As you may have gathered, I’ve been tinkering with the WordPress theme of this site. Still early days yet and I’ve a bit more tinkering to do, but I think it’s an improvement.
For those who are interested, I’m using Duster by Automattic.
Does your sales team sell your products (like, in exchange for money), or does it give them away as generous sweeteners to guarantee the sale of something else that will hit their targets? Or to put it in another way, does your salesforce truly understand the value of your products and can it articulate the benefits to the customer?
While I was working at a former start-up called Zeus Technology (now doing rather well for itself, thank you), one of the investors was a chap called Nic Brisbourne. He writes a blog called The Equity Kicker.
Here’s a round-up of some of the presentations and discussions I attended at the recent ProductCamp London, with links to the slide decks and recommended reading where applicable.
How much would you invest to prevent a mass customer exodus? Everything Everywhere, the merged T-Mobile / Orange behemoth, was happy to spend £150 per customer to shore up its customer base following the post-merger restructuring.
What did it gain? A reduction in monthly churn from 1.7% to 1.3%, significant given their customers number well into the millions, plus an additional 300,000 customers locked into long-term contracts in place of short-term pre-pay contracts.
What should product managers keep an eye on in 2011?
Someone I’ve come across recently and would recommend is Paul Dunay (@PaulDunay) and his Buzz Marketing blog. He specialises in B2B marketing and has particular insight into harnessing the power of Social Media. Well worth a read.
I was discussing recently the importance of getting a product installation or upgrade process right for customers. Here are some guiding principles from a usability perspective that you may wish to consider when defining your product’s requirements.
Do you find it difficult to set appropriate financial targets for your product?
I strongly believe that all software companies should have a manifesto or a set of guidelines for usability.
