This article was published on Construction News’ website in February 2009.
Cutbacks continue. Pay freezes, even pay cuts, mass layoffs and general bad news are still the order of the day. And to cap it all, we’re not getting any interest on our savings. At last week’s CIMCIG conference, delegates were depressed by a morning of forecasting that lurched from pessimistic to suicidal.
But after the depression came the inspiration, a series of practical presentations on what you can do to build share, and future profit. In the end, the Conference Delegates went away armed with some new ideas and a steely determination to market their way out of the recession.
They will of course face opposition from their employers, who will question the spending of money on marketing. So still they will need to be armed with ammunition to protect and preserve their marketing resource. So it is with that in mind that we continue our series of ‘Oi, cut something else’.
No 5. Turn Stuff Off
I see from a recent survey that between half and one percent of all electricity consumed in the UK is by devices on standby. Now I don’t know about your companies electricity bill, but if I could grab a percentage point back from EDF I’d be able to increase my marketing, let alone not cut it.I see all over the place calls for greater regulation of energy consumption, a tax on energy, as a way of stopping our world heating up so much we’ll never need long trousers again. Why isn’t it enough to suggest you might save money by using less? Get someone to go through your office at the end of the day and turn everything off – faxes, computer screens, printers, copiers, lights – just unplug them from the wall.Better still, can you just cut the power to the sockets? Obviously Dave’s sausages might go off, the one’s he left in the fridge. And the milk for the office coffee might be a bit creamy in the morning. But think of the cash you’d save. And anyway, we cut office catering in No.2 of this series, weren’t you listening?And if you’re wondering how to put that in the budget – drop it in as a target saving, and release the saving as the bills come in each month to be spent on marketing. Easy.
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Cutbacks continue. Pay freezes, even pay cuts, mass layoffs and general bad news are still the order of the day. And to cap it all, we’re not getting any interest on our savings. At last week’s CIMCIG conference, delegates were depressed by a morning of forecasting that lurched from pessimistic to suicidal.
Chart Lane 