OMG, the relief...

I spend a scary amount of time each day on social media, increasingly so of late. So, with the season of Lent acting as a prompt, this morning I ran through my Facebook news feed and hit '"unfollow but stay friends" with all of my friends' posts. I hit "stop receiving posts from this page" for pages (although I did make a list elsewhere of my favourite pages, if I want to go back at some stage).

The scary thing was, once I'd done it I LITERALLY felt a weight lift off my shoulders. I thought I'd feel deprived but instead I feel released! That was unexpected.

And the prospect of having more free time each day is great. Like most people these days my life is busy - so those 30-60 minutes mean a lot!

Now to browsing while on work time. This one's a bit more tricky because I should read and network online for work reasons - I need to keep my skills and understanding up to date and to continue to learn all the time. I'll work on that one - but if you've any ideas on how to curb surf time (and increase productivity) I'd love to hear them!

A return to blogging

It's been ages since I've written a blog post. I've been busy with work and life in general - but it's time to get back into it and keep you all posted about what's happening in the zany world of KnowledgeWorks!

Zany - because the type of projects that come through the door can be bizarre but wonderful! It makes for very varied work: no month is the same, and the collection of weird facts I'm gathering is growing exponentially!

For example, recent times have seen me working on such varied feasibilty studies as:

The market for a new device for treating urinary incontinence

Who knew how many types of UI there are? And the symptoms, causes, and treatment options! Well now I do :) And I know the estimated numbers of sufferers, by age, by country, globally! And I also know that a new product is coming to market which is novel, which has almost no competition and which will successfully treat the most difficult cases. This was a tricky project, requiring a  good understanding of the medical condition in order to properly size the market - something which many commentators had been doing incorrectly. Warning to those of you doing your own market sizing: drill very deeply into the definitions of your sector and segment, because more often than not your source is not using the same parameters as you, and what you think might be a large market may not be quite that, or vice versa.

In depth review of discounted hotel breaks services in Ireland

Who knew that the value that's available with these websites! The likes of Lidl Breaks, TodayFM Breaks and Supervalu Getaways give real discounts on everyday hotels that we all book, day in day out. I'll never book a hotel again without checking one of these sites. We produced a detailed analysis of pricing, added extras, Ts &Cs etc, and presented these details in an easy to use Excel matrix. My client could then understand how its own product was positioned relative to competitors - at a glance. Being able to unearth the finer competitive detail is one thing - being able to present it in a way that is USABLE is quite another, but that's a task that I relish.

The market potential and competitive environment for a new type of disposable drinking cup

We've all heard the story of the American lady who sued McDonalds for 'millions' because her coffee was too hot. It turns out that coffee spillages is something that is of huge concern to players in this ever expanding market. Our research revealed that the likes of Starbucks and McDonalds are increasing the number of their drive-thru outlets significantly, both in the US and on this side of the pond. And that they're on the look out for a solution to prevent these costly and dangerous spillages - as are the rest of us who've ever experienced a damp coffee lap, just as you're heading into that all-important meeting! It was fun looking at the solutions already on the market, and it was very satisfying to relate back to the client that none of those new cup designs have really taken off. The outlook is good for my client - the market is growing, competition is weak, take away hot drinks are ever popular, including in China.. And the outlook is good for all of us who like take away coffee - once my client brings its fab new paper cup to market. I'll post a photo here when I can - watch this space!

Pricing for a daily rater

Yet again I’ve been asked by a client to show some flexibility on my price (i.e. reduce it!) so I thought I’d relate my own approach to this whole area. I hope you find it interesting and I’m really looking forward to hearing your comments on how you’ve dealt with similar situations.

First a bit of background:

I’m a business researcher. Among other things, I carry out feasibility studies for start-up or developing businesses: sizing their markets, identifying important trends, doing competitive analysis and the like. Typically my projects are one-off and usually require between 3 and 10 days’ work.

Be prepared for the ‘second ask’

I’ve been asked to provide a good price on a project for a client (whom I know very well). I’ve kept my days pared back to an absolute minimum, and as a result they’ll be getting a helluva lot of research for their money. The proposal has gone in and they’ve come back with the second ask: looking for a reduction on my daily rate.

I now realise I should have kept my number of days more realistic at the start, so that giving a small reduction on the daily rate would be more feasible. Next time I’ll try to be ready for this: if I’m asked for a good rate the first proposal should go in as completely standard with an offer to ‘do something’ if it’s over budget. We live and learn.

Freebies

This is a very dangerous situation to be in, especially in these difficult economic times. Of course giving a freebie in many cases devalues our image and reduces the value that the client places on our service. But in some cases it can work. For example, I have one client who works in a cash strapped sector. But the fact that she’s one of my few repeat clients means that she’s very high on my list of valued customers (the vast majority of my projects are one-off, with little scope even for referrals due to the nature of my business).

On two occasions this client has approached me with a small project, saying: “I have zero budget for this but I really need your help”, and I’ve stepped up to the mark. However, I trust this person to treat me properly, and this trust has been well placed to date, as the client has returned again and again with fully budgeted projects. So a well-placed freebie can be a good thing.

Be generous with time

It’s a rare project that doesn’t have some level of follow up discussion or refinement. This often ends up with additional work, but not very much of it. I try to factor a little of this time into my pricing as a cost of sale. Just as working on a very comprehensive proposal can take hours, before the project, so too can fine tuning the research a little after it’s been delivered. I think when you’re talking about 5-7 day’s research; the least a small business can expect is a little bit of added time, where it’s justified. I’m happy to provide this, in the interests of delivering a top class result for them and in the interests of a good client testimonial. Having said this, any change in the brief/proposal must incur an extra cost, and I’m sure to include this warning in my proposal terms, every time. A few hours extra is ok, but changing the goal posts is not acceptable.

Proposals can always be reduced

If a client balks at a price it’s worth taking a step back. All of my proposals are written with the best possible result for the client in mind. But in a case where they simply can’t afford the associated price, then taking a piece out here and there can often do little to harm the end result.

First proposal is an ideal scenario project: second proposal can be best case scenario given the budget. A research project is composed of many elements, and shrinking these will almost always still result in a really valuable output. I’ve just recently started to use this approach. Instead of being an all or nothing proposal, it’s a first step in a process to getting the result for the client that they can afford, and that will still make the project very worthwhile for them. It’s logical, and it’s simple: but getting this across to the client can sometimes be difficult.

I’ve been in business for over ten years, and these changing times do bring new challenges. What pricing issues have you been faced with and how have you overcome them? Have you any suggestions for how to improve my approach?

Twitter - the emperor's new clothes?

It’s been bothering me for a while that when it comes to online business networking, I seem to be living in two different worlds. First, there’s work; where EVERYTHING I read tells me that everyone is on Twitter – you must have an active presence there in order to network effectively, and to grow and develop your business.

Then there’s my own personal experience, which tells me that while many people may be ‘on Twitter’ not many are ‘active’ Twitter users. Additionally, my experience tells me that if you really want to take proper advantage of Twitter, it will use up a considerable amount of your time each week.

It’s a given that Twitter will help build relationships with customers, communicate with them and develop a brand, but do we know enough about Irish Twitter users to say that it’s right for every small business to use it?

Faced with a client, typically a start-up (possibly B2B) with little time and fewer resources, should I or should I not, recommend they focus much of their marketing time and effort on Twitter?

To answer this, let’s look at just how many Irish people there are on Twitter, and how many actually use it regularly.

So, just how many Irish tweeters are there?

There have been a few estimates on the number of active Twitter users in Ireland. Here are some of the details:

180,000

Active or relatively active accounts (Barry Hand March 2011):

70-100,000

Twitter users. (John Conroy, Feb 2010):

Galway researchers looked at trends and the usage of Twitter during one month and concluded that there are between 70,000 and possibly up to 100,000 users.

74,000

Daily Twitter users (IPSOS MRBI, February 2011):

7% of the population use Twitter or about 245,000. 30% (74,000) of Twitter users check their accounts daily, up from 18% six months ago. Source: IPSOS MRBI telephone survey using a nationally representative sample of 1,000 Irish adults aged 15+.

33,132

Active Twitter users in Ireland. (Calcium.ie, Jan 2011):

My take on these estimates

Firstly, I feel that the method of calculating the figure of active users by analysing the number of visitors to Twitter.com is rapidly losing validity, mainly due to two factors: 1) the number who use third party apps are not included (e.g. Hootsuite or Tweetdeck and these accounts are reported to number around 40%) and 2) the number of people who Tweet via an external site are not included (e.g. reading this article on the Bloggertone site and using the Twitter icon to tweet it).

Secondly, I disregard the number who is ‘on Twitter’. In my experience very many people have opened a Twitter account but don’t actually use it.

Our local (ROI) adult population (over 15’s) is 3.5 million. If we take Barry Hands’ well thought out estimate of 180,000 active or relatively active accounts, then this forms 5%.

5%. Are they really worth it?

Of course most Twitter users go far beyond Ireland in their list of followees and connections are being made globally from Ireland.

However, my client’s markets are largely local, and the main (though not only) purpose of their Twitter usage is to grow and develop their businesses. It’s disconcerting that so few of their potential customers are likely to be regular Twitter users, based on these figures.

Even if their direct customers are not part of this 5%% there could still be value available through building relationships through conversations and long-term branding. But as I’ve found, using Twitter effectively takes a considerable amount of time each week, so are these efforts justified? Indeed, for a B2B company with local Irish customers, will these rewards of better customer relationships and improved branding even take place, where the customer may not even be present on Twitter, let alone use it every day?

And who exactly are these Tweeters?

Then again, it may be that a large proportion of my client’s customer base are indeed avid Twitter users – but who actually knows? As far as I know, no research whatsoever has been carried out on the profile of Irish Twitter users. Are they consumers or businesses? Are they concentrated in online business services or are many high street retailers present too? Are most consumers tweeting to their favourite TV and radio programmes or is there a broader interest level present?

The fact that nobody can answer these questions (other than anecdotally) is troubling.

Twitter – could it really be the Emperor’s New Clothes?

The main purpose of this post is to open up the discussion and I look forward to hearing your comments:

· Do you feel that business can be developed (across all sectors) to this (relatively small) number of active Twitter users?

· Do you agree that the lack of information on who these Twitter users are, could mean that the time some businesses spend tweeting is actually unproductive?

· Is there a way of accurately measuring Twitter effectiveness for individual small businesses?

· What are your stories about developing your business using Twitter?

There’s no doubt that the overall trend is heading in the right direction, so this discussion may not be relevant in a few short years. But for now, the facts remain. Regular Twitter users in Ireland are low in number.

And while some businesses will find that many of their customers are regular Twitter users, this is not the case for all, and generalisations cannot be made, not yet anyway.

Some of my Twitter observations

Darn: it’s so easy to miss things! A contact or colleague could have posted something really interesting or important. If I’m not online however, then it’s gone forever! This is also frustrating if I’m tweeting something that I consider important. There’s no way of knowing whether the people I wanted to view my tweet have done so.

Thanks: Using Twitter has helped improve my reputation and the value of my business – and this has translated into increased sales. But can every business say the same? Does this depend on the nature of your business and the (mystery) profile of Irish tweeters?

How should I contact you?

What's the right way to contact clients, colleagues and friends, and for them to contact you? Is offering a multitude of options really the best way forward and will certain tools begin to become acceptable for certain types of communication?

This post is a little like crystal ball gazing because this change is continuing to wind its way along. But for now, here are my predictions:

Email is not dead, long live email

For certain scenarios, traditional email is still entirely suitable. This includes most client B2B contact, a lot of inter-corporate communications, and some B2C contact, particularly opt-in newsletters and special offers (though many of these are migrating to Facebook). If you need to make a lengthy and involved communication, where structure is important, then email is still your very best option.

Facebook will become the dominant player in social emailing/messaging/'chatmail' (Watch out Gmail!)

Although Facebook messaging isn't true email as it lacks some of the features of email, it is very well suited to social, informal contact. Now friends don't have to worry whether they have your up- to-date email address, because they know you're active on Facebook. If someone wants to reach you on the weekend, Facebook is probably a better option, because you may check Facebook more often than email (depending on how much of an addict you are). Regardless, Facebook will send the recipient an email with the contents (depending on setup options). Facebook is also quite unique in that it collates SMS, IM and emails within a message string. Facebook says this is ideal for a typical family scenario - where a grandparent is a strict email user, a teen prefers SMS via their mobile and a parent prefers to use Facebook - Facebook messaging allows converged contact with all of these whatever the medium used. What's evolving is that the means of communication is now less important than the conversation itself. Of course, this is particularly relevant for social, informal messaging, but not so for business communication.

Skype is super for instant messaging

Instant messaging is a beautiful thing, in my opinion. I rarely use it to contact clients but for colleagues and friends it can be time saving, easy and effective. By its very nature it's instant, so long as the other person is online (which you can normally see), but it's also short. It's difficult to see how anyone could object to it. After all, if you don't want to be IM'd, you can set your profile to view 'Away' or 'Do not disturb' and then you won't be bothered. I hope and expect that it will soon become more acceptable for business use. Facebook does of course have IM (or chat) as part of its offering, but I prefer to keep Facebook for personal/social use only. And I feel that the Skype interface is superior to Facebook chat and to Google chat. The also-rans are:

LinkedIn useful for business networking

You probably don't have the email addresses of many of your linked in contacts, so this gives you a way of messaging them without getting too close by asking for their email address.

Twitter has limited value

You can send contacts/followers a public tweet, which is only really useful if they're currently online. You can also send them a Direct Message and even if they're not online they will receive an email to say they've received a DM. With the 140 character limit however, Twitter is only really useful for contacts for whom you don't have another means of contact.

So, in short, the killer communications' apps are:

• Email for B2B, B2C and some corporate
• Skype or similar for rapid response and short messaging.
• Facebook for most social emailing/messaging

Perhaps shortcuts on our smartphones and computers should now use generic terms: Quick Message (QM) or Friendly Message (FM) or Business Message (BM), and link through to the apps that you favour for each. There's so much I haven't talked about here including functionality, privacy issues, technology issues, video contact, the growth of mobile internet and how it will affect all of these. Overall, would you agree? What does your crystal ball tell you?

Getting out of the (home) office

I took up running recently and joined a club. Now, I’m pretty much hooked on it. Running has all the advantages one would expect: fitness, weight loss and general sense of well-being. One distinct advantage that I hadn’t expected though, is how sociable it is (provided you join a club of course).

My business model is one of self employment, supported by a network of associates. It’s working extremely well for me. It keeps costs and admin time to a minimum, and a small but varied and trusted associate listing maximises my service offering to clients. What it does not do however, is provide me with the day to day social interaction that most people get at the office.

More and more people are deciding to work from home (either becoming self-employed or to simply maximise their quality work time) and the advantages of this are very clear. Less time spent in traffic along with increased flexibility about when you work are likely to be top of everyone’s list of work preferences. However, the effects on your social life can be negative. Work colleagues provide a great outlet for work related discussions and if you don’t have them it’s easy to ‘dump’ this on your nearest and dearest (who is also probably hoping to relax and unwind after a hard day at the office).

Going for a run helps me to mentally let go of this need to talk through my day – the physical exertion just distracts me. And having a relaxed (albeit breathless!) chat with fellow runners reminds me that there is life outside the day-to-day demands of work and family life.

So, if you find you need an outlet for the pressures of your home-working day, buy yourself a pair of trainers and hit the pavement, park or track. It will do you a world of good and you’ll soon notice positive knock on effects on your working day through feeling more alert, positive and energetic.

What else do you do to make up for the lack of an office-based social life or pressure valve?

When Market Research Reveals An Ugly Truth: Breathe A Sigh Of Relief

What do you want from market research? Ideally confirmation – of your expectations for the future development of your business.

More often than not, this is what happens. Your instinct and market knowledge has served you well: the segment does hold potential, their business idea is competitive, and the market value is significant.

Sometimes however, this isn’t the case. Here’s an example of where it all went wrong, and when the ugly truth was revealed.

The story so far

Company X was expanding its existing business to the UK market. Management had estimated ten thousand units as their market size, and all were strong potential sales for them. They built a sales and marketing strategy, and were beginning to action these, when a stakeholder recommended formal market research.

Problems revealed

We carried out a thorough market research and analysis exercise. Our conclusions when reporting back to the client were (in a nutshell):

• Market size figures were significantly overestimated: your market size is no more than two thousand five hundred (just 25% of the original estimate of ten thousand).
• Yes there is demand for your product in the UK marketplace: customers have expressed a strong interest in it
• Pricing must be keen, as the economic recession has focused customers on looking for the most cost effective services.

Quick thinking and innovation

While the bad news about their market size estimates was indeed that – very bad news – the company re-adjusted its plans accordingly. The initial shock and dismay quickly turned to positive thinking about how close they’d come to a really bad decision.

This company took on board the realities that market research revealed, and acted quickly. They were nimble and innovative enough to get back to basics, create an alternative business model for their company and change direction.

So what seemed like a disaster when they read our research quickly turned into a new opportunity. And what could have been a disaster was averted through research.

What do you expect from market research? Have you ever started a business with unrealistic expectations of your market or are you an effective market research user?