Is India Strong Truly Strong?

Is India Strong Truly Strong?

Incredible India! Mera Bharat Mahan! People are inspired by these huge words, but is this the true image of India? Last 60 years of independence and we have grown, no doubt about that, but is this growth comprehensive? Have our economy truly growth in the big league? I seriously say No!

Here are some of the reasons why I think India has not gone in the league of great powers, no matter what the IMF or world bank says:

1] Last 60 years and Indian Rupee has fallen from Rs 4 to a USD to now Rs 61 to a USD. Is this a sign of progress?
2] In last 60 years our national carrier Air India has gone from one of the best and respected airlines to one of the worst and poorly managed national carriers.
3] Our poor population has actually increased due to rapid inflation which increases by 1% per month!:(
4] Our government is helpless and does not have any clue to rescue either the rupee or our countries economy.
5] We rank at the bottom of countries when it comes to governance.
6] We rank at top of the table when it comes to corruption in government, both at National and state level.
7] Our tourism is pathetically low compare to our true potential thus loosing us billions of $ in raw cash flows.
8] We are too much dependent on FDI and crude oil supplies and pay them in $ rather than our own currency. We must remember that its a buyers market out there and not sellers, so buyers decide what currency they prefer.
9] Our politicians are poor in their education standards and thus lack basic skills to handle day to day government activities.
10] Our governments servants are a bunch of high paid non performing assets which need to be regularized.

Unless and until strong steps are not taken to correct these measures we can never say Mera Bharat Mahan!

Trivia Softwares Launch New Website

SR Institute.

The new website launched by Trivia Softwares

The website is about Play school based in Thane.

Customer Service: Pros and Cons of it

Customer Service a very important part of doing business, but like every coin has its 2 sides even customer service has its good and bad side or pro and con as we say. Providing excellent customer service is a dream very few organizations have actually achieved.  Lets now list the pros and cons of providing customer service.

Pros

1. Excellent customer service improves the image of the organization.
2. Good customer service makes the organization more referable.
3. Good customer service increases the loyalty of customer towards the organization.
4. Good customer service improves the overall brand of the organization.

Cons

1. Providing good customer service comes with a cost to the organization, which the customer may or may not bare.
2. Increases the expectation of the customers which may not be the part of the initial deal and cost given to him.
3. Provision for service may sometimes overwhelm the organizations resources thus reducing their revenues.
4. Customers may take the organization for granted expecting excellent services for vary nominal or no service  charges.

Solutions

1. Always keep the sales and service part different while speaking with the customer.
2. Give him a proper idea of services which are included in customer service clause and other chargable services which are not included.
3. Be assertive on certain aspects which may include cost or resource to the organization

Recognize Your Customers If You Want Their Trust

 

Several years ago I made plans to fly out and meet with a client once or twice a week for about two months, and my office made eight weeks’ worth of advance reservations for me at a business-oriented hotel conveniently located across the street from the client’s office.
So I went out for my first set of client meetings and then showed up at the hotel that evening to check-in. As the desk clerk was processing my check-in, a manager came out and greeted me by name.
“Hello, Mr. Peppers, welcome to our hotel,” he smiled. I smiled. “Would you mind if we took your picture?”
What? Take a picture? Why? I asked.
Because, he said, you’ve made several reservations with us for future dates, and we'd like to put your picture up on our employee bulletin board on days you plan to check in, so the people on duty can recognize you when you arrive.
It worked. The very next week (and for virtually every visit after that) when I came through the door the bellman smiled and said “Hello, Mr. Peppers, welcome back,” as he offered to help me with my bag. The desk clerk, the cashier at the sundries store, and even the waitress at breakfast all greeted me by name. It was an inexpensive hotel, but I don’t think I ever felt quite so royally treated.
One of the five requirements for being trustable as a business is simply to “demonstrate humanity.” Being human involves many things, including curiosity and intelligence, but in customer relationships all we’re really talking about is showing empathy and respectful familiarity to our customers, almost as if they were our personal friends.
If you want a customer to trust you, treat the customer the way you’d like to be treated yourself, if you were the customer. This doesn’t mean giving your product away at a loss, nor does it mean never disagreeing with a customer. What it does mean is asking yourself at all times whether you would consider your own actions “fair” if you were on the other side. Is this the way a friend would treat a friend?
The sad truth is that the overwhelming majority of businesses don't even take the rudimentary steps necessary to recognize and remember their customers individually. Instead, they operate on what Martha Rogers and I call the "Goldfish Principle," and sometimes the results are almost comically non-personal.
But recognizing and remembering a customer is one of the most effective ways any service business can demonstrate humanity and earn a customer’s trust, and it really doesn’t require a high degree of technology or an overly complex set of processes. It might involve something as simple as taking a customer’s picture, or even counting license plates.
What steps can you take to help your service employees recognize customers, and demonstrate your business's humanity?

 

"Gunda Purush Deva" marathi serial on Star Pravah

Star Pravah has started a new serial "Gunda Purush Dev" marathi serial. Its a regular sit com related to a village based family and what happens when a western educated girl from Mumbai is married in the house.

What Does a Website Cost?

What Does a Website Cost?

Years ago, I even took the time to create a whole write up on the topic over on my main site entitled “What Does a Website Cost?” and to this day – even after years of being up (and years of edits) it’s still one of the most popular pages and definitely the most commented.

This is a question that we field all day, every day.
As either a potential designer, developer, freelancer, or the owner of a website design business it’s important that you know how to answer this question and understand what your competitor is charging as well as how you can create value.
And, on the flip-side, if you’re a business owner looking for information on the cost of developing your own site (either using a service, or hiring a developer) you need to understand the many levels of answers that can come from such a broad question.
In both cases – it’s important to remember that although a website is a “digitized” item, a website is still a product, but it’s also a service.
Except there are two problems – they’re nothing like conventional products, and “service” is a four letter word in this industry.
There’s a whole relationship (between you and your client, or you and the company you hire to do your website) that crops up through the process of web development, and this relationship, as well as the ongoing support that continues AFTER the site has launched is what separates this “product” from others.
If I had to make a comparison, I’d say pricing (and building) a website is a lot like pricing (and building) a new home. 
Whether you buy a home from a new development, or have one custom built. The process is very much like (and sometimes as complicated and as costly) as building a home.

Website Pricing

pricing (and building) a website is a lot like pricing (and building) a new home. 

The reason it’s so hard to simply give one a price for a website is there are so many damn factors involved – even outside of the technology (which matters A LOT!).
Here’s a short list:

1. Client Server/Hosting Requirements – Who is hosting? Email? Who is setting that up? What if something happens to email? What kind of server will it be hosted on? Does the client have access? Do YOU have access? Hosting problems alone take 2 – 10 hours initially to address on EVERY project – and problem account for about 10 – 20 hours of support during any given year for a client.
2. Scope – What does the client want? What does the client NEED? Two very different things.
3. Who is the Client – I’m going to quick address business owners here – who are you? Are you picky? Are you easy to deal with? A good web development company will do one of two things – either read you well, or structure their contract for it not to matter (ie hourly). However, in either case the easier you make it to work with you, the less expensive a site will tend to be.
4. Client’s Technical Knowledge – More highly technical clients don’t have to learn how to maximize their web browsers or, and this one still gets me!, understand why there are “bars” on the side of their website (the background of a site in a fixed width design is called “bars” here). The more hand holding a client needs (or the less IT staff they have) the more time it will take to complete the project and have them satisfied.

These are just a few items that impact the overall cost, and they don’t even begin to touch upon budget, or design/back forth.
But, as they hinted at – websites, be it coding, or communicating, take time.
Time is precious; time is valuable. As a freelancer you must value your time. As a business owner you have to understand the time it takes you to “figure out how to build” a website, takes away from other items that lead to making money and a living.
“Do you want to specialize in HTML, CSS, Javascript, etc. or do you want to be running, growing, and profiting at your business?”
(That was a good line dev in case anyone ever asks you why you cost so damn much!)

Which btw – I have a quick side story. A friend of mine, a highly technical friend mind you, studied and literally took 6 weeks straight to build his companies website (he was managing the company at the time and has since graduated to president). At the time he was paid Rs. 3000/hour. Much less than your average web developer. However, factor in ALL of his time and he spent nearly $6000 of his company’s time. All for a static site that wasn’t even search engine optimized and frankly looked pretty bad! (Okay… I did help out a bit).
Point is, it almost never pays to have some “figure out” how to build a website within a company. It doesn’t make time, or financial sense. – Now learning how to edit/update a CMS on the other hand – does – and we’ll get back to this in a moment.

And then there’s everything that comes AFTER a website is launched (and the things you or your team should be looking at during development…) THE MARKETING!

You also need to evaluate the best ways to market your clients’ website, once you’ve launched. If you design a website that doesn’t get found, then your client will not appreciate the fact that you charged him or her ANYTHING to build their site. Knowing how to market for your client takes experience.

Real World Website Pricing Breakdown

First, there are services (and for the majority of this article I’ll ignore these). There are a ton of services out there that can get you up and running quickly, easily, and in some cases freely. I’m a huge fan of “WordPress.com” for anyone looking to simply build a blog and get their voice on the web. Although Tumblr does have such nice templates, many of them you have to pay for, and I find the traffic from WordPress.com much better. In future posts we may highlight many of the free and inexpensive web services available.
Okay, here we are.

Basic Website – Rs. 2000 – Rs. 5000

After spending a significant amount of time (over a decade in this industry), we’ve determined that the market average for a baseline website is Rs.2000 – Rs. 5,000. I’ve seen much, much higher. And, I don’t recommend going with anyone who charges less because the quality of the work will negatively (and directly) correlate to the price decrease.
With a basic website, you’ll have a simple online brochure made out of a boilerplate template (or format) where your customers and clients can review your products and services. The basic website may be your best salesperson, working 24 hours a day by just showing up. It’s your marketing tool to get your message out to the world. It provides a digital launch pad, where you can showcase your products or services. Most web developers will install Google Analytics too.

Custom Website – Rs.6000-Rs.15000

If you can think it, it can be designed in this price range. They may not be as fully functional, but they will be beautiful. At this spending level, you will find a website that is custom-tailored to meet your specific market needs.
At this price point, you can expect the beginning of the “wow-factor” from your web design team. You will not typically find features of audience interactivity, ecommerce, or content management.
Going back to the Basic Website, the website pricing is calculated at the same rate. These websites take much more time to build since they will include custom CSS and XHTML coding so that the website will show up the same on virtually every interface. Again these websites will be optimized for Google, Yahoo, and Bing so that they will rank better in organic keyword searches.

Content Management System (CMS) – Rs.10,000- Rs 60,000

A website designed and built with full CMS integration will typically run from Rs.10,000 to Rs. 60,000 with an average of Rs.20,000, depending on your specific needs and the extent of the customization requested. These websites will be designed with both functionality and appearance in mind. Custom art design and mid-level functionality will be included. You will be able to manage and update all of your content through the installed CMS interface. You can have an infinite number of pages (depending on the amount you want to spend for the time it takes to create them). With CMS you can manipulate, upload and change the pictures, content, and blog all day long. (You’ll soon discover, if you don’t already know, that updating your website can quickly become consuming).  
This is our most popular product package at  M/s Trivia Softwares
By enabling a CMS interface, these websites are designed to be user-friendly (as user-friendly as possible for a non-tech inspired individual). You won’t be billed for the time that it takes to make the minor changes and small adjustments that may become costly.
These sites will be laced with the ability to get “social”. You will be able to build a reputation through your BLOG. Depending upon the specifics of the agreement, you should be able to expect some keyword research to help you get started.
Aside from Flash Art creation, these sites will remain in the ballpark I’ve outlined above. And, as always, you can expect SEO and Analytics Tracking for these types of web properties.

The Grand Slam Package– Rs.65,000- Rs. 1,00,000+

Highly complex websites can be very expensive to create. Social Networking, Advanced Blogging, and Web Application Development will raise the price tag. There are a limited number of companies that can perform well in this arena, and most of them will charge you a consulting fee (the initial consultation with M/s Trivia Softwares is free).
These websites aren’t some of the really good sites we’ve visited.  Falling in this price range are sites like Facebook.com, Orkut.com, and BestBuy.com. These sites will have been coded from scratch, along with the applicable application programming. Websites in this price range require an extreme investment in time to research, develop and implement the software necessary to integrate the entire website in one seamless design.
It’s more expensive to build a website when you consider the actual cost in terms of hours. There is a distinct difference between amateur websites and the work of a professional development team. While it may cost more money to build the website in the first place, by hiring a professional you will realize a return on your investment (assuming that whatever you’re selling isn’t garbage).

How to use mobile marketing to improve your sales

How to use mobile marketing to improve your sales

8 reasons to invest in mobile marketing

Mobile marketing is fast becoming a mainstream activity for those companies that get it. But for every company that does, there are many more that still don’t. Whether it’s because they think it’s a passing fad, or because they don’t quite know where to start, these companies are missing out on a commercial revolution. Here then, are eight reasons why you can’t afford to ignore mobile marketing…learn more from companies already reaping the benefits of mobile presented at the upcoming Mobile marketing Live on the 1st and 2nd October at London.

Reason 1: Consumers are already there

Marks & Spencer mobile site

When Marks & Spencer became the first UK retailer to launch a mobile-optimised, transactional website on 12 May 2010, its rationale came from an analysis of traffic to its website. Five per cent of it was coming from mobile devices, and that was enough to convince M&S it needed to cater for these users. Less than five months later, the site had attracted 1.2m unique visitors, and taken more than 13,000 orders, with the largest single order for £3,280, for two sofas.

Recently, Debenhams revealed that 20 per cent of its traffic was coming from mobile devices. If you want a more subjective analysis of the situation, take a look around you the next time you get on a bus or a train; people are ‘grazing’ on their mobile phones, sometimes researching, sometimes shopping. If you’re not at the party, you won’t get a date…

Reason 2: The High Street is suffering

In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s a mess on the High Street right now. The Local Data Company’s (LDC) mid-year shop vacancy report for 2012, derived from 506 town centres and 145,000 shops that it visited between January and June 2012, revealed an average vacancy rate in Great Britain of 14.6 per cent. According to the report, almost 15,000 shops closed in town centres in the nine years between 2000 and 2009, but a further 10,000 closed in 2010 and 2011.

At the same time, the report reveals that online sales are being accelerated by mobile technology, and are expected to reach 13.2 per cent by the end of 2012. Savvy retailers are turning to mobile, not only to enable customers to buy from them while they’re waiting for their bus to arrive, but also, to drive them into their stores, with location-based mobile advertising and coupon campaigns

Coupons have a big part to play in mobile’s future.

Reason 3: A full-fat website looks awful on a mobile phone

The point about a mobile-optimised site is that it’s, er, optimised for mobile. Take a site that isn’t (try apple.com as an example) and compare it to one that is (newlook.com) and the difference is plain to see. Say a woman has two favourite shops she goes to for her clothes and one has a mobile-optimised site and the other doesn’t – she is much more likely to buy from her phone from the first than the second.

Here is an example of a non mobile optimised site.

The simplicity offered from a mobile-optimised site is clear:

Add to this the sheer number of people shopping on their mobile phone and it becomes something of a no-brainer. According to the IAB’s ‘Mobile in the Retail Store’ study from January 2012, 92 per cent of UK shoppers use the web to research purchases while on the move. Of these, half went in store to buy the product, while 28 per cent bought it on their mobile phone.

Reason 4: Second screening is a fact of life

Statistics from mobile ad network Adfonic, based on an analysis of its hourly click patterns, reveals that traffic starts to build from around 6pm and continues to rise throughout the evening.

Forward-thinking brands are capitalising on this trend. It started with simply adding mobile calls to action to TV ads, such as inviting viewers to text in to a shortcode for more information, but it is now being taken further.

The music discovery service, Shazam, enables mobile users to identify a song they hear being played by launching the Shazam app and letting it sample 30 seconds of the song. Now, Shazam has launched its Shazam for TV service, which enables TV advertisers to make their ads ‘Shazamable’. When the ad appears, complete with the Shazam logo, Shazam users can tag the ad with their phone to engage with the advertiser.

Shazam for TV made its UK debut on 12 May 2012.  Pepsi MAX and Cadbury’s were the first two brands to deploy the technology. Viewers could Shazam the Pepsi Max ad to enter a sweepstake to win tickets to summer festivals and other Pepsi MAX merchandise. Viewers could also tag the Cadbury’s Unwrap Gold ad for a chance to win a London 2012 Opening Ceremony ticket package.

Reason 5: Your competitors are already doing it

If you haven’t yet started working on your mobile strategy, take a look at your competition and see where they are at. Chances are you are behind the game. To get some idea of how advanced your competition’s mobile strategy is, type their web address into a mobile browser and see whether you are taken to a mobile-optimised site. Type their name into the iTunes and Google Play app stores and see what comes back.

Of course, Amazon and eBay have been deploying mobile apps and sites for years now and generate a significant amount of their business via M-commerce, so it’s worth keeping a close look at their latest approaches.

Research released in August 2012 revealed that 37 per cent of the top 100 UK advertisers had a mobile-optimised site. This is a sign that there is still a long way to go, but also, that companies, including your competitors, are beginning to get their act together.

Reason 6: That mobile in your hand is not a mobile – and it knows where you are

It’s a mini computer, with as much processing power as a PC of only a few years ago, and, arguably, more intelligence than the best-spec PC in the store. Because one of the key points of difference between a PC and a mobile phone is that the mobile knows where you are.

Not only that, it also knows whether you are facing North, South, or anywhere else in between. This is already being tapped into by advertisers, targeting consumers via ads in mobile apps or on mobile sites when they are within a certain distance to one of their stores, or even one of their competitors’.

It’s being used in other ways too, such as the FindaProperty app that uses Augmented Reality to enable users to see details of properties for sale around them simply by holding their phone in front of them, point towards the area they are interested in.

Reason 7: It’s the web all over again

And there’s no going back. When the internet first appeared on the scene, traditional retailers were slow to get it. Which is why pureplay online retailers like Amazon and eBay were able to build up such a position of strength. Eventually, retailers realised that the web was not going to go away, and as initial concerns about the safety and security of online shopping (remember them?) evaporated, they realised too that it was an important new shopping channel for consumers.

Given that last year, more mobile phones were shipped than PCs – 488m compared to 415m according to Canalys – and that, according to Microsoft, mobile browsing should overtake PC browsing some time in 2014, there can surely be no logical argument to suggest that mobile is a passing fad that you can afford to ignore. It is only going to become more strategically important to your business, and for the kids just getting their first phone, the mobile life will just be normal life.

Reason 8: The numbers say it all

There is currently a massive imbalance in the ratio of consumer time spent on mobile versus ad spend in the channel, compared to other media. According to figures from VSS, Mary Meeker, comScore, Alexa and Flurry Analytics, in 2011 in the US, TV commanded 43 per cent of consumer time and took 40 per cent of ad spend, while mobile commanded 23 per cent and took just 1 per cent of ad spend.

Ad spend always follows eyeballs sooner or later, but when the disparity is as large as it is here, it seems inevitable that brands are going to pile in to the mobile space. And indeed, mobile ad spend is growing. According to the annual study carried out by the IAB and PwC, mobile ad spend in the UK in 2011 was £203.2m. up from £83m in 2010, and just £28.6m in 2008.

 In Summary:

• Mobile is becoming a primary content channel – Consumers are turning to mobile to buy, to research purchases, and to augment their TV viewing
• Always on - A transactional mobile app or site enables your customers to buy from you whenever and (almost) wherever they are
• Spend on mobile is increasing – if you have not started working on your mobile marketing strategy, chances are your competitors have.
• Is it a phone? – Not really, the modern smartphone is a powerful, location-aware computer that could not be better suited to commerce.
• It’s here to stay – web browsing is moving from the PC to the smartphone and from the moment they get their first mobile phone, the mobile lifestyle – including mCommerce – will be second nature to tomorrow’s adults.