Network Foods Group, a Malaysia’s homegrown specialist in manufacturing , marketing and distribution of confectionery, food and beverages, has launched the latest Tudor Gold, a more chocolatey taste which is less sweet and latest innovative zip-lock packaging, where opening is airtight yet resealable.

Incorporated with 55% real cocoa, Tudor Gold was formulated to enable dark chocolate taste acceptable, by consumers from all walks of life to inhibit a healthier and beneficial eating habits.

Meanwhile, the much-loved new Crispy Jingles was unveiled with the new tagline ‘Love At First Bite’. Claimed to be the first rice cereals coated in malty chocolate that enriched with vitamins such as, B3, B12, C, E and A, the maltier Crispy with its new lovable dinosaur mascot- Kris, are providing online gamers a chance to enjoy playing games its websites @ http://www.crispychocolates.com to win mystery prizes.

Officiated by Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism, Yang Berhormat Dato’ Tan Lian Hoe, who briefed, “…the latest Tudor Gold packaging is commendable as it makes Malaysian proud to know that we can compete on global stage in the area of chocolate making…”. While Mr. Chan Choung Yau, Executive Director of Pan Malaysia Corporation Berhad, voiced, “Network Foods Group  has grown from strength to strength and we are proud to have many truly made in Malaysia products that are household names including Crispy and Tudor Gold….”. Mr. Andrew Khoo, Executive Director of Network Foods International Limited said, “…the newly launch of Tudor Gold as well as Crispy Jingles are cater to younger generations aged from 6 to 15 years, to enjoy fun-loving chocolate taste as well as to inculcate a healthier vitamins enriched lifestyle…”. Also present at the event was, Tan Sri, Dato Seri Dr. Ting Chew Peh, Chairman of Pan Malaysia Group Berhad.

While having its four-day roadshow at Sunway Pyramid till this weekend, Network Foods also involve in its ongoing corporate social responsibility programme involving ’school reach-out projects’.  The Group has initiated a RM50,000 worth contributions, comprised 1000 school bags and stationery given to 20 primary schools in Klang Valley to provide a conducive learning environment to the benefited students.

Monday morning is the time when our teams interact the most about projects and the coming week.  I’ve decided to capture events typical of Monday to provide insight into our work developing products for clients.  I’ll do my best to include everything warts and all even if that means sharing something I would not normally share.  In support of full disclosure, I took sparse notes over a period of time and came back later to clean up the text and add commentary.  Here goes nothing!

Our high-tech revolution has plunged us into a state of continuous partial attention.

iBrain by Gary Small, M.D. and Gigi Vorgan

- A typical Monday starts by pulling my canoe out into the various communication streams.  Logging on to Skype is the watershed event.

- Skype is running.  Firefox is open with tabs for email, calendar, several Google docs, WordPress for this post and YouTube for a side project I am working on.

- I check in with my lead on Skype.  I have the same guy across a few of my projects.  This certainly streamlines the communication.  He’s in Costa Rica.  When I worked at Adobe, we used IM all the time as people worked on different floors and at different locations.

- I am acting as the product owner for one project and I clarify something about a feature we are implementing.

- On another project, our client provides detailed specifications and we review the documents to make sure we are in sync.  We are, which is good.

The new promise of collaboration is that with peer production we will harness human skill, ingenuity, and intelligence more efficiently and effectively than anything we have witnessed previously.

WIKINOMICS by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams

- Our newest client jumps on Skype to validate the release, our testing and the schedule.  There is a lot to discuss so we move to a Skype call. He does a good job managing his business to create an active and valuable community.

- Another issue comes in about how a feature should work that requires some thought.  I ignore chats and emails for the next 30 minutes and open specifications in Google docs and mock-ups in Preview.  We clarify the issue.

- By late morning, the major communications have been completed.  Projects are moving forward and our teams seem to understand what needs to happen this week.  I am responsible for a couple of releases that are in full swing.

No matter how clever the idea or great the implementation, an invention typically lives or dies depending on how well it can be integrated into a larger social or technological context.

Juice by Evan I. Schwartz

- The marketing text for our Web site update is long overdue.  Some tasks on the docket this week are for corporate business.  But I decide to focus on that side project and YouTube.

- I started a project called ReachGivers.org to help charities and non-profits get their message out over the Internet.  ReachGivers.org uses Ruby on Rails and has Twitter integration.  I added a poor man’s blog a while back as well.  This week I want to add video support.  Side projects help me stay connected with technology.

Economics is above all a science of measurement.  It comprises an extraordinarily powerful and flexible set of tools that can reliably assess a thicket of information to determine the effect of any one factor, or even the whole effect.

Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

- Off to Starbucks for a Mocha and a blueberry scone.  This happens so often that people know me by name there.  The Ethos water billboard reminds me I wanted to blog about that on ReachGivers.org after finishing the video work.

- My brain stumbles on some concepts for the marketing text and I jot down some ideas.

- I was working on a product a while back and was not that impressed with the end user documentation.  I sent a book proposal out to a technology book publisher, which turned into a series of titles, and I have been writing every since.  I love it, I really do.  I even enjoy working on marketing text and ads.

Execution is not a one-time event.  Nor is it a process where you check off goals as if your sixth-grade teacher were looking over your shoulder.

The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki.

- Shorty before noon we get a curve ball. Mid-cycle, our client needs to shift direction on a project to change the prioritization and the release date.  I’ll spend the next few days updating user stories and validating the new plan. Sometimes I feel like we’re actually better at hitting a curve ball.

- The Agile software process, which is intended for flexible development, actually advocates against this type of mid-cycle change.  Release cycles are purposely shorter so that a direction shift simply influences the next cycle.  For start-ups, next month can be years away.  We have to be more flexible.

- A site we monitor generates an alert right before I can escape for lunch.  I used to get a little rush on these mini-emergencies like working as an EMT. Now I am the ambulance driver who knows that most pick-ups are not at all like the show ER.  Still, up-time is important and so we resolve the issue as quickly as possible.

- It occurs to me that this post demonstrates why people Tweet.  Expressing myself effectively with 140 character didn’t work well for me.  I decide to try it again because I am enjoying creating this running dialog.

- We’re trying to send large Photoshop files with mock-ups.  Some days technology just seems to work against us.  We’re hitting proxy issues and time out issues.  Eventually we solve the problem and remind ourselves yet again we should standardize on an approach.  Problem is, email and Skype are so convenient and work well enough most of the time.  I guess this would be one of those warts.

Agile software development methods should be able to survive in an atmosphere of constant change and still emerge with success.

Agile Management for Software Engineering by David J. Anderson

- After 40 plus years of eating sandwiches, I still love a good sandwich.  The best sandwich in town is from the deli in Vallergus and the people at the cash register all know me by sight.

- I never get back to the post after lunch.  Clients and partners all eat at different times and issues were waiting for me when I got back.  That is definitely a typical Monday.

- I didn’t finish the marketing text either.  The text I came up with was not remarkable.  I made some small updates to our corporate site instead and also finished my changes on ReachGivers.org.  Perhaps I will think of something while winding down for the night.

- My iPhone sits by my bed.  With several releases in play, there is always a chance a developer is still working and will fire off a question.  Of course, I can’t just let the device sit there, now can I?  I pull my canoe back out into the stream and see what else I might have missed during dinner.

Prerequisite:
1. completed development and QA testing
2. wrapped up A/B testing and beta launch
3. specified launch goal
– strategies /tactics (defined initial leads, projected revenue, competitive argument, marketing channels)
– budget available [for different types of launches]
– time/effort for launch

Type of Launches

Keys to Successful Launch

- Product Plan Checklists
– Summary
– Purpose of this product
– Market Overview
– Key Market Trend
– Target Customers and their needs
– The product
– Window of opportunity/ Ship date
– Positioning
– Tag line
– Feature and benefit
– Price
– Place and Channel
– Marketing Strategy
– Marketing Tactics / Promotion
– Launch Budget
– Marketing Mix
– Expected ROI
– Action Plan/ Deliverable Ownership
– Rough Timeline / Schedule
– Key Decisions remaining

Internal Communication
– Weekly meeting to track deliverables, clarify blocking issues, assign responsibilities and action items
– Reporting top level details to executives

External Communication
– Provide courtesy warning to customers in timely manner

Product Readiness Checklists
- Documentation
- Help System
- Packing
- Support Policies
- Additional Support Programs
- Support Training
- Sales tools & training
- Operation readiness
- Channel training
- Press tour materials
- Collateral
- Beta program completed
- QA completed
- Signoff by executives
- Customer references
- Warranty & return policies
- Website updated
- BOM completed
- Contracts / Legal work
- Market plan signed off
- Marketing program
- International readiness
- Certifications readiness
- Promotions in place
- Positioning, tagline, USP
- Pricing signed off
- Sustaining marketing plan
- Forecast signed off

http://www.baselinemag.com/c/a/Intelligence/Presentation-Secrets-of-Steve-Jobs-392452/?kc=EWKNLEDP11132009A

When selecting a new brand name, some marketers mistakenly believe they cannot use any mark that anyone else uses.  That is not correct.  It usually is not a requirement that no one else uses the mark, for any product or service.  With some exceptions for “famous” marks, a party’s trademark rights generally are limited to the goods or services on which that party uses the mark, as well as products and services that are so similar that consumers would assume a connection between the uses.

So, for instance, two companies probably could coexist in using the mark CREST if one used it for toothpaste and one used it for windbreaker jackets.  This is because the respective goods are so different that no one would be likely to assume the uses are connected in some way.  The two brands could coexist in the marketplace without any consumer confusion.

"This CHEVROLET brand dental floss is great stuff!"

On the other hand, you would not be well advised to adopt the mark CREST for dental floss, in the face of an existing use of the mark for toothpaste.  In this case, the goods are similar enough that consumers are reasonably likely to mistakenly assume a connection between the goods – either that both products are marketed by the same company, or that the well-known CREST toothpaste brand has licensed or otherwise approved the use of CREST on dental floss.  The case might be less clear if the uses were somewhat less directly related – a CREST cosmetic dentistry office or a CREST body wash product, for instance.

You should take these concepts into account when considering new brand names.  If you have fallen in love with a proposed name, don’t necessarily cross it off your list just because someone else is using the mark on unrelated goods.  Instead, consider whether the other party’s goods are similar enough to your own to cause a likelihood of consumer confusion. 

At the same time, remember that those enmeshed in an industry may have a distorted view of what goods are related or unrelated.  A former colleague of mine once had an opponent in the computer industry assert something to the effect of, “there’s no way consumers would be confused, the products are completely unrelated – yours is a sixteen-pin device and ours is a seventeen-pin device.” 

Try to bear in mind that a court probably will consider the issue from the perspective of a consumer far less aware than yourself of the subtle divisions within your industry.  Hopefully you have hired a seasoned trademark attorney to help you down the brand selection path – this is a very good time to pay close attention to his or her advice.

Earlier I mentioned special treatment for famous marks.  A brand that is “famous” (a legal determination), is given a sort of super-protection under the trademark law, which forbids the use of that mark even for unrelated goods or services.  This is to prevent the dilution of the single meaning of the mark in the minds of the public, by “blurring” that association.  Dilution is a broad enough topic to deserve a separate discussion at a later date.  Suffice it to say, however, that it probably would be a bad idea to choose COCA-COLA as your brand name for any type of goods or services.

PHOTO COURTESY OF FLICKR USER D SHARON PRUITT, UNDER THIS CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE.

On a glorious September late afternoon cucumber sandwiches, scones with cream and jam and a plethora of tiny cakes were being served to a gathering of people all overly excited , waiting to meet Kylie Minogue at the launch of her new Kylie At Home Bedding range.  Her time of arrival was due to be 5pm.  Fashionably late she arrived, (with entourage) at 6pm.

A hush swooped over the Orchard Room at the Grove hotel and in walked a diminutive Kylie, coyly and slowly awash a media frenzy of photographers who were strategically placed throughout the grounds of the Grove hotel, to photograph not only Kylie but, as an added bonus, the England football team, who were staying at the hotel.

That's me far left, Kylie in the middle and my husband Stephen Sacks far right

She looked beautiful:  A sweetheart necked, gold sequined above the knee, figure hugging Matthew Williamson creation with some incredibly high-heeled, strappy, gold sparkly sandals.  Her feet tinier than our five-year old daughter.  Hair swept back into a swinging pony tail, nails perfectly manicured and very subtle make up.  Kylie glowed!

She was a perfect lady, working the room with ease.  There was not a single person to whom she didn’t speak. She signed photographs and serviettes amongst other things for anyone that wished for a signature.  She smiled and looked animated for her 1 and a half hour stay!!  Not a drop of water, tea or champagne passed her lips.  Neither indeed did any morsel of food!  She had photographs taken with anyone that wanted one and diva like at all.

Her range of Kylie At Home bedding is as pretty as she is.  Gorgeously embellished duvet covers in the softest faux silk and satin.  Beading, sparkles, crystals and sequins adorned both duvet covers and pillows, cushions and throws.  A glorious honey colour a warm white and many shades of stone and cream bedding could be seen on beds scattered around the room. What a magnificent array of bedding to launch Kylie’s second season of licensed bedding. She told us how specific her input was to the design of the bedding and she reveled in the commercial side of the launch and was extremely expectant on the sales of her Kylie bedding.  The complete range can be found on our website www.wallacesacks.com.

At around 7.30 as Kylie stepped out of the Grove we were all given a perfect goody bag, resplendent with pink cupcakes, pink balloons and a fabulous cushion from the Kylie range.

What better way to spend tea time!

Harriet Sacks

You’ve probably heard that Motorola, Verizon and Google have introduced the Droid phone. By all accounts, it’s a very strong smartphone, with great integration with other Google products (e.g., Gmail, Google contacts, etc.). (Here’s a 16-minute podcast review by local technology expert Phil Yanov.) But the advertising? Well, it’s been all over the map.

The initial “iDon’t” teaser, full of what Apple’s iPhone can’t do, was intriguing. But the “Stealth” pre-launch spot was just a little freaky. Sure, the cinematography is stellar, and I guess they sort of have a point with the “drop date 11/6″ tag at the end. But alien objects (“pods,” perhaps, in another anti-Apple reference?) falling from from the sky, destroying property, and prompting one weather-worn rancher to utter one slightly horrified “what in the world was that” as it opens, strikes me as an overly menacing approach. The Motley Fool has a great analysis of this ad titled “Droid’s Ad Bombs, Literally.”

Do you really want the savior of your brand (Motorola), your AT&T smartphone-beater (Verizon) and your Apple trump card (Google) to be evil? An approach like that could work for a niche product sold to a fringe group or Gen Y, perhaps. But for a product that these mainstream brands hope will sell millions to a wide range of audiences, including traditionally conservative businesspeople? It seems a highly dangerous approach. Verizon’s “There’s a Map for That” is a much more clever and brand-upholding set of advertisements.

Product launches are a great time to capture attention and break out of the box with your marketing message. But be cautious that your marketing is consistent with your brand — or you could end up destroying it in the process.

The Business case:

A Boston, USA Company in the ITES domain providing IT based financial solutions to target audience in USA required a Sales Support team in India to support its Sales professionals based out of Boston. The company offered Business Process Automation (BPA) to Finance companies in USA and had its own platform specialized for Finance processes that enabled BPA. The requirement was to create a team of professionals in India that have expertise in gathering Marketing Intelligence, Buzz Marketing, Email Campaigns, Writing Marketing content and initial customer interaction. The company was about to launch a financial portal for which they required the team to work with the Sales team in Boston and the Management team to support all the activities related to the launch & buzz marketing of the portal. A Boston, USA Company in the ITES domain providing IT based financial solutions to target audience in USA required a Sales Support team in India to support its Sales professionals based out of Boston.The company offered Business Process Automation (BPA) to Finance companies inUSA and had its own platform specialized for Finance processes that enabled BPA.The requirement was to create a team of professionals in India that have expertise in gathering Marketing Intelligence, Buzz Marketing, Email Campaigns, Writing Marketing content and initial customer interaction.The company was about to launch a financial portal for which they required the teamto work with the Sales team in Boston and the Management team to support all the activities related to the launch & buzz marketing of the portal.

iLeadFarmers solution and result: http://ileadfarmers.com/Case_Study_Sales_Support_Lead_Generation.pdf

 Enjoy the story!

Nov. 11, 2009 is the launch date for Todd Perkins Bulletproof Business Blueprint. The anticipation for this product is steadily continuing to generate a massive buzz in the business of internet marketing.

There are dozens of reviews littering the internet right now that are basically singing praises to Todd for creating this product. Whether or not it is the savior for struggling internet marketers remains to be seen, however having had a peek under the hood of the bulletproof business blueprint, I can say there is a difference between this and the plethora of other internet marketing products available on the market today.

One of the main things that stands out right away is the layout of the material. There are 23 in depth videos associated with this product and having had a look at a couple of them, the quality of the information and instruction provides greater depth than most IM products.

The market although ripe for a product of this caliber is not as responsive as it once was, due to a massive glut of product launches touting each new product as the “one”.

The question is: “Would I recommend this product to my own friends and family?” Well I’ll tell you this much, the only way I wouldn’t recommend it, is if I wanted to keep the real secrets and steps to truly making money online all to myself.

For the people that take advantage of what the Bulletproof Business Blueprint has to offer, more than likely they will not be spending much money for anything else.

If you’re really ready to take your business to the next level or you’re just tired of buying piece after piece trying to put the internet marketing puzzle together check out this video and free report that explains in greater detail what you can expect from the Bulletproof Business Blueprint

What are you aware of that is broken in your business? You know that area, person, process, perhaps website that is not producing? It’s that area that you know you need to address, but you have tabled for now as you focus on bigger fish to fry. If you can’t admit perhaps it’s” broke”,(like a number of those who ask for my help)  let me ask you another way: What is that area that you know is just not right, but you slapped a band aide on to “get through until the business comes back to normal again”?

The reality is you will never see your business like it was unless you identify the areas that are roadblocks or worst yet broken ,and fix them.

I remember when my children were very young and when the would fall down playing and scrape a knee or elbow they did not want me to clean the minor scratch or put some medicine on it….they wanted a band aide. Band aides are magical in that once the problem is out of site they were miraculously healed. Tear filled faces became filled with smiles and the desire to get back to the play that resulted in the injury in the first place.

The difficulty came at night, before their bath when we had to remove that band aide. Back in the day, in an effort insure they did not fall off,…band aides were once glued   your skin and the removal of them caused some pain and or irritation. So what do you do? Do you slowly pull the band aide off? No, what you learned to do was to rip the band aide off quickly. Yes there is a momentary pain, but not nearly as long as trying to slowly remove it. Once the band aide is removed you can assess the true nature of the injury, clean it, and apply medicine to insure it heals and does not become infected.

As I work with a variety of companies in a number of industries I uncover band aides in a variety of areas; broken processes, people who are not adding value and should have been dealt with long ago, people in the wrong roles, websites that scare customers away instead of begin a discussion, antiquated costing systems, poor marketing, the use of old selling practices, …and the list goes on.

What I find is most leaders are aware of the problems, but quickly mentally ranked them, they performed a triage and determined what needed to be addressed immediately, soon, or something we can slap a band aide on and deal with it when the business gets back to normal. There is also some who seem to hope and pray they just go away.

The reality is you may never see the days you consider normal again.

If today is the new normal , what would you do differently moving forward?

The recommendation I give to my clients is to; reset their understanding of the market and their business. In that process we will identify band aides that were slapped on areas that needed repaired and now have become infected. The only way to determine if those broken areas miraculously healed themselves, or if they became infected and may be costing you business, is to rip them off quickly, and rip them off now.

Over the next series of posts I plan to share the process I have used to help businesses; launch new products, launch into new markets, grow in existing marketing, and rebound when they were faced with rapidly decreasing sales, profits, and market share. My commit to you is they are practical and you may even scratch your head and say “well it can’t be that easy”…the reality is; yes, it is.

I am not sure what caused it, or when it occurred , but leaders at some point decided problems were complex and therefore required complex solutions that none of us could execute if we had to … if the truth be told. The reality is when you boil problems down to their true essence there are no new problems. The problem may on the surface look or feel new, but in reality it has existed before. Identifying problems and the road blocks standing in the way of your team’s success and solving them is what we are paid to do.

How about your business…when I ask the question; what is broke and you know you need to fix it but it will be painful? …do you think about?

Are you sure the band aide you slapped on it long ago is working? How can you be sure?

Are you sure underneath that band aide you don’t have a festering infection that may spread throughout the body of your business? ( and worst spread to your customers)

Did you just address an area by “Ripping off the Band Aide”? If so please share what your learned.

To have a pretty look is what every female wishing for, but to have an  enhanced sexy, hot and trendy appearance, theBalm probably has the answer, as this American brand has become an instant hit since it was launched 5 years back.  Adored by many Hollywood celebrities as the brand represents a mix of sexy yet serious, smart and funny, romantic and rebellious personalities of theBalm.

Officially launched at Mid Valley Megamall yesterday, Sa Sa Malaysia has cemented its partnership with theBalm Cosmetic.  Guests and media attendees were treated to a live make-up fashion show featuring Celebrity Make-up Artist, Jennifer Sullivan from theBalm.  The fashion show portrays a playful, sexy yet classic 60’s rendition of Sexy Mama models propping up for outings with Cabana Boys.  The show’s choreography incorporates a make-up demo by Sullivan, featuring the brand’s unique look of “Pin-up Girl” and “Daytime Drama” for day, a natural look of “Nude with Tude”, and finally a “Smokey Nights” for night of fun.  The fashion show also features the latest wardrobe collection sponsored by Miss Selfridge and Topman.

According to Corina Loi, Senior Vice President & Country Head of Sa Sa Malaysia, “We are delighted to add theBalm to our growing portfolio of premium brands and launch their make-up products with unique packaging and classic taglines to Malaysian shoppers. Initial sales results show that theBalm is a big hit with our fashion-savvy customers and we expect continued success of the brand in our market.”

The launch coincides with a 5-day roadshow that commences from 4^th till 8^th November 2009 at the same location. This on-going roadshow enables shoppers to have a first hand experience with the brand’s latest unique make-up looks, as featured in the live make-up fashion shows.  Shoppers who purchase RM160 and above of theBalm products at the roadshow will enjoying a free makeover, bring home a “Sexy Self” portrait photograph plus many other choice goodies from theBalm. A repeat of the live make-up fashion show will take place on 7 and 8 November 2009 where shoppers stand a chance to walk away with attractive prizes like RM6,500 worth of theBalm products and RM2,000 Sa Sa Gift Certificates.

There was an air of enjoyment, happiness as well as laughters at the recent celebration of Mayfair Plus’ 1st Birthday held at 7Heaven Pavilion Kuala Lumpur. Participants were swarming Mayfair Plus outlet at early hours to experience the much awaited launch of new slimming technology Mayfair SlimMaster, which enhanced a non-invasive slimming technology that enabling women to reduce the flab and fat without pain.

Anxious customers who participated the fair, were given live demonstration by slimming consultants, live presentation on the effectiveness of Mayfair SlimMaster and a 7-day free trial slimming experience on the Mayfair SlimMaster (worth RM3920).

Meanwhile, lucky guests were generously given a special treat of nutrition workshop, a spa retreat for TWO in Bali, Trendy apparels worth RM1000 and an exclusive grooming session. At the same time, all the participants were also having their once in a lifetime experience as they were given the oppportunity to have an up close and personal encounter with Dacius, a renowned soul master who ables to unlock natural beauty in every women.

Officiating the momentous ocassion was Mayfair Group CEO, Miss Karen Chong, who later briefed the media members, “Mayfair SlimMaster is specially innovated based on concept of liposuction to reduce fatty deposits, and it ables to restore an ideal body figure without any pain. The Mayfair slimming theraphy is different from other conventional type of slimming methods, due to Mayfair SlimMaster device not only fights the flab but has a visible result on eliminating stubborn fat and provide a smooth orange peel skin without the needs of surgery and appearance of scars. The secret lies in the machine that ables to use positive and negative pressure to generate micro bubbles to break up fatty deposits and detoxify them from the body. The theraphy not only detoxify body waste but also promotes metabolism, enhance smoother cellulites as well as skin elasticity”. Also officiating the launch were, ED of Mayfair Group, Miss Chong Siew Ree and Mayfair’s Malay Brand Ambassador Miss Siti Hasfizza.

For those who missed out on the Slimming Privilege offers, are welcome to try the Slim Master Treatment session, please key in: MF <space> name, location, slimming inquiry and send SMS to 33399 to get a FREE session of Slim Master.

An India based entrepreneur company developed its own product in the e-Learningdomain. The product required to be launched and branded in the educational sectorin USA.The challenge was that the product idea or the technology concept was unique andthe target audience required to be educated about the technology.The requirement was to create a need for this product in the target audience.Educating the masses and the marketing and branding effort was required to bedone at the same time to aggressively penetrate the market before competitionarrives.The company did not have a team of professionals to take on this project which wasanother challenge i.e to set up a team for Marketing & Branding and Sales with aquick turnaround time.

What was the Challenge? What Solution was offered? How the Solution was implemented?

Find out at - http://ileadfarmers.com/Case_Study_Marketing_Software_Products.pdf

Once again  ”HAPPY READING”

Companies are finding real benefit from starting on a platform that provides functionality and existing customers.  More and more developers are launching products on the iPhone, facebook and SalesForce.  We definitely encourage our customers to use existing technologies and services to expedite time-to-market.

A few months back, we were proposing to build a facebook application using some other technologies as well.  In our proposals, we like to think ahead to point out issues that could arise and we stated that any changes to these technologies could impact the schedule.  At this point, the customer emailed me an interesting question.

How do we mitigate the risk if facebook or the other technologies change?

Our customer was asking a pretty good question.  If facebook changes their API or markup language, we may have to re-factor significant amounts of code.  Don’t think this could happen?  It already did.  Here’s how it impacted some developers.

At first I was tempted to say that is the nature of the beast.  If you are building a house and it starts to rain, construction will be impacted.  Materials will get wet.  You might have a major disaster if you just poured the foundation and the cement hasn’t cured.  We can’t stop the rain.

I then realized this is a profound question and that I needed to give it some thought.  We develop for start-ups all the time and a significant delay from outside influences could prove disastrous.  I started thinking through the possibilities.

First, we need to consider if companies we are depending on actually appreciate this risk.  How often does the facebook API change?  How does SalesForce improve their platform without breaking existing applications?  It’s reasonable to conclude that if Apple, facebook and SalesForce care about their business they wouldn’t adversely impact people making a living off their technology.

I did a little investigation to see how well these companies keep their developers informed of changes.  Everything I discovered was as of the writing of this post and may have changed before publishing.  I certainly welcome anyone from facebook, Apple or SalesForce to comment on this post and provide information I may have missed.

facebook clearly embraces developers as a community.  Their WIKI is comprehensive and includes a link to view the latest changes to the platform.  A proactive developer could sense changes were in the air for sure.  I was hoping to find a way to subscribe to emailed changes.  I’ll keep looking for that.

Apple’s developer site feels very polished.  They clearly focus on information presentment making it easy to find documentation.  That said, the site seemed to offer less insight into what is happening with the platform.  By way of contrast, WIKI community sites are easy to edit and therefore updated more frequently, but often contain posts that are not completely accurate or have become out of date.  A good editor solves this problem of course.

SalesForce.com is definitely going the community route.  The developer site includes documentation, news, events, updates and discussions.  An active developer can stay abreast of changes for the most part.  After looking at the site, you can see that the company is making a good effort to keep the developer community informed.

Back to the question, how can we mitigate the risks of a key technology or platform changing mid-cycle?

Here are some the techniques we recommend for staying informed and managing the risk from developing on existing technologies and platforms:

1) Subscribe to all change lists – The best way to find out if an API or technology is changing is to have the company tell you in advance.  Trust me, you don’t want to find out from users your site is broken.

2) Avoid developing functionality that has a shelf life – Some times, it is clear an API or functionality may have limited long-term viability.  Certainly privacy and security issues won’t stand over time on any site with significant usage.  Developers love to exploit a loophole or over reaching function.  Your business might be doomed if this loophole is core to your success and it gets closed.

3) Plan for scenarios in the business – The corollary to point 2 is plan for the unfortunate or unexpected.  You should certainly utilize any advantage you reasonably uncover.  Just don’t bet the farm on anything that may pose a long-term issue for the platform without a backup plan.  Spend time thinking about how your business would need to adapt.

4) Create a business that is truly platform independent – Try to see each technology used by your product as a component instead of a necessity.  facebook could be swapped out for MySpace or Twitter for example.  If you use an open source product for your shopping cart or CMS, consider having a backup choice in case you find a bug that can’t be fixed.  Ask your architect to present an alternative technology stack that changes all third-party technologies just to prove it can be done.

Experienced teams use existing platforms and technologies to enhance products, speed up development and create forward-looking solutions.  You should too!  Just don’t get caught depending on something that would hobble your business if it changed.  Have a plan to get back up if the rug is pulled out from underneath you.

- Albert Einstein

Perseverance is a key asset in being successful in a business. But you need to make sure that what you’re trying to achieve is possible. If you keep trying a certain way again and again and it never seem to work out, maybe you need to do things differently.

The problem with holy grails
One of the riskiest play you can have is to wait for a holy grail to happen. “If we become the standard in X or Y, then everything will fall into place”, “Once we launch this new product, the market will recognize our brilliance”,  ”Now that we have this new customer, everybody else will buy”. To be honest, rarely these things pan out as expected and you are often left out with a broken business.

Making sure that you are not just trying to reach holy grail or that your plan is even remotely possible is fundamental. Otherwise, you will go insane trying to make it happen…

NYSketches provided body crystal artists & caricature artists to several Bloomingdales locations around the Tri- State area to celebrate Bloomingdales Shopping Benefit- a multi charity event.  The body crystals artists were stationed in the Bloomingdales’ Private Label Aqua department of each store.  Here are some photos from the event:

Tattoo with Body Swarovski Body Crystals

Happy customer with lots of sparkles!

Caricature Model/ Charity Volunteer...

Shopping buddies get their caricature

When I wrote my EBook: 50 Ugly Truths About Owning and Running Your Own Business…and 5 reasons why you should do it anyway I was responding to a number of misperceptions I was hearing from entrepreneurs.

Historically, at any given time six out of ten US adults is thinking about starting their own business. A number of new entrepreneurs are emerging that  I refer to as “necessity-preneurs “who were downsized and can not find new employment, are deciding to launch their own businesses as they want a much more active role in the security of their careers. The last group are cashing in their 401k and or borrowing from friends or family to buy an existing business and in a short amount of time realize they really just bought a job and they are quickly running out of cash.

One thing I have learned over the past 25 years of identifying roadblocks impeding businesses profitable growth is there really is not any new creations in terms of problems and strategies to grow a profitable business. Peter Drucker simplified it even further; there are only two considerations; innovation or marketing.

Just as I shared 12 mentor moments that I have used personally over the years to help businesses grow profitably, I have the Top 20 entrepreneur best practices that I have observed and lived over the years.

#1 “More” Sales or “Create Sales Velocity”?

#2 Dismiss or Distribute “Yafo’s” quickly …

#3; If Sales are Scary, You Can NOT Afford to NOT get Creative..

#4 Remember “The Law of the Locker Room”… it truly is a small world after all

#5 Tailor Questions for your buyers that Illustrate your Expertise and Prepare you to Serve their Needs

#6 Learn To Cut Bait …early

#7 You are Not Your Market

# 8 When Sales Get Rough…Look for Diamonds

#9 Don’t Let the Two Most Important Plates Drop

#10 “How” you “CHASE” New Business Matters….Do you want pepperoni with that new checking account?

#11 Follow the leader is a dangerous game, particularly when you follow Hippos…

#12 An “Idea” is not a product…and it’s definitely not a business

#13 Hire Strategic Partners… Not “Marketing Tools”

#14 Customers will Stiff you…But Don’t Let Them Burn you…

#15 Beware of “Smores”…Social Media Whores

#16 “Make a Wish” come true with Focused Passion

#17 intentionally reward the customer behaviors you desire …

#18 You will Receive Your Best Tips To Grow Your Company From Prospects Who Do Not Buy From You…

#19 Interview those who Exit and identify Roadblocks to Achieving Your Strategic Objectives…

#20 Exercise Your Power of Choice in Choosing Your Role on the Team…If Your Gift is Being a Duck….Be a Duck!

The above are by no means an all inclusive list of every entrepreneur best practice but they are some of my favorites. The post that seemed to resonate the most and create the greatest number of discussions was the difference between creating “more” sales versus “creating sales velocity” ( entrepreneur best practice #1).

How about you….do you have an Entrepreneurial Best Practice you use regularly and would like to share?

Of the above which best practice(s) resonate most with you?

Which of the above do most entrepreneurs struggle the most with based on your observations?

Is there a Key best practice not identified? (If so please add to the discussion)

As we move into 2010 which of the above Best practices do you feel will resonate most? Why?

Thanks for hanging with me  in this series of posts and I want to particularly thank those who have reached out to me personally to discuss this series of posts. As I have discussed, I enjoy helping entrepreneurs realize profitable growth and the strategies discussed are not new. One of my goals in blogging is to help business owners who may not be able to afford outside help at this time and I hope this blog adds value.

If you are wired to take on the 50 Ugly truths of starting and owning your own business and you have intentionally chosen to do it anyway I hope the above best practices were of value to you and your team.

Entrepreneurs will lead our country to economic recovery and I am proud to serve this innovative group of passionate problem solvers along with my other clients.

Birds Eye has signed up 80s kids favourite and ’saviour of TV-AM’ Roland Rat to promote the relaunch of the dessert Birds Eye Supermousse.

How do you ensure a product still in development catches fire come launch-time?

Keep things largely under wraps, while simultaneously spilling a bunch of the beans.

A neat trick that takes finesse to pull off; one recent example is the rollout of Google Wave.

Limiting who gets to test drive

Not quite ready for prime time, there’s already gobs of chatter about the Wave, which is in limited preview. You must be asked to give it a test drive.

Invitees include developers and influentials — tech writers and bloggers being a big block here — who are in turn allowed to ask 20 additional individuals to join the fold.

Google’s tactic of limiting who gets a preliminary trial ensures invitees are quick to spread the word. To clue people in on the Wave, of course, but also, it’s an opportunity to infer, without really saying so, “I’m one of the chosen people.”  It’s a status symbol.

Anyone can peek under the hood

You can get a gander of the product by visiting the About Google Wave web site.

The site includes a long (80 minute) video presentation, originally given to developers, about this new collaborative communications platform that appears to be a souped-up combination of email, chat, photo sharing and other social media tools, with considerable real-time capability.

FYI, you don’t need to watch the video all the way through. The first part has demos and explanations in plain English. The rest is for developers who may want to build apps and other tools to work with the Wave.

If you’re not into tech talk stop after the first segment: You’ll still see what the ruckus is about.

Buzz builds

Meanwhile, buzz about Google Wave continues to build.

Mashable and TechCrunch have guides to the product. Lots of journalists and bloggers, including Mr. Web 2.0 himself, Tim O’Reilly, are getting the word out.

Computerworld claims the Wave is indeed innovative, but wonders if it’s truly useful in the real world.

As yet another tantalizer, you can request an invitation to Google Wave.

Follow the leader

Few businesses have a footprint as big a Google, where this kind of rollout has such immense impact.

No matter, you can still follow the leader. Here are the basic steps.

• Unveil your upcoming product to select influentials. This group includes members of the media (both traditional and social media), prominent existing and/or potential customers, people who will eventually market your product, and others who communicate to audiences that can derive benefit from your product.
• Inform invitees of their exclusive status.
• Tell the general public you are giving pre-launch test drives to invited individuals (to elevate the status factor even more).
• Post limited information about your new product, that anyone can view, showing how it works. The “you can look but not touch” approach creates anticipation and desire.
• Tell invited influentials you are not simply looking for free PR, but want authentic feedback on how they perceive the product.
• Listen to and absorb the feedback, both positive and negative.
• Dangle a carrot to the uninvited indicating that you might let them take the product for a spin.
• Gradually increase the number of invitees.
• Launch product and watch the sparks fly.

Time will tell if Google Wave is a tsunami (or not).

Until then, the fire lighting up public interest continues to burn.

- Deni Kasrel

Have you heard about Google Wave? Are you one of the chosen few who gets to test the Wave? What do you think about Goggle’s limited preview? Can you see it working for other products? Please offer your thoughts. Comments welcome.

As the entrepreneurial leader you have natural gifts. Market leading entrepreneurs understand a key principle; you have the power of choice…chose to exercise your power of choice in choosing the role you will play on YOUR team. Market losers focus on what they are not, and try to become experts in all the areas of business and thus dilute their personal giftedness and ultimately their contribution to the team’s bottom line. Market leaders know what they know as well as what they don’t know.

Our Pastor at church has started a series on how we have a role to play in adding value based on the spiritual gifts we were born with coupled with those skills we developed over our life time. This message resonated with me both personally as well as made me think about a meeting last week.

When I meet with business owners and leaders the first thing I do is perform a triage of sorts. I ask a number of questions. I identify first if this is someone and a business I want to help. For example, I was asked to meet with a local entrepreneur about two years ago and when I discovered he wanted my help launching a smokeless cigarette that could help more consumers get addicted to nicotine and caffeine,..I chose to pass.

Secondly is the problem this business experiencing one I can solve? If not I refer them to one of my trusted network partners. I have a number of questions I use to identify what is and is not happening in the organization. Often the owner’s inability to answer some of my questions are answers in and of themselves. One area I need to focus on early is the owner’s objectives and motivations. Once I understand the true goals I can serve their team and provide the maximum value in the shortest time.

One of my questions that consistently creates a “pause” with entrepreneurial leaders is;

What are your dreams, your goals for this business and what do you personally want to do, and where do your gifts add the most value? ( not what you like to do…but what are you good at?)

What is often the case the entrepreneur started their business based on their personal gifts and seeing how their gifts can solve a particular market problem. They launch and realize success. Their desire to serve the market grows into a business and things begin to change. They start hiring team members, dealing with vendors, promoting the business, funding the business….and as time passes they move into a role of running versus doing their business. The shame is they focus so much energy on areas they are not naturally gifted in and they end up moving farther and farther away from their personal giftedness. When this occurs the owners stress increases, she feels like she is being pulled in 100 directions and nothing is getting done. The joy they once experienced when they first launched their business is gone…and now their business has become a job and no longer is a passionate quest.

I often shock business owners and leaders in this first meeting when I say;

There is a big difference between “making” widgets, and “running “a business that makes widgets…where are your gifts best used?

We are all uniquely wired with blessings we are to use to serve others. As that business consulting expert Jimmy Buffet shares…

“A blessing can become a curse if you keep it to yourself”

Our Pastor shared a story Sunday that I have heard before but this time resonated in a new way. It seems at the time of creation all the animals got together and decided they needed to focus on specific gifts as a group ; running, swimming, climbing and flying.

So the duck was an excellent swimmer but struggled with running. Not wanting to let the other animals down, he decided to focus on becoming a better runner. He trained to run faster and in the process got marginally better but tore the webbing in his feet. When he returned to the water he found he could not swim with the same expertise and speed he once had.

The rabbit was an amazing runner, but had difficulty swimming. So he focused on improving his swimming. In the process of doing so the muscles that made him a swift runner atrophied and when he tried to run, he could not run as fast as he once ran.

The squirrel was an amazing climber, but no matter how hard he tried he as not good at flying. After multiple attempts that ended in crashing to the forest floor he permanently injured his legs and this hampered his ability to climb with the same speed and efficiency he once had.

The eagle was amazing and the best at flying high above the earth and then quickly swooping down to capture her prey. He could catch the currents and seemly soar and dive without effort, but he was not efficient as a climber. He worked tirelessly to be a more effective climber, but in the process his wings became weak and he could not catch the updrafts he once could and could no longer soar to the heights he once exclusively owned.

Market leaders understand their gifts and use their gifts to serve their internal and external customers.

Market losers spend time trying to perfect areas that are not within their natural giftedness and ultimately reduce the value they provide their team and their market.

How about you…do you know your natural gifts and are you using them?

Are you in a role on your team that uses your gifts?

What should we do if we are in a role that does not use our natural giftedness?

As a business leader, entrepreneurial owner do you feel comfortable returning to your giftedness and hiring someone to run your business that is gifted in growing businesses?…why or why not?

I am not saying don’t learn about the other skills that can add value to your business. What I am saying is stay focused on serving your team and your market with your gifts. As the leader you will want to become aware of other skills , but do not try to become an expert in these areas as it will only dilute your gift’s contribution to the bottom line

I find one of the quickest ways to help businesses grow is to identify the various team members’ gifts, starting with  the leader and or owner, and making sure the role they play on the team is in alignment with their gifts. What is often he case is I give the owner a pink slip in running the business and I help find someone skilled at running businesses so the founder can return to their gift. They often express a sense of ….”am I allowed to do this…or is it OK for me to have fun again? “and my answer is always Yes! ( after all it is still your business)

If you are a duck…be a duck! You will swim much faster than those other ducks that are spending hours of frustration trying to become faster runners. While they dilute their gift you will remain focused on adding the maximum value by exercising your gifts.