page. They developed Page Rank which is what really added the useful relevance of the search results for users.
What started from a crazy notion and then an actual attempt to download the entire internet in a week, has turned into a much longer and more profitable concern that is now known as Google a corporate search engine and web company.
Google is a publicly traded corporation.
Google's mission statement and proclaimed purpose is to;
"...organize the world's information"
Google is best known as a search engine which is also the engine that allows the company to grow and prosper.
Google has much more to offer then just search. Google has and continues to create and develop new products and services on an ongoing basis. Many people have no idea how many products Google has to offer.
The Heart of Google
The heart and soul of Google is search. Thus the algorithms that power the search engine Google offers to the world is the backbone, life line, or the roots of the company.
Google search algorithms were created and developed in a dorm room by two Stanford students named Sergey Brin and Larry Page. They developed Page Rank which is what really added the useful relevance of the search results for users.
What started from a crazy notion and then an actual attempt to download the entire internet in a week, has turned into a much longer and more profitable concern that is now known as Google a corporate search engine and web company.
How Google Makes Money
Have you ever wondered how Google makes money?
Google makes money from displaying advertisements that advertisers pay Google for. These advertisements are displayed on the search results page as well as on websites that are part of the content network.
The Google advertising programs are AdWords and AdSense
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Google makes money from displaying advertisements that advertisers pay Google for. These advertisements are displayed on the search results page as well as on websites that are part of the content network.
The Google advertising programs are AdWords and AdSense
- AdWords is the platform that advertisers come together and bid for advertising space Google, the search network, and the content network. Google also sells inventory for radio and TV time.
- AdSense is a program and platform for content providers. It is an outlet that allows publishers to monetize their content and websites with Google ad's.
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Mechanics of a Google Search
From User Query to Search Results - Break Down of the Step by Step Process
Have you ever wondered what is going on behind that friendly, plain, and useful Google Search page which we have all come to depend on and expect it to be there eagerly awaiting to help us find what we want, what we're looking for.
What is going on behind that search box during the split second in between the time that we submit a search query and then get the results page.
From Submit to Results - The Mechanics of a Search Query
- First the obvious. A user must go to google.com and enter a search query into the the search box.
- After the user hits submit then the query is picked up and stored in the web server.
- The google web server will then shoot that information over to the index servers. These servers are like a vast table of contents or book index for the entire known Internet. The index servers rush as fast as they can to find all pages that contain those keywords in the query.
- After the index servers have retrieved all the index information the index servers then shot that information over to the document servers. These servers contain all the cached pages that Google bot has found over the many years of crawling the web. the document servers takes links, snippets of information and orders them in relevancy.
- The document servers then as quickly as possible returns the resulting search information of that query as fast as it possibly can. It will even give a estimate of how many documents it found.That whole process takes only a fraction of a second. In fact for practical purposes it is instant.
History of Online Advertising
Online advertising is a relatively new platform for advertisiers. Here we will briefly discuss the history of online advertising and more specifically the rapid growth and success that the young advertising medium has yielded thus far.
The First Advertising Online
Online advertising got it's start via the banner ad in the fall months of 1994. The banner ad was displayed on HotWired.com
The first full year of online advertising spending was a rather humble figure of just a few hundred thousand dollars. But it started to catch on and by 2004 a decade later from that first banner on HotWired.com the online advertising platform grew to approximately 10 billion dollars.
Today in year 2010 and for the upcoming 2011 the figure is much larger and will climb ever higher. Google alone should be clocking in at around 25 - 27 billion dollars in advertising revenue.
There has been a lot of advertising mistakes, trials, triumphs, and tribulations. We are making our way through the infancy of a platform that has already revoloutinalized the world of advertising and business.
Final Thoughts on the History of Online Advertising
The online advertising platform is still young and dumb. However, it is making leaps and bounds with every passing quarter. The new advertising medium will most likely become the dominate advertising platform of the future.
** As a side note and to give credit where credit is due the info on the first banner advertisement came from a Google copyrighted text book. It is titled...
Marketing and Advertising Using Google
(You can't buy it - They only send it)
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Online Display Advertising
Online Retail Revenue Soars
The First Advertising Online
Online advertising got it's start via the banner ad in the fall months of 1994. The banner ad was displayed on HotWired.com
The first full year of online advertising spending was a rather humble figure of just a few hundred thousand dollars. But it started to catch on and by 2004 a decade later from that first banner on HotWired.com the online advertising platform grew to approximately 10 billion dollars.
Today in year 2010 and for the upcoming 2011 the figure is much larger and will climb ever higher. Google alone should be clocking in at around 25 - 27 billion dollars in advertising revenue.
There has been a lot of advertising mistakes, trials, triumphs, and tribulations. We are making our way through the infancy of a platform that has already revoloutinalized the world of advertising and business.
Final Thoughts on the History of Online Advertising
The online advertising platform is still young and dumb. However, it is making leaps and bounds with every passing quarter. The new advertising medium will most likely become the dominate advertising platform of the future.
** As a side note and to give credit where credit is due the info on the first banner advertisement came from a Google copyrighted text book. It is titled...
Marketing and Advertising Using Google
(You can't buy it - They only send it)
Related Articles
Online Display Advertising
Online Retail Revenue Soars
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Business Basics - The 3 Fundamental Functions of Every Business Explained
No matter what type of business, or organization for that matter, you can rest assured that there are three fundamental functions that run that business and dictate how that business behaves.
This post explains the 3 basic functions of every business. These functions are Finance, Marketing, and Operations.
The 3 Basic Business Functions
Finance
The finance function of a business is responsible for securing and distributing funds for operations.
This function also is typically in charge of purchasing goods, supplies, and services that are necessary to carry out marketing and operational activities.
Budgeting and forecasting expenses, revenue, profits, costs, losses and debt are crucial tasks that the finance function of any business must be able to perform successfully.
Managing cash flow and the financial assets of a company is no easy task. To stay competitive a business must be able to manage their money effectively. This could mean developing investment strategies that produce a significant short term yield with out taking on excess risk.
Some businesses owe their success in large part to their finance department. For instance Amazon.com originally made their money not by selling books but by simply investing sales revenues for the short term between the time of purchase and the time of payment to the seller. During that period which was a time frame of 30 - 60 days for any given transaction Amazon.com invested the money for the short term and "made their living" off the investments resulting return or yield.
Most people don't know that.
Marketing
The marketing function of a business is ultimately responsible for ensuring the business has customers. The marketing activities and efforts of a company must focus on ensuring that the products and or services of the business are able to meet the needs and wants of the customer. Perhaps just as important, the marketing department must ensure that the target market is aware that the companies goods and services, and further, are aware that the products are able to meet their needs and wants. This "awareness" must be strong enough to convince an acceptable portion of the target market to purchase the goods or services as a means to meet their needs and wants.
The marketing side of a business must focus on developing strategies and plans that effectively create this awareness. For instance how a company advertises their products and services is developed and executed by the marketing department. Much of the customer experience is a focus of marketing. Whether it be designing a strategy to cross sell candy and other tasty treats to customers at a video rental store such as Block Buster or creating an overwhelmingly positive emotional experience for those touring a time share resort the marketing function of a business attempts to create a consumer experience that is optimized for selling the products and services of a business.
Just as the finance department will create forecasts and budgets a marketing department will prepare a marketing plan which forecasts sales and more importantly acts as the blue print of how a company will entice customers to purchase a firms products and services.
Operations
Operations is the function of a business that is responsible for cresting the goods and services of a business. Operations is responsible for producing what the company sells with in the boundaries of the budgets and forecasts supplied by the finance department as well as the supply and demand forecasts of determined by the marketing department. Operations must produce products and services in line with what the marketing department has dictated is necessary to meet the needs and wants of the consumer.
Operations is also the biggest player in running and managing the supply chain. Supply chain management is a crucial aspect of any business and the proper operations management approach can make or break a business. For instance despite Block Buster having multiple times the amounts of revenue as Red Box, Red Box stock is selling for extremely high multiples of their earnings per share while Block Buster is in bankruptcy trying to restructure their debt. This is because Red Box has a lean and mean well managed supply chain and Block Buster is still working on optimizing a clunky retail cross selling approach.
Just as a side note Red Box is owned and managed by the same folks who manage coin star.
So there you have it folks the three basic functions of any business explained. If you like reading about this kind of stuff I have decided to do another post directly relating to this topic. As a way to better explain and see the concepts at work I am going to post how each of these fundamental business operations relate to this very finance blog. This should give folks a practical application of the fundamentals at work by using Young Finance Guy as an example.
This post explains the 3 basic functions of every business. These functions are Finance, Marketing, and Operations.
The 3 Basic Business Functions
Finance
The finance function of a business is responsible for securing and distributing funds for operations.
This function also is typically in charge of purchasing goods, supplies, and services that are necessary to carry out marketing and operational activities.
Budgeting and forecasting expenses, revenue, profits, costs, losses and debt are crucial tasks that the finance function of any business must be able to perform successfully.
Managing cash flow and the financial assets of a company is no easy task. To stay competitive a business must be able to manage their money effectively. This could mean developing investment strategies that produce a significant short term yield with out taking on excess risk.
Some businesses owe their success in large part to their finance department. For instance Amazon.com originally made their money not by selling books but by simply investing sales revenues for the short term between the time of purchase and the time of payment to the seller. During that period which was a time frame of 30 - 60 days for any given transaction Amazon.com invested the money for the short term and "made their living" off the investments resulting return or yield.
Most people don't know that.
Marketing
The marketing function of a business is ultimately responsible for ensuring the business has customers. The marketing activities and efforts of a company must focus on ensuring that the products and or services of the business are able to meet the needs and wants of the customer. Perhaps just as important, the marketing department must ensure that the target market is aware that the companies goods and services, and further, are aware that the products are able to meet their needs and wants. This "awareness" must be strong enough to convince an acceptable portion of the target market to purchase the goods or services as a means to meet their needs and wants.
The marketing side of a business must focus on developing strategies and plans that effectively create this awareness. For instance how a company advertises their products and services is developed and executed by the marketing department. Much of the customer experience is a focus of marketing. Whether it be designing a strategy to cross sell candy and other tasty treats to customers at a video rental store such as Block Buster or creating an overwhelmingly positive emotional experience for those touring a time share resort the marketing function of a business attempts to create a consumer experience that is optimized for selling the products and services of a business.
Just as the finance department will create forecasts and budgets a marketing department will prepare a marketing plan which forecasts sales and more importantly acts as the blue print of how a company will entice customers to purchase a firms products and services.
Operations
Operations is the function of a business that is responsible for cresting the goods and services of a business. Operations is responsible for producing what the company sells with in the boundaries of the budgets and forecasts supplied by the finance department as well as the supply and demand forecasts of determined by the marketing department. Operations must produce products and services in line with what the marketing department has dictated is necessary to meet the needs and wants of the consumer.
Operations is also the biggest player in running and managing the supply chain. Supply chain management is a crucial aspect of any business and the proper operations management approach can make or break a business. For instance despite Block Buster having multiple times the amounts of revenue as Red Box, Red Box stock is selling for extremely high multiples of their earnings per share while Block Buster is in bankruptcy trying to restructure their debt. This is because Red Box has a lean and mean well managed supply chain and Block Buster is still working on optimizing a clunky retail cross selling approach.
Just as a side note Red Box is owned and managed by the same folks who manage coin star.
So there you have it folks the three basic functions of any business explained. If you like reading about this kind of stuff I have decided to do another post directly relating to this topic. As a way to better explain and see the concepts at work I am going to post how each of these fundamental business operations relate to this very finance blog. This should give folks a practical application of the fundamentals at work by using Young Finance Guy as an example.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Stabilizing The Housing Market – How America Did It
The mortgage loan and housing crisis created tremendous economic anxiety and directed the American economy towards a black hole of financial hardship.
Though the US economy is not out of the recession or perhaps depression, things have appeared to settle down a bit.
It looks as if the housing market may be stabilizing. This sis a article exploring the steps and actions that were taken to stabilize the US housing market.
All of these actions taken by our collective American government has really helped stabilize the US housing market.
It looks as if the housing market may be stabilizing. This sis a article exploring the steps and actions that were taken to stabilize the US housing market.
Key Actions of Housing Recovery
- The FHA's Efforts and Powerful Initiative
- Their efforts to spend capital on mortgage assets and securities when private capital was no where to be found.
- Political backing of their efforts to reform the financial markets and particularly the practices and operations involving debt and risk management.
- Obama’s Making Home Affordable Plan
- HAMP Modifications have helped 1.2 million homeowners obtain a loan modification
- HARP Refinance
- Lender Incentives
- Freddie Mae as acting agent for the MHA-C or the compliance assurance operations
- The Plans overall flexibility and agility to structure and restructure programs as they are needed.
- The Marketing and Advertising – aka the out reach efforts of the Making Home Affordable Plan
- The Hardest Hit Fund – Foreclosure Relief
- Home Buyer Tax Credit
- The home buyer tax credit added a great incentive for first time home buyers.
- The Nearly 25 Billion Dollars Given to US Housing Agencies
- US Housing Agencies were able to keep lending while other private lenders were saddle bagging cash out of fear and financial panic.
- 1.4 Trillion dollars of Purchases by the FED and Treasury to Keep Credit Markets from Choking
- Thank God. We would be Russian otherwise.
- Financial Support for Fannie and Freddie
All of these actions taken by our collective American government has really helped stabilize the US housing market.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Summer Block Buster Does it Right - Cameron and Tom Light It Up
So I have for a while now lost faith in the big screen. It just seemed that it was all about the quick money and not so much about the movie. The producers spend big on advertising and marketing talent and almost nothing on movie making talent. I hate that trend.
However I am glad to share that the action packed blockbuster known as "Knight and Day" has reawakened my soft side for shelling out $10.00 for a flick.
Mrs. Diaz was awesome and cruise was cool too. These guys really pulled it off together.
In fact the only true blockbuster in my opinion was Dark Knight. That was a hit and it was a hit because of that Joker. Damn if he wasn't absolutely brilliant in every imaginable meaning of the word. Shame that brilliance was snatched away in his passing. The whole situation kinda reminded me of the Crow.
Any how... Back on topic.
Their are to many disappointments over the last few years to really dwell on.
So Cameron Diaz, my one wish if i was ever granted one. She was absolutely perfect in this action stuffed, meat and potatoes of a movie.
Why this thing is not being celebrated by everyone at this very moment is beyond me. I sure hope it is not because of old Tom Cruise who did a freaking wonderful job as always. I swear just cause the guy went crazy hyper on the Oprah Winfrey show and happens to like that damn church of Scientology doesn't mean he still can't make a dime a dozen script into one of the best most exciting and exhilarating feature flicks that you have seen since he came out with his last one.
I mean honestly does the guy make a bad movie? Has he ever? then show some freaking respect and get off the damn computer grab your kids and take them to that movie... do it know!
This thing between Cameron and Tom was magical. I mean I still am not over it. They were thrilling, sexy, heart breaking, outrageously funny, and refreshingly entertaining. Both of them. Separate, together, and in commute these guys were unstoppable.
The first scene on the plane was a crazy emotional roller coaster like no other opening i have ever seen.
You first are taken with Mrs. Diaz and her alluring innocence, and Tom brings you to this philosophical state. Then out of no where this looming paranoia, followed by action packed jolt that was over before it began. then Diaz leaves and separates so that now your attention is thrown back and forth between an oblivious and ever lovable Diaz which would have been funny too except that Tom stole the show in this bizarre comedy action packed scene in which by the time it was over everyone in the freaking plane was dead except for the two of them. Ohhhh ... I babel but its because i can't stand to give this thing away yet I just gotta write about it.
The movie is absolutely wonderful
The best movie since Independence Day.
(where the heck am I getting this stuff from?)
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However I am glad to share that the action packed blockbuster known as "Knight and Day" has reawakened my soft side for shelling out $10.00 for a flick.
Mrs. Diaz was awesome and cruise was cool too. These guys really pulled it off together.
 |
| C. Diaz in small silver sexy bikini bottom |
In fact the only true blockbuster in my opinion was Dark Knight. That was a hit and it was a hit because of that Joker. Damn if he wasn't absolutely brilliant in every imaginable meaning of the word. Shame that brilliance was snatched away in his passing. The whole situation kinda reminded me of the Crow.
Any how... Back on topic.
 | |||
| The alluring gaze of C. Diaz |
Their are to many disappointments over the last few years to really dwell on.
So Cameron Diaz, my one wish if i was ever granted one. She was absolutely perfect in this action stuffed, meat and potatoes of a movie.
 | ||
| Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz on a Motorcycle |
Why this thing is not being celebrated by everyone at this very moment is beyond me. I sure hope it is not because of old Tom Cruise who did a freaking wonderful job as always. I swear just cause the guy went crazy hyper on the Oprah Winfrey show and happens to like that damn church of Scientology doesn't mean he still can't make a dime a dozen script into one of the best most exciting and exhilarating feature flicks that you have seen since he came out with his last one.
I mean honestly does the guy make a bad movie? Has he ever? then show some freaking respect and get off the damn computer grab your kids and take them to that movie... do it know!
This thing between Cameron and Tom was magical. I mean I still am not over it. They were thrilling, sexy, heart breaking, outrageously funny, and refreshingly entertaining. Both of them. Separate, together, and in commute these guys were unstoppable.
The first scene on the plane was a crazy emotional roller coaster like no other opening i have ever seen.
You first are taken with Mrs. Diaz and her alluring innocence, and Tom brings you to this philosophical state. Then out of no where this looming paranoia, followed by action packed jolt that was over before it began. then Diaz leaves and separates so that now your attention is thrown back and forth between an oblivious and ever lovable Diaz which would have been funny too except that Tom stole the show in this bizarre comedy action packed scene in which by the time it was over everyone in the freaking plane was dead except for the two of them. Ohhhh ... I babel but its because i can't stand to give this thing away yet I just gotta write about it.
The movie is absolutely wonderful
The best movie since Independence Day.
(where the heck am I getting this stuff from?)
Related Articles
Meet Nikki Haley and You Know Mrs. Sarah Palin - Sex Sells for Republican Party
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