A few years ago, when I was in advertising, a client rang me to discuss his advertising budget. He suggested that due to poor economic conditions, his sales had fallen off and that as a result, he wanted to boost his advertising budget. Had I been more typical of the advertising industry, it might have […]

A few years ago, when I was in advertising, a client rang me to discuss his advertising budget. He suggested that due to poor economic conditions, his sales had fallen off and that as a result, he wanted to boost his advertising budget. Had I been more typical of the advertising industry, it might have spent his additional budget and banked the additional commission. Instead, I suggested that I undertake an audit with a view to pinpointing exactly where the issues are and exactly what if any action will lead to the result he was seeking. As it turned out, the decline in his sales was not directly related to economic conditions and may not have been significantly boosted by an increase in his advertising budget. Enquiry rates had, if anything increased over the previous year. What had fallen were conversion rates. For a variety of reasons his staff were…