Steven Diebold - Brand Strategist and User Experience Designer

An early warning system for great ideas

Author and philosopher Goethe once observed, “Everything has been thought of before, but the difficulty is to think of it again.”
He should have been teaching a business seminar.

One of the fastest shortcuts to success is to use key market intelligence to find out what others are doing. New ideas are being created all the time, often on continents half the world away from you. Finding out what other cutting edge strategies are being employed, new technologies on the horizon and creative ways for you to jumpstart your business – often into entirely new areas that are yet untapped domestically – can give you the critical advantage in a crowded marketplace. After all, it’s far easier to own a space yourself than to share on where competitors are already firmly entrenched.

Two great sites have been created with this in mind and they bear watching. You can subscribe to them both and receive regular updates of new ideas coming to market worldwide.

Trendwatching (www.trendwatching.com) has more than 8,000 spotters who are in more than 100 countries. They regularly send in market intelligence regarding consumer trends and new business ideas in their own corner of the world. These trend findings can help you come up with new twists on these ideas that can work for your own customers.

Many of these ideas are incredible. Recent trends noted include what is known as the “Free Love” trend, the growing influence of Generation G (for Generosity), Twinsumers, and Hyperlocal, which is truly localized services made possible by “borderless technology”.

Each issue and their annual Trends Report has enough interesting content to propel any business in a new, cutting edge direction where trends turn into market demand which in turn create new revenue sources for your business.

Springwise (www.springwise.com) is a companion site to Trendwatching. It focuses on showcasing the most promising business ventures that are being rolled out around the world. The source of the news tips are the same 8,000 spotters, as well as the company’s own tracking of more than 400 global business resources.

Springwise is a free weekly newsletter that has been ferreting out the best and brightest since 2002. The company calls Springwise “brain food for entrepreneurial minds” and it lives up to that claim.

Recent new ideas included laundry service delivered via DHL, a site called MopShots where customers can view the real stylings of different hair salons as well as comments on them by 25 fashionistas, furniture that comes with a 300-year guarantee, and an eco-friendly grilling alternative to charcoal that also allows your barbecued food to be ready in a matter of minutes, not hours.

If you’re looking for new ideas to take to market in your own locale, follow these two reports closely. You won’t be disappointed.

Give your customers what they want

As any business knows, competing on price alone is the express lane to ruin. Competition is cutthroat and any competitor can match price or beat you with a lower one. And if you’re a one trick, low price pony, you’ll be put out to pasture in no time.

The reason is simple. Customers don’t just shop low price. While there will always be a relatively small segment that will, it’s not worth your time to market or cater to them. They aren’t profitable or loyal.

So what are customers looking for? According to a new study by BIGresearch of 100,000 business nationwide, customers will still put service ahead of price if you give them the choice.

That’s right. Service is still king in the marketplace. Offering outrageously terrific customer service will help you stand apart from your competitors and give you an advantage they can’t match.

Of course, this flies right in the face of traditional wisdom. But the numbers don’t lie. When researchers asked customers how far they’d be willing to travel for superior service, 4 out of 5 respondents said they’d go four or more miles to get the service they wanted. Half said they’d drive 10 miles or more if the combination of price, quality and customer service was right.

This should be a wake up call to any small business, startup or even medium sized business that wants to crush the competition. In a time when cutting staff to save money seems to be the fashionable thing to do, it could be ruining your reputation with your customers and driving them away.

Does your brand support what your customers want? If the essence of your brand is sterling service and your front line people aren’t delivering because they aren’t getting the training they need or don’t have the technology they need to effectively serve customers, then you’re brand is in dissonance.

Longer lines, unanswered emails and phone calls and bad attitudes can send customers right to your competitors and your brand, which you build deliberately each day, suffers tremendously, as does your business. In fact, the survey showed that 17% will walk out the door after just a single mistake. Forty percent will leave after two instances of bad service and 85% will bail after the third error.

Following are some lessons learned:
1. Customers want (and even demand) knowledgeable and helpful sales assistance. They want it when they want it, not when the overburdened salesperson has time to get around to them.
2. Friendly employees. Knowledgeable is nice, but friendly and courteous is essential. Your staff needs to value the customer, not the sale.
3. Solid value. Price is part of the equation of value, but so is service, expertise and follow-up.
4. Convenience. Make the shopping experience as easy on the customer as possible. Don’t create unnecessary roadblocks or dead ends, either online or in-store. If a customer does need help make it easy for them to find someone who can give them the assistance they need.
5. Provide your customer service people with strategies that are effective and technologies that help them do their job better. Be creative in positioning your brand but consistent in its application.
6. Close the sale. Just because the consumer has your product or service in their “cart”, don’t count the sale until they’ve checked out. The checkout process needs to be swift, predictable and final. Don’t leave some waiting, either in line or online.
And remember that your customer service is just as important as price, even with today’s bargain hungry shopper. Service is a commodity that is factored into the concept of value and customers aren’t going to snap something up just because the price is good when indeed, the price of the purchase may be too high in other respects.

Motivating employees in tough times

The news hasn’t been good on the employment front. Layoffs, record unemployment, a deep recession and general uncertainty has played havoc on employee morale.

Unfortunately, morale is an essential part of your brand execution strategy, even during the toughest of times. Without it, you can’t make any inroads to shore up revenue, reduce costs, maintain productivity or crush your competition.

Spending money on morale-boosting efforts isn’t smart either, at least right now. Employees will immediately question while you’re spending anything on ostentatious morale boosting programs when those precious dollars could be put toward maintaining staffing, not reducing wages or cutting back on hours.

But there are things you can do that don’t cost a lot, yet speak volumes about the importance of your employees and their contributions to making your business a success.

According to Cindy Ventrice, author of Make Their Day! Employee Recognition That Works, reaffirming your employees’ value when things are tough will help you retain your best employees when times get better.

Here are some easy ways to recognizing employees, particularly if you’re a startup or a small business:
• Take your staff out to lunch or dinner.
• Give then an afternoon off as a thank you for their hard work.
• Bring them into the loop, explaining your reasons for key decisions, the importance of keeping the branding clear and creating a dialogue to find out what they need to do their job well, including technologies that can help them improve service, maximize productivity, reduce costs or streamline operations.
• Offer flex time for a week so employees can take care of appointments.
• Recognize an employee for their contributions before the entire group.
• Give out gift certificates for dinner, a spa treatment, shopping or cultural events as a reward for a job well done.
• Give out game tickets to local sporting events. Just be sure they’re great seats.
• Contribute to a charity in an employee’s name (if they have a favorite charity they support).
• Bring in a big fruit basket or candy for everyone to share. Or spring for donuts, croissants, fruit and coffee for breakfast.
• Hand out gift cards or prepaid credit cards as rewards.

None of these are a high cost items, but you’ll be amazed how far a little extra recognition and intelligence gathering can do, particularly when times are tight.

And never forget the power of the two most powerful phrases in business: “Thank you!” And “Well done”. Used regularly and offered sincerely, they will go a long way and don’t cost a dime.

Starting a business in a recession

By Vanessa Richardson • Bankrate.com

Frustrated, recession-battered job hunters are throwing up their hands in despair and saying, "Maybe I should just start my own business."

That last resort may be a great idea.

"Many people think (a) recession is the wrong time to start a business, but that's not always correct," says Edward D. Hess, professor of business administration at the University of Virginia and co-author of "So, You Want to Start a Business? 8 Steps to Take Before Making the Leap."

Don't despair over the news about the bad economy. Plenty of companies started during bad times, including General Electric, Walt Disney, Microsoft and Google. These behemoths were originally started by a few people wondering how to turn a concept into a business.

Here are some tips to help you overcome today's economic obstacles and join these successful ventures.
Do you have what it takes?
According to the Small Business Administration, or SBA, interest in entrepreneurship has spiked, with a 25 percent increase in the number of visits to its Web site so far this year over the same time last year. Before you create that business letterhead, make sure you're cut out to run a business. While entrepreneurship is a great way to work at something you love, it also can be marked by long hours and uncertain paychecks.

"The biggest question to ask yourself is, 'Can I really commit to doing this?'" says Amy Cosper, editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur magazine. "Running a business is all-consuming, so you must be honest and determine whether you've got the business plan, the money, the mettle and your family's support."

You also need structure and discipline, says Mark Volchek, co-founder of Higher One, a company in New Haven, Conn., that creates online banking tools for college students. He started the company as a college student 10 years ago, just as the dot-com bubble popped.

"You need to be motivated to work independently. When you're employed, you're given an agenda and guidance but when working for yourself, you must be well-organized," Volchek says.

A good first step is to sign up for small-business training and counseling. The SBA offers courses nationwide through its centers and other business partners, teaching accounting, tax rules, customer service and public relations. You also can assess your skills beforehand with its readiness assessment tool and online training courses.

A second stop on the entrepreneur-training route is FastTrac, a program financed by the Kauffman Foundation that offers sessions in more than 300 locations nationwide. Like the SBA, FastTrac has revamped courses to help entrepreneurs withstand the recession by teaching them survival skills like creating a solid business plan, understanding market needs and bootstrapping a startup.

"(There's) less of a casual attitude of people coming into our program now," says Monica Doss, FastTrac program director. "They want to see if their idea works, then run with it."
What can you offer?
First, not every sector is poised for new growth. For example, starting an upscale restaurant or high-fashion boutique is probably a bad idea now. But there are growing sectors. "Try making a product or solving a problem specifically for a generation like the boomers or the millennials," Cosper says. Other emerging areas are green energy, video games, fitness and health.

For many, though, it's better to stick with an area they already know. "Now is the time to leverage your knowledge. It's not the time to learn an area you know nothing about. You must have work experience in that industry and know who the suppliers and customers are," Hess says.

That's how Michael Nusimow, a former software engineer for Bloomberg News in New York, started his company. He kept missing his dentist appointments and wondered why his dentist failed to remind him. He checked the dentist's software system and found it "truly awful." But a light bulb went off and in January, he resigned and started DrChrono.com, which creates Web-based tools for doctors to manage appointments and billing.

"People thought I was crazy, but I had the passion to run my own business," says Nusimow. "Also, the software idea was relevant and ... could have a big impact."
Also important to Hess is what he calls the value proposition. "You need to decide why someone is going to buy what you have to sell. You must have a message to customers about why you'll be better, faster or cheaper than the competition," Hess says.

It's easy to do research online, but what will give you a competitive advantage is talking to potential customers, suppliers and vendors directly, says Volchek. For Higher One's banking products, he went to university administrators and asked them about their problems and procedures.

Once you've got the idea, create a business plan. Two pitfalls of writing a plan are overestimating sales and underestimating expenses. Nothing could be worse in a recession. "We tell FastTrac students that it takes twice as long to break even than they think, so they should basically multiply their startup costs by two," Doss says.
Where's the money coming from?
To be sure, insufficient capital is the reason why most companies fail. Startups with $50,000 or more in capital have a better chance of keeping their doors open than those that don't, the SBA says.

Formerly free-spending venture capital firms are tight-fisted these days. If they are investing, their money is going toward software and medical devices and less into other businesses. Instead of raising $3.5 million from venture firms, Volchek and his partners started instead with $600,000 from friends and family.

"Raising money that way makes you more disciplined and resilient financially," he says.

Volchek recommends raising small amounts from individual investors, so the risk is spread among many people. That will make them more willing to invest. Offer them stock in exchange.

And when it comes to a loan, community banks are a better alternative to large lenders, which have been slow to part with cash since the financial meltdown, Entrepreneur's Cosper says. "If you're in Decatur, Ill., the banks there know the culture, the region and economic conditions you'll be working in much better than a bank headquartered in New York," she says.

Regardless of the capital you raise, be frugal with your spending. Plan on your cash lasting at least six months. Don't take on any new debt, and stay away from credit cards to finance your business.

In the past few months, credit card companies have raised their interest rates, making it untenable to take that route, even for a short time.
How will you get the word out?
Many businesses see marketing as a luxury when money is tight, but this is the time you need marketing most.

The Internet has been largely unaffected by the recession and is still an easy and inexpensive way to market. "Our college-age customers mostly communicate electronically anyway, so Higher One uses mobile marketing, which is low cost," Volchek says.

Facebook, the social-networking site, is becoming an integral marketing tool, Cosper says. "Every company, from Visa to the corner bar, is creating its own Facebook page to promote (itself)," she says. There are also viral marketing methods, such as creating a video on YouTube and e-mailing it to others.

"These are amazing marketing tools, but you must have a clear message," she says.
How will you come out ahead?
There are a few benefits to a lousy economy. For one, you're likely to find that suppliers are more willing to negotiate a lower price.

"During bad times, you can lock in good, long-term deals for office space, technology and other services. When it's time to renew, you can still negotiate and have the advantage," Volchek says.

And in financing DrChrono.com himself, Nusimow has found other ways to keep costs low, such as renting a desk in a shared office with a receptionist and conference room for $400 per month rather than having a separate operation.

Also, you have greater hiring selection in bad times. With vast layoffs in many industries, you have more choices at all levels, from graduates entering the work force to seasoned management.

A simple want ad on Craigslist.com or Monster.com could generate hundreds of resumes. To get seasoned workers, consider offering them part ownership, or shares in the company, so they have a stake in the business. And an internship is an inexpensive way to evaluate talent at a time when more college grads and young workers are willing to work for free to prove their worth in a tough job market.

"When you start on a shoestring, you learn all sorts of ways to run a business efficiently," Doss says. "By bootstrapping, the lessons you learn along the way will serve you well among your competition when the economy gets better."

Top 10 reasons to start a business in a recession

Top 10 reasons to start a business in a recession

1. Everything is cheaper.
Let's face it: There is great value right now in this and in world markets. This is the right time for fantastic deals in virtually every category, from land and equipment to commercial office space, personnel and labor. As asset prices have been knocked down, there is no better time to get into the real estate or financial markets, or even heavy equipment and construction. Some people have waited years to find value in these markets--and now that time has come.

2. You can hire more and better-qualified people.
In an era when even Microsoft is laying off, you can find great resources at affordable rates. Thinking about getting your high-tech startup off the ground? There are plenty of engineers waiting to be hired. Thinking about forming a professional services firm? There are many accountants and attorneys looking for their next opportunity.

3. People are looking to change suppliers.
From a cost perspective, everything is on the table for most companies. Even if your prices are higher, if you can come in with greater value, you have a good chance at winning new business. You also have the advantage of being the new kid on the block when it comes to pitching your products and services. Many companies are desperate to find new partnerships with new companies that have a different, better or more innovative way of delivering those products and services.

4. Ownership equals tax incentives.
Business ownership offers a variety of tax benefits that aren't available to employees. While taxes should never be the sole reason to go into business for yourself, it should be one reason to add to you "benefits of business ownership" list.

5. Family and friends don't want to (or can't) invest more money into the stock or real estate markets.
That means they may be willing to finance a portion of your new venture, or the expansion of an enterprise that has proven itself over time. The main benefit is that they know you and have a relationship with you--and if you have a solid business plan that delivers real numbers, your chances of raising the capital you need increase exponentially.

6. Suppliers are giving better credit.
Because the credit markets have virtually shut down, the B2B credit flows are keeping money circulating out of sheer necessity. That means a bullish outlook for companies looking for good terms on stock and/or inventories. The main advantage is that all parties have more incentive than ever for finding true win-win situations that allow for cash and stock flow. When everyone is looking to survive, great deals can be had.

7. You can get good PR by showing you are going against the trend.
The media loves aberrations, and if you are optimistic by expanding or getting into business now, you would be in that category. That means you can generate some great PR by demonstrating your "alternative" view of the market.

8. You can buy everything you need at auction.
In addition to everything being less expensive, you can find great deals at auctions, especially in terms of any large equipment and office furnishings. Auctions are also a great place to find hardly used or "gently" used restaurant and bar supplies at great prices. These days, you may even be able to get deals on fleets of vehicles and trucks for a delivery service or hauling or construction company.

9. You can find great "low money" or "no money" down deals.
This is simply being aware of good opportunities others have buggered up, and finding deals where you could get an entire business simply by taking over a lease (along with all the equipment). Many business owners want out at any cost, meaning you can negotiate great win-win deals that allow the current owners an escape while giving you an opportunity to turn around what could be, if run right, a very viable business.

And finally . . .
10. You've lost your job, and you have to do something.
Sometimes, the best business decision is the one you are forced into, and the incentive (as well as need) for income is often enough to push those previously "on the fence" to strike out on their own. There's nothing wrong with being in this position; it simply means there is greater urgency to do something that will start to generate income as quickly as possible.

Small business lending freeze thaws

A recent Wall Street Journal report shows that the tight credit market for small businesses is beginning to loosen up. According to the report, new SBA loans have increased 20% since mid-March, when President Barack Obama announced new initiatives to help small businesses get much needed loans.

The initiatives, including cutting lending fees and increasing loan guarantees to as much as 90%, means that more than $1.3 billion in loans have been made since mid-March. A contributing factor is the $15 billion in federal funding that was pledged to the secondary market for SBA loans. These funds allow institutions to sell a portion of these loans to investors, increasing liquidity.

The online site GovGex.com reports that there has been a 132% increase in bids per loan and a 180% increase in lender membership applications since the president outlined his new program to open up the market for small business loans. Correspondingly, there was a 365% increase in loan amounts presented for sale.

If traditional lenders seem unwilling to work with you, there are other options. The Lending Club is a social network that brings together investors and creditworthy borrowers to extend financing options beyond traditional banks.
Through its online platform, borrowers with good credit can get loans ranging from $1,000 to $25,000. The interest rates are often better than those available through conventional lenders too.

The reason for the success of the program is that lenders can spread risk among a pool of qualified buyers. The pool may be tens and even hundreds of businesses. That said, borrowers need to have a solid prospectus ready for lenders to review through the Lending Club. And that means assembling a plan that fully outlines your business, including your branding and how a solid strategy, brilliant creative and intelligent use of technology to streamline operations and improve customer service will make the investment worthwhile.
As a business, especially a small business, this is exceptionally good news, not only for those seeking SBA loans, but for those who need to find other lending strategies. The thaw in these loans and new funding sources like Lending Club will undoubtedly lead to more lending throughout the financial sector.

Bing might be the new Bling

Microsoft's new search engine, Bing, is the first real competitor to Google.

I rarely use Google. Or rather, I rarely use Google.com. Because Google is embedded into Safari, I just use the search box there, which creates huge sticky-ness that's hard to displace. Of course, Microsoft has the same option now for embedding Bing into IE, assuming it's allowed to by the courts. But the very short amount of time I've spent with Bing has me re-thinking my search engine options seriously for the first time.

I know a lot of people gush about Google's user experience, and certainly there are a lot of nice things about using it: speed, accuracy of results, some things like weather that give instant contextual results. But from an aesthetic point of view I've found its minimalism to be on the drab side, rather than the chic side. It's utilitarian, not fancy, and mostly not that fun.

Bing has had the courage to say "to hell with eeking out the last millisecond of page load time" which both Google and, historically, Yahoo have always emphasized. In today's world and moving forward it's just not that important (mobile being an exception, but for that you can provide a custom experience).

Katherine Boehret at WSJ has a write-up on the niceties of Bing, so I won't repeat them here. It does some things different than Google, breaking some ingrained habits, and while there isn't much that's significantly worse, there is quite a bit that is considerably better. The results that come back are somewhat different, sometimes more on target, sometimes not, I'd say the jury's out on that, especially since this is a just-launched service (assuming it's not just a re-skin of Live, I don't know what's under the hood), and assuming it will improve as users contribute with clicks. (Like Google, it lists this blog as the top search when I self-search, so that's a plus.)

President Obama: “The Beginning of a New GM” from White House on Vimeo.

A mainstay of the American economy begins anew as President Obama carefully crafts a solution balancing the interests of all the stakeholders in the American auto industry, the American taxpayer, and the economy at large. June 1, 2009. (Public Domain)

It presents the search results in a whole lot nicer way than Google, especially image search (multi-size thumbnails and grids, different choices of detail, filters by image size, colors, etc., and overall a presentation that focuses on the images themselves). I love how sounds and videos are embedded into search results and start playing with a mouse-over for a small preview. Hovering over the right edge of a search result description pulls up more info without having to click through to the page.

I like that the front cover photo changes each day and how you can float over it to find the hidden easter eggs that lead you on unexpected paths (one is shown popped up in the bottom right of the above image). Ask.com tried the splash-image approach but that was more of a skin, but Bing's approach is more engaging and encourages you to actually visit the front page, rather than bypass it as quickly as possible to get to the results.

Bing avoids two traps: One, it doesn't just try to ape Google. Two, Microsoft hasn't over-styled it and thrown in the kitchen sink of aesthetics and functionality. There is clearly an editorial hand at work that hasn't allowed it to get focus-grouped to death. Kudos to Microsoft for that.

I'm going to drop Bing into my toolbar bookmarks and give it a whirl for a while. Who knows, maybe it will be enough to displace the 800lb gorilla.

STATISTIC: You Have a Better Chance of Winning in Las Vegas Casino than Succeeding in Business

Check to see the real statistics of starting a business versus gambling at a Casino. The research will shock you.

Event Date: 6.23.2009

Topic: Nudge

Time: June 23, 2009 from 7:15pm to 9:30pm
Location: Sapient - Santa Monica
Street: 1601 Cloverfield Blvd
City/Town: Santa Monica
Website or Map: http://maps.google.com/maps...
Event Type: ixda, face, to
Organized By: Christian Sosa-Lanz

Event Description

A coffee house in Holland decided to attract people by providing free wi-fi. To deal with free-loading students that wouldn't even look at the menu, the coffee house used the wi-fi UI to push their message. When visitors try to connect, they have to select "HaveYouTriedTheCarrotCake?" as the wireless network.

This is called a nudge and it is what we will be discussing in the next IxDA meeting. Sarah G. Mitchell will be leading a discussion based on the book from Richard H Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein (Obama's head of Information and Regulatory Affairs) titled "Nudge:Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness". It breaks down the effects of defaults, option placement and other aspects of choice architecture.

RSVP Max:60

Meeting structure: Ask members to bring some defaults they have included in
their work and we will discuss as a group. Canned defaults should be
gathered for safety.