Know-Wow! (6): DeQ (Delight Quotient) in Three Dimensions!

Part 6 on KNOW-WOW!: the art of delighting to achieve success in business.

DeQ is a three dimensional representation of your success in delighting. Its result is not a single number, but rather a matrix consisting of three numbers from 0-9. The ideal score would be: 9, 9, 9.

Your DeQ can be determined by using three questionnaires, to be filled out by company’s internal and external “clients” (i.e. employees, customers, community stake holders and residents).

To learn your company’s DeQ – fill out the questionnaires that will be presented in the next few posts.

Know-Wow! (5): What Is Your Delight Quotient (DeQ)?

Part 5 on KNOW-WOW!: the art of delighting to achieve success in business.

Are you perceived as a giving company? Are you delighting your customers? Are you admired in your community or among your employees? The good news is:

• There is a way to measure your success in delighting
• There is a way to improve your DeQ (delight quotient) over time

Delight Quotient (DeQ) is the measure of your success in delighting in all three most important dimensions in your business: relationships with your customers, relationships with your employees and relationship with your community.

You may now be wondering how can DeQ be measured…. or what maximum DeQ is…or even what your DeQ is! If so, keep reading… check out this blog in few days!

Know-Wow! (4): The Low of Wow (or the “10-300 Principle”)

Part 4 on KNOW-WOW!: the art of delighting to achieve success in business.

You all know of Pareto’s 20-80 principle. It says that 20% of your input (products, markets, customers) will bring you 80% of your overall output.

Well, the input-output imbalance holds true here as well. Actually, this imbalance proves to be even more dramatic, as there are human emotions involved. This principle could be called the “The Law of Wow”, or, if you will, a 10%-300% principle. Let me try to phrase it:

“If you invest 10% more effort in trying to wow your customers, you will stand a 300% better chance to win prospective customers than your competitor”.

How come? Well, imagine being “only” 10% taller than anyone else around you. Who will stand out and get attention of ALL? By being 10% better (faster, less expensive, prettier…) you will get attention of ALL your prospective customers and thus far better chance to convert them into your real customers. It takes only 10% of your extra effort!

Know-Wow! (3): Delighting = Giving

Part 3 on KNOW-WOW!: the art of delighting to achieve success in business.

The best way to delight is to GIVE: give more than your customers would normally expect.

This is actually the tough part. We have been taught that business success is all about receiving or TAKING. Right? Think again. Those who have learned the art of giving proved to be the best “receivers”. The business is the dynamic balance between giving and receiving.

Don’t wait to become success to start giving… If your goal is to “receive” (money, reputation, status…) then START with giving! The same principle applies both on individual and corporate level. Remember the golden rule?

Google Trends – Great Interactive Tool to Research Trends

Check out one of the newest interactive tools for trend discovery and trend tracking. The tool is still in its development stage: it can be found on Google Labs (http://www.google.com/trends). The underlying assumption here is that the trends can be identified based on what people search for on the Internet. The more searches for particular product, the higher interest or even “demand”… The nice thing about this tool is that it also helps you compare trends.. Compare for example: “german cars” / “Japanese cars” or “HD DVD” / “Blue Ray Disc”…

The Future of Marketing – As Published on American Marketing Association Web Site

Gian Fulgoni, founder and chairman of comScore, did a survey specifically for the AMA and Mplanet 2006.

Check out this article here. Some of the facts and predictions that caught my attention:

- Broadband Internet users now spend $224 per month online
- Consumer online spending should total $170 billion by the end of the year. $53 billion on travel
- Internet ad revenues are up 36% over a year ago, and search is 40% of that total revenue
- Google controls at least 45% of all searches
- The revenge of the bricks-the-mortar retailers: their online growth far outpaces that of the pure-play Internet retailers
- Social networking (youtube.com, myspace.com, craigslist.com) rapidly growing
- Tremendous future for advertising on user-generated content sites

iPhone – Great New Product with the Poor Brand Name

I just can’t resist to comment Apple’s new Internet phone: this is just another example of fantastic marketing job by Apple. Great and exciting new product with great potential… No doubt people will LOVE iPhone. To me Apple and Mr. Jobs are probably the world champions of marketing today (although it is tied race with say Japanese Toyota).

However, one piece of marketing puzzle is not done well! It’s the name : iPhone.

I understand Apple’s intention to own the “i”. Yes, they probably were among the first ones to use “i” : iMac, iTunes, iPod… Yet, “i” has become too generic. It stands for the Internet and it never belonged to any particular company and it never will.

In addition, the word “Phone” is too generic, too ordinary. It’s not exciting and it is not new. Apple’s product is way beyond an ordinary phone, and this message had to be communicated more clearly. Remember, Apple’s mp3 player was not called iPlayer, but iPod. New name and new category will always create more buzz. Apple has just wasted an excellent opportunity.

Let alone Apple’s legal battle for the rights to use the name… It seems as if this time Apple’s executives were too focused on negotiation and on legal issues (how to get the name), rather than on creative ideas.

Hmm… Maybe it is not too late to change their mind. This name change (before the launch) would still be way less expensive than wasting huge marketing budget to convince people that this is more than just an “ordinary” phone with the Internet access. This name change could actually be an additional opportunity to create buzz! And of course this would resolve their legal battles…