Sell Convinience

No matter what you sell, sell convinience; this is the one enduring strategy that gives you the edge over your competition. I know business schools probably have this strategy done up in some fancy language but I learnt it in the simplest form.

I used to buy call cards from a particular vendor just outside my office for a long time but didn't quite notice when I made the transition to buying from a cleaner in my office who delivers to my desk; I made the 'convinience' decision.

Selling convinience gives your enterprise that edge. This concept is evident in the practice of real estate developers to offer mortgages to prospective buyers of their products. People are simply more likely to make the 'buy' decision not because it's a cheaper or better product/service, but because the seller makes it easier for them to do the transaction. Even Jesus sold his 'yoke' as 'ease'.

The question which answer must be every enterprise developer's quest is, how can I make this easier for them?

Enterprise Productivity Model

Your Enterprise Productivity Model (EPM) is a critical factor which profoundly impacts on how much results you see from your efforts. Your EPM is simply the production model that drives your output.

There are essentially two major EPMs namely; Production EPM and Reproduction EPM. There are off course several sub-models but overall you can only run either the Production or Reproduction model.

In simple terms, the production model requires the same level of input everytime you require a certain output, while the reproduction model allows you to generate the same output using a far reduced or removed level of input.

The critical difference between the Production and Reproduction Models is that one bear fruit and the other bears fruit/seed respectively . To put it in more quantitative terms, the first is Arithmetic Progress and the second Geometric Progression.

God's EPM is the Reproduction Model; when he made the trees as recorded in Genesis, they bore fruit that bore seed that grew trees that bore fruit that bore seed that.... essentially creating an everwidening cycle.

What EPM does your enterprise run on?

Red Ocean Strategy

Every once in a while someone writes a book that attempts to change the way we think of business or some aspect of it. I imagine W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne fit this position. Their book "Blue Ocean Strategy" aims to change the way we think about competition.

Without taking anything away from their submissions (it's true for the generality of the population) I think the more accurate position about the competition that threatens your market share the most is the one taken by theory of the "Red Ocean Strategy".

Red Ocean Strategy: To gain greater market share, kill self! You are your own most powerful competition. If anyone can stop you from getting ahead and arriving at your destination, that person has to be you. Paul of Tarsus said "...part of me covertly rebels..." .

Our own internal contradictions are the most powerful competition we have got. It's extremely hard to get ahead without internal concensus; whether you are a person or an enterprise, a house divided against itself will fall.

Thinking inside the Book

When you really think about it, there's nothing like thinking outside the box. When you get out of the box, you are simply getting into another box; getting out of the box of tediuos conservatism puts you in the box of tedious irreverence (read Branson). Whatever it is you decide to do, the population sample is so huge that the possibility for absolute originality is nil. Soon enough even being unpredictable means people simply don't know what to expect from you. isn't that being predictable?

We can continue to chase an unreachable ideal or we can simply decide which box suits us fine and just think inside that one. I have found one box that gives me all the originality that I can use in 200 lifetimes; it's the Book (read bible).

Making a kill VS Squandering goodwill

when you sell a bottle of coke for thrice the standard retail price just because you can - that sounds a lot like impunity to me.

I went to the galleria last night to see a movie (it was a wonderful movie by the way titled 'the blind side') and had to buy a bottle of coke for N300. The only reason I or most other people just pay and get their drink is because there is simply no where else to buy it cheaper in the galleria. Essentially, it is a monopoly and it simply fixes whatever price that suits it for a basic retail commodity - not some designer item. This pricing model is also very popular at the airports but am not sure even they carry their extortion this far.

Shall we charge an amount for a product simply because we can (make a kill) or shall we take care of our costs and then charge a decent profit? Perhaps this is not one of those dilemas that one can find a trite verse for but where that is the case how about the golden rule? Would you like to buy that product at the price that you are offering it for sale? Just switch places with the customer or client and see how you feel about things.

when you have a pricing model that says 'get as much as you possibly can' you progressively squander goodwill. All it will take to topple you is just another shop opening down the block.