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February 17, 2021 at 9:00 am #1224184January 29, 2021 at 1:27 am #1219474October 9, 2020 at 1:50 am #1218173Up::0
The problem with this
” invest in the right professional advice because it could be make or break.”
is that, as true as it is, it is a throw away line.
Or to put it another way – What is the right advice? To which the answer is, “it depends”
I recall back in my old banking days. I gave a loan customer “the right advice” for their situation. They hated my guts and would have transferred their business elsewhere, but noone would take them.
Six months later, after they saw how, what I had arranged was working, I was the greatest guy in the world.
You only know what you know. That goes for us all – even advisers.
February 24, 2020 at 11:36 pm #1222457Up::0Do you reckon your preference for apps is because they handle a very specific task in a simple fashion and just cut to the chase, as opposed to the web where you have to jump through a few more hoops to find/do what you want?
Yep. I’d say that is correct.
Having said that, they are all large companies, nothing small.
I’m also assuming it’s the mobile experience on the web you find clunky…just wondered because I assume in your work you use it a lot on a larger device. Or is it both?
I just don’t like using a phone to visit websites. I still have trouble getting my head around using a small screen to view them. Unless it is truly urgent, I’ll wait until I can sit down at my pc.
But yes, part of that is the clunky nature of viewing the website on a phone.
.
February 23, 2020 at 1:45 am #1222455Up::0I have become somewhat of a curmudgeonly git when it comes to all this, and can speak only from a users perspective rather than that of anyone with any sort of knowledge.
I am still trying to figure out what “tech savvy” even means:-
– I can code/build a website/app?
– I can walk in to people in the street while looking at my phone, then glare at them as if they are at fault?
– I can shuffle through several apps one handed?My main bugbear though is that we are losing skills such as communication, rational thought, the ability to do our own research etc.
I have also never really understood why a small/micro business would necessarily pay thousands for website developers, and all the ongoing stuff that goes with that, then struggle to make it pay, when there are other means that can get you directly in front of people.. As per Paul – ROI should be king.
Of course I am generalising, and I know there are good operators out there who provide good options, but there is certainly a lot to wade through the get to them.
Give me an app any day. Even the best websites are clunky. I say this as someone who is slowly transitioning to more and more mobile phone use for the stuff I use/need regularly, while sitting at a desktop for anything that needs any real thought.
But the question I have is this:
If i have a small business, what services do my customers actually need? (as opposed to what I am going to give them)
Convenience! Convenience! Convenience!
January 13, 2020 at 3:03 am #1222114Up::0Yes, running your own business is overrated.
It is overrated by those who own a business (earn their living) telling/mentoring/coaching others that they should own their own business.
Otherwise, owning a business means different things to different people. Some can do it, some can’t. Some should, some shouldn’t.
Isnt that what any business is about? If there is no dollar, there is no business. oh and if there is no dollar there is no food on the table, but that applies to being employed as well, you no work, you no eat.
Never a truer comment.
December 30, 2019 at 2:23 am #1221996Up::0Yeah, I used to be idealistic like that, until I settled into a small, retirement town full of elderly, sick people. We have a practically new hospital with no doctors so it is unused, you can rarely get an ambulance, which has to travel an hour to get here if you can get one to come (sometimes from another hospital two hours away, too bad if you are having a heart attack or stroke), ambulances won’t attend non immediately life threatening injuries out of hours so if someone breaks their leg on a Saturday afternoon and can’t find someone to drive them to hospital in a city with a hospital they have to wait till Monday and see if an ambulance is available.
Emails and letters to the local member or the health or shadow health ministers are never replied to.Interestingly I had a discussion about this with my mother just recently. She used to be on the hospital board of the small hospital in the town where I grew up. Since admin was taken over by the state govt. the admin staff has grown considerably. Can’t even deliver babies there now and have to go to a bigger hospital 80kn away. Something wrong somewhere.
Not sure I can use the argument that two wrongs make a right, in terms of not paying tax, but something has to change.
December 30, 2019 at 2:14 am #1221995Up::0The amount of tax law and change that is spewed out each month is quite ridiculous and probably greater than anywhere else on the planet.
This comment reminded me of this:-
[MEDIA=youtube]EVIOmU3l0Zo[/MEDIA]
Nor entirely about tax as such, but interesting and even entertaining I reckon.
December 27, 2019 at 3:23 am #1222002Up::0I think in this “all things digital” world we have lost sight of what communication/service actually is.
The vast majority of what I do now (I am outside Australia) is done via WhatsApp/Wechat. That’s for general commuinication. When it gets more complex it goes to email or a call.
But instant messaging has taught us to be lazy/expect immediate action, and quality of communication/service has suffered as a result, I reckon.
If it is true that people do business with those they know, like and trust, then to an extent, online is taking us away from that, especially with things like AI and automation.
Nothing ever beats face to face, whenever possible, to listen to what the customer really needs. But that seems to be something to be avoided at all costs these days.
December 16, 2019 at 1:17 am #1221904Up::0I think people tend to overthink the “what if someone copies my idea” problem.,
In my experience, most of the time someone copies something it is because it is already successful. Why copy an idea that doesn’t have any traction yet?
Or think about it like this, if you can’t be arsed to think of your own idea, you aren’t going to want to be the one spending the time, effort and money to introduce a new product to market. Easier to just copy an existing version?
That’s not a hard and fast rule of course, but perhaps is one reason to not necessarily be toom shy in advocating the benefits of what you product may entail.
December 4, 2019 at 6:47 am #1221824Up::0I asked for a quote for some products recently and the supplier provided product info and pricing.
After I finalised an order request, the supplier didn’t reply. Think he felt the order was too small.
Met the supplier at a function a few weeks later who sheepishly asked how I was after he heard my name.
Thanked him for not taking my money as I found a much better quality product and cheaper elsewhere.
November 22, 2019 at 2:27 am #1221583October 25, 2019 at 1:30 am #1221514Up::0I have no patience for people who are not on time, customers or not, and don’t let me know. They are generally not worth the effort of a continuing relationship if they don’t appreciate that other people have time constraints.
I agree.
When it comes to promoting my products/services I often accept that if I can’t get my foot in the door, it is probably my fault as much as anything for not selling myself well enough.
But once you make a commitment as a buyer/seller, its up to you to do everything you can to deliver, I think.
October 25, 2019 at 1:27 am #1221513Up::0I placed an order for 3 items over a week ago on a Tuesday. I was told I could either have 2 of them by Thursday, or wait a week and all 3 could be delivered as they were out of stock of the third item.
I decided to wait the week so I could receive all 3 items together.
Order was received yesterday with only 2 items. Am told the third item is out of stock again. Never received any sort of notification, or even an idea of when/where/how I can get the third item.
This company spends a lot advertising their products/services, both online and off. But when it comes to the crunch, how does this affect their brand?
Wheras before I was happy with them, now I am looking for a new supplier. Sadly, not because I think someone else will be better, is just so that I have options.
With more and more selling the benefits of digital, have we lost the art of actually “doing”?
October 2, 2019 at 12:28 am #1221129Up::0“…before i spent a cent on any advertising, i would leverage existing customers via referrals and get your service pushed to your customers trusted friends network.”
And if your business is new and you don’t have any customers to seek referrals??
By the way, blatant self promotion is a bit of a turn off in my view.
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