Pricing

Benny Daon, is one of my favorite entrepreneurs. why?

• he is  hard working -when i met him first in 1998, he was bootstrapping his company. this included packaging CDs in cardboard boxes prior to shiping to customers.  i believe this is a sight i will not see again.

• he is insightful – he named his product “the cloud” in 1998. early to market?  i believe the company still has a TradeMark for the word cloud. i did not know how to say ‘cloud’ till 2009.
• he is unusual – named his company Shunra. perhaps the only start-up in the world with an Aramaic name
• he still loves coding

and he is also a social entrepreneur

his claim:  the most important page one your website is the pricing page.

how insightful.

that’s the one page you want all your customers to get to.

it also exposes many of your values. what your company really stands for. show me your pricing page and i can tell you who you are

here is what i think is a great pricing page. why?

• pricing parameters are associated with value created
• transparent – lends itself to fairness
• variable –  i pay for what i get
• simple

1 page, 1 slide

can you describe your company in 1 slide?

that is really hard.

usually takes quite a bit of time to understand your customers well enough to articulate your value in 1 slide and for the customers to agree.

but these days people have less patience and want to make decisions quickly.

would it be a pie chart of what you save them on costs?

would it be how you increase their revenues? or profits ?

perhaps how we improve their conversion ratios?

I always liked the signs posted on poles next to stoplights saying

“loose 10 kg in 10 weeks”

these guys can explain their business very quickly.  they have to – no angels, no VCs.

today i spent 2 hours with some guys, and i still do not understand their business. but they seem very close to something very interesting. hence the 2 hours.

back to the guys who want me to loose weight (and i should).

what is their cost per lead?

i bet the conversion ratio is not that high; and their best conversion ratios and channels are word of mouth. for all of us working on digital marketing machines, let not forget that. our customers can create the best leads for us. does your product/service make it easy for them to recommend you?

more often than not, the answer is “not”….

or

“paint your house for 1399NIS (3 rooms)”

the beauty with that one is that up-sell is coming. i bet’ya his ASP is > 1399NIS.

the photo here is one for a plumber. ( called ‘installer’ in hebrew – no downloads, no SEO)

“the fast plumber”

a bit too much text?

this plumber does not drive an old truck.

he drives a motorcycle. and this sign is on the box on the back of the motorcycle where he keeps most of his tools.

we all know it is no fun to seat at home and wait for the plumber. the fact that he is on a motorcycle, makes me believe his customers wait less. made me want to call him.

finally, lets see, on your website, most users or leads end up reading/using one page and then make a decision.

what is your most important page?

 

 

 

 

אנא בכוח please…

what a wonderful performance

for me this song, prayer,  פיוט , is so exact, and “connected”.

it is also a prayer of transition. from “up” to “down” . body and soul. life and death.

and of that special israeli moment, friday afternoon as Shabat is coming. בואי מלכה

from doing to being

learned about this song from my 5 year old daughter as she was humming it and not understanding the words:

אָנָּא בְּכֹחַ גְּדֻלַּת יְמִינֶךָ תַּתִּיר צְרוּרָה
קַבֵּל רִנַּת עַמֶּךָ שַׂגְּבֵנוּ טַהֲרֵנוּ נוֹרָא
נָא גִבּוֹר דּוֹרְשֵׁי יִחוּדֶךָ כְּבָבַת שָׁמְרֵם
בָּרְכֵם טַהֲרֵם רַחֲמֵי צִדְקָתֶךָ תָּמִיד גָּמְלֵם
חֲסִין קָדוֹשׁ בְּרוֹב טוּבְךָ נַהֵל עֲדָתֶךָ
יָחִיד גֵּאֶה לְעַמְּךָ פְּנֵה זוֹכְרֵי קְדֻשָּׁתֶךָ
שַׁוְעָתֵנוּ קַבֵּל וּשְׁמַע צַעֲקָתֵנוּ יוֹדֵעַ תַּעֲלוּמוֹת

to understand the words which i find complicated, here is an explanation

so, how is the Philippines?

it is far away. perhaps too far. but it is beautiful. and simple. and simple is not so simple anymore.

a bit like Thiland – it is tropical with the best Mangos and Cocunuts. and beautiful beaches, yet undeveloped.

a bit like Cuba – poor, but with many more smiles. people take life in the easy way. no sense of time. and as you have heard me say before, losing your sense of time (and digital connectivity) are highly correlated with happiness.

a bit like Cambodia. dirty, with motorcycles harnessed to a carriage serving as a Taxi. in genral, transportation is dirt cheap. pun intended. the roads are excellent, but quite busy. the streets and “main” roads are the public space where life takes place. there are few sidewalks and many pedestrians (many of which seem unemployed, or living on $2 per day or less) . so some sort of orderly chaos takes care of matters. quite scary for a westerner.

in general, people are nice and the food is disappointing.

more about the phillipines later. first, about how, and why, i got here.

shock-o-late

what is really israeli?

shoko (chocolate milk) in a bag for breakfast is high on the list. 

it looks slightly less pretty when one drinks it

why it is so deeply en-grained in our culture?

maybe because it is breakfast, early memories, mom, and a certain body part….

but i am here to write about a more serious topic,boards.

just one more reference to the delightful shoko bag. one summer morning i left it on the kitchen counter. in the afternoon, the shoko was not that good. shoko-late and shock-o-late

and now, focus. attention. silence.

one of the most important parameters in having an effective board meeting is ‘when do you send the board package’.

in the past i have even read academic research to support this.

you send a board package late, board will not be effective.

it will be  shock-0-late

remember. boards do not like surprises.

again. boards do not like surprise.

and some board members like to come in prepared.

now for the tough part. how late is late?

i have seen management teams  send the package the morning of the board meeting. this is often as people land in the city of the board from an over-night flight.

what is the message? you really want the board members effective? more importantly, it probably means the CEO and the CFO and other members of the team worked on it all night. how effective are you going to be running a meeting with so little time to prepare?

back to basics. no extremes. is a day before the board good enough?

i say ‘no’. it does not give enough time to prepare.

best is the weekend before the board. this, however, is either not practical or does not have the latest information. still, i encourage you to try it. delight.

how about at least 48 hours in advance? i think it is achievable, allows people time to go over and ponder, and even call and discuss misunderstandings or disagreements.

הבית שלי הבית שלך – keep families together

ever been rejected? not a nice feeling

what about kicked out?

and taken away from your parents?

if you believe being an Israeli, or a Zionist, or a human being means being an example to others; if it means not repeating things we did not like when they were done to us;  here is a chance to take 4 minutes and help 1200 kids stay in Israel rather than be deported from Israel because they are a liability. why are they a liability?

תקדישו כ-4 דקות לראות קליפ מרגש שבו חוברים
אנשים מפורסמים למקהלת הילדים שלנו בשיר שחובר עליהם ולכבודם.
אולי אם נגיע ל100,000 כניסות ננצח את אלי ישי
ואנשיו ונסיר מעליהם את חרב הגרוש.

Quilt your job

this blog is a re-post from seth godin, author, agent of change, entrepreneur. i would like to be a bit like him.

he is one of the few blogs i read on a regular basis.

why?

• they are short
• they make you see regular things in a different lite
• they help promote change in the working place, in how to market internally and in how to create better products

here is one of his latest blog posts:

“i quilt”

When you’ve had enough, can’t tolerate your job any longer and are ready to quit, perhaps you could try one last thing.

Quilt instead.

You’ve got nothing to lose, right? I mean, you’re going to quit anyway, so what’s the worst that could happen to you?

So quilt. Spend hours every day integrating the people you work with into a cohesive group. Weave in your customers as well. Take every scrap, even the people you don’t like, and sew them together. Spend far less time than you should on the ‘real’ work and instead focus on creating genuine connections with the people you work with. Including your boss. After all, once you quit, you’re never going to see them again anyway, right? Might as well give it a try.

Careful… it might change everything.

IceLand

always wanted to visit IceLand (Island in some languages)

always seemed a pristine place. hard working people, basic values: simple.

simple. simple!

unlike Israel, where things are complex.

today Danny sent me this quote:

“First Iceland burnt our money, now they are sending us the ashes”.

not so simple any more

life from the other side of the pyramid

do you have a teenager at home?

wondering how to get her out of the post-modern world she lives in (h&m, iPhone, beverly hills 90210 – the new generation)?

wondering how to spend spring vacation with your kids in a meaningful, fun way that will not spoil them?

here is how one wondrful high-school junior (and his parents, i suspect) decided to address this slew of issues and blend it into a wonderful experience

i am excited about it, and if you are too, please support it:

Nittai Malchin is going to spend his spring vacation in Haiti

helping people of his age stay close to school and keep the education system alive.

he will play football with them, teach them how to use computers, and will learn what life looks like from the other side of the pyramid. haiti vs palo alto

if you want to support, donate, or learn about his experience, check out www.OneLoveAdvocates.org

it is about 2 months since haiti was in the news. convenient to forget.

i am a great believer in education. the more people in developing coutnries tht stay at schools and get edcuation, the better our world will be 20 years from now. especially women.

i am inspired by nittai, whom i do not know.

to do something with others, for others, at this age is, well, simply inspiring

One bag and the biggest travel mistakes

this is a cool site recommended by Max.

as many of us will travel this holiday, i thought it was appropriate.

even though this site is more oriented to continuous travel to many sites and not a travel to one resort.

Max (and Roni, my sister) are all about quality over quantity; and routines that make your life more manageable.

Less is more. Simple.

i am of the travel heavy school. perhaps an indication of my soul.

i did travel light in the past: 2 months in europe with

• 4 pair of socks,
• 4 pair of underwear,
• 1 pants,
• 1 shorts,
• swimsuit,
• camera,
• bag with shower needs and laundry soap

and the entire cost for the 2 month including airfare was less than $2000. let’s call it $3000 in today’s terms

these days i travel heavy because:

• i work (and play) in several different climates
• i attend different different functions
• i usually have to bring back an additional suitcase for all the things friends mail order – that’s a topic for a separate post

if you believe over-packing is the biggest travel mistake, check it out:

The biggest travel mistakes … ?

• Packing too heavily,
• relying on outdated guidebooks,
• not wearing a money belt,
• leaving home with too many hotel reservations,
• and taking other people’s opinions too seriously.

Rick Steves