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The Foster Letter —

Religious Market Update

The FOSTER Letter is a bi-weekly e-mail religious market intelligence report targeted to Christian market channel and ministry leaders.  Each issue reports on news, trends, events and research that will directly or indirectly impact your audiences and businesses in a convenient summary format  Better informed leaders make better choices!

Researched, Edited & Published by Gary D. Foster

Excerpts from the

August 10, 2007 edition of

The FOSTER Letter—Religious Market Update

A Divorce Costs Taxpayers an average of $30,000 while a full course of marital therapy costs about $1,500. Although therapy doesn’t work for everyone, if the government paid for the screening and treatment of marriages in trouble, they would get a return of about $1.85 for every dollar spent.The savings come from families not needing temporary housing assistance, food stamps and child support enforcement. Taxpayers also save because higher marriage rates result in lower crime and a lower incidence of child abuse. Research confirms that for the average couple who completes marriage therapy (even if it’s not successful by any other measure), the average reduction in healthcare costs for the 6 months after treatment is about 21%. The government will see a return on its money even if only 16% of troubled marriages get marital counseling; and health insurers if 41% of couples seek the help they need. (One News Now 7/19/07) 

Friends @ Work People who have a best friend at work are 7 times more likely to be engaged with that work, finds research by Tom Rath, author of Vital Friends: The People You Can’t Afford to Live Without. People with 3 close friends at work are 46% more likely to be extremely satisfied with their jobs and 88% more likely to be satisfied with their lives. Gallup research says close friendships at work boost worker satisfaction by almost 50%. 57% of executives polled say office productivity improves when co-workers are friends outside of the office. Nearly two-thirds of employees agree, according Accountemps. (USA Today 8/1/07) 

Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan, first published in 1678, is both the most printed and most translated English book, according to ABC News. Since the Bible was not originally written in English, it’s not the English language leader but with over 6 billion estimated copies “sold” (there is no way to know the exact count), it is by far the best-selling and most translated book in the world. (The Christian Post 7/4/07) 

Starbucks Strategy Starbucks may not be the first business to sell affordable luxury, but it’s hard to argue they haven’t been the most successful. The company is built on these 5 principles every business or ministry can apply to their customer/donor service quality: make it your own; every-thing matters; surprise and delight; embrace resistance; and leave your mark. For truly successful ventures, customers/ donors are not merely customers/donors; they are customer /donor evangelists. 80% of companies believe they provide good service, but just 8% of customers agree they’ve received such an experience. Contact 419-238-4082, GFosterCns@rmi.net or www.GaryDFoster.com to insure your customers/donors receive excellent service from you. (The Starbucks Experience: Five Principles for Turning Ordinary into Extraordinary, Joseph Michelli, McGraw Hill 2007) 

Retail Battleground Redefined A recent Retail Forward study sees consumers continuing to redefine the “retail battleground” through 2015 as demands for interactivity, segmentation, localization and customization increase. Customers will have greater visibility into product availability and pricing, and will demand more from retailers in product and store experience. The retailer/supplier relationship will change, too, requiring even greater cooperation and trading productivity to maintain profitability. Sales and customer data will become more crucial. Consumers will share info with retailers and suppliers but will expect to get more value in return. (Retailers+Resources Industry Brief 7/30/07) 

Too Busy For God A Charleston Southern University School of Business study concludes Christians worldwide are simply becoming too busy for God. The Obstacles to Growth Survey found that globally more than 40% of Christians say they “often” or “always” rush from task to task. About 60% say it's “often” or “always” true that the busyness of life gets in the way of developing their relationship with God. While busyness afflicts both men and women, the distraction from God is more likely to afflict men. Pastors (65%) are the most likely rush from task to task and experience adverse effects in developing their relationship with God. (Christian Post 7/30/07) 

Peer Reviews A recent survey on current attitudes towards customer ratings and reviews by Bazaarvoice and Vizu Corp. shows that about 3 out of 4 shoppers say it is extremely or very important to read customer reviews before making a purchase, and they prefer peer reviews to expert reviews 6-to-1. (Research Brief 7/31/07) 

To Viral Or Not Duncan Watts, Columbia University sociology prof., has been studying how big cascades of behavior begin, focusing on the theory of influencers, those people disproportionately capable of triggering big change—viral marketing. He argues even if one is several times as influential as a normal person, they have little impact beyond their own immediate neighborhood. Watts found through computer modeling that they’re not necessarily all that effective. He says it’s best to skip the idea of targeting that treasured select group of plugged-in folks and instead think about that group’s polar opposite: a large number of easily influenced people. Sounds a lot like mass marketing, doesn’t it? An irony of our age is that, though everyone acknowledges consumers are in control, marketers still believe they’re running the show, right down to trying to plan for virality. (Ad Age 7/16/07) 

Professional Parent’s workplace performance is enhanced by the skills she learns in her roles at home. Resourcefulness is a reflection of her ability to maintain the roles of mother and professional manager. Typically working mothers are more efficient with their time because they know there will be more juggling to do post-business day. A parent acquires additional resources, permitting an expansion of abilities. (Incentive 7/07) 

Mentoring is worthwhile for both the mentee and mentor, finds a Sun Microsystems analysis. Mentoring was least effective for its highest-performing employees, but workers whose performance was in the bottom 20% raised their salary grade 4.75 points on a 5-point scale. The mentor can draw things out of the lower performer who may not be sure where he is going or what he needs to do. Higher performers tend to build their own support networks. (Incentive 7/07)
 

Biker Babes American women are the fastest-growing part of the motorcycle business, buying more than 100,000 a year. 12% of all Harley motorcycle sales are to women, roughly 32,000 new bikes in ’06 vs. 4% in 90. U.S. women will spend about $300 million on Harleys in 07, not including accessories, riding gear and clothes. (NY Times 7/25/07) 

It Takes Courage To Learn From Our Mistakes. But not everyone who makes a mistake gains useful knowledge from the experience. The average person explains away their failure, unwilling to stare into the light and see that their sacred cow was just a cow. Are you strong enough to see the truth and name it? Are you willing to identify the substance of your own mistakes? This humility is the key to progress. It’s hard to say, “Our product or service fell below the customer’s expectations.” It’s easier to say, “We ran into unforeseeable circumstances” or “We were ahead of our time.” What we might have learned from the mistake is lost, and now history must repeat itself one more time. This is why so few people who hold a job for 10 years get 10 years of experience. The average blame-shifter gets 1 year’s experience 10 times. Don’t let this be you. To learn things most people will never know, you must summon courage, see clearly, swallow your pride and speak the truth. Sometimes it helps to have a safe outside objective point of view. Contact 419-238-4082, GFosterCns@rmi.net or www.GaryDFoster.com. (Monday Morning Memo from Wizard of Ads, 8/6/07) 

Spiritual Challenges Christian parents view the spiritual development of their children as their biggest spiritual challenge, finds a Barna Group study conducted in late ’06. Only 40% of Christian parents of children ages 3-18 say they do not face any spiritual challenges in their life. 14% say the biggest personal faith challenge is raising moral children with a strong faith. 10% see it as a need to personally invest more time in religious activities, e.g. Bible reading or prayer. Only 34% say having enough time to devote to their faith is a major challenge; and 30% say it’s helping their children to become more spiritual. Among other challenges identified: 23% enabling their spouse to be more spiritual, 21% personally growing spiritually; 20% understanding the Bible, 19% finding a church that’s right for them, 18% getting a sense of direction from God, and 18% practicing faith principles. (Christian Post 8/5/07) 

Midwesterners Volunteer Far More than folks on either coast, says a new government study by the Corporation for National and Community Service. Nationally, 26.7% of adults in ’06 said they had volunteered during the previous year. That compares with 28.8 % in ’05 and 20.4% in ’89. Influencing factors are short work commutes, home ownership, high education levels and high concentrations of nonprofit organizations. (PWB 7/13/07) 

Magazines As new forms of media consumption, including web surfing, downloading and time-shifted TV viewing gain a foothold in the U.S., different generations have begun to form distinct habits. But every generation enjoys reading magazines. 75% of all consumers choose to read them even though they can find the same information online. There is also a greater receptivity overall to print ads compared with internet ads, finds a new study by Deloitte. (Ad Age 7/26/07) 

The Parent Price A middle-income family with a child born in 06 will spend $197,700 to raise him through age 17, not including college costs, according to government data. (USA Today 7/19/07) 

“Muslim-Majority Countries comprise the religious areas with the largest current restrictions in religious freedom. This parallels problems with democracy, civil liberties and economic freedom,” said Paul Marshall, editor of a forthcoming book based on a recent survey by the Center for Religious Freedom. (PWB 7/13/07) 

Religious Book Sales The strongest growth segment in publishing in ’06 continued to be religious books, where 263.4 million were sold. Sales of Bibles, testaments, hymnals and prayer books, however, slid 6.2%, to 66.2 million. Overall, publishers sold 3.1 billion books in ’06, up just 0.5% from the 3.09 billion sold in ’05. (Book Industry Trends 2007) 

Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy’s book Quiet Strength ranked #1 on the New York Times 8/10/07 hardcover nonfiction best seller list. It debuted at #2 on 7/29/07. (ECPA Rush to Press 8/6/07) 

Teen Birth Rate Drops The number of teen mothers is at a record low, continuing a 14-year downward trend. The Child Trends research center reports the ’05 birth rate for teens 15 to 19 was 40.4 births per 1,000 girls; 35% lower than ’91’s peak of 61.8. For white teen girls, 26 out of every 1,000 gave birth in ’05 vs. 60.9 for non-Hispanic black teens and 81.5 for Hispanics. (Baptist Press 7/11/07)

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