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‘Tis Christmas time

December 24, 2008 / Arne / 0 Comments

It has been an exciting year. Economically we have gone from a high to a low. In the news, many things have attracted our attention. And now it is Christmas again. For me, like so many others, Christmas is about spending time with relatives. Not about heaping up mountains of food on our plates, or handing over ridiculously expensive gifts. But about being together, about spending time and cherishing relationships with the people close to me.

Something else I love to do is to sit back and reflect. Just thinking back and reviewing all the great things that have happened last year. For me personally, I enjoyed spending time at conferences like The Next Web, Web 2.0 Expo Berlin and BLog 08. And working with companies like Ford, Nokia and Vodafone and our many sponsors for the Next Web ticket giveaway to achieve something fun and beneficial. And not just beneficial for myself. In fact, bringing the Ford to Berlin has resulted in introducing Scott Monty to Tim O’Reilly after time spent with Tim in the car. As some of you will have seen, this introduction has resulted in Scott speaking about Ford and social media at Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco next year.

On a private level a lot of great things have happened and I could not define my ultimate high of the year. In the end, I just love my family and all that are around me. All along the spirit of the season.

Looking forward to 2009, I see great opportunities for organizations to gain through the current economical situation. New technology and a focus on relational sales and marketing will enable organizations to reach more customers at less cost. A briliant way to start the New Year with new profits.

AS for this blog, it will continue. But it might be until 2009 before a new post will come. Enjoy the holidays.

How to sell your house

December 22, 2008 / Arne / 0 Comments

It is that time of year again. The Christmas specials of everything seem to fill the doormat as soon as you have cleared it up again. Honestly, nobody really does anything special with the Christmas special. It is just another opportunity to copy paste last years’ Christmastree graphics, Santa’s, sleighs and all kinds of red nosed animals into otherwise product-focussed publications. One of the fields where this happens most, is the field of the realtors. It is funny to see that many are excited a couple of weeks before the special is released, but when I see it, I can only be disappointed. Especially in the current climate.

Lets be honest for a minute. The housing market is not really doing well at the moment. December is not a good month to sell in the first place, but right now it seems everything has been on sale for months. And that gets me to the question, why do people hire a realtor in the first place? Well, one of the main reasons would be because they feel he is much better to get the word out on the sale than they ever could. Another reason would be because you want to outsource the hassle. Though I completely agree with the last reason, the first reason seems to be untrue nowadays.

What is it that realtors expect buyers to run up their doorstep and beg them to sell them a house? What is it that makes them advertise in the same way for over twenty years and probably longer? What I am looking for would be a realtor that makes a difference. A realtor that makes sure my house gets noticed. Because honestly, I care about nothing else except the sale of my house. As long as my house reaches the target audience and someone comes along to buy it, a lot is allowed. As an example, look at this youtube video by Mike Lefebvre. (I know it is not new, but it is relevant.)

So, if you are in the real estate business, ask yourself why your customers hire you. And what you can do different to make that sale happen.

What is your answer?

December 19, 2008 / Arne / 0 Comments

In a previous post I talked about finding out what your customer really wants. Even though the whole thing seems pretty obvious, it seems as if interpretation always wins over plain listening. AS an easy example I would like to look at a situation which has to do with information retrieval. What a contractor is really looking for, is something that will tell him where the cables and pipes are exactly before he starts digging. What the person storing the information wants, is an easy map that can be filed as piping for water in second street. So when the contractor comes in and asks him what pipes he has to mind he just hands him a stack of maps. Easy to find and easy to hand over. But what the contractor would really love, would be a gps overlay on the city streets so he knows where he can point his digger when he arrives on the site.

Does this mean you need to work in new ways? It can. It means letting go of what is most convenient to you and offering service to your customers. Will they like it? They will love it. Everybody loves their suppliers to lend a hand getting the job done. And they will return.

Small is the new big

December 17, 2008 / Arne / 1 Comment

Big companies are in trouble. Or at least, that is what the media wants us to believe. And big companies are the future of the economies of countries. Thousands work at big companies. They will all be hurt by the current economic situation. And yes, I cannot argue with that. But it does trigger a question. Why did these companies get big in the first place? Some of them became big because demand for their products forced them to. Some became big because acquiring extra businesses was the best way to maximalize profits. And some became big because big was fashionable, you just had to be big to be somebody.

With big has come status and the opportunity to play with power. And few people give up power once they have goten their hands on it. Control apparently is the biggest asset someone can have in his life. That is exactly what we have been witnessing over the past months. It might have been better to be smaller. It might have saved jobs, it might have saved a crisis. Or maybe not. But reality is that the bigger the companies the more support is needed now. So where are the small companies? Where are the freelancers? Yes, they might get into some rough times, but ultimately their flexibility will allow them to stand. Especially when the big players learn that small is the new big. If you bring together a group of smaller companies to build something big, they are just as good. They are just as driven to succes and they are just as cost effective. If not more on all these points.

Lets go small. And win.

What is the question

December 15, 2008 / Arne / 0 Comments

Do you know what your customer wants? Do you really know what your customer wants? It might seem like an obvious question, but very few people actually do. Everyone has his or her customers. The question is what they want from you. What do they want you to do? What is it they are looking for?

The answer can not be found in books. The answer can not be found in best practices and the answer can never be found by asking people who do the same as you do. The question can only be answered by asking your customer. By listening to them and by looking at what it is they want need to achieve to reach their goals. And that might be something completely different from what you are thinking.

Temporarily out of order

December 12, 2008 / Arne / 0 Comments

Yes, that is about this blog. This blog has been temporarily out of order. Or rather, its author has been. I promise you I am going to be back here next week with new stories and new passions. And stuff that I have thought of before, but that I have not had the time to write yet. It will happen. Really.

See you next week.

Can you force innovation?

November 25, 2008 / Arne / 1 Comment

There has been a debate going about the American automotive industry that I have been following with great interest. You will probably be aware of the fact that there is a danger of the ‘great American brands’ to go broke over the current financial crisis. And that is where the world seems to split up into two camps. One is in favor of rescuing the large corporations with huge amounts of money. The loss of employment when it is not done is one of the greatest drives for their argument. The other camp is in favor of having the big giants die their natural economical death. The latter camp usually says that by removing the big companies, the market will be open for new players that will be more innovative. In my opinion the thought is great. I would love to go back to smaller more innovative car companies, but reality will show a different story.

If we look back in history, seldom has succesful innovation sprung from an economic decision to have other companies die. Innovation has come from people who walk besides the big companies and one day decide that they can do it better. Or from people who are on the outside and decide that what is built now does not meet their requirements, so they will make it themselves. Or from completely new techniques that allow people to build something out of the ordinary that is a much better match for the demand out there. Forcing it will not be the answer to this debate. It will not lead to the innovation we dream of. And besides, there is a lot of interest in the old giants from new economies like the Chinese, to buy it if nobody else wants to anymore.

I don’t have a clear cut answer here, but I would love to see more innovation stimulated to allow people to develop their view on the automotive industry, because there is much room their for innovative players that do not only cater for the happy few who can buy supercars. But players that can give average families greener, more distinctive and more enjoyable transportation.

I was there – the story

November 22, 2008 / Arne / 1 Comment

Today I was right on top of the news. Quite literally. The Cost Engineering offices are in a building in Zwijndrecht which houses more companies. One of these companies is the ABN AMRO bank. This morning it was robbed. It was surreal. Guys smashing the bank window with hammers and shooting at a female police officer. I have to admit that I was on the phone on the other side of the building at the time, but my colleagues were only too happy to bring me up to speed. After that, I followed what happened as it happened. With the help of storytlr.com I turned what I shared into a small story for you to read. And I love the way it has turned out.

Conforming to the market will kill you

November 21, 2008 / Arne / 0 Comments

This week Vodafone found out that they have customers who care. Not about their brand, not about their services, but about the package. Vodafone was offering the highest speed mobile internet available on the Dutch market and they were offering it at only a tenner. Starting it was easy and so was using it. And then it all went wrong. Vodafone announced that they would be following the market on the speed of mobile internet. And this meant they would reduce the speed to less than a tenth of the current speed, without giving another option or reducing the price. What happened next is something Vodafone could have expected from the beginning. Their customers spoke up. They talked on forums, they talked on blogs, they talked on twitter and everywhere else. The whole deal even hit the Dutch government. And slowly it sank in with Vodafone that this might not be the way to do it. That this might just hurt their client base. And they listened. Yesterday afternoon Vodafone announced that their plans were off the table and that all changed would be reverted. Great. Except that they did go all the way in implementing them. And this will have earned them a lot of sceptisism from the people that would promote them otherwise. And that will consider other providers if they offer the same speed at the same cost. vodafone has just found out that if you have a tribe, and you go against it, it will go against you. And that hurts you even if you revert your decision within four days. It would have been better to consider all the possible options before launching the plan. To talk with their customers about options and to listen to them. It would have made all the difference.

Electricity 2.0 by Tom Raftery

November 18, 2008 / Arne / 0 Comments

I had meant to do this a long time ago as I was inspired by Tom’s thinking. I completely agree on the fact that the electricity market needs a big change and it needs it fast. The environmental situation is one of the reasons for that. In my opinion commerce would be a good second.

These are the slides Tom used for his presentation in Berlin during the Web 2.0 Expo.

Electricity 2.0 – Using The Lessons Of the Web To Improve Our Energy Networks

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: web2expoeu08 w2eb)

And Andrea Vascellari was so kind to film the whole thing for your enjoyment.

Does my blog look big in this?

November 14, 2008 / Arne / 0 Comments

Last Monday I restyled my blog. I felt it was in need of a new look so I went looking for the best way to do it. The trouble is that I wanted it quick and I am not a WordPress wonder. So I grabbed a standard theme and changed the header for a picture I shot a while ago.

Twitter is fantastic. I post when I post a blogpost. In fact, I post lots of other stuff there as well, as my blog is just a very tine piece of what I do on twitter. Today I asked for feedback on my blog and got some very nice pointers. Some I had received earlier through chat or mail and some suggestions were new. In any case, I loved them because they are the equivalent of advice given to a woman trying on something new. You know the question. And that is the question I would love to ask you to give me feedback on. Does my blog look big in this? Or do you have ideas to make it look bigger? Just let me know and I will try to incorporate all your ideas.

P.S. And if your idea would be to restyle it even more with one of your themes, just let me know as I would be interested as well.

Earn the right to be heard

November 14, 2008 / Arne / 1 Comment

Yesterday I talked to a recruitment agency. They approached me a while ago and they wanted to business with me. I set them one condition for an inititating meeting. I asked her to bring a relevant resume. If not, I would not make the appointment. I didn’t think of that anymore, until I received a phone call yesterday morning. She called in saying that she had two resume’s, but that none of them matched my rofile 100 percent, but that she thought that the people could fit the job if we wanted them to. But she also said that she would understand if I wanted to cancel the meeting on those grounds. I did not expect that. But I told her she could come and we would go over the resumes. And that is when she earned the right to be heard. The perfect position to be in, if you want to sell.