Bunnings has just seen off its Woolworths competitor Masters. Dan Murphy stores dominate the liquor category. JB HiFi expands in a category filled with bankruptcies. How do these three companies survive when others fail? What is their secret? The answer is that they do, what I call, the Retail RAP. What is the retail RAP?.. read more →

When I was first studying marketing I was taught that selling focused on the product and marketing focused on the consumer. That, I was taught, was the fundamental difference. Marketing was described as a much better discipline because its primary goal was customer satisfaction whereas selling was all about getting the maximum number of sales.. read more →

Why does the Australian Labor Party exist? Given the continual power struggles within the ALP most voters would say it exists to give personal power to its politicians. It certainly does not appear to be serving the needs of its electorate. That is the reason why the ALP brand is broken and it is why.. read more →

It has become popular to predict the death of solution selling based on the fact that online information is so comprehensive it makes solution selling redundant. The theory goes that sales people are now no longer needed to explain how their products and services can solve problems for consumers. The doomsayers think that consumers can.. read more →

People relate to brands the same way they relate to other people. You build a brand the same way you build a friendship. In forming a friendship with someone you find out about their values, their personality and how you get on with them. As you get to know them you either decide to spend.. read more →