My wife got a new iPod today. Nothing fancy, just a refurbished gen2 iPod shuffle to use at the gym. Apple is well known at this point for their attention to detail and I could wax poetic about their packaging, simple set-up process, etc..but that story has already been written.
Here is what impressed me. Her new iPod is light green (she really likes it which is nice since it was the only color choice). She took it out of the box and plugged it in to the computer. iTunes launched and immediately recognized it as new, so the registration process started automatically. And what do you know, the picture on the registration screen is of a light green gen2 iPod shuffle. That is a little detail that says a lot.
Are you paying attention to those kinds of details? If you are, your customers probablly love you and are telling other people about you. Keep up the good work.
I Can't
When somebody tells you that they can't do something what are they really telling you? Typically they aren't telling you they can't, they are telling you they either don't want to, or are not willing to. There is almost nothing that can't be done. Certainly they may not be equipped to do it right now, but that does not mean it couldn't be done at some point in the future. The difference between can't and can is some combination of time, resources, willingness and priority. So when somebody tells you they can't do something figure out which area they are lacking in: time, resources, willingness or priority and what you can do to help them solve their problem so they can help you solve yours.
Simplicity - Part 2
Things don't become simplified on their own. However, complexity is not the natural opposite of simplicity because things also don't become complex on their own. Left alone most things just become chaotic.
Simplicity - Part 1
I've been reading and thinking a lot about simplicity recently. Here are some quotes to get the conversation started.
Simplicity
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. ~ Charles Mingus
Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius—and a lot of courage—to move in the opposite direction. ~ E. F. Schumacker
The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak. ~ Hans Hofmann
Purity and simplicity are the two wings with which man soars above the earth and all temporary nature. ~ Thomas a Kempis
Reduce the complexity of life by eliminating the needless wants of life, and the labors of life reduce themselves. ~ Edwin Way Teale
Simplicity
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. ~ Charles Mingus
Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius—and a lot of courage—to move in the opposite direction. ~ E. F. Schumacker
The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak. ~ Hans Hofmann
Purity and simplicity are the two wings with which man soars above the earth and all temporary nature. ~ Thomas a Kempis
Reduce the complexity of life by eliminating the needless wants of life, and the labors of life reduce themselves. ~ Edwin Way Teale
Preserving your market by giving it away
I received my next book from the Thomas Nelson book review blogger project today (more on the actual book in a future post). What was far more interesting than the book itself were the extras that came with it.
The book was marketed (on the cover, spine and back) as free. Not that the book itself was free but that you as the reader were being given freedom to interact with the content in multiple ways. By buying the book you were given access to four different formats. The actual book, and downloadable files in pdf, ebook (for the Amazon Kindle or Sony eReader) and mp3 formats.
So instead of giving up the sale of the actual book (which has the highest profit margin by far of the four to my understanding) or trying to pit one form of content against the other they instead bundled them together and give them all to you for the same price you would have paid for just the actual book. In order to preserve their highest margin form of content delivery they give away the lowest margin forms and it doesn't actually cost them anything extra because once the electronic forms are created there is no marginal cost for each additional unit distributed.
How could you preserve your market and your profits margin by giving your products away?
The book was marketed (on the cover, spine and back) as free. Not that the book itself was free but that you as the reader were being given freedom to interact with the content in multiple ways. By buying the book you were given access to four different formats. The actual book, and downloadable files in pdf, ebook (for the Amazon Kindle or Sony eReader) and mp3 formats.
So instead of giving up the sale of the actual book (which has the highest profit margin by far of the four to my understanding) or trying to pit one form of content against the other they instead bundled them together and give them all to you for the same price you would have paid for just the actual book. In order to preserve their highest margin form of content delivery they give away the lowest margin forms and it doesn't actually cost them anything extra because once the electronic forms are created there is no marginal cost for each additional unit distributed.
How could you preserve your market and your profits margin by giving your products away?
Lessons from special kids
My wife works at a school for children with alternative learning styles (I love that description). Some days the stories she comes home with are funny, some days they are sad and some days they are inspirational.
A lot of the kids she works with are very concrete thinkers and are honest to a fault. Sometimes their honesty can make you cringe but I wonder if that is just because as adults we have become so conditioned by half truths and outright lies. We could learn something from these kids.
Take grief for example. Most adults dance around the issue. They don't really want to hear the bad stuff so they avoid the difficult questions. Not the kids. A few weeks ago at the Connor's House book fair one of the students picked a book about heaven. When asked why he answered simply 'because that was where Connor was'. Today a different student walked into Deb's office and asked 'Are you sad all the time?' and then followed up with 'Do you cry a lot?'.
They don't always have the best timing, maybe that is OK. We could learn something from them about asking honest questions. We could learn to ignore everything else that is going on once in awhile, be less worried about appropriateness, and be more concerned about how the people around us are really doing with life. That's just one thing these kids could teach us!
A lot of the kids she works with are very concrete thinkers and are honest to a fault. Sometimes their honesty can make you cringe but I wonder if that is just because as adults we have become so conditioned by half truths and outright lies. We could learn something from these kids.
Take grief for example. Most adults dance around the issue. They don't really want to hear the bad stuff so they avoid the difficult questions. Not the kids. A few weeks ago at the Connor's House book fair one of the students picked a book about heaven. When asked why he answered simply 'because that was where Connor was'. Today a different student walked into Deb's office and asked 'Are you sad all the time?' and then followed up with 'Do you cry a lot?'.
They don't always have the best timing, maybe that is OK. We could learn something from them about asking honest questions. We could learn to ignore everything else that is going on once in awhile, be less worried about appropriateness, and be more concerned about how the people around us are really doing with life. That's just one thing these kids could teach us!
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