Theoretical or Practical Marketing?

Hello friends!

Yesterday I was talking with a coworker, who is studying Industrial Engineering, and he is taking a Marketing course. The interesting thing is that he asked me if I could help him to answer a question that his teacher had done:

For an entrepreneur or little business, is necessary to make a complete Marketing plan/strategy?

My immediate response was ... DEPENDS. To which my friend asked me the obvious question ... Depends on what? And my next response was: It depends if you want a theoretical answer (or book answer) or a practical one.

The theoretical answer is: Yes, anyway you should make a complete Marketing plan/strategy. Otherwise how could you get the most out of every dollar you invest in marketing. You should follow roughly the following:

1 .- What is the product / service will be offered.

2 .- What is the target market of the product / service.

3 .- What is the Marketing Mix "available" to the target market about my product.

4 .- Define the strategy according to the amount you will invest.

In my perception, the practical answer would be: Not necessarily, before you invest a single minute of your time in planning your Marketing plan/strategy you have to keep in mind how much you'll invest. And depending on that, you should spend the necessary time developing the plan, and obviously how perfect it is going to be (again depends on how much do you want to spend). So the practical procedure should be:

1 .- How are you going to invest.

2 .- What is the product / service will be offered.

3 .- What is the target market of the product / service.

4 .- What is the Marketing Mix available for my budget, my product and my target market.

But in addition I would add one point, often not mentioned in the books of Marketing, which is that any plan / strategy it is just a guide. Many times our product / service with which we believe is our target market has very weak relationship, and strangely other uses and markets appear that we had not thought of. And all the time invested in our plan we can not be recovered again.

Long Reflecting - Felipe Cubillos

Long Reflecting - Felipe Cubillos.

I want to share with you these reflections of Felipe Cubillos, I believe that words are enough.

“What I learned in the race around the world” (regatta)

Hello everyone,

We are now less than 24 hours to finish the Race Round the World and when you open your computers we might have an advantage close to 150 miles and many of you will think that we already won this stage, end to end. We´d love to be that way, but experience teaches us to wait! Races are won and lost at the goal.

And here is a short summary of what I learned or reaffirmed throughout this time. I do it in first person because I don´t want to involve my friend in everything you´ll read below.

1.- About kids. Definitely not yours, just love them and try to educate by example and if you can transfer them to seek their own dreams, not yours. And do not expect thank you for everything you do; the appreciation will come many years later, maybe when you´ve become a grandfather / mother (then they will know just what it is to be a father / mother). But if in the meantime, they even say to you that they are proud to be your son / daughter, richly feel rewarded for that. And if one of them should leave before you, at least you´ll have the consolation that you said to them many times that you really love them.

2.- About parents, always thank them to brought you into this wonderful word and that they gave you the only chance to live, just that, Live!

3.- About the sea, wind and nature. Admire and protect it, is unique and we have no other. To the sea and wind, never try to beat no less challenge. They have everything to win. If you want to be a sailor, get used to living in permanent crisis.

4.- About limits. They do not exist or are far beyond what you think. How much further? That´s the question, you have to take yourself to the limits and there you´ll find it out.

5.- About talent. It is useless if not accompanied by determination, planning, discipline and perseverance. Talent is ephemeral, determination… Eternal!

6.- About love. Be thankful to Universe if you always wake up every single morning with a kiss and a smile. And do as bees and butterflies, they do not look for the prettiest flower in the garden, but one that has the highest content.

7.- About society. Helps those who are equally or more capable than you, but have not had your same opportunities. They are the most forgotten by the society, because it always helps those who ask and shout, but the ones that I mean, do not seek help, they just need a change. I still dream with a more just and more human society.

8.- About leadership. I miss in today´s world to those leaders that did what they should do and what should be said, without waiting immediate results in the polls. I refer to those that mark a path, not those who follow the masses.

9.- About wealth. Once you have funded your cash flow, try to buy more time than money, more freedom than slavery.

10.- About the anguish and bitterness. When you think something is not possible and the problems overwhelm you, that you cannot go further, take the time to expected to see the stars and waking dawn, there will always discover the sun rises, ALWAYS!

11.- About triumph. If you want to succeed you must be willing to fail a thousand times and willing to lose everything you´ve got. And do not be afraid to lose everything, because if you´ve earned rightly, you´ll recover it abundantly.

12.- About present. Live intensely, is the only moment that really matters. Those who cling to the past died, and those who live dreaming the future, yet unborn.

13.- About success and failure. Acknowledge them as two impostors, but especially learn from failure, own and those of others, there´s too much knowledge not generally used.

14.- About friends. Choose those who are with you when you´re in ground, because when you get the glory, you´ll be overrun.

15.- About team. Encourage them through the tough time and never allow one for failing to leave you, that´s the most important.

16.- About your Country. Love the land that gave you birth, work to make your country a better place for everyone, show and be proud of your flag, whenever it is (doesn´t matter if we are good or bad for soccer).

17.- About effort. Never surrender, don´t believe the story that when something is costing a lot is because it should not work, is simply that the Universe is testing you on whether or not you are worthy of success.

18.- About fear. Not fear, it´s a great teammate, but you don´t immobilize and not fear to play the fool or ridiculous; history teaches us that great discoveries are tremendous lessons and product of those moments.

19.- About God and Heaven. I think if we act in doing good, can be on the waiting list if heaven exists and if not, we will have our own Heaven on this Earth. And I did not found him only in the South Sea, in the clouds, storms, the waves, at the end or the beginning of the race. Was always with us, inside, deeply inside us.

20.- And when in doubt of what to do, ask yourself what is your Cape Horn, arm yourself with a small backpack to carry only enough to survive and begin to walk. And be sure to look at the sky, there discover the albatross that will teach you to fly off with effort and released. And you´ll realize you don´t need to fly in a flock.

21.- Never, never give up to your dreams! Pursue them passionately and if not succeed, no matter, that road that you made have been worth living and I hope your pursue the dream is the impossible dream.

22.- If you´re fortunate to one day compete with rivals the size we had to face in this regatta, honor them, admire them, but deliver all you have to beat them fair and square, they deserve it.

23.- If on the day of my death are given the choice to be reborn, I choose to be an Albatross to fly the South Sea and look at the intrepid sailors risking their lives and leave everything in search of their dreams, seeking their impossible dream.

24.- And never take too seriously a sailor who is finishing a race around the world. Only he will know to sail a little more, nothing more!

Felipe Cubillos

Re-Starting

Hi guys, too long without writing here...
I was too bussy doing "daily stuff" that cape me out of this. So basically I´ll write the same kind of stuff and more "focused" on current things that I´m doing.
Actually I´m from Chile, we speak spanish, so I´ll duplicate the posts in spanish at http://thrust-management.blogspot.com/

See you later!

Team Communication Plan

4 Steps to a Team Communication Plan.

The biggest complaints virtual teams have revolve around communication: how much, when and how do we talk amongst ourselves? So you’d think more team leaders would put together communication plans and stick to them. It’s amazing that so few teams have explicit, well-thought-out communication plans, and even fewer actually stick to them … wait, you mean you don’t have one? Well, it’s time to develop one. Here are four tips for creating a plan — and then working that plan until it’s second nature:

1.- Create the plan as a team. The team needs to tell you (and each other) how they want to keep information flowing. Don’t just impose order on the chaos — let them work it out with each other. It’s important that they create rules about issues like response time to emails, who needs to be CCed on communication and the like, so they (and you) can hold each other responsible. If a team member misses a conference call, for example, they need to know they’re responsible for reading the notes or listening to the recording, or at the very least find out what happened — no excuses. If there is explicit commitment, it’s easier to hold people accountable — after all, it was their idea. And be explicit about your assumptions. Concepts like “stay in touch daily” or “return emails as soon as possible” are too vague and open to individual interpretation.

2.- Decide together which tools to use, and for what. The team should decide which technology tools they’ll use for which purposes. During these discussions, you’ll hear whether there are concerns about effectiveness, whether anyone needs training on the tools and who is likely to be an early adopter — all critical information for you as a leader and coach.

3.- Recognize those who follow the plan, gently nudge those who don’t. A plan is only going to be effective if everyone sticks to it. Once the plan is in place, don’t be afraid to coach people who stray. if the goal is one all-hands teleconference a week, find out why people are scheduling other activities for that time and then make sure they know they’re needed on that call. If they’re posting questions and answers to the forums on your intranet, thank them and encourage others to participate. If they’re not, ask them why not. This is the surest way for people to learn that their teammates can be depended on — or not. Be especially clear about catching up on anything a teammate might have missed by checking meeting minutes, recordings of conference calls and other ways to stay current so that you’re not constantly going over old ground.

4.- Model, reinforce and constantly refer to the plan. An effective communication plan can’t be put in place once and never referred to again. If team members are constantly reminded about expectations and are coached to meet them, and you as the leader model them, they’re out of excuses for not stepping up themselves. If, on the other hand, you are constantly rescheduling one-on-one conversations, spending the first half of your meetings filling in those who missed previous calls, and privately answering questions from individuals that should be shared with the team, your team will do the same.

With remote team communication, you have to plan your communication and communicate your plan.

Value Innovation:: The Kano Model

Innovation is consistently delivering exceptional value to the most important customer in the value chain.

The Kano Model is a survey process that allows you to categorize customer solutions and needs according to the level of excitement created in the customer. The Kano model asks customers to rate their level of excitement when a feature of the solution is present and when the feature is not present. The gap in excitement allows the feature to be classified as a “must have”, “delighter” or something in between. This process can also be used on customer needs statements, but the Outcome Driven Innovation is more robust and yields more comprehensive results, therefore, the Innovation EFA recommends using Kano only for concept testing.

Steps to applying the Kano Model:

–Inputs to the Kano model
–Constructing a Kano Survey
–Analyzing Survey Data
–Kano Classification
Part 1 – Using the Kano Matrix
Part 2 – Determining Overall Classification
–Opportunities for Segmentation
–Four Block Analysis


In other words, the Kano Model is a helpful tool for the Idea Generation/Evaluation.

New Air Conditioning Revolution?

It´s interesting to follow the recent post that I wrote, and to know that there are new interesting ways to "up date" or renovate our air conditioning and cooling systems. As the previous post we were talking about new materials for "Creating" Cooling, at this link we can take a look to other way to do this. It is similar to how photovoltaic cells work,

Just Take a Look.

http://www.tetech.com/FAQ-Technical-Information.html#1

New cooling idea

As we wrote in a 2008 post, we can innovate over a new technology to deliver comfort and cooling capacity using "new ideas" for this. Please read the next article.

Your refrigerator’s humming, electricity-guzzling cooling system could soon be a lot smaller, quieter and more economical thanks to an exotic metal alloy discovered by an international collaboration working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)’s Center for Neutron Research (NCNR).

The alloy may prove to be a long-sought material that will permit magnetic cooling instead of the gas-compression systems used for home refrigeration and air conditioning. The magnetic cooling technique, though used for decades in science and industry, has yet to find application in the home because of technical and environmental hurdles—but the NIST collaboration may have overcome them.

Magnetic cooling relies on materials called magnetocalorics, which heat up when exposed to a powerful magnetic field. After they cool off by radiating this heat away, the magnetic field is removed, and their temperature drops again, this time dramatically. The effect can be used in a classic refrigeration cycle, and scientists have attained temperatures of nearly absolute zero this way. Two factors have kept magnetic cooling out of the consumer market: most magnetocalorics that function at close to room temperature require both the prohibitively expensive rare metal gadolinium and arsenic, a deadly toxin.

But conventional gas-compression refrigerators have their own drawbacks. They commonly use hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), greenhouse gases that can contribute to climate change if they escape into the atmosphere. In addition, it is becoming increasingly difficult to improve traditional refrigeration. “The efficiency of the gas cycle has pretty much maxed out,” said Jeff Lynn of NCNR. “The idea is to replace that cycle with something else.”

The alloy the team has found—a mixture of manganese, iron, phosphorus and germanium—is not merely the first near-room-temperature magnetocaloric to contain neither gadolinium nor arsenic—rendering it both safer and cheaper—but also it has such strong magnetocaloric properties that a system based on it could rival gas compression in efficiency.

Working alongside (and inspired by) visiting scientists from the Beijing University of Technology, the team used NIST’s neutron diffraction equipment to analyze the novel alloy. They found that when exposed to a magnetic field, the newfound material’s crystal structure completely changes, which explains its exceptional performance.“Understanding how to fine-tune this change in crystal structure may allow us to get our alloy’s efficiency even higher,” says NIST crystallographer Qing Huang. “We are still playing with the composition, and if we can get it to magnetize uniformly, we may be able to further improve the efficiency.”

Members of the collaboration include scientists from NIST, Beijing University of Technology, Princeton University and McGill University. Funding for the project was provided by NIST.