Topic

grapevine

A collection of 653 issues

Set The Standard

I learned through a TV interview that Steve Ross, the American head-hunted to turnaround retail chain Edcon [http://www.edcon.co.za/default.aspx], has managed to more than double the size of the business and return it to healthy profits. Consequently, he’s considered somewhat a leadership guru in

Change For The Better

I just saw an interview with a former CEO of BP, John Browne, as part of his autobiography [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/7189896/Beyond-Business-by-Lord-Browne-a-review.html] PR. He was pressed in typically rolling-news-knock-everything fashion that going into business was surely solely about the pursuit of making

Bank Manager's Top 2 Business Plan Failings

Will the lengthy and deep downturn trigger a long period of almost static economic performance or worse still, become a double-dip recession? This is a question taxing the financial press, yet many of the people I speak to, working in the field day-in, day-out, seem more optimistic. One such chirpy

Gastropub Food Growth

Having recently spent many fun-filled days with, among others, a friend that owns a cool chain of London pubs as England somehow salvaged a draw in the Cape Town Test, I learnt plenty about the intricacies of running a gastropub. One insight was when an order in Capetonian institution, Forresters,

What's Your Top-Line Indicator?

A thoroughly enjoyable meeting at a client the other day uncovered a remarkably simple approach to funnel management. Selling a combination of fairly big-ticket items (mixing ‘hardware’ & ‘software’), the typical account manager monthly revenue target is 50k. Whilst obviously the main figure, there are two other numbers of prominence.

Wholesaler Lock-In Mechanisms

A pal of mine is a purchasing expert. I know. How could I possibly cavort with the enemy 🙂 and even more amazingly, he was once a rep. We chatted about what people involved in a particular project I was working on (helping to ensure sales of cotton-related products) could do

Short-Term Punch Always Loses

Everyone knows that a sell-and-run merchant will get found out one day. All buyers absolutely loath such a salesperson. A plant involved in the cotton industry shared a tale with me about how they are trying to repair a relationship caused by just such unwelcome behaviour. A long-term vendor-consumer arrangement

Related Angel Truths

A friend of mine went surfing for insight into the often murky world of Angel Investors. Apparently, there are over 300,000 such individuals in America alone, and according to the same site that stated that fact, there are three Angel-related “Bitter Truths”. 1. More than 80% of all businesses

Buffett Value Approach

Everyone has nothing but praise for Warren Buffett. He even manages to be self-confessed best-friends with his rival for Planet’s Richest Person, Bill Gates, in a world where surely Hollywood would dictate they are bitter sworn enemies. As judged by the S&P 500, which has grown by

Quote or Early Invoice?

I just saw a document presented to someone in the hope of gaining an order. It was one single sheet of paper and featured, rather prominently, a figure in the region of $75,000. It included payment terms, bank details for electronic funds transfer, and seven ‘product lines’, none with