Thank God For Mandy

Even the horriblest truths can't touch Mandy

On a morning when unemployment soared to a 14 year high, we listened to Mandy being interviewed by Evan Davis on BBC R4 Today. It reminded Tyler precisely why he must bust his gut to get Dave and co elected next May.

Yes, we do want Dave et al to be far more radical on public sector reform. And yes, we do think they should be much more ambitious on rolling back Big Government, tougher on crime, more focused on controlling immigration, etc etc etc.

But compared to another five years under the slithery Commissar Mendacity, Dave is offering the way, the truth, and the light.

There's something deeply unsettling about a man who can be quite so brazenly deceitful as Mandy. I mean, they all lie - we understand that - but only Mandy seems to thrive on it. The very act of lying seems to nourish him - he positively grows as the slings and arrows of outrageous truth bounce off his reptilian scales.

This morning poor Evan did his best to confront him with The Facts - the huge black hole in the public finances, the obvious reality that any future government will need to cut savagely, etc etc. But The Facts just fuelled His Lordship's dark powers:

"My dear Evan, your puny weapons cannot harm me. Soon I will be more powerful than you can possibly imagine. I am the Master now."

One issue that came up was the oft repeated claim that Labour's reflationary policies have saved 500,000 jobs - jobs that would have been lost had the evil Tories been in power. Davis did immediately challenge the second half of that claim, and he also pointed out that much of the reflation is down to the Bank of England's monetary policy not fiscal action by the government, but Mandy just pressed on regardless.

As it happens, this claim is something I've been meaning to look into anyway. So I've done some digging.

As far as I can see, the claim first surfaced in Brown's interview with the Times on 26 June. He said:

“That means we will return to growth more quickly and we will probably have saved up to 500,000 jobs that would otherwise have been lost. People will see we have made a difference to the path of the recession.”

Later at a press conference on 22 July, he turned up the gas:

"If we had not intervened and acted decisively, at least another 500,000 jobs would have been lost in this recession."

Needless to say, in Mandy's hands the claim has become even more grandiose. He now claims there would have been:

“...far in excess of 500,000 more jobs lost in the recession had it not been for the government and the Bank of England’s intervention.”

So in six weeks we've slithered all the way from "up to", to "at least", to "far in excess of".

But where did the half-million figure come from in the first place?

According to Mandy, it was the Treasury.

Is that even slightly true? All we can find on the HMT website is the following sentence in the Budget Report:

"5.23 Action the Government has taken from the 2008 Pre-Budget Report onwards has already had a critical impact in supporting employment. In addition to the fiscal stimulus and support for Jobcentre Plus, the January Employment Summit announced a further £500 million package, offering support for up to 500,000 jobseekers."

Could that be the original source of the figure? A pie-in-the-sky aspiration tossed out at one of those famous "summits"?

In the absence of some proper chapter and verse, we reckon that is precisely where the figure came from. It is complete and utter vapourware.

But as we say, at least this has served to remind us all why these corrupt black-hearted people must be thrown out.

They must join the swelling ranks of the unemployed they have done so much to create.

PS One question that arises from today's dreadful unemployment numbers is why the increase in the number of registered Jobseekers is so much less than the increase in the number of unemployed? There are now an estimated 2.43m unemployed, compared to "only" 1.58m registered and claiming Jobseekers Allowance. The answer of course is that many of the newly unemployed know that the JobCentres cannot help them. The experience of our acqaintances who've lost jobs is that JobCentres can help you fill in your benefit claim, but are next to useless in terms of finding a new job. You are much better saving your time to do your own job search. All you will get at a Job Centre is depression.

Update 13.8.09 - The Telegraph reports that the Treasury has disowned Mandy's employment claim (see here).

Gudang grosir baju anak murah - harga pabrik !!
www.gudanggrosiran.com Read More

To Fundamentally Reform

Surely George ought to know better:

"We need to fundamentally reform the way public services are delivered."

To fundamentally reform? What kind of talk is that?

I mean, we understood George had received an expensive education at one of Britain's very toppest schools. Surely a school like that doesn't have the motto Fide et Literis for nothing, does it? What would his old English master have said?

I'm afraid the Major was so appalled he was quite unable to concentrate on the rest of George's speech, and was forced to repair to the 19th hole for immediate medication.

Fortunately, Tyler is made of sterner stuff. And for the sake of understanding what had been billed as a key speech on public sector reform, he was prepared to overlook the odd grammatical infelicity.

So reformwise, what did George actually have to say?

First, he said that the coming spending cuts make fundamental public sector reform all the more important:

"Without fundamentally improving the productivity of public services, the quality of those services will deteriorate as budgets are squeezed."

Spot on - as we've blogged many times.

Second, he said Gershon-style "efficiency savings" will not do the trick:

"... to pretend that efficiency savings alone will suffice when the country is borrowing one pound for every four it is spending, is to take the public for fools. It is deeply dishonest and it condemns those who claim it to the sidelines of the real debate. The truth is that we need to fundamentally reform the way public services are delivered."

Again, spot on - as we've also blogged many times.

Third, he confirmed that Dave's government will "legislate early" to introduce those school vouchers:

"We will, as they have in Sweden, give parents the ability to take the money the education bureaucracy currently spends on their behalf and allow them to take that money to the new school they want.

...we will allow new providers to set up state schools where there is demonstrable demand from parents."

Hurrah for that.

Fourth, on the NHS, the Tories will be... umm...

"... making the case for progressive reform in health, achieving improvements through patient choice and professional autonomy, bringing productivity gains through diversity of provision and an effective roll out of payment by results."

Hmm.

And how exactly does that differ from all the good intentions we've heard over the last decade? In theory we already have patient choice and professional autonomy and diversity and payment by results. In theory.

The problem is that while Whitehall holds all the purse-strings, the theory don't add up to a row of beans.

No, if Dave and George are going to deliver "fundamental" reform in healthcare, they will need to be much more radical.

As we've blogged many times, they need to break up the lumbering dysfunctional NHS and replace it with a range of continental-style social insurers. That's the only practical way to inject meaningful competition and customer choice, which is the only practical way to drive higher productivity.

If we're to stand any chance of preserving service standards in the face of the forthcoming spending cuts, Dave and George will have to raise their sights.

They need to boldly go where no man has gone before.

They need to explore new worlds beyond the NHS platitude zone.

PS I'm sure I've quoted it before, but I just love Raymond Chandler's famous riposte to the proof reader who attempted to unsplit one of his badly busted infinitives: "By the way, would you convey my compliments to the purist who reads your proofs and tell him or her that I write in a sort of broken-down patois which is something like the way a Swiss-waiter talks, and that when I split an infinitive, God damn it, I split it so it will remain split."

Gudang grosir baju anak murah - harga pabrik !!
www.gudanggrosiran.com Read More

7 Proven Low Cost Ways To Promote and Market Your Painting Business On A Budget

Marketing and promoting your painting business does not have to be expensive or even that sophisticated, in fact here are a few low cost, results driven ways to get the phone ringing!

These simple yet powerful techniques will help you spice things up and keep your marketing efforts fun and exciting... and most importantly get the phone ringing more often.

• Use co-op advertising - getting the word out about your quality painting services using traditional advertising can be a costly expense. Contact the local paint store(s) or product manufactures and tell them you will promote their product and/or business if they help pay a small % of the cost. Co-op advertising is a win - win situation.
  
  
• Send out press releases to get free publicity if something your painting business does is news worthy - Did you donate your extra surplus paint to your local Habitat for Humanity chapter?... Send out a press release. Did your painting company help cover up graffiti at the local school?... Send out a press release. ALWAYS be brainstorming ways to create news worthy press release and keep sending them out!
  
  
• Incorporate your painting business brand and image into your vinyl or magnetic vehicle signs, yard signs, intersection signs and pole signs - Job site signage is a VERY POWERFUL, low cost marketing strategy. You want to make sure that all of your signs have a synergistic look and feel... doing so will help create a brand and image people will easily recognize.
  
  
• Use email marketing as a way to keep in touch with past customers - You do collect an email address from EVERY home owner that you do an estimate for... Don't you? If not make a promise to yourself that you will stat now! Email marketing is a fast, easy and FREE way to keep your painting business on their mind. You can even make special offers to home owners that didn't accept your bid, and let them know you want the chance to earn their business.
  
  
• Write simple articles about paint jobs you have just completed and post them on your web site - Posting "keyword rich" articles about your local area and linking them from your web site is a great way to search engine optimize your web site. This proven strategy will also help build credibility for your painting business.
  
  
• Write a personal letter to past satisfied customer and ask them to tell their friends and family about your painting services - developing a referral program is as easy as sending a thank you letter after a job is completed. Tell the customer that you appreciate their business and tell them every time they refer a friend or family member about your painting services and you land a job, you will send them a thank you gift. (The gift could be anything from a referral check, restaurant gift certificate or movie pass, etc.) This simple strategy can bring you tons of potential new customers!
  
  

• Hire a "Marketing Minion" two days a month to put out fliers or door hangers around targeted neighborhoods - It's easy to find a college student or retired person to spend a few hours walking around nice neighborhoods passing out marketing materials. Hiring someone to do this for you a couple times a month allows you to focus your time, energy and effort on money making tasks like building relationships and selling paint jobs.

There are lots of ways to drum up business on a budget. Get creative!

Please post a comment and let us know some creative ways you've been using to keep the phone ringing.

If you are looking for a detailed, proven step-by-step system for generating a steady stream of new customers and landing more of the painting estimates you submit... be sure to check out Painting for Profits. Be sure to sign up for our FREE weekly newsletter and download the free special report "Cracking the Painting Business Success Code"

Gudang grosir baju anak murah - harga pabrik !!
www.gudanggrosiran.com Read More

Not All Painting Business Web Sites Are The Same: Three Important Things To Consider

If you are a painting business owner who is serious about building a successful long term business, you probably already understand the importance of having an online presence.

However not all painting business web sites are the same and unless you know what you're looking for things can get a bit confusing...

Here are three important thing to consider:

• Do the people developing your web site have a background in marketing and/or the house painting trade in general?

If not you may be paying way to much for a general web site that will not have the right look, feel and layout. After all you want a web site that not only looks good but is also a powerful MARKETING TOOL that will turn visitors into customers!

• Do the people developing your web site offer any kind of marketing advice about how to get ranked on the first page of major search engines for local keyword searches?

What good is a web site if no one can find it? Be sure that the company you have build your web site understands how to build it so the search engines can find it. Also make sure they offer on going support (via email, phone or membership site) in case you have any questions.

• Does your web site allow you to collect email addresses or accept credit cards?

Collecting an email address from every visitor and every home owner you do an estimate for allows you to build an asset. A qualified list of people that you can market to over and over again for free!

Imagine having a data base of 100... 500... 1200... or more people that you can stay in touch with, send promotions to or ask for referrals from, and it costs you next to nothing.

...And when you can give your customers the choice of using a credit card to pay for the paint job (or offering 3 easy payments) THAT IS A HUGE ADVANTAGE over the competition!

Right now you may be thinking that a web development service like this would cost a ton of money but that's not the case.

In fact if you would like more information on how to get your painting business set up with customizable, E-Commerce web site that is EASY for search engines to find just leave a comment to this post and we'll send it right out to you.

Gudang grosir baju anak murah - harga pabrik !!
www.gudanggrosiran.com Read More

Cereal Bunglers

Nostalgiafests don't butter any parsnips - let alone feed 7 billion people

The top three stories on last night's C4 News formed an instructive conjunction:

Story 1

The government's panic programme to dish out Tamiflu like Smarties (see this blog) has backfired badly. It seems that for children at least, the side effects are worse than the swine flu Tamiflu was meant to be treating.

Now who could possibly have foreseen that?

Well, the Doc for one. When the Smarties programme was launched last month, he delivered his definitive verdict:

"I can prescribe Tamiflu, though as yet I have not. I would not take it, and I would not give it to my family, so why would I prescribe it for patients? What this means is that anyone with any vaguely viral symptom is going to get "treatment" for a condtion they probably do not have with a drug that is next to useless and may have hitherto unexpected side effects. Great!"

Story 2

The government's panic programme - expensively fronted by My Lord Sugar - to provide thousands of new apprenticeships has flopped:

"Earlier this year the government announced it would fund an extra 35,000 apprenticeships as part of efforts to tackle the recession, costing £140m. But its figures show there has been a decline in the numbers of 16 to 18-year-olds in England starting them - in the first nine months of 2008-09 the number dropped by 8.3% on the same period the previous year."

Now who could possibly have foreseen that?

Well, Tyler for one. Back in January when the programme was launched he wrote:

"It's all part of Labour's current headline management/money burning exercise known as Doing Something Not Nothing.

Apprenticeships only work if employers actually take on apprentices, and with the virtual demise of British manufacturing, they largely stopped doing so.

What's more, the government's grandiose programme to have all 16 year olds stay on at school means that the minority who do leave are rather unlikely to be the ones employers might want to take on as apprentices."

Story 3

The government is now planning to inflict a new programme on us "to change the way food is produced and processed so that we continue to enjoy healthy affordable food in the decades ahead". The Rev Benn climbed into the pulpit and pleaded with us to mend our ways - before it's too late.

To which we say que?

Are we not supplied with cheap food beyond the wildest imaginings of our great grandparents? Is not the variety and the quality (if not the taste) fantastic? Is not food production getting more efficient with every passing year (watch the latest episode of the excellent Mud Sweat and Tractors here - especially you, Tyler Senior)? What's to change?

True, food prices did increase quite sharply last year. But they've now turned down again, and the longer term downward trend is unmistakable - even in this chart taken from Defra's own paper (food prices vs the RPI):

Indeed, despite the occasional hiccough, relative to general prices - and certainly relative to incomes - UK food prices have been on a long-term downward trend since the abolition of the Corn Laws in 1846. Which is why food now comprises only around 12% of the RPI shopping basket.

So what about the soaring population - all those extra mouths to feed?

Well, yes, from the perspective of food prices, that is somewhat less than ideal. But the vicar does not suggest we impose a Chinese style one child policy, or even that we should cap immigration. So he clearly doesn't think that's a pressing issue (Tyler has just been sent a paper by a BOM correspondent that puts an alternative view - we'll read and blog it in due course).

And let's not forget that technology is moving on apace, so that yields are still increasing. Here's Defra's chart for cereal yields since 1970:

And you know the really good bit? The recent increase in prices will surely serve to spur on the producers to invest in yet more technology to produce yet more food from the same amount of land.

It's called the market, you see. Higher prices = higher profits = more investment = higher production = more for everyone.

And if you're a believer in markets like Tyler, you say the markets will take care of it. The markets will spot the need for more food and will drive the technology to deliver it. Simples.

Or rather, simples as long as our bungling politicos and commissars don't decide they can do better than the market. As long as they don't step in to forbid the necessary technological innovation, say, or to subsidise farmers to take yet more of our fields out of production. Say.

Remind me - why does anyone ever believe these arrogant clowns know what they're doing?

PS Actually, the report Defra have published to support the Rev Benn's sermon is packed with fascinating charts. Here are one or two of them.

First, the real price of various agricultural commodities since 1970:

Not much of an upward trend there.

Second, the origins of the food we eat here:

Thank God for international trade, otherwise we'd still be living on turnips.

Third, the breakdown of where we buy our food:

Looks like we still disagree with the BBC and the Grun about Tesco - we clearly see it as a great grocer rather than the embodiment of capitalist evil.

Gudang grosir baju anak murah - harga pabrik !!
www.gudanggrosiran.com Read More

Geek Marketing 101 (revisited).

Three years ago today, I posted a guide to my views on marketing disguised as a discussion of technology marketing. It became my most viewed post (thanks Guy Kawasaki). Three years on, I think it still applies. Three years hence, I fear, marketers will be making the same mistakes.


Geek Marketing 101 is so named because I see amongst many geeks a pervasive misunderstanding and consequent distrust of what marketing is, and a failure to recognise that much technology marketing is no longer geek to geek since complex products are increasingly being bought by non-geeks. Of course, these observations are equally applicable to geek to geek and non-geek businesses.

1) Marketing is not a department.
Marketing is a combination of elements that creates the environment in which it is possible to meet a customer need (starting right back at product development). Promotion and sales are just sub-sets of marketing.

2) Marketing is a conversation, but most people don't speak geek.
Successful technology marketing must translate the creations of the uncommunicative into the needs of the untechnical. Spin is not good marketing. Lucid two-way communication is.

3) Simplicity does not negate complexity.
Reductive marketing that simplifies ideas does not undersell your complex creation. It facilitates an entree to your world. You can't have passionate users until they start using.

4) Think what, not how?
Think of the "product" in terms of what it does, not how it does it. You may be interested in the latter, but your users generally aren't. Portable computer memory is not a difficult concept to enunciate, yet flash drive and USB drive nomenclature is predicated on technological aspects not the actual function. Long words confuse, don't they?

5) Think will, not can.
Think of the "product" in terms of what most people will be happy doing with it and not in the myriad possibilities it offers. You may think speed and multiple settings are hot, but outside the lab such attributes may not provide the greatest satisfaction. Simple, intuitive interfaces will.

6) Only you RTFM.
Regular people don't read the manual. It's too big (see 5), too complicated (see 3) and thus incomprehensible. It's not that people are averse to science and technology - they're averse to being made to feel helpless. The demand for books that simplify science is huge the world over. Your manual is marketing.

7) Technical Support is marketing.
In the absence of all of the above, your users inevitably need help. A technical support department speaking in non-technical, hand-holding language transforms their purchase from waste of money to life-enhancing boon and is the greatest marketing tool you have.

8) You're not marketing to people who hate marketing.
Don't allow your misguided prejudices about advertising and snake-oil to infect your approach and damage sales. People hate hype, spin and unfulfilled expectations. They do not hate having their needs met (see 1).

9) You're not marketing to people who hate technology products.
They're not Luddites, but nor are they geeks - that's what you're paid to be. However, they often hate how technology products make them feel because blinding with science is as bad as baffling with bullshit.

10) Marketing demystifies.
As the conversations develop, the users comprehend your products better and you better understand their needs. With increased confidence, they utilise more and more of your geekiness and, with increased awareness, you are better able to adapt to their behaviours. They feel more warmly about geeks and you may get the chance to buy them a drink. That doesn't sound so bad, does it?

Gudang grosir baju anak murah - harga pabrik !!
www.gudanggrosiran.com Read More

Your Customers DON'T Care About You & Your Painting Business!

One of the hardest thing about selling painting services, and heck, one of the hardest things about life in general, is we often forget others don't particularly share our passion about our skills and trade.

For instance, if you are really great at cutting a razor sharp edge or using the newest airless sprayer, for example... if you live and breath this stuff to the point where you know all about every new product, what's new in 'green' eco-friendly paints... and even what colors work best in which rooms... it's hard for you to understand that there are home owners out there who could care less about painting.

Who don't even know what an airless sprayer is, for that matter. Yet you may be spending two or three hours a day reading about these things and discussing them on forums online. And when you are immersed in things like this it's hard to fathom that there are others out there who are so unaware, right?

Well, this is the same handicap many painting contractors suffer from when it comes to selling their services to the home owner.

See, no one, including your customers, cares nearly as much about your business or skill-set the way you do.

...And so when you're out there in their homes trying to sell prospects your painting services, you need to sell them the end result and the solution they are looking for, NOT "how good you are" at cutting, rolling or spraying.

This is sometimes a hard pill to swallow because you have immersed yourself in becoming the best at what you do -- it's hard to imagine anyone, especially your customers, not sharing or appreciating the pride of ownership you have, about how skilled you are and how competent your work is.

But trust me, they don't appreciate it, because it's not their focus or passion.

They hire you and buy your painting services because of the results you deliver... and nothing more!

No one cares you have spent years (Sometimes decades) becoming the best painters and/or business owner... refining and practicing your skills and marketing strategies. And quite frankly, why should they care. Those were your decision, the same way it was your decision to go into business for yourself rather than work for someone.

These were your decisions, or your problems, even. And in sales, you should never make... your problems... the customer's problems.

Sell results, solutions & the end benefits and your customers will hear your message loud and clear.

Gudang grosir baju anak murah - harga pabrik !!
www.gudanggrosiran.com Read More