Selling the Message the Coke Way - the "4 Can Effect"

I had a very agreeable meal with an old friend on mine the other evening.  As a Sales Manager for Coke he is a busy fellow, looking after the team that sells Coke to bars, shops and vending machines all over Scotland.  I asked him just how difficult it was to sell the worlds most famous brand, I mean how hard could it be?  The challenge it seems for the Scottish Coke team is to double sales in a very short period.  Some challenge, where you consider the level of saturation of the product in the marketplace. 

At least part of the solution is advertising, however, the main means of increasing Coke sales seems to be down to storytelling and simple arithmetic.  To start with the Coke sales team asks publicans, "Why is it that you stock multiple beer and spirit brands but don't do the same with soft drinks?".  Next, "What makes you (the publican) more profit - spirits or Coke?".  Finally "Did you know if you sell 4 more cans of Coke per day that, in a year, you will make an extra £1K profit for your establishment?".  This strikes me as both a simple and extremely sophisticated approach to sales. 

This approach lead me to ask myself some simple questions - "What simple things could I offer my clients to give them the "4 Can" effect"? This lead me to offer my clients and alumni "spot solutions" such as training, coaching, key notes, facilitation etc.   As a consequence I have a number of clients looking to commission my time.

What represents your "4 Can Effect"?

Top 100 Companies to Work For - Employee Engagement the Key

This weekend saw the publication of the Times Top 100 Companies to work for.  This is not just another list but rather the results of the largest and most comprehensive survey of workplace engagement in the UK. This year the views of more than 275,000 employees were gathered from 1165 organisations.

The company at top of the 100 Best Companies to Work For list is UKRD Group, a multimedia organisation who own and operate 16 commercial radio stations as well as 46 websites amongst other commercial interests. Boots Opticians, who employ over 5,300 staff across over 600 sites topped the 25 Best Big Companies to Work For list.

So how do these companies achieve this success?  The answer according to Ed Davey (Minister of State for Employment Relations) is Employee Engagement which he defines as having:

a workplace designed so that employees are committed to a business's goals, values and direction.

Indeed such is the importance of Engagement that this years publication warns that "Companies ignore the personal aspirations of staff at their peril", suggesting that only those organisations with a strong Employee Engagement agenda will emerge successfully from hard times.

The research suggests that the "role of the manager" remains critical in creating an engaged workforce with the best managers ignoring "...tricks and tactics for the steady path of being consistent and authentic (Will Hutton of The Work Foundation)".

I'm delighted to see Engagement high on the agenda and hope that many many more managers and leaders in the UK take the opportunity to use this fantastic "case for change" to take stock in their own organisations and to start to make a difference to the people they employ/work alongside.  Afterall the results can be remarkable.