As the gap in between “Haves” and “Have Nots” in the society grows wider, the number of businesses joining the Price War increases.

And as you are probably aware, competing in Price alone is a terrible idea!
However, many small business owners don’t know what else to do when their competitor lowers their price.

Well, here is our 20cents (not 2cents, cos we don’t believe in Price Competition.  ) worth.

As a business owner, you MUST know what your strength is, what your customers want, and make a bold statement. But you probably have heard that already.
You also probably have been told to identify what you do differently to your competitors, right?

But the reality is that we all went through a similar (or even the same) education and training system, and it is a bit tricky to do things that your competitors have not thought of.
So we end up claiming that we are “BEST in Customer Service”, or  ”Reliable, Professional and Friendly…” which are really meaning less to your prospects because your claim is not based on anything measurable.

OK, so here is one thing you can do… Ready?

“List everything you do in your operation, and delete what you don’t really need!”

That’s it.  Thank you!

What? You have already done that? mmm… think again.
I mean think again SERIOUSLY, and THINK OUTSIDE OF THE SQUARE!

Let me tell you about a Japanese Budget Hotel Chain called “Super Hotel”.
If you check out their website (http://www.superhoteljapan.com/en/) you will find that they also say “Ranked No.1 in Customer Satisfaction”.
But what is different is that they are “Ranked” No.1 by Japanese Customer Satisfaction Index.  Meaning their “No.1″ claim has a real evidence the consumer can check against.

Would you like to know how they got there?
You are in luck, because I watched an interview where the CEO, Mr.Yamamoto, of Super Hotel shared the secret of their success.

First, they analysed their “Target Market” and found what they are after.
(You have been told to do this too, right?)

They determined that their frequent users are business people on a short trip, with a limited budget & time.
Basically that means they are always in hurry to get to the appointment, and comes back to hotel at night just to sleep.

Note, the keywords here are… In Hurry, Sleep, and Night.

So they looked at their entire operation processes and made amazing changes, focusing ONLY on “Safety, Cleanliness and Really Good Sleep” .

Since the Guests are in “Hurry” they eliminated the “Check Out” Process!
Yep, you heard it right. No Check Out to waste your valuable time in the morning.

• They have No Phone (cos Business people always have their mobile phones), No Mini Bar (drinks can be purchased from vending machines) and No other extras that the guests may need to pay upon the departure.
• You prepay for the room upon check in, and Breakfast is included.
• There is no Key to return, because you enter your room using your assigned PIN number.

Amazing! Who would of thought that you can eliminate the “Check out” process?
And as you can see, really focusing on your customer’s needs, and getting rid of what you don’t need can also allow you to compete in the Price War.

But unlike the most of budget airlines, which sacrificed quality for the lower prices, Super Hotel has the No.1 Satisfaction Rating in the industry!

Mr.Yamamoto described his vision beautifully.
“We don’t aim to be a big bouquet  flowers. A single flower can touch people’s hearts“.

]]> http://storm-partners.com/management/focusing-on-the-core-competency/feed/ 0 http://storm-partners.com/google/search/google-image-search/ http://storm-partners.com/google/search/google-image-search/#comments Wed, 20 Jul 2011 14:03:50 +0000 Jay http://storm-partners.com/?p=438

Did you know you can search images on Google?

Nope, I am not talking about searching an image using your “Keyword”.
Now you can upload an image to search the exact match, and images similar to it.

Check out this video.

We have tested it by using an image of a chicken from my own picture folder, and Google found sites using exactly the same picture.  Cool!

However, “Similar Image” is not all that accurate… The images listed are mostly of women.

Not sure if Google thinks “Chicken” and “Chick” are the same things (LOL) but the images sure aren’t “similar”.

Of course, you can refine your search by combining your uploaded image and a keyword.

As you can see, the search results with the uploaded image is very different from one without.

Good job Google! 

Wanna try for yourself?  http://www.google.com/imghp

Google created a New Social Networking Service called Google+ (Google Plus).
We looked at this new system and here are what we think.

In a nutshell, Google+ is like a mix of Facebook and Twitter.
With Twitter, you can follow people without their approval (unless it is a private account), and can be followed without having to go through any approval process.
And with Twitter allowing you to have an anonymous account, it is a lot like an online bulletin board… just put up a message and see if anyone reads it.

The advantage here is that you can send your message to literally 100s of Thousands of people.
Although it doesn’t mean they will all read your message, it is a very accessible tool of Mass-Communication.

Of course, there are other handy ways to use Twitter, like a group SMS, your own reminder memo (like “To-Do” or shopping list) or having a “Live Stream” functionality in your own website using Twitter widget. Personally, I use it as a Feed Reader.

On the other hand, Facebook is all about personal connections. You are not allowed to have an anonymous account (though a lot of users do), and each “Friendship (connection)” must be mutually approved. So it is much safer and feels a lot more personal than Twitter.

Since you open an account in your real name, your long lost friends can find you and suddenly come back to your life. I have reconnected with a number of school friends who I haven’t seen for over 30years!  And that is the great thing about FB – A real personal connection.

However, you can set it so that some of your information can be made publicly viewable on FB, allowing you to use it somewhat like Twitter.

Google+ “Circles”

Now onto Google+!

Google says that unlike many of SNS, it provides more subtle way of connecting with other people, just like your relationships in the daily (off line) life.

We all (consciously or sub-consciously) categorize people we know into different “Groups” such as Family, Friends, Acquaintances, Colleagues, Business Partners, etc.
And this is the base of Circle, one of neat functionalities of Google+.  

The official site explains…

 ”For example, you might post an announcement about your engagement and show it only to people in your friends and family circles, or maybe you see a post from the circle you created for your book club that there’s a recent article on your favorite author.”

…  neat, and this is where it is very similar to Facebook.

Facebook also allows you to sort your connections into “Lists”,  lets you choose to share each of your updates only with selected List(s) or individual(s), and can display updates from people who belong to a selected list.

That is of course, if you know how. Unfortunately Facebook is not the easiest site to take full advantage of (in our opinion, but I believe we are not the only ones).

The advantage of Google+ Circle is its UI (User Interface).  As you can see in the video above, it is a very cool way to sort out people in your network. Much easier and sexier than FB.

BUT! the bigger deal of the Circles, that is kind of under publicized in our view, is that you can customize your personal profile info for your circles.

“For example, your contact details, location, and relationship information would be visible to your friends circle, while your employment history and education would be visible to your alumni association circle.”

says the official site. Very nice!

So why is it like Twitter?  Well, Google+ also allows people to “Follow” you like Twitter without you connecting as “Friends”.
You can set each and every comment to be made viewable only to specific “Circle(s)” OR to “Public”.  And all the comments with “Public” status can be viewed by… well general public.

So it is the best of both worlds, that are Facebook and Twitter!  We at Storm-Partners think that Google+ is going to be the “NEXT BIG THING”.

And when (without knowing the Google’s future plans, I dare say “when” not “if”) Google joins Circles to GCal (Google Calendar), Docs and other google services, FB and Twitter will have a BIG Problems on their hands.

GCal already lets you create different sets of calendar and invite others to view it, create schedules or even further invite other people.
Now imagine you can do that all directly from your SNS Group?

How about Google Docs & Google+ combo to share your documents, PDFs and more to your “Circle”?  Sure, FB lets you create “Notes” and share that with specific groups or lists. But right now, it is no match for the GDocs.

And, don’t forget Android, YouTube and other nifty services from Google which would make Google+ unbeatable when joined forces.

Google+ also comes with other handy features like “Editing” your comment after you posted it.
Have you ever posted an update or comment in Facebook and realized that you made an error?
On FB, the only way to fix that error is deleting the whole comment, and re-posting it.

The problem is if the comment was made to specific friends, they would receive an email notification (if they set up their “Notifications” preferences that way) of you making it.
And of course, by the time they click on the link to see your comment, it is long gone leaving your friends scratching their heads.

But not with Google+. This system has an “Edit” option allowing you to fix comments you already submitted. Why doesn’t FB offer that…? Who knows.

I think the future is extremely bright for Google+.  But is it gonna make Facebook join the list of “Has-been” sites anytime soon?
Well, we don’t thinks so… yet!  With great features like “Business Page” with its own URL, iFrame integrations with your own website, and ability to log in as your “Page” (rather than “You” as an individual) I think Facebook is here to stay for a bit longer.

BTW, like all the SNS services out there, I recommend you to get in early and take full advantage of Google+ before all sorts of restrictions comes in… except Google+ is still in Testing stage, and you can only join if you have an invitation at this stage.

But, If you want to get in before everyone else does upon its official release, we can help you!

Just submit “Invite me to Google+” message, together with your Full Name (real name please) & primary email address, into our Ask Box and we will email you an invitation to join our Circle in Google+.

Google+ Official Site : http://www.google.com/intl/en/+/demo/

In case you are not subscribing to Google Analytics Newsletter…
Very interesting and useful read.

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Google Analytics Benchmarking Newsletter Volume 1
July 2011

1. Introduction

Welcome to the first volume of the Analytics Benchmarking Newsletter!

This month, we are replacing the standard “benchmarking” report in your Google Analytics account with data shared in this newsletter.

We are using this newsletter as an experiment to surface more useful or interesting data to Analytics users.

Data contained here comes from all websites which have opted-in anonymous data sharing with Google Analytics.

Only those website administrators which have enabled this anonymous data sharing will receive this “benchmarking” newsletter.

You may be wondering, how many websites are in this “anonymous data sharing” pool?
Currently, hundreds of thousands, and we’ve endeavored to make all of the metrics here statistically significant.

The date range of comparison for this newsletter is from November 1, 2010 – February 1, 2011.
Comparison is done with data from November 1, 2009 – February 1, 2010.
Absolute metrics such as total # visits, pageviews, or conversions for all opted-in websites are not reported.

To simplify the prose, the phrase ”websites” will represent “websites which have opted into anonymous data sharing with Google Analytics” for the rest of this newsletter.

2. Site Metrics

Compared to a year ago, websites have seen reduced pages / visit, average time on site, as well as bounce rate.

2.1 Breakdown by Geography

Our anonymous database has aggregated geographic breakdown at the country level.

Here are a few representative countries and their respective aggregate metrics.

The first number in each cell represents the metric for the date range 11/1/10-2/1/11.

The parenthesized number is the Year over Year delta compared to a year ago.

For bounce rate, the distribution by country is plotted below:

The distribution above is annotated with some countries — which seem to indicate a story of leisure and stage of economic development.
For a related metric: average time on site, the distribution by country is plotted below:

The type of countries annotated in the average time on site graph above seem to be in reverse order as those in the bounce rate distribution.

2.2 Breakdown by Traffic Sources

Traffic sources below are identified by how the “source” and “medium” parameters are received by the Google Analytics collecting servers.

Here is an article describing what these designations refer to.

2.3 Conversion Rate Distribution

Many marketers’ favorite metric is conversion rate. Here is the worldwide distribution of Google Analytics “goal conversion rate” by country.

Would anyone have guessed that states which are known for conversions are also high for their citizens’ goal conversion rate? Note that for some states with few population, the statistical significance of the conversion metric comes into doubt.

3. Traffic Sources

Traffic sources below are identified by how the “source” and “medium” parameters are received by the Google Analytics collecting servers. Here is an article describing what these designations refer to.

4. Operating Systems

Browsers and Operation Systems (OS) are identified by the “referrer” string sent by users’ browsers.

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Hope you enjoyed and found this article useful.

Steve Jobs was a guest speaker at Stanford University’s 114th Commencement.

He gave a truly motivational and inspirational speech on his Birth & Near Death Experience, Successes & Failures, Education and his Philosophies in Life.

Truly convincing words of wisdom from a man who is truly remarkable.
Recommended viewing for when you are down, in doubt, ready to quit or just need a quick booster in your outlook.

(22min 10sec)

Take a Look!

Our Chief e-Business Advisor, Ken “The Cyber Storm” Shimizu has a brand new design in his Twitter account!

It is part of our new online presence strategies, and is designed to totally synchronize his e-Presence (with over 28,000 Twitter followers and listed in more than 290 lists) with ours!

Haven’t followed Ken yet? Visit http://twitter.com/kenshimizu and click “Follow” button today!

Here are question 5-8 of the 2 parts article.
If you missed part 1, here is the link.

5. Foreseeable Risks – What risks are you and your clients willing to take?
A conservative client may not be inclined to take large risks. Getting them to be specific can help when generating the project program.
You may also be able to overcome some of their fears and/or doubts by explaining the risk factor more thoroughly, the benefit of taking the risk and the likelihood of the outcome.

6. Are you under any type of time constraint?
There has to be a set time frame for the outcome. Almost all goals can be reached if unlimited time was given to work on a project.
Most clients have time constraints which affect every avenue of business. You will want to know what these are and plan accordingly.

7.What is the projected cost of the program?
You may wish to be blunt and honest about this matter by wording the question like this. “What is the projected budget and would there be any factors that may deviate it?”
Misunderstanding in this area can be detrimental to the outcome of the project, and to your relationship, credibility & reputation.
There are times certain steps must be taken which can cause a project to run over budget. Other times, some plans of action may not need to be implemented because management was not fully aware of unutilized available assets.
It is best to determine exactly what is going into your project, and have some flexibility in case of unforeseen events.

8. Who is the end user? What support will they have?
You will need to know this in order for the program to fulfil it’s purpose. Feedback/Marketing data must also be collected to incorporate what the end user is asking for.
The ultimate goal is to reach the objective with everyone being satisfied. A business analyst can not do this without talking and listening to everyone involved.

Interested in publishing this article in your Blog? Leave a comment below and I will tell you how you can… Free of course!

It isn’t important what industry you are in. It doesn’t matter what project you are going to undertake.
What is important is you find out what it is the client wants.

You must know what and how you are going to provide it.
This article was written with Business Analysts and Consultants in mind.
However, these 8 key points apply to ALL service providers, whether they are in B2B (Business to Business) or B2C (Business to Consumer) business.

Here is a list of obvious questions every good business analyst should know the answer to when starting a project.

1. What is the problem your client has that you hope to solve?
It should be obvious as to why you would ask that question. If you don’t understand what the problem is then you can not help to solve it.

Also, when reading the project requirements, it may not be clear as to what the client actually wants. The scope may only tell you what they would like to see happen. It could, and often times isn’t, focused on what the true issues (Root Cause) are.

2. What is the client doing at present to alleviate or solve the issue?
What has been tried in the past? You must understand what the client is doing in order to understand what must be done.
You don’t want to develop a project plan overview only to have someone tell you it has been tried. Listen to the customer. Find out what they have done. Ask questions while you are listening. On your toes brainstorming so to speak. Listen to what has not worked.

3. Internal and External Resources.
What inside resources will this project be utilizing? What outside resources will be necessary? You will want to determine where your help and team players are coming from.

For example, you may be familiar with most of the IT, but it will be a different ball game if the client wants to outsource.
You may have to make a list of external interactions. Define the company’s strengths and weaknesses. This can be most advantageous.

4. Have you determined a vision for the project?
A business analyst must compare the client’s vision with the one he or she will develop to ensure consistencies and a parallel outlook.
In other words make sure you are on the same path. This is sometimes easier said than done. Communication is the key to success with this question.

Please see the next post for the items No.5 – 8!

We all know that Wikipedia articles are not always accurate… or do we?

Not aware of how the knowledge base contents are generated, many uni students simply copy and paste the articles found in the mega site to create their reports.

NHK Japanese national news reported tonight that Aichi University in Nagoya is now teaching how to post and publish articles into Wikipedia, making the students aware of how the system works.

What’s so important about this?

Well, the cleaver thing is that the uni chose not to directly communicate to the students “How the site contents maybe inaccurate”.

Instead they made the students write articles and post them to Wikipedia Japan, making the students experience and realize how the contents could come from any source, even their friends.

The moral of the story… To make them understand, don’t tell them, make them do it.

Storm