bwagy, the blog of Ben Young

Variability in delivery

Day to day life

In success and failure?

Variability is what makes the ebbs and flows interesting but also meaningful.

You can fight variability or go with it and learn on the way.

Or using opinion to deduce causes for an outcome.

Have to be honest, the world doesn’t revolve on empirical studies, it revolves around irrational people which make irrational decisions every minute of the day.

When there is empirical research chances are it’s wrong anyway (see You’re Always Wrong).

Maybe it is ridiculous to reduce complex problems into simple causes or maybe it’s these ridiculous opinions or nagging gut feelings which help us find a better solution… and be less wrong than we are today.

The upsell should be an assumption.

Getting someones attention is hard enough (super hard in fact) but once you’ve got it you have one opportunity to do it.

Otherwise you miss out.

How much you’re missing out on, I’m not sure, as chances are you don’t notice it.

Just remember the Upsell has to increase value dramatically, should be a no-brainer but also be very focused around improving the value you are delivering anyway.

Just earlier this afternoon I was talking to some great guys from Otago University around content and monetisation.

My position (clearly) has been around freemium, providing a basic or standard edition for free then you pay for the delivery of that in a premium format (ie audiobook, physical copy, pdf etc). That’s exactly what I did with The Best Ideas are Free.

The question put back to me was – would you pay to participate?

I think I would to be honest – if you asked me to contribute a chapter or even a paragraph to a book I probably would (Update this doesn’t help with my point please ignore)..

Do you think you guys could help me out? Would you pay to contribute participate in the creation of my next book (or more importantly any other book?) (hey it’s not finished yet so you could easily) if so what would you pay?

Update: I just need to clarify I’m focusing on participation, not guaranteed inclusion so you might pay to go through the creative process, or research or key points or brainstorming – become part of the experience.  Writing a chapter was just an example.

Just curious.  Answer the poll below… I’ll share the results and if you vote, leave your name in the comments I’ll randomly pick someone to send a copy of The Best Ideas are Free (open worldwide).

If you could please retweet, email to your friends or post to Facebook that would be great – I am more intrigued/curious at this stage than actually serious about implementing.

Visit http://search.twitter.com

Enter some of your customers pains, see what kind of results you get, engage.

Simple.

Now download TweetDeck, load those searches as columns, check in once a day.

You’ve just opened yourself to a world of opportunities.

I think we’ve all done it before.  Forseen some fundamental shift so jumped ship.

However once we jumped ship we realised no one else had.  Or that it looked like anyone would.

It suddenly gets quite lonely as Leadership typically is.

So what do you do? You climb back aboard…. only to find everyone is preparing to jump ship!

If only you’d stuck with your gut and held your position. It’s ironic huh?

When charging  trust your gut, others are likely to come around soon enough, especially when you realise you’re leading them.

All purchases are emotional but the rationale behind it can dictate which way it swings the most.

In selling to small businesses where the owners are the operators – they tend towards emotional purchasing. Boosting their ego, enhancing their image, doing something cool.

Larger business can be so segmented that it’s completely rational. Is this the guaranteed safe option. Will this keep my butt covered. It’s rational purchasing.

Once you realise the difference, you’ll be vastly better at understanding your market but also how you should sell to them.

The muppet ratio is quality people divided by the idiots/people that only care about themselves or as I call them muppets.

Events I visit are judged by the muppet ratio.

If it’s too high (ie the event caters to the muppets) I’ll leave.

If it’s too low I recommend the event over and over again.

Vastly different outcomes, both connected to a few single people that can sway an audience.

Why do we tune in and sit through stuff we don’t enjoy.  We could easily turn the tv off, leave the movie or the event.

We’re afraid. What if?

What if we miss out?
What if something happens?
What if someone notices?

What if you lived on your own terms and only pursued stuff that interested you. Imagine how energetic and passionate you could be. Sometimes it’s just a matter of taking the stand you know you ought to for the things you care about.

Kulula Air has made their planes a little bit more fun.

Something to stare at whilst you wait to board.

Something for your children to read and point out to one another.

It’s something fun. This is the best marketing, that changes how you look at something and brings joy to your customers. (Life can get far too serious).

—

Thanks to Gadling for sharing it.

Following up my post On Doing Things… (and as Seth reminded me in this podcast) I wanted to share a great Steve Jobs quote: “real artists ship”.

That is there is a huge void between the ‘we tried’ and ‘we shipped’.  If you don’t ship you don’t get anything.

If you do ship then that is vastly different.

Listen to the podcast and think about it.

Plumbers don’t get Plumbers Block but writers get writers block? It really is just a battle of the mind.

Your mind says no but you need to push through.

That’s why the latter option mentioned in my previous post of “Get it out the door asap 80% done.  For you will make mistakes anyway.  Best get first one out the door so the second, third, fourth are even better.” works best when you’re doing something new, different, innovative… ie worth doing.

You have two options:

1) Do it right the first time.  That way you don’t need to do it again.

2) Get it out the door asap 80% done.  For you will make mistakes anyway.  Best get first one out the door so the second, third, fourth are even better.

These were the three words I jotted down in forming the basis of a new strategy.

Sounds super simple and relatively easy to execute.

The problem is whilst easy to understand the devils in the details.

What are we collecting? How do we collect? What do we expose? What’s the story? How do we get it to spread? What mechanisms are there?….

You can use a simple phrase to sell something.  Inevitably though you need to back it up with the execution of the details – and that is exactly where people tend to fall down.

Remember the details.

You know the kind – an absolutely awesome deal – $50 off*.

*Conditions Apply.

You then read those conditions and the original deal doesn’t seem so great any more.

A Sideswipe reader shares the same story:

Dodgy marketing. The YMCA Auckland have a billboard promoting ‘eight weeks for $80 gym membership’, says a reader. “But in the terms and conditions you are required to sign up for a year ($21 a week) and then you’ll receive the extra eight weeks for $80.”

Please stop.  You’re wasting your time and money only to get a kickback when people find out your trick.  Honestly – no one is going to follow you up and go wow that’s a generous offer.

Offers/Specials/Discounts should be exactly what they say, shenanigans like this only betray all the other great work the brand does. Stop it. Now.

#38: Read
Read as much as you can (i suggest local library as FREE!) but buying books also works, second hand books just as good as the real thing.

#39: Read some more
Read blogs on all facets of business, cashflow, finances, marketing, delivery, there is an infinite amount of free advice out there, filter the best ones and listen.

#40: Rewire your brain
Take yourself into exact opposites, try a new sport, a new hobby, read a case study on a different industry. Exploring them will help you understand your own business better.