Now and again, I count the number of new ones; I like, in general, to have about 20 per cent new material every four months.5) Does it pass my qualitative innovation test? New slides can be mere line extensions - or completely new product families. To the contrary, I insist on instant, detailed quantitative measures of customer satisfaction for all my seminars.4) Does it pass my quantitative innovation test? I use hundreds of 35mm slides to illustrate presentations. In fact, I am delighted to lose customers! I want several of them to say, "He's too far out." If I'm not too far out for the most conservative members of an audience, I'm too far in to be helpful to the risk- takers in the audience.3) Does the material help the average customer? I haven't got it in for Joe or Jane Average. In Amsterdam, I worried about the chairman of a huge bakery chain, executives from Saudi Arabia, and senior managers from Hewlett-Packard. While I always go over all the feedback that I get, I read theirs first - and if I fail them, I have failed utterly. I have given thousands of seminars: how do I make this one stand out from the rest? If I am to feel fresh and energetic, the seminarmaterial must feel fresh and energetic to me.2) Does it excite the most demanding customers? While I would like all seminar participants to go home happy, my standard is to provoke the toughest customers. In short, my bedrock performance measure for the packaged-goods maker is: "Do you get a buzz when you use your product?" For the grocer: "Is it a kick to walk through the store during noontime rush?" And the lawyer: "Is there something pathbreaking about your approach to the case you're working on?"Consider my own measures: 1) Does the seminar I'm presenting turn me on? To do a good job, I first must satisfy myself.

The financial measure - important as that is - is a derivative of the goodness and acceptance of the product. Sure, I understand the importance of profitability, in my business as well as in others', and debate over various measures has merit. It is just that they mostly put the cart before the horse. The horse is what you make. "What do you think of EVA as a barometer of business performance?" asked a participant at a recent seminar in the Netherlands "Not much," I replied. I'm no expert on the pluses and minuses of Economic Value Added. I admitted as much, and then confessed that neither was I that keen on earnings per share or return on investment.

Detective Inspector Bob Stretton, of the Leicestershire Constabulary, said: "The real problem is not the amount of forgeries in circulation, but the individuals who getlumbered with them. It might not sound much to lose £60, but a retailer might have to sell £500 or £600 worth of goods to make it up.". And the note's lines should be sharp and the colours clear.It is important for a retailer to spot a forgery before accepting it. It is illegal to knowingly pass on a counterfeit note, but any bank or building society deposit of a forged note will lead to confiscation without compensation. Recipients must call in the police to investigate any note of which they become aware.Local police forces co-operate over forgeries through the National Crime Intelligence Service, which, since the 1920s, has had a division called the National Office for the Suppression of Counterfeit Currency.Once the police have completed their investigations, confiscated forged notes are passed on to the Bank of England for destruction.For a small retailer, a comparatively small number of forged notes could be ruinous. Good notes feel different from fakes: they should be crisp rather than limp, waxy or shiny, and some of the lettering will feel rough to the touch.The watermark should be barely apparent, unless held to the light, when a portrait of the Queen will become visible.The thread of metal running down the note should appear like a series of silver dashes until the note is held to the light, when it will look like a continuous line. Apparent fakes can be genuine notes that have been in contact with washing powder "brighteners" (for example, if notes have been kept in a shirt pocket) and UV lights may fail to spot the better fakes.Using sight and feel is more reliable.

Members of the public as well as retailers can pick up booklets in high-street banks, building societies and post office branches, and a video is being made available for staff who handle notes.Retailers are warned not to rely on the increasingly common testing machines that use ultra violet light, as they are unreliable, and give false readings. In 1993, £18m of forged notes were seized, of which £12m never reached the streets.The Bank of England launched a "Know Your Banknotes" campaign last October, designed to help retailers and the public detect forgeries. Another counterfeit factory was discovered last year in Dublin, and distribution rings were broken in London's East End, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Durham. "Once the public's awareness is raised, the forger will move on," said a spokesman.Several of the printing presses discovered by the police have been in North London, with just one raid there last month seizing £20 notes with a face value of £5m. The Bank of England confirms that the problem varies according to area.

Some notes, spotted by retailers, may never reach the Bank of England for destruction. And the figures largely ignore another growing problem, that of counterfeit £1 coins, fed into vending machines, which are made to fool the machine not the eye.Many small retailers, especially in inner-city areas, say the number of forged notes they are given is much greater than 1 per cent. Smaller retailers, a higher proportion of whose takings are in cash, are more likely to be affected than the larger retailers surveyed by the BRC. That figure is a conservative estimate of the face value of forged notes already produced and passed on by one of Britain's fastest growing businesses - counterfeiting. Full-colour photocopiers, desktop publishing systems and a network of professional counterfeiting printworks are putting retailers, banks and the police under increasing pressure.