hahahahahahahaha!!!!
donno if his wife saw it!!!!
Friday, September 29, 2006
an issue very well addressed
the copy in it says 'child abuse is real. report it ..... '
very strong way of communicating the idea; by placing a pregnent doll among other normal lookin dolls....
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Thursday, September 21, 2006
One night @ IIM A
One night 4 MBA students were boozing till late night and didn't study for the test which was scheduled for the next day.In the morning they thought of a plan.
They made themselves look as dirty and weird as they could with grease and dirt. They then went up to the dean and said that they had gone out to a wedding last night and on their return the tyre of their car burst and they had to push the car all the way back and that they were in no condition to appear for the test.
Then dean was a just person so he said that you can have the retest after 3 days.They said they will be ready by that time.
On the third day they appeared before the dean. The dean said that this was a special condition test. All four were required to sit in separate classrooms for the test. They all agreed as they had prepared well in the last three days.
The test consisted of 2 questions with total of 100 marks.
Q1. Write down your name. ----- (2 marks)
Q2. Which tyre burst? ------- (98 marks)!!!
They made themselves look as dirty and weird as they could with grease and dirt. They then went up to the dean and said that they had gone out to a wedding last night and on their return the tyre of their car burst and they had to push the car all the way back and that they were in no condition to appear for the test.
Then dean was a just person so he said that you can have the retest after 3 days.They said they will be ready by that time.
On the third day they appeared before the dean. The dean said that this was a special condition test. All four were required to sit in separate classrooms for the test. They all agreed as they had prepared well in the last three days.
The test consisted of 2 questions with total of 100 marks.
Q1. Write down your name. ----- (2 marks)
Q2. Which tyre burst? ------- (98 marks)!!!
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
very ASSthetic
This was during a match that was supposed to be held between Argentina & Brazil;this was an ad for a condom company done by Argentenian ad agengy....
The result was that Argentina lost the match... so a Brazilian ad agency
gave a reply this way.......
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Simply superb!!!
(got this as a mail; donno who is the brian behind it.... but its a rockin stuff)....
Successful customer relationships are built on the bedrock of superior customer value. To attract and retain your most important customers, you must understand what they care about and what value propositions will appeal to them. While “value” is an overused buzzword, we rarely pause to reflect if we really understand what value is.
It is a natural human failing to question the concepts that we think we know well. We don’t know who it was who discovered water, but we are pretty sure it wasn’t a fish. In my 10 years of experience in this industry I have read a number of pieces about different aspects of creating, delivering and capturing customer value. But this is my first attempt at distilling my understanding of customer value into six fundamental lessons.
What is Value?
The dictionary defines value as “Worth in usefulness or importance to the possessor.” As this definition suggests, value is the assessment of “all that you get in return for all that you give” in an exchange. More formally, I define customer value as “the perceived worth of a set of benefits received by a customer in exchange for the total cost of an offering, taking into consideration available competitive offerings and price.”
The definition embodies six fundamental lessons on customer value.
1. Value is Customer-defined
You don’t define value. Your customers do. As Peter Drucker, the father of management theory, notes, “what the business thinks it produces is not of first importance. What the customer thinks he is buying, what he considers value, is decisive. And what the customer buys and considers value is never a product. It is always utility, that is, what a product does for him.”
So the first lesson of value that I learnt is that value is that what you sell (products and service) and is not what your customers buy (utility and value). You may grossly misunderstand what business you are in if you see your business through the product lens. It is a myth that “If you build a better mousetrap the world will beat a path to your door.” Customers don’t want mousetraps. They want to get rid of mice. While you may be busy building a better mousetrap, the customers may simply get themselves a good house cat!
In the case of Lafarge Cement, they understood that their real business was actually helping customers complete their construction projects and not selling bags of cement. At the end of the day, no one wants to buy cement; they want to build a house or a bridge or a road. They are looking for a solution. And thus was born a revolutionary idea – “The Lafarge Home Building Center”. Charles Revson, founder of Revlon, echoed the same idea when he famously observed, “In the factories, we make cosmetics. In the departmental stores, we sell hope.”
2. Value is Opaque
If value is actually defined by customers, you need to get inside their hearts and minds to really understand it. Needless to say, this is a very difficult task. As Drucker notes “What is value for the customer? Is anything but obvious?” Quantifying value is difficult, because we don’t understand customers, customers don’t understand themselves, and we don’t speak their language.
We simply don’t speak the customer’s language. Let us look at a hypothetical situation. If you were conducting a research on attributes that customers would consider important while buying a HDTV (high-definition television), do you think “aspect ratio” would be considered an important parameter? My guess is, “NO”. In case you are wondering what is aspect ratio, well, it’s a term used to define that HDTV screens are more rectangular than other regular TV screens, with a length-to-width ratio of 16:9 instead of 4:3 forregular TV. Confused? Well, I’m sure customers too will be and this feature would not score very highly in your research. Realise this: the average customers do not understand techno-speak. Try this. If you were to reword your description of aspect ratio to “cinema-like wide screen”, do you think they would rate it highly? Bingo! You have them right where you want them to be. They are suddenly interested.
To make value transparent, you must realise that you are not the customer. The first principle of customer research is: “I have met the customer and he is not me.” Develop empathy with customers by walking in their shoes and feeling their pain. It is a good idea to spend a few days in the life of your consumers to understand their hopes, fears, problems and ambitions.
3. Value is Contextual
Value, like beauty, lies in the eyes of the beholder. So, it is irrelevant to talk about the value of a product without knowing the context in which the product will be evaluated, bought and used. Context has three dimensions: the end user, the end-use situation and the environment.
Customer assessment of value will be a function of who they are, what they want to do and the environment in which they live and work. For example, a mother choosing a digital camera to take pictures of her child may value ease of use and convenience in a camera. A professional photographer, however, may emphasise image quality, resolution and advanced controls. Hence the expression, “Different strokes for different folks.” This is the essence of customer segmentation – identify groups of customers who have similar needs and priorities and who, therefore, will tend to respond similarly to your offerings.
4. Value is 3D
A common myth in marketing is that customers choose products purely based on superior features and functions. While functional value is important, it is only one of the three dimensions of value. Besides functional value, customers also consider emotional and economic value.
Emotional value is the psychological value that a customer derives from owning, using and buying a product. Economic value, though, is what the product is worth in terms of time and money.
Consider the value proposition of an Apple Power Book. According to Apple, the benefits of the Power Book are its powerful processor, bright screen, expandability and flexibility. But to close a sale, Apple must also demonstrate economic value of a Power Book – improved productivity for end users as well as GUI application developers. As far as the emotional value of owning an Apple product goes, well, just ask an Apple user and he will tell you.
Functional value is a good starting point but we need to translate it into economic value and develop emotional appeal, which make the product far more sustainable.
5. Value is a Trade-off
Value is defined as the perceived worth of something in relation to the total cost that customers pay for it. In fact, it is a trade-off between the total benefits that customers get and the total cost they incur. So, in effect, there are two ways of increasing customer value: either increase the total benefits you offer or reduce the customer’s cost. It is important to understand that the purchase cost is only one element of the customer’s total cost. We need to look at his total cost of ownership (TCO) and evaluate it to the benefits offered.
Sometimes, customers may themselves not be aware of the hidden costs of using a product. Imagine a conversation between a pharmaceutical company CEO and asupplier of plastic. Now, suppose the plastic supplier is trying to get the CEO switch to plastic bottles instead of the regular glass bottles. What is the first thing that the CEO would say? “Are your plastic bottles cheaper?” A classic case of the customer not seeing the TCO. The smart plastic supplier will try and show him his TCO of glass bottles and how plastic can add more value. First of all, plastic weighs less compared to glass, so the transportation cost would be lower. Secondly, plastic is not fragile, so breakage loss would be lower. Thirdly, plastic bottles would save on labelling cost as you can print directly on plastic bottles. Fourthly, you can deliver plastic more frequently and in small batches, thereby reducing inventory-holding cost. And, finally, the production line would be run faster as there is no breakage. As the example suggests, there are several hidden costs in using glass bottles and the CEO was not even aware of them. To accurately assess value trade-off, you must make sure that customers see the full picture of benefits as well as costs.
6. Value is Relative
Customers always evaluate value relative to available alternatives, particularly the next best alternative. Some management gurus call this the customers’ “Best Available Substitute or Equivalent” or BASE. Customers always have a BASE, even if you don’t think you have viable competitors. If you don’t know your customers’ BASE, you will never know the frame of reference they use to make buying decisions.
Customers can use a variety of BASEs to evaluate your product. This could be competition; it could also be your own product if you are trying to sellupgrades or new versions of your own product. Status quo can be a BASE too.
Doing nothing is always an option. And it is often a fairly attractive option as it entails less risk.
So whenever you think of value, you need to think of who or what you are up against, because this is the frame of reference that your customer uses to evaluate your value proposition.
Firms that adopt the value mindset think differently about the customers whom they focus on, the value proposition that they create for their customers, the growth strategy that they employ, the way they organise their marketing and sales organisation, and the way they measure and reward success. Broadly, we need to move from a product mindset to a customer-value mindset.
In stormy economic seas, value can serve as an anchor by reminding you that every initiative you engage in should be grounded in a clearly articulated customer value proposition. If you focus relentlessly on defining value as customers do, designing your offering based on what customers value, and measuring your performance in terms of value that customers experience, you will be well on your way to creating successful customer relationships.
Successful customer relationships are built on the bedrock of superior customer value. To attract and retain your most important customers, you must understand what they care about and what value propositions will appeal to them. While “value” is an overused buzzword, we rarely pause to reflect if we really understand what value is.
It is a natural human failing to question the concepts that we think we know well. We don’t know who it was who discovered water, but we are pretty sure it wasn’t a fish. In my 10 years of experience in this industry I have read a number of pieces about different aspects of creating, delivering and capturing customer value. But this is my first attempt at distilling my understanding of customer value into six fundamental lessons.
What is Value?
The dictionary defines value as “Worth in usefulness or importance to the possessor.” As this definition suggests, value is the assessment of “all that you get in return for all that you give” in an exchange. More formally, I define customer value as “the perceived worth of a set of benefits received by a customer in exchange for the total cost of an offering, taking into consideration available competitive offerings and price.”
The definition embodies six fundamental lessons on customer value.
1. Value is Customer-defined
You don’t define value. Your customers do. As Peter Drucker, the father of management theory, notes, “what the business thinks it produces is not of first importance. What the customer thinks he is buying, what he considers value, is decisive. And what the customer buys and considers value is never a product. It is always utility, that is, what a product does for him.”
So the first lesson of value that I learnt is that value is that what you sell (products and service) and is not what your customers buy (utility and value). You may grossly misunderstand what business you are in if you see your business through the product lens. It is a myth that “If you build a better mousetrap the world will beat a path to your door.” Customers don’t want mousetraps. They want to get rid of mice. While you may be busy building a better mousetrap, the customers may simply get themselves a good house cat!
In the case of Lafarge Cement, they understood that their real business was actually helping customers complete their construction projects and not selling bags of cement. At the end of the day, no one wants to buy cement; they want to build a house or a bridge or a road. They are looking for a solution. And thus was born a revolutionary idea – “The Lafarge Home Building Center”. Charles Revson, founder of Revlon, echoed the same idea when he famously observed, “In the factories, we make cosmetics. In the departmental stores, we sell hope.”
2. Value is Opaque
If value is actually defined by customers, you need to get inside their hearts and minds to really understand it. Needless to say, this is a very difficult task. As Drucker notes “What is value for the customer? Is anything but obvious?” Quantifying value is difficult, because we don’t understand customers, customers don’t understand themselves, and we don’t speak their language.
We simply don’t speak the customer’s language. Let us look at a hypothetical situation. If you were conducting a research on attributes that customers would consider important while buying a HDTV (high-definition television), do you think “aspect ratio” would be considered an important parameter? My guess is, “NO”. In case you are wondering what is aspect ratio, well, it’s a term used to define that HDTV screens are more rectangular than other regular TV screens, with a length-to-width ratio of 16:9 instead of 4:3 forregular TV. Confused? Well, I’m sure customers too will be and this feature would not score very highly in your research. Realise this: the average customers do not understand techno-speak. Try this. If you were to reword your description of aspect ratio to “cinema-like wide screen”, do you think they would rate it highly? Bingo! You have them right where you want them to be. They are suddenly interested.
To make value transparent, you must realise that you are not the customer. The first principle of customer research is: “I have met the customer and he is not me.” Develop empathy with customers by walking in their shoes and feeling their pain. It is a good idea to spend a few days in the life of your consumers to understand their hopes, fears, problems and ambitions.
3. Value is Contextual
Value, like beauty, lies in the eyes of the beholder. So, it is irrelevant to talk about the value of a product without knowing the context in which the product will be evaluated, bought and used. Context has three dimensions: the end user, the end-use situation and the environment.
Customer assessment of value will be a function of who they are, what they want to do and the environment in which they live and work. For example, a mother choosing a digital camera to take pictures of her child may value ease of use and convenience in a camera. A professional photographer, however, may emphasise image quality, resolution and advanced controls. Hence the expression, “Different strokes for different folks.” This is the essence of customer segmentation – identify groups of customers who have similar needs and priorities and who, therefore, will tend to respond similarly to your offerings.
4. Value is 3D
A common myth in marketing is that customers choose products purely based on superior features and functions. While functional value is important, it is only one of the three dimensions of value. Besides functional value, customers also consider emotional and economic value.
Emotional value is the psychological value that a customer derives from owning, using and buying a product. Economic value, though, is what the product is worth in terms of time and money.
Consider the value proposition of an Apple Power Book. According to Apple, the benefits of the Power Book are its powerful processor, bright screen, expandability and flexibility. But to close a sale, Apple must also demonstrate economic value of a Power Book – improved productivity for end users as well as GUI application developers. As far as the emotional value of owning an Apple product goes, well, just ask an Apple user and he will tell you.
Functional value is a good starting point but we need to translate it into economic value and develop emotional appeal, which make the product far more sustainable.
5. Value is a Trade-off
Value is defined as the perceived worth of something in relation to the total cost that customers pay for it. In fact, it is a trade-off between the total benefits that customers get and the total cost they incur. So, in effect, there are two ways of increasing customer value: either increase the total benefits you offer or reduce the customer’s cost. It is important to understand that the purchase cost is only one element of the customer’s total cost. We need to look at his total cost of ownership (TCO) and evaluate it to the benefits offered.
Sometimes, customers may themselves not be aware of the hidden costs of using a product. Imagine a conversation between a pharmaceutical company CEO and asupplier of plastic. Now, suppose the plastic supplier is trying to get the CEO switch to plastic bottles instead of the regular glass bottles. What is the first thing that the CEO would say? “Are your plastic bottles cheaper?” A classic case of the customer not seeing the TCO. The smart plastic supplier will try and show him his TCO of glass bottles and how plastic can add more value. First of all, plastic weighs less compared to glass, so the transportation cost would be lower. Secondly, plastic is not fragile, so breakage loss would be lower. Thirdly, plastic bottles would save on labelling cost as you can print directly on plastic bottles. Fourthly, you can deliver plastic more frequently and in small batches, thereby reducing inventory-holding cost. And, finally, the production line would be run faster as there is no breakage. As the example suggests, there are several hidden costs in using glass bottles and the CEO was not even aware of them. To accurately assess value trade-off, you must make sure that customers see the full picture of benefits as well as costs.
6. Value is Relative
Customers always evaluate value relative to available alternatives, particularly the next best alternative. Some management gurus call this the customers’ “Best Available Substitute or Equivalent” or BASE. Customers always have a BASE, even if you don’t think you have viable competitors. If you don’t know your customers’ BASE, you will never know the frame of reference they use to make buying decisions.
Customers can use a variety of BASEs to evaluate your product. This could be competition; it could also be your own product if you are trying to sellupgrades or new versions of your own product. Status quo can be a BASE too.
Doing nothing is always an option. And it is often a fairly attractive option as it entails less risk.
So whenever you think of value, you need to think of who or what you are up against, because this is the frame of reference that your customer uses to evaluate your value proposition.
Firms that adopt the value mindset think differently about the customers whom they focus on, the value proposition that they create for their customers, the growth strategy that they employ, the way they organise their marketing and sales organisation, and the way they measure and reward success. Broadly, we need to move from a product mindset to a customer-value mindset.
In stormy economic seas, value can serve as an anchor by reminding you that every initiative you engage in should be grounded in a clearly articulated customer value proposition. If you focus relentlessly on defining value as customers do, designing your offering based on what customers value, and measuring your performance in terms of value that customers experience, you will be well on your way to creating successful customer relationships.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
nice one!!!
A small story on self Appraisal, Enjoy it!
A little boy went into a drug store, reached for a soda carton and pulled it over to the telephone. He climbed onto the carton so that he could reach the buttons on the phone and proceeded to punch in seven digits.
The store-owner observed and listened to the conversation:The boy asked, "Lady, Can you give me the job of cutting your lawn?" The woman replied, "I already have someone to cut my lawn.""Lady, I will cut your lawn for half the price of the person who cuts your lawn now." replied boy.The woman responded that she was very satisfied with the person who was presently cutting her lawn.
The little boy found more perseverance and offered, "Lady, I'll even sweep your curb and your sidewalk, so on Sunday you will have the prettiest lawn in all of North Palm Beach, Florida."Again the woman answered in the negative. With a smile on his face, the little boy replaced the receiver.
The store-owner, who was listening to all this, walked over to the boy and said, "Son... I like your attitude; I like that positive spirit and would like to offer you a job."The little boy replied, "No thanks, I was just checking my performance and the job I already have. I am the one who is working for that lady, I was talking to !"
A little boy went into a drug store, reached for a soda carton and pulled it over to the telephone. He climbed onto the carton so that he could reach the buttons on the phone and proceeded to punch in seven digits.
The store-owner observed and listened to the conversation:The boy asked, "Lady, Can you give me the job of cutting your lawn?" The woman replied, "I already have someone to cut my lawn.""Lady, I will cut your lawn for half the price of the person who cuts your lawn now." replied boy.The woman responded that she was very satisfied with the person who was presently cutting her lawn.
The little boy found more perseverance and offered, "Lady, I'll even sweep your curb and your sidewalk, so on Sunday you will have the prettiest lawn in all of North Palm Beach, Florida."Again the woman answered in the negative. With a smile on his face, the little boy replaced the receiver.
The store-owner, who was listening to all this, walked over to the boy and said, "Son... I like your attitude; I like that positive spirit and would like to offer you a job."The little boy replied, "No thanks, I was just checking my performance and the job I already have. I am the one who is working for that lady, I was talking to !"
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
some rockin pics
is this a punishment given to them???????
vvvvvvvvvvrrrrrrrrrrooooooommmmmmmmmmmm......
ouch!! that hurts...
a fridge like that????????!!!!!!!!!
Dream come true, man.......
Dream come true, man.......
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Monday, September 04, 2006
Billy Connolly's 13 things I hate about people:
1. People who point at their wrist while asking for the time....I knowwhere my watch is pal, where the fuck is yours? Do I point at my crotchwhen I ask where the toilet is?
2. People who are willing to get off their arse to search the entireroom for the TV remote because they refuse to walk to the TV and changethe channel manually.
3. When people say "Oh you just want to have your cake and eat it too".Fucking right! What good is a cake if you can't eat it?
4. When people say "it's always the last place you look". Of course itis. Why the fuck would you keep looking after you've found it? Do peopledo this? Who and where are they?
5. When people say while watching a film "did you see that?". Notosser, I paid 10 quid to come to the cinema and stare at the fuckingfloor.
6. People who ask "Can I ask you a question?. Didn't really give me achoice there, did you sunshine?
7. When something is 'new and improved!'. Which is it? If it's new,then there has never been anything before it. If it's an improvement,then there must have been something before it.
8. When people say "life is short". What the fuck?? Life is the longestdamn thing anyone ever fucking does!! What can you do that's longer?
9. When you are waiting for the bus and someone asks, "Has the bus comeyet?. If the bus came would I be standing here, Knob head?
10. People who say things like 'My eyes aren't what they used to be'. Sowhat did they used to be? ears, Wellington boots?
11. When you're eating something and someone asks 'Is that nice?' Noit's really revolting - I always eat stuff I hate.
12. People who announce they are going to the toilet. Thanks that's animage I really didn't need.
13. McDonalds staff who pretend they don't understand you if you don'tinsert the 'Mc' before the item you are ordering..... It has to be a McChicken Burger, just a Chicken Burger gets blank looks. Well I'll havea McStraw and jam it in your McEyes you fucking McTosser.
Friday, September 01, 2006
As good as it gets!!!!!!
Some of us have great stories...
pretty stories that take place
at lakes with boats and friends and noodle salad.
and that's what makes it hard;
not that you had it bad,
but being that pissed that;
so many had it good.
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