Walk up to the average South African retailer and whisper the magic words "customer service" and he'll react as though you stuffed a terminally venomous South American crotch eating spider down his shorts.

Like most of my peers in the marketing industry, I get inventors and clever thinkers contacting me with something new they have developed. Their stories are all the same: "We can't get any of the big stores to stock it," or "We can't find anyone to make it." Add a comment

Global economic chaos and talks of double-dip recessions, it's no wonder that South African businesses are concerned about what is in store for them in the months and years ahead. So, there is no better time than to consider that in marketing terms the best possible way to ensure that the future does not hold any nasty surprises is to go back to basics.

Of all the requests for help I get, asking me to put someone in touch with potential sponsors is top of the list. If it's worthwhile, which it is in only a minority of cases, I pass on the necessary information. But mostly, that question comes from people who haven't planned properly, but just worked away on their big idea and as a kind of afterthought, started desperately looking for someone to pump money into it.