Category: Psychology of the Deal

  • Sydney OpenCoffee Meetup

    I went to the Sydney OpenCoffee Meetup this morning. I love the tagline: “Place for people who love startups to hang out and meet”. So I met a bunch of startup entrepreneurs, a few advisors and a funder or two. I attended looking for two things: New Product Development ideas/team/products to put through the distribution…

  • NBL and Singapore Slingers need Import Rule Change

    I was talking to someone with long connections in the NBL – Australia’s National Basketball League. The Singapore Slingers are based in Singapore, but I’ve heard if they put a Singaporean on the floor he must take one of the two import slots that NBL teams are allowed. Normally those spots are for players who…

  • Feeling uncomfortable but doing it anyway

    I attended the AGSM New Students Day yesterday. I met graduates and faculty as well as some of my fellow students. There was an fun little moment were we had to congratulate ourselves and each other on getting in. How the students reacted was interesting. There were those (mainly marketing types) who got into it.…

  • Channel Ten finally on Foxtel’s EPG

    Channel Ten Australia has finally signed a deal to allow digital broadcast to Foxtel’s cable and satellite subscribers. Until now channels Ten and Seven has only been available on Foxtel cable as an analogue retransmission. This meant that Foxtel’s digital Electronic Program Guide did not list Ten’s or Seven’s schedule. In the new media world…

  • A&R Scandal: Tower Books’ Michael Rakusin Replies

    Michael Rakusin, Director of Tower Books replied to Charlie Rimmer‘s letter. I’ve emailed a request to reproduce Michael’s email here, but in the meantime you can read it at Susan Wyndham’s Undercover blog. That way the conversation can allow trackbacks around the blogosphere. I look forward to watching the fall-out in the industry over this.…

  • Angus & Robertson Scandal: Demands cash from 40% of suppliers

    Angus & Robertson sent a letter to 40% of their suppliers demanding cash payments and rebates as a condition of continued business. The scandal broke at Susan Wyndham‘s Undercover blog over at the Sydney Morning Herald, firstly in Bookshop chain puts bite on small publishers and then in more detail today A&R Dumps Books. A friend…

  • Would you like fries with that?

    On of my favourite quotes is  “would you like fries with that?” It is the best-known, English-language suggestion sell. And it works. Every business can up-sell something to a customer who has their wallet open.  It’s just a matter of getting creative enough on your product or service offering. I tend to favour the suggestion…

  • Acquiring a private company

    I’ve been negotiating the potential acquisition of a private industrial company. All the details are covered by a non-disclosure agreement, so I can’t provide a case study (yet). At this point in time the deal is not going through once we asked the target what their price expectation was. The target has retained the services…

  • Theory of Constraints spelling

    Yeah I misspelled Theory of Constraints in my rush to post earlier. I don’t normally spell it Thoery of Contraints. I thought I’d add another point that I learned from The Goal. In business accounting Inventory is an asset, which normally means it is a good thing. However inventory must be insured, counted, protected and…

  • Theory of Constraints

    I got a question on my mention of Theory of Constraints (TOC) in an earlier post. As my factory production has reached capacity, my most critical goal is to introduce TOC into my production facility. I first heard of the Theory of Constraints in the book The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox.…