Nice detail from an article in www.startups.co.uk

Selling is easy summary in a few Key Words: Empathy, Enthusiasm, Belief, Communication

Anybody can sell, it’s just a matter of finding a way that suits you. You just need enthusiasm for what your business is offering, and the ability to communicate that belief in your product to potential customers. Working out what your customers need and being able to provide it for them is the foundation of any small business.

Blogs are buzzing after the Google launch of Apps Engine Platform was overshadowed by an accusation of ‘copy cat’ by 37Signals.

All the excitment is focused on ’HuddleChat’, an application released as an example of what is possible with Google App Engine, and is ’accused’ of being a dead ringer for the 37Signals chat offering, Campfire.

Let PR Tennis begin… 

Worried that it would be seen as a Big Bully, Google decided to pull the application, leaving only this message.

37Signals CEO Jason Fried used HuddleChat as a PR opportunity, telling Read Write Web:

“We’re flattered Google thinks Campfire is a great product, we’re just disappointed that they stooped so low to basically copy it feature for feature, layout for layout…We thought that would be beneath Google, but maybe its time to reevaluate what they stand for.”

As far as i can see, all 37Signals have achieved here is a clean ’shot in the foot’. 37signals is a company that adheres to the spirit of sharing and thanking folks who inspire them… but not if you’re a Goliath like Google, obviously! (Hmm, you’re face doesn’t fit so you’re not getting in.)

They may look like a victory over the ‘big boys’, but I cant help but feel they’ve tarnished their own brand values and associated it to a bad precedent of web censorship. At the end of the day web based chat clients have been available for years and they all look about the same.

Google should have kept HuddleChat and left users to make their own judgment, thanking 37Signals for their inspired thinking and positive outlook. In turn 37Signlas should stop listening to their own hype, get back to work, and add unique features to make sure Campfire is always a step ahead.

When all is said and done this episode should serve as a reminder for the web 2.0 startup community at large, that Google is in this to make money just like 37Signals and everyone else.

Yet another interesting article from Forrester.com

http://www.forrester.com/Research/Document/Excerpt/0,7211,44115,00.html

In summary - my view - acceptable, workable, usable CRM systems a must!! for Business users; CRM must……….

be easy on the eye but different (nice design problem for you designer crew out there!)

be understandable immediately - what goes where, what does what and how

be fit for purpose - just get the job done

be flexible enough for New Start Ups to grow and develop to multi-user CRM

We surveyed 74 business and technology decision-makers and influencers to discover their strengths and weaknesses compared to 15 customer relationship management (CRM) technology infrastructure best practices. We found that adopting best practices is a major challenge for many organizations. About one-third say their customer-facing applications lack an intuitive look and feel and easy navigation. Nearly 40% give a similar poor evaluation to their customer-facing applications not being highly configurable. And more than 40% evaluate their applications as poor/below average in terms of strong workflow capability. Robust customer-facing processes are impossible to design and implement without a sound technology infrastructure.

An interesting survey from Forrester Consultancy.

Summary? Purely my view -

CRM is a growing priority for businesses of all shapes and sizes.

A business can spend loadsa dosh on a CRM system - but what a waste if the CRM is not “right” for the business

CRM must fit with business needs - this survey prioritizes the needs of 260 companies as an example (no surprises for the Woo Team)

http://www.forrester.com/Research/Document/Excerpt/0,7211,44179,00.html

January 10, 2008
CRM Best Practices Adoption
by William Band
with Sharyn C. Leaver, Mary Ann Rogan

Organizations continue to spend heavily on customer relationship management (CRM) — $11 billion annually by 2010 — to grow the top line, improve the customer experience, and boost the productivity of customer-facing workers. To better understand how enterprises can get the most value from this investment, we surveyed 260 business and technology decision-makers and influencers to discover their strengths and weaknesses in adopting 11 sets of CRM capabilities consisting of 150 best practices. We found that adopting CRM best practices is a big challenge for many organizations. A significant percentage of the executives surveyed evaluate their capabilities to be poor/below average for all categories: 1) marketing — 37%; 2) customer analytics — 36%; 3) customer service — 35%; 4) indirect sales — 33%; 5) customer data management — 31%; 6) eCommerce — 30%; 7) customer strategy — 25%; technology infrastructure — 23%; 9) field service — 22%; 10) people management — 20%; and 11) direct sales — 17%. Disappointment with CRM is usually the result of poorly conceived strategies that lack a laser focus on improving a specific set of business capabilities to increase revenues or reduce costs.

“Web 2.0 is set to be embraced by Enterprise 2.0 as businesses prepare to spend nearly $5 billion by 2013 on social networking tools.”

BBC News Story Here

I needed to pick a new graphics card and take Emilia (now 7 weeks old) out so I nipped into PC world. Turns out their graphics cards are literally 100% more expensive than they are online - though they have a new Mac section with internet connections so I could compare the price instore & online

Anyway, as I was wondering around I noticed a point of sale featuring the mugshot of Peter Jones along with 3 different versions of his ‘online business builder’ - each version is really a different subscription amount, 1, 3 and 12 months. The DVD case I assume contains a subscription code to be entered online. Which is how Woosabi would be sold via VARs.

What’s interesting is that the product ‘looks’ like it’s competiting with Woosabi but on closer inspection it seems it’s an online ’support’ system with some payroll and business plan makers. Here’s the website

There are two things that struck me:

Firstly, considering how much of a bully Peter Jones is on TV with regard to people ‘not having thought things through’ and how he’s constantly reminding us that he’s got a team of techies that can build websites and apps, his website’s presentation is terrible; absolutely awful. He might be ‘good TV’ but if he signed off on that site and box art I wouldn’t let him near Woosabi in a million years.

Secondly, it’s reminded me that there is great scope to provide a ‘Professional Services’ module via Woosabi to allow startups to access local accountants, legal help and HR advice.

Thirdly, we are going to release something very special that will be very big. Really!

Saturday 19th April 2008, I will be attending the “Point to Point” horse racing at Bonvilston, South Wales, UK. I’ve just noticed a horse running called “Granpa’s Gone Grey” …just gotta put a bet on….look at the http://www.woosabi.com/  home page and you’ll see why!

Yours…Tony……….the “silent salesman” aka “the Greying Grampy”

sources:

The Times, London 14th April 2008, http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article

Importance of SMEs to the UK:

4.3m SMEs, 97% employ less than 20 people, 12m people work in SME sector - 500, 000 SME New Start Ups Every Year!

Vulnerability of SMEs to cash flow problems caused by customer late Invoice payments:

Over 10% of SMEs collapse due to late or non-payment of invoices

Mutual Opportunities

A great opportunity for Woosabi to enter this SME Market but equally a great opportunity for SMEs to use Woosabi to help maintain and grow their businesses while controlling cash flow through Woosabi’s built-in Invoice Management system

As we always want to share “what’s occuring” (Gavin & Stacey inside joke) here at camp woosabi. All you Facebook fanatics (you know who you are!) will be pleased to hear that you can now join the official Woosabi Group on facebook and get all the new and insider goss.

Head over there now to join up and get involved with our discussion boards. This weeks topic is: ‘If you could to start your own dream business on Monday, what would it be?’.