Write it before you type it!

Having seen my Director always write his findings, recommendations and reports down before having his PA type them up I had thought he was just lazy. But having been forced to do the same (without the PA) due to a non-starting computer I began to see there might be something more to this...
As I wrote I felt an immediate flow of creative thought being effortlessly transcribed to paper. It reminded me of those school days when my essays often won best prize. There was no inhibitive chunk of plastic and clunky keys to repress my flow of ideas....
Oh wait a minute, synonym check that word doesn't look high-quality,
ah i selled that wrong backspace-backspace-backspace,
sh*t i missed aspace, left-arrow left-arrow
...
I'm sure you can all relate to this. Just in this paragragh I have done it several times.
I'm not sawing gather all your computers and toss them into a burning inferno like the bra burning feminists of the sixties. But give a thought to using the old papyrus and quill for those creative pieces that require original thinking. I guarantee you will notice a positive difference.

Chaos Theory - "The Butterfly Effect"

Ok, you might be thinking I'm going a little off topic with this one, and yeah, you'd be right! But I find it fascinating to understand this concept. This morning after looking up some movies to hire tonight I stumbled accross "The Butterfly Effect" with Ashton Kutcher. This lead me to look into this effect in more detail. I'll try explain Chaos Theory in the next few sentences:

- In a chaotic system, the use of the laws of physics to make accurate long-term predictions is impossible, even theoretically.
- To make long-term predications it would require giving the initial conditions to infinite precision ( i.e. measure to their exact size with discrepancies. Unfortunately measuring equipment will never be able to measure to infinite precision. E.G. try measuring to a millionth of an inch. Try measure a coastline - the closer you go, the more inlets and thus greater distance.).
- Even the smallest imaginable discrepancy between two sets of initial conditions would always result in a huge discrepancy at later or earlier times. This was noticed by Lorenzo when he wanted to start his weather predicting computer program mid-way to save time. In stead of entering the usual 0.5673456 he just entered 0.5673 expecting no significant alteration. However, the difference was huge.
- This means that in order to make long-term weather forecasts with any degree of accuracy at all, it would be necessary to take an infinite number of measurements.
- Even if it were possible to fill the entire atmosphere of the earth with an enormous array of measuring instruments---in this case thermometers, wind gauges, and barometers---uncertainty in the initial conditions would arise from the minute variations in measured values between each set of instruments in the array.
- This principle is sometimes called the "Butterfly Effect." In terms of weather forecasts, the "Butterfly Effect" refers to the idea that whether or not a butterfly flaps its wings in a certain part of the world can make the difference in whether or not a storm arises one year later on the other side of the world.

-It is now accepted that weather forecasts can be accurate only in the short-term, and that long-term forecasts, even made with the most sophisticated computer methods imaginable, will always be no better than guesses.
Examples of such systems are: the atmospher, plate techtonics, population growth, the solar system and Economies.

Interpersonal Communication - The Ladder of Inference

The Ladder of Inference describes the thinking process that we go through, usually without realizing it, to get from a fact to a decision or action. The thinking stages can be seen as rungs on a ladder

Example from mindtools:

The regional Sales Manager has just read the latest sales figures. Sales in Don’s territory are down - again. It’s simply not good enough. He needs to be fired!

Most people would agree that the Sales Manager may have just jumped to a rash conclusion. So let’s see how the scenario plays using the Ladder of Inference:

The latest month’s sales figures (reality) have come in, and the Sales Manager immediately focuses on Don’s territory (selected reality). Sales are down on the previous months again (interpreted reality). The Sales Manager assumes that the drop in sales is entirely to do with the Don’s performance (assumption), and decides that Don hasn’t been performing well (conclusion). So he forms the opinion that Don isn’t up to the job (belief). He feels that firing Don is the best options (action).

Now let’s challenge the Sales Manager’s thinking using the Ladder of Inference:

The Sales Manager came to the sales figures with an existing belief that Don, a new salesmen, couldn’t possibly be as good as the "old-timers" who he has trained for years. He focused on Don’s territory because Don is the newest salesman, and selected facts that supported what he already believed (that Don wouldn’t be doing a good job).

To get back to facts and reality, we must challenge the Sales Manager’s selection of data and his assumptions about Don’s likely performance.

Although the figures are down in Don’s territory, they have actually dipped less than in other areas. Don is actually a great salesman, but he and his colleagues have in fact been let down by new products being delayed, and by old products running out of stock.

Once the Sales Manager changes his assumptions, he will see the need to focus on solving the production issues. He can also learn from Don – how is it that Don has performed better than other sales people in the face of stock problems? Can others learn from him?

Interpersonal Communication - Questioning Techniques

Questioning Techniques - Asking questions effectively
If you put the wrong information in, you'll get the wrong information out is often said in relation to computer systems:
Asking the right question is at the heart of effective communications and information exchange.

for example, you can gather better information and learn more, you can build stronger relationships, manage people more effectively and help others to learn too.

Following on in the series of interpersonal communication posts we will look at some common questioning techniques, and when (and when not) to use them:

Open vs. Closed Questions
Closed question - receives a single word or very short, factual answer. “Are you thirsty?” vs "How do you feel about grabbing a drink?" “Where do you live?” vs "What do you do for accomodation?"

CLOSED - One aims for a 'yes' or 'no'.

OPEN - The key here is the opening clause. The more inviting question gives the questionee an opportunity to describe in detail:

"How do you ..[feel|think|like|see]"

"What do you ..[do|feel|think|like|see]"

"What did you ..[do|feel|think|like|see]"

"How would you ..[describe|explain|feel|think|like|see]"

"Why ..[do|did|is] .. in your opinion"

Open questions are good for:

• Developing an open conversation: “What did you get up to on vacation?”
  
• Finding our more detail: “What else do we need to do to make this a success?”
  
• Finding out the other person’s opinion or issues: “What do you think about those changes?”

Closed questions are good for:

• Testing your understanding, or the other person’s: “So, if I get this qualification, I will get a rise?”
  
• Concluding a discussion or making a decision: “Now we know the facts, are we all agreed this is the right course of action?”
  
• Frame setting: “Are you happy with the service from your bank?”

A misplaced closed question, on the other hand, can kill the conversation and lead to awkward silences, so are best avoided when a conversation is in full flow.

Funnel Questions

This technique involves starting with general questions, and then narrowing to the target with each level. It’s often used by detectives taking a statement from a witness. Start with closed questions. As you progress through the tunnel, start using more open questions:

“How many people were involved in the fight?”
“About ten.”
“Were they kids or adults?”
“Mostly kids.”
“What sort of ages were they?”
“About fourteen or fifteen.”
“Were any of them wearing anything distinctive?”
“Yes, several of them had red baseball caps on.”
“Can you remember if there was a logo on any of the caps?”
“Now you come to mention it, yes, I remember seeing a big letter N.”

Using this technique, the detective has helped the witness re-live the scene and gradually focus on a useful detail.

Much more effective than asking, “Are there any details you can give me about what you saw?”

Funnel questions are good for:

• Finding out more detail about a specific point: “Tell me more about Option 2.”
  
• Gaining the interest or increasing the confidence of the person you’re speaking with: “Have you used the IT Helpdesk?”, “Did they solve your problem?”, “What was the attitude of the person who took your call?”

Probing Questions

Asking probing questions is another strategy for finding out more detail.

“When exactly do you need this report by, and do you want to see a draft before I give you my final version?”,

or to investigate whether there is proof for what has been said,

“How do you know exactly that the new database can’t be used by the sales force?”

“What exactly do you mean by fast-track?”

“Who, exactly, wanted this report?”

Use exactly to get as much information as possible.

Probing questions are good for:

• Gaining clarification to ensure you have the whole story and that you understand it thoroughly; and
  
• Drawing information out of people who are trying to avoid telling you something.

Leading Questions

Leading questions try to lead the respondent to your way of thinking. They can do this in several ways:

• With an assumption: “How late/early do you think that the project will deliver?” This assumes that the project will certainly not be completed on time.

• By adding a personal appeal to agree at the end: “Lori’s very efficient, don’t you think?” or “Option 2 is better, isn’t it?”

• Phrasing the question so that the “easiest” response is “yes” (our natural tendency to prefer to say “yes” than “no” plays an important part in the phrasing of referendum questions): “Shall we all approve Option 2?” is more likely to get a positive response than “Do you want to approve option 2 or not?”
  
• A good way of doing this is to make it personal. For example, “Would you like me to go ahead with Option 2?” rather than “Shall I choose Option 2?”

• Giving people a choice between two options, both of which you would be happy with, rather than the choice of one option or not doing anything at all. Strictly speaking, the choice of “neither” is still available when you ask “Which would you prefer of A or B”, but most people will be caught up in deciding between your two preferences.The alternative if you have preference for A is, "Will I choose A or not?"
  

Note that leading questions tend to be closed.

Leading questions are good for:

• Getting the answer you want but leaving the other person feeling that they have had a choice.
  
• Closing a sale: “If that answers all of your questions, when would you like us to deliver?”

Rhetorical Questions

They’re really just statements phrased in question form: “Isn’t John’s design work so creative?”

People use rhetorical questions because they are engaging for the listener — as they are drawn into agreeing (“Yes it is and I like working with such a creative colleague”) — rather than feeling that they are being “told” something like

“John is a very creative designer”. (To which they may answer "So What?")

Rhetorical questions are even more powerful if you use a string of them. “Isn’t that a great display? Don’t you love the way the text picks up the colors in the photographs? Doesn’t it use space really well? Wouldn’t you love to have a display like that for our products?”

Rhetorical questions are good for:

• Engaging the listener

Using Questioning Techniques

You have probably used all of these questioning techniques before in your everyday life, at work and at home. But by consciously applying the appropriate kind of questioning, you can gain the information, response or outcome that you want even more effectively.

Questions are a powerful way of:

• Learning: Ask open and closed questions, and use probing questioning.
  
  
• Relationship building: People generally respond positively if you ask about what they do or enquire about their opinions. If you do this in an affirmative way “Tell me what you like best about working here”, you will help to build and maintain an open dialogue.
  
  
• Managing and coaching: Here, rhetorical and leading questions are useful too. They can help get people to reflect and to commit to courses of action that you’ve suggested: “Wouldn’t it be great to gain some further qualifications?”
  
  
• Avoiding misunderstandings: Use probing questions to seek clarification, particularly when the consequences are significant. And to make sure you avoid jumping to conclusions.
  
  
• Diffusing a heated situation: You can calm an angry customer or colleague by using funnel questions to get them to go into more detail about their grievance. This will not only distract them from their emotions, but will often help you to identify a small practical thing that you can do, which is often enough to make them feel that they have “won” something, and no longer need to be angry.
  
  
• Persuading people: No one likes to be lectured, but asking a series of open questions will help others to embrace the reasons behind your point of view. “What do you think about bringing the sales force in for half a day to have their laptops upgraded?”

Don't prove me right

It seems in many cases if I imply that someones work ethtic is bad, that person goes out of their way to prove those words are true. I recently heard an analogy that depicts this phenomenon perfectly and I thought I would share it with you..

"It's like a lamb telling a wolf your mother and father were killers and having the wolf eat the lamb in protest. "

Interpersonal Communication - Active Listening

Active listening will be the first of many posts on interpersonal communication based on the mind tools website. This is a very interesting area for me. To have poor interpersonal communications skills (which include active listening), your productivity will suffer simply because you do not have the tools needed to influence, persuade and negotiate – all necessary for workplace success. You can be the smartest person in the room, but if you cannot communicate nobody will benefit from this and your ability will not be utilised.

Active Listening
You must be able to listen attentively if you are to:
- perform to expectations
- avoid conflicts and misunderstandings
- succeed - in any arena.
Following are a few short tips to help you enhance your communications skills and to ensure you are an active listener:

1. Start by Understanding Your Own Communication Style
Good communication skills require a high level of self-awareness. Understanding your personal style of communicating will go a long way toward helping you to create good and lasting impressions on others. By becoming more aware of how others perceive you, you can adapt more readily to their styles of communicating. This does not mean you have to be a chameleon, changing with every personality you meet. Instead, you can make another person more comfortable with you by selecting and emphasizing certain behaviors that fit within your personality and resonate with another. In doing this, you will prepare yourself to become an active listener.

2. Be An Active Listener
People speak at 100 to 175 words per minute (WPM), but they can listen intelligently at 600 to 800 words per minute. Since only a part of our mind is paying attention, it is easy to go into mind drift - thinking about other things while listening to someone.

• For each meeting you should highlight a list of points and/or questions you would like the speaker to clarify. You can either ask the speaker explicitly each of these or try answer them from what they say. This will give your listening purpose. These can be combined with the points you would like to cover yourself.
  

• If you're finding it particularly difficult to concentrate on what someone is saying, try repeating their words mentally as they say it - this will reinforce their message and help you control mind drift.

• For each word you hear (or read) try to create a mental image for it. This will greatly help you to concentrate on what the speaker has to say and greatly improve your memory.

• Take notes using key-words only. Even best letter cant transcribe that fast. Use a dictiphone if possible.

• Ask questions which show you have listened and understand. But don't interrupt.

• Following up is key! This can be done with an email to thank and summarise the main points - the minutes.
  

3. Use Nonverbal Communication
Use nonverbal behaviors to raise the channel of interpersonal communication. Nonverbal communication is facial expressions like smiles, gestures, eye contact, nodding and even your posture.

This shows the person you are communicating with, that you are indeed listening actively and will prompt further communications while keeping costly, time-consuming misunderstandings at a minimum.

4. Give Feedback
Remember that what someone says and what we hear can be amazingly different! Our personal filters, assumptions, judgments, and beliefs can distort what we hear.

• Repeat back or summarize to ensure that you understand.Restate what you think you heard and ask, "Have I understood you correctly?"
  

• Confirm that you and speaker are on the same wave-length. "What I believe you just said is ZZZ; Have I understood you correctly?"

• If you want the speaker to speak as much as possible use gestures to show you agree, understand and are interested:

• "Right, OK, Yes, Sure, I agree, That is true, Oh really, I see, That is interesting,..
• Can you clarify please, can you illustrate with an example, explain further,.."
• Be emphatetic in your feedback and paraphrasing.
  

Feedback is a verbal communications means used to clearly demonstrate you are actively listening and to confirm the communications between you and others.

5. Jott down questions that may arise.
Resist the urge two pepper the speaker with too many questions, jott down possible questions. Many times the answer to your question may be in the message if you contine listening.

6. Take notes
Transcribe the key notes from the meeting. If possible ask the speaker for permission to use a dictiphone, 'that you can turn off at any point'!

7. Be able to 'Parrot'
Try summarise the key sections by providing:
facts, thoughts and beliefs you heard, convey underlying feelings, communicate the speakers needs and wants. This allows the user to add anything she missed or clarify any discrepancies.

To be an effective listner you need to Strike a balance between listening and responding. If you are unsure be sure to ask the seaker to 'further explain'.

Belief

Maybe a little of topic here again but I thought I would share this with you. Its another interesting anecdote to help us realise we can do what we set our minds to..

How High Can You Jump?

Flea trainers have observed a predictable and strange habit of fleas while training them. Fleas are trained by putting them in a cardboard box with a top on it. The fleas will jump up and hit the top of the cardboard box over and over and over again. As you watch them jump and hit the lid, something very interesting becomes obvious. The fleas continue to jump, but they are no longer jumping high enough to hit the top. Apparently, Excedrin headache 1738 forces them to limit the height of their jump.

When you take off the lid, the fleas continue to jump, but they will not jump out of the box. They won't jump out because they can't jump out. Why? The reason is simple. They have conditioned themselves to jump just so high. Once they have conditioned themselves to jump just so high, that's all they can do!

Many times, people do the same thing. They restrict themselves and never reach their potential. Just like the fleas, they fail to jump higher, thinking they are doing all they can do.

Thiking outside the box

Here are two anecdotes that exemplify how changes perceived to be failures, given the right kind of thinking, can actually present opportunities!

Post-it Notes

The 3M Company encourages creativity from its employees. The company allows its researchers to spend 15 percent of their time on any project that interests them. This attitude has brought fantastic benefits not only to the employees but to the 3M Company itself Many times, a spark of an idea turned into a successful product has boosted 3M's profits tremendously.

Some years ago, a scientist in 3M's commercial office took advantage of this 15 percent creative time. This scientist, Art Fry, came up with an idea for one of 3M's best-selling products. It seems that Art Fry dealt with a small irritation every Sunday as he sang in the church choir. After marking his pages in the hymnal with small bits of paper, the small pieces would invariably fall out all over the floor.

Suddenly, an idea struck Fry. He remembered an adhesive developed by a colleague that everyone thought was a failure because it did not stick very well. "I coated the adhesive on a paper sample," Fry recalls, "and I found that it was not only a good bookmark, but it was great for writing notes. It will stay in place as long as you want it to, and then you can remove it without damage."

Yes, Art Fry hit the jackpot. The resulting product was called Post-it! and has become one of 3M's most successful office products.

---

From Candles to Soap

In 1879, Procter and Gamble's best seller was candles. But the company was in trouble. Thomas Edison had invented the light bulb, and it looked as if candles would become obsolete. Their fears became reality when the market for candles plummeted since they were now sold only forspecial occasions.

The outlook appeared to be bleak for Procter and Gamble. However, at this time, it seemed that destiny played a dramatic part in pulling the struggling company from the clutches of bankruptcy. A forgetful employee at a small factory in Cincinnati forgot to turn off his machine when he went to lunch. The result? A frothing mass of lather filled with air bubbles. He almost threw the stuff away but instead decided to make it into soap. The soap floated. Thus, Ivory soap was born and became the mainstay of the Procter and Gamble Company.

Why was soap that floats such a hot item at that time? In Cincinnati, during that period, some people bathed in the Ohio River. Floating soap would never sink and consequently never got lost. So, Ivory soap became a best seller in Ohio and eventually across the country also.

Like Procter and Gamble, never give up when things go wrong or when seemingly unsurmountable problems arise. Creativity put to work can change a problem and turn it into a gold mine.

NLP - Neuro Linguistic Processing

Might be straying a little of track here but I happened to have a conversation with my director yesterday regarding communication skills and how effective they are regardless of the context. He went on to mention NLP which he had found quite interesting, having heard the name before but not knowing too much about it I decided to further investigate....

NLP: Useful model of beliefs and techniques that offer a way to use the mind and body to achieve excellence in learning, business, counseling, relationships, sports and other experiences of life.

"The initial ideas of NLP were developed around 1973 by Richard Bandler, a student, and John Grinder, a professor of linguistics, in association with the social scientist Gregory Bateson. The term "Neuro-linguistic programming" denotes a set of models and principles meant to explore how mind and neurology (neuro), language patterns (linguistic), and the organization of human perception and cognition into systemic patterns (programming) interact to create subjective reality and human behaviors."


One article purports "NLP looks for patterns and one of the earliest patterns noticed in humans was a tendency for the eyes to look in a certain direction when thinking in a certain way."


One examples goes:
If you are trying to convince your teenager to clean his room and every time he
refers to his lack of interest in the subject, he looks up and to his right, he's probably constructing an image,
possibly an unpleasant image of himself cleaning his room.
If you continue telling him how nice it would feel to have the room clean,
you're not likely to get far.

You're trying to appeal to how it feels to have a solution when all he's seeing is a problem.

You're not speaking the same language representationally.

If you were to recognize this difference and tell him how nice his room would look with everything appearing neat you would have a better chance of getting some action out of him.

So essentially,
Recognizing whether someone is seeing, hearing or feeling, allows you to match the sensory system they're using and communicate with them much more easily.

The Whole Product Revisited

In a previous post we discussed the 'Whole Product', a term made famous in Geoffery Moore's book, "Crossing The Chasm". This is a very important concept in sellig hi-tech products. In the following post we will look at it again with some new examples.

If you are the only person in the world with a FAX machine, it's of no use to you. Once
enough people have FAX machines and access to a telephone line, then the utility
of the FAX becomes evident.

The whole product is the FAX machine plus the telephone system.

A Whole Product has easy-to-use characteristics, easily available technical support and tutorials, and is stable with few bugs. There are lots of reference customers around, and several of the Pragmatist's direct competitors have already implemented the technology, so the Pragmatist knows the technology will work for its industry. In short, the Pragmatist organization is the home of the "It's safe because lots of other companies use it!" type of thinking.

There are many road blocks on the way to selling new high technology products. First some people tinker in a garage and come up with a product idea which they show off at their local club. If the idea seems good they get some financing and actually create a product.

The Innovators are eager to get their hands on these new gadgets but often they don't have the money to buy them so the company "seeds" them with beta product.

As soon as the Early Adopters hear about the new gadget they try to figure out if it will give their companies a lead and often they will buy the product and they are willing to put up with the extra hardship that new, untested, products bring with them.
So far so good.

The next big hurdle is to convince the Early Majority to buy the product. Here the problem is Catch 22.

The Early Majority likes to buy products that other members of the Early Majority have already bought.

The Crossing the Chasm that More refers to is the jump that needs to be made between Early Adopters and the first lot of Early Majority. He recommends the Bowling Alley approach to marketing in the hope that this will unleash a Tornado.

When that happens, the company has to change its marketing strategy once more to fit it to the current circumstances.

How to Sell to a CIO? or anyone for that matter

When selling technology it is often the CIO you will have to sell to. Here are some tips on how to do this effectively..
Eric Goldfarb, CIO of recovery auditing firm PRG-Schultz International, describes the demands that executives like himself make of technology vendors these days. As he says: “Imagine making your living selling broken things and having to routinely promise features that don't exist at a price that's set independently of the value of the product or service being rendered!”

Now, he asks: “Imagine (on the other side of the table) being a CIO who is betting your company, your career and the livelihood of your staff on that product and the salesperson's promises. That's what a CIO does every day."

Many company's success depends entirely on their technology.

Here are some tips when selling:

1. “Respect the CIO’s time”:

"There are thousands of technology companies in the out there. If 5% think they have something to sell to me, they let me know either by voice mail, phone calls or in meetings. That's a lot of communications. To break through all that chatter, you need to tell a story that addresses my problems and intrigues me enough to schedule a 20-minute meeting with you. Tell me a story that shows how you address my problems, and intrigue me enough to get a 20-minute meeting. “If you can do that, I'll give you another 20 minutes and, maybe, a sale.”

2. “Put the right person at the table”:

“I'm looking for people who will listen to and understand the company's problems and the CIO's concerns. Only then can the person come up with the right ideas and solutions.”

3. “Understand that CIOs differ from salespeople”:

“We think we’re different to most salespeople. We’re analytical, not emotional - We want process, facts and figures.”
“Be insatiably curious … you should know my company’s weaknesses. Pitch your product as the best way to reduce that weakness. Your product should be a solution to existing problems. Connecting with the CIO and the company doesn't mean you'll close a sale right away. Follow up and reinforce your value proposition with voice mail, e-mail and in every subsequent meeting. This process mirrors how the CIO works. It matches the psychological profile.”

4. Differentiate with a service:

“Today's technology companies look a lot alike. They employ similar people with similar educational backgrounds; they produce similar things with similar prices and similar quality. What's different about you and your company? These days, building the best product isn't enough; it's simply the price of entry.”
“Use services to differentiate yourself from the competition. If you can sell your product along with a valuable service, you'll increase your odds of making your product sales goals.”

5. Solve, don’t sell:

“Every technology sale has five doors that must be opened in order to proceed:
need, money, urgency, desire and trust.
Once these doors are all open, then you can start being truly successful.

The key to the door of success means you're not selling a product; you're solving a problem.

Once you've identified the need, focus on making my organization better and my life easier.
“I don't expect you to know every detail in each module. Get the right resources in your own organization involved in solving my problem. The most successful salespeople can pluck the right resources out of their organization to help my company.”

6. Stand by your CIO:

“Over the course of implementing products or software, something's bound to break. The salesperson who stands by me over the years and doesn't run away at the first sign of trouble is going to be successful. John Keegan in The Masks of Command (Penguin USA, 1989) said, "The first and greatest imperative of command is to be present and in person. Those who impose risk must be seen to share it." Try mitigate the risk.
“You're not building customer satisfaction; you're building customer success. There's a difference, and the result will make us all winners.”

Some Tools to Clarify the Compelling Reason
Also, here is some tools from Moore's "Crossing the Chasm" that allows you to explain your product in a structured and concise manner to help the customer attain that Eureka factor:

Why Segment Markets? (and pick just 1 to target at a time - FoCus)

- Maximize benefit of resources... references, collateral, internal procedures and documentation (this is our biggest issue)

-Higher Critical Mass of Word Of Mouth (because if your early successes are all in different markets then those different stories don't add together - market consisting of buyers who reference each other)

-Big fish in a small pond: halo effect of 'being a winner' (this is more important in true Crossing The Chasm situations, where there is a real need for a Whole Product solution to be assembled from multiple vendors, and therefore the prospect wants to feel certain that you will have partners creating the supplemental pieces of the Whole Product)

User Scenarios
How the user's life will improve by using your product.

Header/thumbnail description of buyer

BEFORE OUR PRODUCT: day-in-the-life

scene/situation

desired outcome

attempted approach

interfering factors

economic consequences

AFTER OUR PRODUCT: day-in-the-life

new approach

enabling factors

economic rewards

Market Development Strategy Checklist
evaluate all the markets/User Scenarios you're considering targeting against this list of criteria. Outcome is to pick one as a beach-head.

showstopper issues: low score on any of these eliminates a market from consideration

Target customer: single, identifiable economic buyer for the offer. Accessible to sales channel, and sufficiently funded to pay.

Compelling reason to buy: Are the economic consequences sufficient to mandate any reasonable economic buyer to fix the problems called out in the scenario? If pragmatists can live with the problem for another year, they will.

Whole Product: Can we field a complete solution to the target customer's compelling reason to buy?

Competition: Has this problem already been addressed by another company such that they have crossed the chasm ahead of us and occupied the space we would be targetting?

-the market alternative is the company the target customer has been buying from for years - the old way of doing things

- the product alternative is another discontinuous innovation trying to solve the same problem you are (to the interfering factors), but not as well-targeted to your market segment

Partner and allies: Do we already have the relationships necessary to fulfill the whole product?

Distribution: Do we have a sales channel in place that can call on the target customer?

Pricing: Is the price of the Whole Product? consistent with the target customer's budget and the value gained by fixing the broken process? Do all the partners get compensated adequately to keep their attention and loyalty?

Our Positioning: Is the company credible as a provider of products and services to the target niche?

Next target customer: If we dominate this niche, does it have good "bowling pin"(knock on effect) potential? That is, will these customers and partners faciliate our entry into adjacent niches?


The Positioning Statement
This should drive you sales approach.

For ____ (target customers)
o

Who are dissatisfied with ___ (current market alternative),
o

Our product is a ___ (new product category)
o

That provides ___ (key problem-solving capability).
o

Unlike ___ (the product alternative),
o

We have assembled ___ (key Whole Product features to maximize fit for specific target market segment)

Value Proposition: Who it targets, What it does and How it benefits the user.

E.g. Azotel's solution targets local entrepreneurs. It allows them easily set up wireless internet services. This is done more easily and less costly than ever before.

Positioning:
“Positioning is based on the target segment you intend to dominate and the value proposition you intend to dominate it with.”

How do you know when your company has crossed the 'chasm'?

So in the last chapter we learned about an important aspect of technology adoption and the necessity to cross the chasm to move into the main market of the pragmatists. Now we will look at how you know your company has crossed the chasm courtesy of TCG..

As most veterans of market development initiatives involving new technologies know only too well from the many scars they carry, such efforts usually occur in an environment devoid of sufficient or accurate market research data. Assuming for one moment that a company has fought a serious and disciplined campaign to establish a beachhead that will provide them with strong customer references and reward them with increased market ‘power’ going forward, how can they tell when they have passed the ‘tipping point’?
Here are a few of the ones that successful chasm-crossers most often see occurring:

1. Fewer customer buying decisions are indefinite or deferred, i.e., the pipeline and forecast become a more reliable indicator of actual decisions to buy;

2. Sales cycles get shorter, your win ratio goes up, and deal size and reach increase;

3. Revenue starts to grow in a predictable curve, instead of going up and down like a yo-yo;

4. Opportunities start coming to you as a result of customer references;

5. Desirable partners start gravitating to you and asking to be included in your deals;

6. Competitors start ceding the segment to you, focusing their energy elsewhere;

7. Competitors’ sales reps (and others) contact you for possible job opportunities;

8. People no longer ask you to spell the name of your company when you mention it over the phone (this is especially for startups and other young companies);

9. Analysts cover your category, and start calling you for briefings;

10. Prospects do not want to spend a lot of time on the compelling reason to buy, but instead want to focus on whether or not you have the whole product for their problem.

The Technology Adoption Life Cycle - TALC

First of you must be thinking, 'what is the chasm?'. Well, the chasm is part of the Technology Adoption Lifecycle, made famous by Geoffery Moore. Making any sense? NO, ok..back to basics.
The Technology Adoption Lifecycle(TALC) aims to explain the adoption by business and individuals of high technology products, particularly those that represent a discontinuous innovation.




Innovators are people who like technology for technology's sake. They seek out
the newest products, and they are willing to use them even before they are
officially released to the market. In the Microcosm they include the beta testers
and the hackers. Companies often "seed" the innovators with free equipment.

Early Adopters also buy new products early, not for the thrill of using new
technology but because they feel that the new technology will give them and their
companies a head start over the rest of the world. Early adopters rely on the
innovators' opinions to make the purchasing decision.

Early Majority also relate well to new technology but they don't necessarily want
to be the first kid on the block to try a new toy. The early adopters are on the lookout for new products while the early majority has to be sold. If this sales effort is successful, it creates the Tornado because, once a certain percentage of early majority buys the product, they all want to buy it. The early majority cannot stand to be left behind. Ipods are in this area now.

Late Majority starts to buy when the product is well established., typically when
the product has penetrated roughly 50% of the market (you can't lose your job by
buying Windoze). All mums and Dads that were initially reluctant to get mobile phones.

Laggards don't want to buy technology, period. They buy when they have no other
choice.

The "Chasm" refers to the time lag between the early adopters and the early majority taking up the product. Many high tech companies have floundered in the chasm, just after volume starts to rise at the end of the early adoption phase. All too often, sales suddenly dry up if the early majority does not buy.

Compelling Reason to Buy

With any new product or service it is very imperative that the customer identifies the compelling reason to buy, that is, the reason to use this methodology over any other to solve a particular problem.

Here is a method to identify a Clear Compelling Event -
A clear compelling event means that it is clear what the customer needs to buy, when he needs to buy it, and why.
Important to distinguish between a customer who is thinking about buying a new machine some day and a customer that has a specific need to buy a machine to perform a certain function by a specific date.

Some Review Questions

1 Why does the customer need a new machine?
2 Can his existing machines do the work?
3 What alternatives does he have rather than to buy a new
machine?
4 Is there specific project or special use for the machine?
5 If so, what dates does the project need to be started and
completed?
6 What is the planned payback for the customer on this
project?
7 What are the consequences if they do not meet the project
dates or the payback targets?
8 What date does the customer need the machine?
9 When will the “Request for Proposals” be available?
10 When are the proposals due?
11 When will the customer award a contract?
12 What will happen if he buys the machine 60 days later?
13 Are there target prices for each of the machines in the
deal?
14 How accurate are the target prices?
15 Are the target prices sufficient to purchase the machines
needed?
16 Has the customer documented any formal decision criteria
to assist them with the selection of the best machine?
17 What are the informal decision criteria at this customer?
18 Is the cost of system 10-20% of the cost of the problem it solves. Can this be proved?

Add a little anecdote

Going back to the presentation post, if you are looking to make a speech more interesting and really capture listener attention with a sppech with some life, simply add an anecdote.

Here are some good anecdote resources:
http://www.bizmove.com/inspiration/m9b.htm
http://www.businesslead.com/business/anecdotes.htm
http://www.patsula.com/smallbusinessquotes/#Success

Effective Presenting

The best way to present a presentation is a la David letterman. In top ten format.
"Why?" you ask..

You will listen to a lot of presenters and realise that a lot are crap, not prepared, arrogant, believe audience can read small font, they dont know what they are saying so pad slides with extra text..and so on.

By using top ten format, If I am such a bad presenter, the audience can simply subtract from ten to know when the suffering will end for them! Besides this, it makes thing concise and easy to remember...

WBS - Work Breakdown Structure

Starting to write the business case for my thesis now. As now and like before any project one needs to define a WBS (work breakdown Structure) before the gantt chart to ascertain the project activities and scope. Here is a quick breakdown, no pun intended, of what is involved..

WBS - The list of tasks and subtasks defined for a project. This list is done in a hierarchical fashion, grouping sets of related tasks under a common parent task.

Purpose - to document the scope of a project.
Its hierarchical arrangement allows for easy identification of the terminal elements (the actual items to be done in a project). Being an exhaustive document of the project scope, the WBS serves as the basis (indeed, the backbone) for much of project planning. All the work to be done in a project must trace its origin from one or more WBS entries.

How to - Project management is not about performing the work, but rather more concerned about monitoring the work, so a good maxim to follow in preparing the WBS is to go to just enough detail to allow a piece of work to assigned to a resource, and then the status monitored.

An example of a work breakdown for painting a room (activity-oriented) is, to state the obvious:

1. Prepare materials

1.1Buy paint

1.2Buy a ladder

1.3 Buy brushes/rollers

1.4 Buy wallpaper remover

2 Prepare room
2.1 Remove old wallpaper
2.2 Remove detachable decorations
2.3 Cover floor with old newspapers
2.4 Cover electrical outlets/switches with tape
2.5 Cover furniture with sheets

3 Paint the room

4 Clean up the room
4.1 Dispose or store left over paint
4.2 Clean brushes/rollers
4.3 Dispose of old newspapers
4.4 Remove covers

Innovation

knowing a winning..slides
buzz..newsleter...

Business Processes

So, we have all heard of it but find it hard to explain it...let alone give examples..
A collection of related, structured activities--a chain of events--that produce a specific service or product for a particular customer or customers.

Characteristics of a Business Process:
Business processes can be clearly defined, documented, taught, and improved based on “lessons learned.”

• defines “how we do it around here.”
• is useful for training employees
• Performance of the business process can be measured
• When things go wrong, the “lessons learned” as a result of failure analysis can be used to improve the process - This is how organizational knowledge is accumulated and refined.


Operations Business Processes:
1. Receive customer order request (pull signal)
2. Schedule / confirm materials availability
3. Schedule / confirm labor and equipment availability
4. Confirm delivery dates and quantities to customer
5. Receive all materials
7. Fabricate parts / Prepare for event
8. Assemble, test, package, and ship / Deliver services
9. Invoice customer
10.Receive payment

Sales Process: (example for Capital Equipment)
P. Qualify potential new customers
1. Known need and willing to buy our brand
2. Clear compelling event established
3. Preliminary quotation at the customer
4. Good mentors established
5. Funding confirmed
6. Contract negotiations
7. Salesman reports that the deal is acceptable
8. Verbal contract approval from the customer
9. Order is at headquarters
10. Order is accepted at headquarters
11. Machine is shipped
12. Customer satisfaction survey is completed

Measurement managed organisations work

“Is Measurement Worth It?”
Adapted from Balanced Scorecard: Step-by-Step by Paul Niven, 2002


Measure of Success | Measurement Managed Organizations | Non-Measurement Managed Organizations

Performance Management Items:
Industry leader over past three years |74% | 44%
Financially ranked in top 3rd of their industry | 83% | 52%
Success in last major change effort |97% | 55%
Culture Items:
Agreement on strategy |93% | 37%
Communication of strategy |60% | 8%
Information shared openly and candidly |71% | 30%

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So, Why do managed organisations work?

Three universal truths:
• Every human being wants to be treated with dignity and respect,
every single day. . .
. . . {Engaged in reviews vs. ignored}

• People want to make a contribution with what they do, they want
their lives to have meaning. . .
. . . {Tools build capacity, human capital}

• All people want someone to notice what they do. . .
. . . {Accountability for performance measures}

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