Marketing consultant Jay Lipe says the most important aspect of your marketing program is having a standout brand. And to help you check how effective yours is, he devised a quiz for small businesses found in his newsletter, The Marketing Minute.

Answer the following seven questions on a scale of one to five, with five meaning "totally agree" and one meaning "don't agree at all." Add up your points and find your company's brand score at the end of the quiz.

1. We use market research to gather information about our customers and company identity.


2. We have a positioning statement that clearly defines our company's point of difference.


3. Our marketing communications revolve around a select number of key messages.


4. Our company name is distinctive, memorable and protected.


5. We have standardized visual elements including a logo and standard company colours that we display throughout all our marketing tools.


6. Our business cards and letterhead feature high-quality and consistent imagery.


7. We have a high-quality brochure that reinforces our company identity, makes a compelling case for doing business with us, and then provides concrete next steps for the buyer to take.

He offers the following rating for your score:

• 30 - 35 points: Your company identity is a superstar. Go to the head of the class.


• 25 - 29 points: Your company identity has issues. Identify and pursue your five most pressing identity issues.


• Under 25 points: You have a lot of work ahead of you. Hire a consultant to conduct a full-scale audit.

Prior to an interview, Kevin Eikenberry was sent some of the questions to help him prepare. One stuck out: "What is the most important question we can ask?"

That's an interesting technique -- and question -- to consider in interviewing job candidates. But as Eikenberry, a business consultant, found out, it's also a tricky and very revealing answer to try to answer for yourself.

His answers, revealed in his Unleashing Your Potential e-zine, may help you:

• What Is Most Important To Me? Asking this question can help to set goals, prioritize tasks for better time management, and create a better balance in your life. It provides a clearer perspective.


• Why? It's the question we asked as kids, and that our children now ask us. It's the question of curiosity, and when we ask it we open our minds to possibilities -- and allow ourselves to find solutions to problems. In addition, it helps us to better understand our intention for any action we might take.


• What Can I or Did I Learn? As human beings, we are learning beings. The "why?" question nudges us onto that path, but this question helps us to take advantage of the learning opportunities that surround us each day.

You're at an event, mixing with people, and suddenly your mind blanks out on the name of a person you're meeting. The American Management Association's Administration Excellence newsletter offers advice from memory trainer Benjamin Levy:

• Never guess. The only thing worse than forgetting the name is using the wrong name.


• If you're talking to two people who know you but don't know each other, and you know one of them, Henry, say to the mystery person, "Why don't you introduce yourself to Henry?"


• Use physical touch. Put an arm on the other person's shoulder or grasp the other person's arm. This form of intimacy will cover up the failure to remember the name.


• Ask about their bad back, a technique favoured by former U.S. Vice-President Hubert Humphrey, who found everyone his age had a bad back and were grateful he remembered.

Eye-tracking studies show that users tend to rapidly move their eyes down the left side of lists. Web guru Jakob Nielsen says that means web sites where designers have justified the type on the right side, are courting trouble. Compare these two examples from academe:

   Prospective Students
                      Students
         Faculty and Staff

or

Prospective Students
Students
Faculty and Staff

His advice is that you should justify menus to the left, so the eyes can move in a straight line and don't have to adjust to find the beginning of each new line. As well, since readers may not look at the whole line, start each menu item with the one or two words that carry the most information (and make sure they are different from the words starting other list items).

• Makawalu is a Hawaiian word that management coach Rosa Say believes we could benefit from. Maka is the word for eyes and walu is eight, so makawalu means to look for eight ways or facets of thinking. It stems from the belief our intelligence is infinite: From each of the eight ways, another eight can be generated, so you don't have to stick with the first thought that comes along.
  (Source: Managing With Aloha Coaching blog)


• Let people know the best way and times to reach you. This helps to minimize phone tag and makes it easier for individuals to follow up with you.
  (Source: Clear Concept Inc. newsletter)


• You can back up your e-mail on Outlook, Express, Opera and other desktop-based mail clients with Amic Email backup, a download for Windows. It copies not only your messages but also your e-mail account information, address book, sender lists, stationery and message rules.
  (Source: Lifehacker.com)


• Marketing consultant John Doerr recommends asking your clients why they decided to work with you. What is it that made you distinct, and what benefits did they gain from the work you have done for them? That will help you to understand the value you can provide to others -- and how to clarify that value for prospects.
  (Source: RainToday.com)


• Academics Patrick Barwise and Sean Meehan say their research suggests managers should assume that they are less open to unwelcome messages than they think -- and recognize that they may be sending subtle signals that discourage frank talk.
  (Source: Harvard Business Review)

Anchoring is the natural human tendency to "anchor" or give particular weight to one factor, trait or bit of information when making decisions. Assessments tend to be made in relation to that anchor, an effect that can persist for some time.

One of the first studies to illustrate this cognitive bias (by Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman) asked respondents to guess what percentage of African nations were members of the United Nations. People who were asked beforehand "Was it more or less than 45%?" guessed lower values compared to those who had been asked first if it was more or less than 65%. Pollsters must be particularly careful of this effect.

In Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions, Dan Ariely illustrates the anchoring effect with respect to pricing. He compares it to goslings that imprint on the first moving object they see once they break free of the egg. Similarly, when thinking about buying a new product, we may anchor our sense of a fair price based on the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP), advertised prices, promotions, what our friends say they've paid, or what price we see first.

Ariely suggests that anchoring occurs only when you are seriously contemplating a purchase -- before that, advertised prices have little effect. I also think the effect is more powerful when you have no previous experience with the product, whether it involves buying a consultant's services, a new type of wine or a novel high-tech gadget. What's a fair price?

Ariely further points out the importance of relative comparisons, for example our tendency to pick product in the middle of a price range (not the $100 bottle of wine, not the $8 bottle -- the one for $36 will do nicely, thanks). Adding a premium-priced product to the line tends to increase sales in the middle range.

To use another Ariely example: Most consumers about to buy a $25 pen might travel 15 minutes to get one on sale for $7 less. Tell a person about to buy a $455 suit that it can be had for $7 less at a nearby store and he/she probably won't bother. Both cases involved the same savings for the same time and trouble -- but the decision is made relative to different anchors.

Relaxing recently with some summer reading (Done Deal, by Michael Benoliel), we got an easy refresher on the key approaches of master negotiators:

• the importance of managing relationships, building trust and designing the process;
• understanding and negotiating from both sides of the table; and
• entering a room well prepared.

Negotiation is a daily activity in most workplaces, whether it involves closing a big deal, choosing a colour for repainting the office or resolving a minor conflict with co-workers. Effective communication almost always plays a role.

8020Info offers counsel to help teams to develop more effective strategies. We would be pleased to discuss your needs and welcome enquiries at (613) 542-8020, or by email at watercooler@8020info.com.

"However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results."

   - Winston Churchill