Yes, hello, everything!

Value-added Christmas service

 

 

To continue with simple things that make life easier, this device makes bringing the Christmas tree home a child’s play.

You pick your tree, the seller takes it through the tube and off you go with your tree in its neat fishnet stocking, in which you can carry it almost like hand luggage.

At least on the market square where we tend to go tree shopping, this service has become more or less standard, making many customers merry indeed.

If only somebody could find a solution for carrying the dry tree out as easily after the holidays...

 

Hang in there

 

This detail made me happy today when returning empty cans to recycling and gets the design award of the week. A small thing, but exactly where it needs to be, making my life as the user easier. 

Funnily, looking at the manufacturer's web site, it seems that they have removed the part in their newer products.

Production reasons? Cutting BOM? I guess it just goes to show that good design is not always appreciated. A special thanks in any case to whoever designed the feature. My sympathy is with you.

Business basics

 

Economically challenging times are great for business planning. They force one to concentrate on the essential.

After a couple of hockey stick social media business case fantasies I’ve heard this week, I thought this might be a good time to review some of the ground rules of doing business:

 

1. Money is better than No money

Obvious, right? Yet, I keep hearing statements like “We won’t be getting anything for the extra work we need to do to implement feature X for pilot customer Y, but it would be a great feature to sell to others.”

If it such a great feature, why doesn’t the pilot customer want to pay for it?

 

2. Money today is better than Money tomorrow

Another one of my favourites: “We will sell it with discount first and start asking the real price once we get the business going.” Giving a waiver for a cost in the first year typically means that your business model will not work on the second year either.

I like start-up fees. They are a great way to test customer commitment. When both parties pay some of the initial costs, everybody feels the pain if there isn’t any real business behind the project. It helps a lot.

 

3. Certain money is better than Uncertain money

When you negotiate license and distribution agreements with big brand names, you soon get to learn the Sourcing evergreens: “This is a low price, but if you just do this pilot first, I am sure you can get better terms the next time.”

Can I get it in writing, please? Discussions in good faith at a later date are of zero value. I have never seen prices go up on a second round of negotiations.

 

It may be fun to get excited about social media business plans that show exponential growth and great revenue potential on year N, but it is sometimes good to stop and count the money. If you have more in the evening than you had in the morning when you came to work, there is good chance that you are doing something valuable.

 

Clear talk

 

Inspired by a recent blog entry on the Harvard Business Review (http://blogs.hbr.org/pallotta/2011/12/i-dont-understand-what-anyone.html), we had a good discussion at a cocktail party the other night about the difficulty of speaking clearly.

The good old example is asking a senior sales guy what he does for a living. I am in sales, is the typical answer. If you ask the same from unexperienced sales persons, they are key account management professionals or the like. Both talk to customers and (try to) sell stuff, but experience is not afraid of direct talk. 

The same thing with CV’s and titles. Sure, I’ve been around, seen some and learned a little along the way, but do I really have write on the resume that I have extensive and proven experience in leading business-critical initiatives in highly demanding international environments? It is as ridiculous as printing out fancy CEO business cards for a one-man start-up.

Interestingly, we noted that the same applies to academic curricula. New fields of study have a tendency to use big words and thought structures beyond comprehension, while the old school academics calmly explain in simple terms what they have studied and what their research is based on.

You won’t be seeing my previous version of this post on this blog. It was twice as long and included more complicated words.

 

What's with the blog name then?

 

A few years back, I was sailing in the Dodecanese with my wife. It is probably the best place in the world to go sailing in, but the winds can sometimes get rough, and when they do, there is no messing with nature. So we got stuck for a couple of days in the island of Pserimos. 

There isn’t much to see in Pserimos (it is a hidden treasure, in marketing gibberish), but it is a common stop for retro pirate ships that take tourists for day-cruises in the archipelago. They come, let the herd out for a couple of hours to swim and eat, and signal with horns when it is time to stop swimming and eating and get going again.

Where the ships berth, there was a small kiosk that sells refreshments. When the red and idle cruise customers slowly floated back towards the ship, it was the peak business hour for the local entrepreneur running the stand. The only business hour of the day, actually.

Stuck as we were in our boat by the kiosk, and with not much to do, the sales process soon became our main source of entertainment. 

“Hello, cold drinks, cigarettes, ice cream. Yes, hello, cold water, coffee, ice cream. Yes, ice cream, cold drinks, everything. Yes, hello, drinks, cigarettes, coffee, ice cream, everything,” he would endlessly go on the pier.

And then, finally, the ultimate slogan we had been waiting for: Yes, hello, everything.

That was clear customer focus and business devotion demonstrated. It is the spirit I wish to convey with my consulting work and with my writings on the wall.

Why the blog?

 

I am a talkative and outgoing person.

During my years in business, in enterprises large and small, I have always enjoyed noticing life’s peculiarities and design details, discussing them, trying to understand the phenomena behind.

When I was younger, observing the world often made me excited and angry – mostly angry. Experience has made me calmer, but I still get delighted and annoyed every now and then.

When it happens, I want to tell somebody – share the irritation, discuss the cool thing –, but given that I now mostly work from my home office, I don’t have too many people to talk to around the coffee machine.

Hence, the blog.

For the therapeutical purpose of letting it all out, it doesn’t really matter whether somebody follows the chatter, but it would of course be nice to get feedback and comments, to engage oneself in a discussion, albeit virtual.

I have no clear vision of what I will write about, and I don’t know where this blog will take me, but I intend to enjoy the experiment. You are welcome to join the journey.