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here?” For details of one successful, relatively low cost approach please see
page 60.

Average total cost Variable costs plus fixed costs divided by the number
of units produced. Some accountants and others prefer this as a basis for
deciding on prices. You should never forget that pricing, once profitability
can be ensured, becomes a strategic issue.

B

Balance sheet A snapshot of company health showing what is owned,
what is owed and what is left for the owners and the basis of all essential
financial ratios. But the transient nature of the information should lead
managers to always question when the balance sheet was put together and
the business circumstances prevailing at that time.

Balanced product offering The assurance that a product:

n Works as it should;

n Is available when required;

n Has the unique and recognizable qualities of the brand.

Barriers to entry The quality of your service to customers should be a
barrier to entry for your potential competitors that causes them to over-
spend, lose money and withdraw. That is market dominance. If you iden-
tify an exciting market opportunity you should be asking “What barriers
to entry could/should we erect?” and “How do we erect them at the lowest
possible cost?”

Below-the-line marketing PR, point of sale, demonstrations and simi-
lar activities aimed at buyers one at a time. A question that has haunted
me all my life in marketing is: “what does it matter to the normal business
person whether something is described as above or below any line?”

Body In e-mail terms, the part of the message containing the most tex-
tual content, sandwiched between the Header and the Signature. Make no
mistake about it, the use of e-mail in the United Kingdom is currently dou-
bling each year, while in the USA e-mail marketing has seen massive
growth, and not only as a result of the “anthrax in the mail” scare. It is a
cheap way to reach customers who “opt-in” requesting information. The
trouble at present is the wide variance in what list owners claim is “opt-
in”. Always ask a list owner, at the very least, “what did they opt-in for and
when did they indicate their desire to be provided with information/oppor-
tunities?”

Bookmark Virtual bookmarks work pretty much the same as the real
ones. They record a URL or web page to enable you to refer back to at a
later date. An essential adjunct to asking the right questions is to have up-

Glossary (and soapbox) 231