The Merrill Dubrow Blog

A few weeks ago I read a funny headline.  It said, "ALL I WANT FOR THE HOLIDAYS IS CUSTOMERS!" I thought about that and chuckled for a minute or two. Clearly the headline was accurate. This holiday season was down, in fact way down from the past few years. Now that the holiday season is past us, it will get a lot worse for retailers before it gets any better.
 
Attention retailers: These days consumers want a deal. THEY DON’T WANT A GOOD DEAL, THEY WANT A GREAT DEAL!
 
Frankly, I am no different. I want to buy something on sale. If it’s 25% off, I like it.  If it’s 30% off, I like it even more. I believe the average consumer wants a 2 for 1 deal. Or buy 3 get 2 free as I saw in the grocery store yesterday. Lots of retail stores are not only giving you a deep discount but future $$$ off for future visits. Kohl’s had a promotion that for every $50 you spent you got Kohl bucks to spend during a visit that had a two week window.
 
To me it is simple. If you want customers these days, you had better have great promotions.  You need to be giving away stuff. You need to make sure the consumer (me) feels they are getting a good deal.

We had a friend over our house last week who was saying she wanted to buy a few items online but was waiting until the company had free shipping.  I don’t think she is alone in her thinking.

Retailers need to get creative with their promotions. I feel strongly that this will happen in the months to come.

When we were growing up, retail stores would often have loss leaders.  Well I think lots of stores (if not all) are doing that now.

• Do you agree with what I am saying?
   
• Are you waiting to buy something until it goes on sale?
   
• Are you buying more things on sale these days?
   
• Do you feel bad if you don’t buy something on sale?

I look forward to reading your comments.

Posted in Business | Post Comments (10) »

I just read an article that had a prediction for 2010. Frankly it was a painful prediction and one that I hope is wrong. The prediction said that the unemployment rate could reach 9.2% by early next year! Ugh! My heart sank when I read this! When are things going to get better? I know so many people in transition and I can’t believe things are going to get much worse than where we are now! One more ugh!  Sorry about that.
 
Since we all know so many people who are in transition I think we should build a list of things that people can do to help a person who is looking for a job.

I will start the list with a few ideas. You need to network, network, network. Most people find the good jobs through industry contacts.  You need to do the same thing. Call your friends, email your industry contacts, start to really use social networks like LinkedIn and Spoke. These efforts can really help you and will pay dividends.

The other bit of advice I would say is stay positive! I realize that is hard and sometimes very hard, but stay focused.  Stay upbeat! During a phone discussion or a meeting, that can clearly make a difference! Trust me it can.

• Ok people, how about some advice for our readers?
   
• If you were looking for a job, what is the first thing you would do?

I know many people will be interested in this information so I hope lots of people respond.

Posted in Business | Post Comments (23) »

Work is hard these days! Decisions need to be made quickly and correctly! You need to be GREAT on every project for EVERY client! Accounts Receivables are growing for most companies! Exceeding expectations is now the standard!
 
A few weeks ago my day started (as it does often) with a 6:00am call with Steve Schlesinger. For those of you who don’t know Steve, he is President of Schlesinger Associates, the largest qualitative company in the world. He is very bright and most days (unless we are talking about the NY Giants) has a good point of view. During our discussion we spoke about the economy and the current environment and how challenging it is to increase your business these days. How challenging it is to increase or maintain your profit margin. We both came to the conclusion that this is probably the hardest time in our business lives and frankly might be the hardest time of our business lives if you include the next 25 years.
 
A few hours later I had a conversation with Lance Hoffman from Opinion Access Corp (OAC). OAC is a very large quantitative company. During our discussion it led us to almost the same points that I had earlier with Steve. Together we agreed it was time we embraced the challenge! We were looking forward to rising to the occasion. Frankly anyone and any company could have and should have made money in most of the 80′s and 90′s but now that isn’t the case. The companies that will increase their revenue, increase their margins and keep their clients happy are far and few in between.
 
Lance and I spoke about it as being the bottom of the 9th and you are down by two runs, bases are loaded and you are up to bat. A double wins you the game, while a strike out…and you go home after losing the game.

• What are you going to do?
   
• What decisions are you going to make these days?
   
• How are you going to handle the pressure?

Even though the year just began I am energized, in fact really energized.  I have taken the economy as a personal challenge and met it head on. By the way, Steve and Lance are the same way. To me this is a real challenge and will test my ability:

• As a leader
   
• As a strategist
   
• As a motivator
   
• As a business executive

My hope is that my friends, peers and industry contacts feel the same way Steve, Lance and I do. We are up for the challenge and look forward to coming to work each and every day to move the business forward.

• Do you feel the same way?
   
• Care to join the three of us on this journey?
   
• Steve/Lance, anything you want to add?

I look forward to reading your comments and insight.

Posted in Business | Post Comments (19) »

Anyone who has been in one of my presentations has probably heard me say, "You need to BE A RESOURCE! BE A RESOURCE to your clients, prospects, friends in the industry etc."

I am sure this sounds familiar to many.

Over the past few weeks I have been reading a number of interesting reports on what is happening with the economy and with other companies.

In the spirit of BEING A RESOURCE, I thought I would share those reports with you. Rather than posting all of them, I will make them available to anyone who asks. All you need to do is post a comment on the blog as to which reports you want. In return I will email them to you. The only requirement I have, is you read them and post a comment about your thoughts on the report and whether it helps you. Sound fair?

Here are the six FREE available reports:

1. Trendwatching – Top 15 Trend Questions  and Answers November 2008
    
2. Marketing Research Association – Research Industry Index (RII) December 2008
    
3. Trendwatching – Half a Dozen Consumer Trends for 2008. December 2008
    
4. CASRO – Data Collection 2008 survey Results. November 2008
    
5. Rockhopper Research – Research Industry Trends 2007 Report – November 2007
    
6. The BlogHer/Compass Partners 2008 Social Media Study

I can assure you they all are very interesting. Some of them are specific to the research industry, while others are more general and have value for any business.

Okay, in order for me TO BE A RESOURCE, at least a few people need to request the reports.

• Okay, who wants a report?
   
• Once you read it what did you think?
   
• Did it provide value to you?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Posted in Business | Post Comments (54) »