Michael Porter on Competitiveness

Michael Porter, the Bishop William Lawrence University Professor at Harvard, addresses the Columbus Partnership on competitiveness for a region and its urban areas

Collaboration not competion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WeTaLRb-Bs&list=PLFD28624A576C4297

A short introduction to the philosophy of W. Edwards Deming, the man who taught the Japanese how to constantly improve the system A short introduction to the philosophy of W. Edwards Deming, the man who taught the Japanese how to constantly improve the systems of production. http://www.deming.org

How To Craft Your Value Proposition

A value proposition is a statement that summarises the customer segments you are targeting, and how you are differentiated from your competitors. It should answer the question: “Why should I choose to buy this product or service, and why now?”. It’s a key element of developing a great marketing strategy. In this article, I’ll give you a template you can use in crafting your own value proposition.
A value proposition is also called a positioning statement. Accurately positioning your product in the mind of a prospective buyer is one of the most important apects of marketing your offering. Importantly, your value proposition needs to show not only why your product or service should be chosen, but why inaction by the buyer is to be avoided.
While it’s possible to use such a statement verbatim in your marketing communication, it’s more usually used within a company to achieve consensus on what the value proposition is, and then that proposition can be expressed in a variety of visual and textual ways.

Value Proposition Template

Here is a template that can be used to build a two-sentence value proposition. Try filling in the blanks in the template for your own product or service.

A Light-Hearted Example

Although this is tongue-in-cheek, it demonstrates how the template can be used.

For a commuter who wants to eat breakfast on the train without mess, our Excello BrekkieBar product is a health food, which provides a completely nutritious and delicious breakfast that you can eat anywhere.
Unlike grain bars and breakfast cereals, BrekkieBar tastes like a full English cooked breakfast, but has no fat and no calories, and even the wrapper can be eaten, leaving no waste.
This is because of our unique combination of innovative use of genetically modified foods and bio-engineered plastic packaging, that we have already used to produce a leading product in this market – Excello BrandyMints – the all-in-one after-dinner treat.

The “So What?” Test

Try your value proposition out on colleagues, employees – and most importantly, existing and potential customers. If the response to your value proposition from a prospective buyer is “So What?”, you know that it’s not strong enough. Did it describe tangible or measurable benefits that are truly of concern to that consumer or business person?
To produce a concise, convincing value proposition is not a trivial exercise. When I do that with my clients, it’s based on analysis of their company, its products and services, their competitors, and the market they’re operating in. You’ll need to think deeply in order to produce something that’s compelling.
What’s your experience of developing a value proposition? Let me know in the comments.

How to form a strategy

We do this for these things for customers so they can do this

we build website
for
SME’s who have planned revenue targets they have to achieve

we build websites
for
sme’s who are struggling to achieve sales budgets

we build website
for
SME’s who are implmeting business automation thru out there organisation

105 is know as a custom web dev house and for building goal driven website..

Basically we build website that work for the business's owners bottom line.. spend $10k make $80k.

The main business need we satisfy generally falls under these two categories "Improve revenue postion" or "Improve Productivity".

Please Listen for these triggers
PAIN
I am not getting enough enquires
Our sales targets are way off track,
our accountancy system doesn't talk to or CRM
we need inbound sales to automate with our logistic software
Our CMS is crap and old
Our website is an embarrassment
we haven't touched our website in 7 years
PLEASURE
We want to grow to the next level.
We want to double revenue
I have a web business idea
I have a iphone app idea
i want to build a classified website for surfing
I want to build a dating site for dog owners
I think i have the next Facebook and need a partner to build a pro to type
I have a product idea i want  to sell online

Understanding Your Customer’s Pain

The Core Idea

Lots of good ideas, but ooh, lots and lots of words, in those definitions.
The core idea is that if you’re going to persuade someone to become a customer, you’ll need to convince them that their gain will be greater than their pain.

So, before you’re next squirming with discomfort in front of someone who could be a very valuable customer, you need to work on just two ideas. What your customer’s pain really is, and what they really stand to gain. You need to dig in, and really articulate those two ideas.
And the customer’s gain must exceed their pain. Why else would they do business with you?

Understanding Your Customer’s Pain

A potential customer will feel their pain in several ways, to different degrees. Let me talk about it in terms of them finding a solution to their problem. That may be finding the right kind of sweater to go with the pants I just bought, or finding the right software for my whole company to use email securely. That’s two different scales of problem/solution, but what’s important is how the customer feels about the choice they’re making. Here are some of the things they’ll be thinking about:

• The cost of enduring the problem they need to solve. What are they putting up with? Can they quantify the negative impact of what they’re living with?
• The cost of acquiring a solution. What will they have to pay for what you’re providing? What will they have to get rid of in order to make way for it?
• The cost of implementing that solution. How long will it take? How will their colleagues be impacted?
• The risk of not finding a solution. What happens to their job, how they’re percieved by their peers, friends, family? What will the cost be of them not dealing with that risk?

UnderstandingYour Customer’s Gain

When you provide a solution to your customer’s problem, the gain they’ll make will have several components, which they’ll evaluate and emotionally react to.
It’s the other side of the pain list:

• The business improvement that they think will happen.
• The better perception that their bosses and colleagues will have of them.
• Their satisfaction in finding the right solution.
• The reduction in risk to their business and their position in it.

These pains and gains involve feelings and perceptions. To properly explain your value proposition, you’ll need to recognise that your explanation has to connect with a fellow human, with their own concerns. That’s not a surprise though, is it? If you’re to be convinced by someone selling to you, you know that they’re going to have to deal with all of the concerns that you have in connection with your buying decision.
They’ll have to show you that you’ll gain more than the pain you’re experiencing. Won’t they?

Developing a Value Proposition - Entrepreneurship 101 2010/11

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djSsG8Ldu20

This lecture focuses on the process of creating a crisp and concise value proposition for your start-up. Learn how to answer the essential question, "What is the value you bring to your customers?" without describing the details of your technology.
Formulating a good value proposition is an essential step for any start-up and lies at the core of many of the other tools entrepreneurs need to develop, including market analysis, business modeling, finding funding and delivering an investor or customer pitch.

MaRS - Building Canada's next generation of global technology companies. marsdd.com