Conversion Of Units
novembre 18, 2008 by Giorgio Buccilli
Filed under Marketing Practice

A common marketing mistake, is using the wrong language with clients.
An example of wrong language is the flight information provided by the captain over the intercom: “Our aircraft is flying at 625 knots Indicated Air Speed“ Knots? I can barely convert miles to kilometres. Air-speed? I would rather know the aircraft speed.
I would recommend not to use techie jargon with your clients. Fit with your client’s measurement system, or s/he will continue to nap.
Do You Mind If…?
ottobre 31, 2008 by Giorgio Buccilli
Filed under Marketing Practice

Have you ever filled a super-long survey that “shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes?”
As marketers, we design questionnaire for qualification calls. Some questions are required by the sales team, some others by the company veterans. Questionnaires often turn out being a long and bothering list of questions; a key fiasco factor for any marketing survey.
Surveys should start with a brief product description, before asking maximum five questions. Gather only the information you need, and gather it as efficiently as possible.
- Tell about the software benefit in (few) plain words
- Follow up with a brief questionnaire
- Be nice and entertaining
- Reward the responder somehow. A paper of his interest would be fine.
Ethic of reciprocity: don’t do to others what you don’t want to be done to you.
Software and Sushi
ottobre 20, 2008 by Giorgio Buccilli
Filed under Featured, Software Business

Software and Sushi are two of my favourite things.
I like the customizability of sushi meals. There’s always a sushi meal that fits with my appetite. I also like the inexpensiveness of sushi. Or actually the inexpensive price per item. Three Euros for a Temaki, two for an Uramaki, etc. Low price per item means low pain in the buying process. Moreover I like the zenlike design of sushi sets.
Like with the sushi, some software editors offer component-based software, where clients choose from a “menu” the modules they need.
Sushi restaurants & software companies success factors:
1. High quality components
2. “A la carte” pricing
3. Product design












