How to Decide on a New Product Feature?

Ask any company “what have they done lately?” And they will rattle off a long list of new features and enhancements. Ask them “so, how much has your revenue gone up?” And the answer in most cases would be “huh!!!”

So, here is a simple flowchart to determine if a new feature should be added.

  



Some additional points:

• Only work with absolute dollars. Do not accept "We expect to ..." type of response for any of the questions above.
• "Do it FASTER than now!!!" is money on the table. Existing customers are more likely to give you immediate monies than new customers.
• New features rarely stop customer attrition. So always explore to see if you can improve other parts like customer service, payment terms, on-time delivery to mitigate customer loss.

That is it. You are done.

New eBook Published on Kindle

My first eBook has published on the Amazon Kindle Store. The book discusses strategies on unlocking the secrets of repeat and upgrade business. Getting a new customer is much harder than losing an existing one. So the matra should be to capitalize on existing ones.

The book is available http://www.amazon.com/Simple-Strategies-Boost-Profits-ebook/dp/B00B6QQM5O and is moderately priced at $3.99. The book is available on all Amazon stores.

Post your review and feedback on this page: http://www.amazon.com/Simple-Strategies-Boost-Profits-ebook/dp/B00B6QQM5O.

Popularizing blogs at no-cost

By Ram Iyer on May 19, 2012.

For those of you who write blogs, the next question would be "How do we popularize blogs?". It is an effort that again is no-cost but great implications. In fact, a popular blog is a great asset for any company. It is the one medium that can help push information to the right set of current and prospective buyers. For non-business blogs, it can become a very powerful platform to speak-out your opinions and views.

If you are just getting started, go read my earlier post on blog marketing.

The easiest of popularizing techniques is to comment on other like-minded blogs.

Commenting on blogs:

Find like-minded blogs that are relevant to the your sector including those written by your compatriots, competitors and partners. Think of all vertical and lateral associations to your line of business or interest. Then read some of their recent blogs with an intent to contribute or rebut. Not all posts will be relevant - if so skip and move on. Write informative and interesting comments.

Some comment do's and dont's:

• Do include factual data,  if possible.
• Do back up your opinion with some evidence.
• Do try to be within the first ten to comment.
• Don't use foul language
• Don't threaten or castigate the author or anyone else

There is no need to reference your work or products. However, if you already have a blog on the subject then definitely reference it and provide a back-link.

Your signature email address should to include your blog or company domain. Get a custom domain name if you don't already have one. Alternatively, you can get specialized email address from gmail or similar. Lastly include a tag line in your signature. For example my signature is:

Ram Iyer (ram@doecho.com).
Leadership, Product Management, Design and Development.
www.doecho.com

By far, this is the most effective and no-cost way to spreading your word in the marketplace. Now start commeting and do not let go.

Next step - Blog posting roster and schedule

No-cost Marketing with Blogs

By Ram Iyer on May 16th, 2012.

Blogs are the easiest and cheapest way to market your products or services. Sometimes when people do not know where to start, how to overcome writers’ block and what to expect, it leads to blogs being ignored. Some people try it for a while and when they do not see immediate results, they even quit.

Caution: Blogs may not be for everyone. Some products and services do not lend themselves to online marketing. I have seen a lot of people waste time, resources and money with online and social media because they heard from some social media expert telling them “they need a Social media strategy". Do your homework before jumping in to online and social media marketing!

GM can afford the mistake, you cannot (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304192704577406394017764460.html)

Writing Blogs:

Blogs should be one to three paragraphs long, and focused on your industry. Use easy-to-understand language to write about trends, overviews, product reviews, opinions and outlooks on your industry related topics.

The topics do not have to be directly related to your products or services and as a blogger; you do not have to force yourself to include any special keywords (make it natural.) Your article can be based on your experience talking to customers, friends and family. It can be something you heard at a tradeshow, watched on television or something you even read in a news-magazine. Feel free to point to reference sites or articles on the web, with a link.

Titles should be catchy - Something like "Online education saves tons of money for business houses" - to highlight how education is being transformed; "Hand-sanitizers greatly reduce the risk of common cold.

Writing a blog article should take no more than an hour of writing and another hour of editing. Run it by one person to make sure there are no grammatical errors (sometimes it is hard to see a tense-mix-up or half-completed sentences.) Skip the review if no one is available or if it takes more than a day to get it back.

After you finish writing the blog, think of keywords that reflect your blog. Keep it true to the blog. For example: if you are writing about hand sanitizers, do not tag it with "child welfare" unless you are presenting a unique combination of "hand sanitizers somehow either protecting or harming kids."

And you are finally done! Publish it!!

Next step: Popularizing them

Elevator Pitch In 3 Steps

By Ram Iyer on May 11, 2012.

I have seen a lot of people struggle with the question "What do you do?" The question seems so innocuous that we never think about it seriously enough to make it advantageous to ourselves. A proper and appropriate response can make things happen for us.
A thirty second elevator pitch is the most crucial marketing statement about you. The elevator pitch is the sum total of all your skills, education and accomplishments.  A well crafted statement can open lots of doors while lackluster ones can cause damage beyond repair. It is the one statement that could mean the difference between landing a good job, securing profitable customers, making lifelong friends and meeting partners.

So how do you get started? 

A 30 second statement usually starts as a two or three min pitch. Over several revisions, you will have to trim it down to flow properly, seem natural and be memorable. Here are the three steps to creating a good pitch:

1. Think about (better still write down) the value you bring to the table. Things like "I have helped [group of people] with [some specific issue/task]", "I can make this happen for [customer group]" or, "My expert is [speciality]."

2. Convert the above into a statement like "I am a [IAMA] and we help [companies/people/groups] with [product/services] by [unique method/process]. This [saves/benefits/entertains] you in [dollars/time/value] thus greatly improving your quality of life. Some of the beneficiaries of our products/service have gone to great heights like [success story]....". And so on. Take your time with step 2 as this is the crucial piece.

3. Refine and practice the statement until it rolls effortlessly. Practice enough to make sure it seems natural. Then practice some more.

Feel free to share your elevator pitches in the comments. I will publish the interesting and the unusually sticky ones.

How To Be An Effective Speaker In Single Step

Ram Iyer on May 10, 2012.


Fear of public speaking is one of the greatest fear for a lot of people. This fear stems from watching public personalities speak effortlessly on and off camera. In movies, on television and politicians show such dexterity in public speaking that most of us are discouraged from even trying. In reality though it is not as difficult.


During my Toastmaster days, I recall this lady from Columbia who could barely speak English much less publicly. She was an environmental engineer and had completed most of her education in Spanish in Columbia. The very first day at Toastmasters, she fumbled and stumbled to introduce herself. But in less than three months, she was a fluent speaker keeping the audience in rapt attention.


There is an easy way out - the SINGLE STEP APPROACH and, you will start seeing the difference immediately.


Before every meeting, event, presentation - think of one or two phrases that you think would be most interesting to the listeners. Write it down - no more than two or at most three lines. Refine that sentence to include a couple of impact-ful words (use a dictionary if required.)Then simply memorize it.


Then during your conversations wait for the right moment and regurgitate the memorized monologue. Try not to change the words too much. And wait for the impact.


The first few times will feel uncomfortable but remember you know you are repeating something from memory. Your audience only hears what you are saying. After a few times, it will become second nature for you and you will be at-ease with your awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping public speaking.

The Five Steps to Becoming an Expert

Ram Iyer on May 9th, 2012.

Day-in and day-out we hear experts on radio and TV tell us how to save money, make money, invest effectively, change our dietary habits, and on and on. There are even experts who can tell you what it means to have a bigger left foot or the effects of a cell phone on an over sized head - OK I am kidding. 

So how can we become experts ourselves? It is easier than you think.
Here are five simple steps for becoming an expert.

1. Identify a niche - know that some knowledge is more important than others. Create a list of all things you know or have done. Trust me, when you start writing you will find you know more than you think you do. List everything you have done, read, seen and watched some one else do.

2. Know Your Market – identify the beneficiaries, the readers, the intended targets. Look to see who can benefit from each of the items you listed in Step 1 above. Identify people and groups by names including the number of people (market size.)

3. Acquire peripheral skills – public speaking and creative writing. This seems more difficult than is. Most people are afraid of "if I make an error" scenario. Off! Well. 

4. Sell Your Expertise -  have a 30 second elevator pitch and blow your own bugle. I am going let you figure this out yourself.

Note: I will post more details of Steps 3 and 4 in the coming weeks.

5. Believe in “Yourself”. Most successful entrepreneurs are people who believe in themselves. They do not know any more than we do. But they have supreme confidence in themselves. If you don't believe then no one else will either.

Now go become an expert and be rich and famous.