Marketing Master Classes
Marketing seems to be on everyone’s lips as we start 2018. This is because of the assumption of “if you do marketing, you will get money”. But this is not always true.
Marketing is no longer an academic exercise of numbers and shuffling people through a predefined sales process in order to scoop up a percentage of sales.
Marketing today is all about developing profitable relationships. Relationships with contacts, customers and suppliers and then creating a strategic process to ensure every person within the system is handled with care and appreciation in order to develop high levels of trust: very different to the old numbers game.
Our current series of Weekly Wednesday Webinars at One covers different aspects of marketing as we take time to unpack the theory as well as some examples and implementation of the ideas.
The first master class covered the Sales Cycle:
We followed this up with a look at the new functional, trust developing sales funnel:
This week we unpack some of these in practical examples in discussion with those online at the time. Join us on Wednesday at one: https://zoom.us/j/9071494212
Tax Season Scams – don’t get caught
As we near the end of January we are busy completing a number of our client’s online tax submissions on eFiling before the 31st deadline on Wednesday. This is not a complicated process as the new ever-improving eFiling system is user-friendly and fast.
All one needs is the right information, documents and a little know-how in order to do the online submissions. The system gives you an instant review and an online calculator will give you an estimate on your result of a pay-in or pay-out.
After completing a number of these in our offices and then doing one at home for my wife, we have noticed a few issues that people just need to take note of in order to avoid being duped by scammers and phishing sites.
Firstly the banks and SARS will never ask you to do anything via an SMS. This includes validation of accounts, ID number or tax information. Any queries that they may have will be sent to you via email and be detailed on the eFiling website.
Any refunds due will be deposited directly into the bank account you have submitted on your tax return. You will not have to do any further work, including verification of your details.
My wife got an SMS just a few days after her return was filed asking her to please click on a link and complete the bank details in order to facilitate the refund process. Firstly this is wrong and an obvious scam, but very interesting that it only took the scammers a few days to get her information from the SARS site and then set up this scam. A little scary to how insecure our information is in the SARS process.
Please be careful: if in doubt, contact us for any information about your tax returns or check directly on the eFiling site for any additional documentation or information they may require in order to complete your return.
Oh, and remember that the deadline for income tax returns for all provisional taxpayers is Wednesday this week.
Stimulation through Simulation
Learning for life requires not only a bunch of theory exercises, but the application and implementation need to be included to complete the cycle of understanding.
When this comes to financial issues, we fail time and time again. There is always a bunch of ways to learn the theory of finances: we listen to talks, our financial advisor speaks to us and we read stuff. But we do not get time to practice through simulation. We put our real money into real investments and then often have to wait more than 5 years to see if we got it right. This invest, look and repeat process is a little too long to make mistakes and then try to rectify the situation when we are now bordering on the fearful investment period in our lives.
But what if we could stimulate our investment and money brains through simulation in a fun learning environment?
That is just what we will be offering you during our monthly Financial Games evenings. We have a number of financial games or “outcome-based fun activities” as the professional put it. These we will set up and facilitate with a group of participants each month as we have fun and learn all about money and money matters.
Join us this month on Wednesday 17th as we ‘play’ Rich Dad Poor Dad’s Cash Flow 101. This simple yet effective board game teaches us to understand and manage our finances within the rat race of monthly income and expenses and find ways to escape into financial freedom.
To book your place call 021 839 2281 or email marketing@em-solutions.co.za. R100 gets you a seat and an opportunity for a fantastic financial future.
Action Model 7 Conclusion
We have been talking about the action model for the past few weeks. We have looked at 3 different columns which are Fear, Confidence and Frustration. Let us look at what we can do to handle or address them.
Innovation Information Session
The Cape Chamber of Commerce’s Innovation Initiative Forum invites all Innovators and Inventors to our first monthly Innovation Information Session. If you have a new project or idea and need help to get it to market, then join us and other like-minded innovators and inventors as we unpack the challenges of product and business development.
- Planned activities for 2018 will be presented
- Feedback on issues and desired topics of future talks and workshops will be discussed
Speaker profile:
Bruce Wade, following 15 years in corporate life, has run his own business since 1998, giving him a wide range of experience in developing ideas into sustainable companies. He is an author, speaker, trainer and the inventor of The Sphere of Mankind and the Business Arrow.
Bruce is a qualified Merchant Naval Officer, Fire Fighter, Ships Medic, Radio Operator, Ski boat Skipper, Advanced Scuba Diver, Computer Programmer, Business Analyst, Project Manager, Retail Analyst, Trainer, Counsellor and Business Coach.
REGISTER NOW:
• Register now
021 402 4300
Linda Roopen