bwagy, the blog of Ben Young

As much as 85% of all consumer purchases are made by females (via TomPeters.com) and I am guessing that the rest is guys buying stuff for the ladies! (joking).

Seriously though as a retailer you should be helping guys buy for girls.

Run a flower shop? Guide guys as to what they should buy.  Same with wine / chocolates.  In fact why isn’t there a store that solves guys problems – you could call it ‘I’m Sorry’ or ‘I Love You’.

Just give guys a guide – what do you want to say with your gift.  Get the girls to help feed the input.

At the very least it says they cared enough to try.  Just a thought, help guys buy for girls.

If you have target market X surely you should talk directly to them?

In all likelihood – yes.

However there is ALWAYS room to target the second tier.

Who influences this market? Who else do they interact with? Whose opinion do they pay attention to?

The best example of this is the most effective campaign in getting women in for cancer screening. Conversations were held with hairdressers whom were to then relay they conversations with their clients. By targeting this second tier they were able to reach their target audience in an effective manner.

The key here is to miss the same boat that your competition are taking ON PURPOSE!

Great engagement model when you do not have the capability to do so directly.

I have to admit that I know a form of these are on the way.  Intelligent Shopping Carts which help you identify what you want to buy, notify you of specials etc.

However these are engineered for companies benefit moreso than the consumers.

What I would like is to walk into a store (thinking Supermarket here) – it knows my favourite brands, it knows that I always buy bananas or that if I wander down the meat section I never buy Pork but buy Steak, potentially even it can monitor my shopping habits and recommend new products based on others.  Kind of like Last.fm but for food.

So how could you implement this? Intelligent glasses that glow on the products you like.  Too geeky methinks.

Shopping Cart is a winner – simply login, swipe each product as you add it.  Hey you could even tally my purchases as I go.  Now that would be neat.

Again like Last.fm needs to be built around the customer – not the supermarket (whom just want to push more products into your trolley).  If you help me enhance the experience I will shop more often.  Simple as that.

Interesting question.

But why was I thinking this?

Driving around – I thought it was neat how all roads are virtually flat and smoothen out the bumps.

Then I was like, ok same with car parks.  But what about car parking buildings?

Quick calculations (using the old 1, 2, square root 3) we can find if we elevate a 4m car park 30 degreees, we can accommodate a flat surface area saving of 15%.

That is, if you elevated every car park in a building, you would have 15% more room for extra car parks.

So why haven’t they done it?

• Most likely the fundamental assumptions haven’t been questioned
• Comfort / Usability
• The norm

From a cost perspective

• Increase car density within a car park (thus higher ROI for the same surface area)
• Setup price discrimination, flat car park 50c/hour

Clearly there are some issues that need to be investigated…such as safety, consumer reaction, cost of setting up.

Flipping the fundamental assumption that parks need to be flat – yields a whole new insight.

Crazy huh? This exact approach is what is going to differentiate your firms service offering, flipping solutions on their head to deliver something no one else can.  What better way to obsess about your customers?

No matter how much drugs Customs find, dealers are still looking for new ways to hide it.

And why are they doing it? The allure of the wealth.

I see this as the equivalent of a price war in a downward spiral.  As adept as customs officials are they aren’t nearly as motivated as the drug dealers who keep one step ahead of them.

What do I propose to end this? Crowdsourcing.

Open up the problem to the public, give them the constraints Customs operate under and what the avenues are.  Get the public to help you figure 101 ways to import drugs in almost anything that is coming into the country.

Then Customs can get ahead of the game.  Sure the public will reveal new ways that haven’t been utilised yet but (in theory) those methods would have been exploited at some point in time.

So stop chasing your tails and take control of the game.

Look, honestly, if your product isn’t shit hot – all the marketing in the world ain’t going to save it.

Sure you will get a bit of a boost when you get nationwide coverage on tv, or a mention in the paper, but honestly is it going to be the answer to building a sustainable business? No.

Focus on the product, bring it up to speed, grow & evolve it from customer feedback.  As if it isn’t hot we can stick any marketing tactic to it and you won’t get the return.  

Whereas if you have a shit hot product – it makes it a million times easier to market – as it markets itself.

Take some time, refocus on what you offer, if not today when?

Flying under the radar is good, it gives you time to experiment, learn, without risking everything.

By the time you are out of the radar the recency effect means the ‘majority’ tend to only remember the last good (or bad) thing you did but so what you probably made your mistakes whilst under the radar.

So fail lots and fly under the radar for a bit.

No need to blow your own trumpet once you’re good enough others will do that for you…

API stands for Application Programming Interface.  A geek term which means you can build a system that uses functions from another (through the API).

Google, Digg, Twitter use APIs to stimulate innovation and really open the platform up.  

Having an API maximises the potential of your service.  Smart on every level: leverage, stimulate innovation, buy out those that work, learn from those that fail…

Arising amongst these purely ‘tech’ services are startups building web platforms that connect the previously unreachable  through their online platform.  Once they are connected innovation can really happen.

Take Mint.com for example, by working with many different banks across the USA and importing their data into Mint they provide an industry standard.  The data is in a centralised location, abides by the same rules and can be opened up.

You see once you have ubiquity across an industry of data abiding the same structured rules you then provide a platform for innovation to happen over the API.

What could you do with Mint transaction data?

Compare spending versus external events (like google news, browsing habits, locality), provide a ‘new’ cashflow management tool, let people check their bank account via twitter or text.

Imagine the possibilities if you can create the same platform model in other industries, a platform for every postshop in the world, connecting all car yards or even every mobile network in the world.

Build a real life business api, open it up, see what happens.

Giving away stuff for free is such a joy.

• Advice
• Coffees
• Ebooks
• Connections
• Services & time

It is so relieving; not stressing about making a few bucks on an ebook, or negotiating rates for a hour long meeting.  Worrying I am not getting enough money. I don’t make any money off this and never intend to do so, I do it for fun. 

By deciding this is what I do for free.  This is where i make money and this is where I don’t.

It let’s me get those things done, no stress, then focus on those that make me money.

The crucial thing is the free doesn’t destroy business value, it forces you to focus on areas where you extract additional value.

What barriers can you destroy? To unlock what you have and just give it away for free? Be it reports, knowledge, ideas, systems…

Unlocking these expands your presence in your market and thus your opportunity to maximise the cashflow opportunities.

EIR for short, an entrepreneur in residence is what Venture Capital firms seek, they invite an entrepreneur in to help them put together a solid idea.  

Very smart, identify a real go getter whom you want to work with, invite them in.

My question is why are only venture capitalists doing this?

I think big companies should hire entrepreneurs, to come in, sit in their organisation for a few months, bring their outside in view and generate real change within the organisation.

Act as a your own venture capitalist in your industry..

I’d love to see that, hey we hired Guy Kawasaki to come sit in our offices for 3 months, help us come up with some game changing ideas.

From my point of view that would be real fun but also a good way to hear ideas from the edge, observations on how to improve, or just a different point of view.

Really want some culture change? Hire a dozen entrepreneurs seed them in different divisions.

Shopping at a local supermarket on Sunday I received great service from a new checkout person.  It was at that moment I thought, why don’t they have a simple touch machine where after the transaction you can rate the service, 1 to 5 stars.  I would have loved to give her five stars.

Imagine that, a small touch screen device, where you can rate the service in a second.  The system then records the rating and at the end of the day the staff member gets their average rating.

Staff realise:

• They are instantly accountable
• Provides a benchmark to lift the bar
• Real time rankings by the hour (look at peaks and troughs during the day)

For the service provider:

• Instant feedback on staff
• Reward the best staff
• Compare satisfaction by time of day
• Get the real picture of what your customers think of your service
• Stimulate a cultural change in customer satisfaction, sending the right signals to staff and to customers

And for customers:

• Feel the respect for opinion
• Can reward outstanding service by giving five stars
• Feel valued
• Makes them consciously think about the level of customer service provided

Not sure on the cost but it would be worth a try! This one little thing could change the whole customer service experience.

(Extra for experts: You already realise people are doing this on twitter (see here) and will continue to do so.  Bit of a no brainer.  Embrace the change)

Filters can come in the form of networks, relationships, applications, physical filters.

• TechCrunch is a filter of tech news, in amongst all the news, they filter the good stuff out.
• Our Twitter networks are our own filter, filter of timely and relevant conversations to us.
• Traditionally Newspapers & the evening news have been filters.
• Seth Godins Triiibes is a filter in itself, a private group of people with a common interest.
• Google Alerts setup for your niche, emails you when stories appear of interest.

How can you develop a filter for your passion? or your industry?

By providing a filter you create a barrier between the signal and the noise.  You will be rewarded for that.

Maybe even you are the filter? 

Have a think about it, create one if necessary, the best thing about it? You are helping others, of which you can build a business out of, or just build your own brand.

I am a huge Kiva evangelist, enabling anybody anywhere to provide micro loans to entrepreneurs in developing countries.  The capital flows are very neat.

Imagine though getting knowledge flowing in a Kiva like system.

You match up entrepreneurs in developing countries with entrepreneurs in the western world.

For sure there are barriers such as language, technology use (at the other end), lack of context by information providers.

However these aside I think there is a real need.  The cross pollination would benefit both parties.

Imagine dedicating an hour a week to work with or chat with an entrepreneur on the other side of the world.  That would be a real dream.

Oh also it would enhance the catch up effect of developing countries.  Just a thought.

I am a fan of the cafe, constantly hold meetings there, nice atmosphere, food, drink.

A strong message at the moment I keep talking about is using your existing organisation to sell yourself.

Cafes are a great example of this, some staff are proactive can recommend something nice to eat, the daily special, maybe they can make you what you want.  Majority of them though, stand behind the food, dish it out, then process your payment.

The difference here is, some staff are sales people, taking initiative to help the business.  The latter are like cogs in a machine, follow the system, collect the paycheck.

I have good news, the latter can be trained! Give them some sales training, reward sales or increases in customer satisfaction.  Your employees know your products / services better than most, remind them that helping produce sales is a win/win for all.  

The same goes for clients & users.  All three should be your top sales channels.  They COULD be selling for you! but only if you help provide the tools for them to do so.

1. Look at how you generate sales now.
2. Then look at where you could be selling, give them a test.  

You’d be surprised at how effective alternative channels are.

You know the 6 degrees of separation rule.

It is even smaller online.  In New Zealand apparently it’s 2 degrees of separation to everyone.  If two people are on Twitter or LinkedIn I would guess most people would be 2 maybe 3 degrees of separation (especially for larger networks).

I would like a quick app, I could load up my Twitter + LinkedIn (Facebook for others) and it analyses my networks and theirs (first level only).  

Then all i do is enter a name, it searches those, and lets me know who I know someone through.

It would be fantastic! At a conference I could put someones name in see if I know someone they do, instant conversation starter.  Someone pitching to me, same deal.

The world is all about relationships, someone please build this.  Give me this app now!

It would make social interactions such a breeze.