Hot answers tagged service
13
The first generation of "internet hard drive" companies (xdrive, idrive, etc) were based on the old LAN model of a file share that happens to live on the Internet. Accessing every file over the internet was slow, creating a ton of friction.
Dropbox provided true synchronization technology, so performance was fast and you could continue to work on files ...
9
Opinions vary, but I think one of the key ingredients in their success was the "it just works" factor.
Dropbox took a seemingly simple issue that people had struggled with forever (easy sharing of files over a network) and made it a transparent process.
I think it also helped that the service didn't also co-market itself as a shady way to share copyright ...
8
In my experience (sales at a large company), I would always have to write stuff like this myself. Customers were generally reluctant to write something not because they didn't want to, but because they didn't have the time or motivation to sit down and write it.
Whatever you write should flatter your customer as much (or more) than you. This will help your ...
4
You need to get them to understand how what you're offering is better for them than what they're currently doing.
Having a reseller program isn't enough. Are they using a live chat tool already? If so, will yours be easier for customers? More effective during the sales process? More efficient for support?
If they're not using live chat already, what are ...
3
Mnn, respectfully, I think you're looking at this from the wrong perspective. Don't price based on what your manufacturing cost is; price on what the value is for your end customer.
So the fact that you're hosted on EC2 is immaterial to your pricing. You can, if you want to, explain this in an FAQ somewhere, only to provide some reassurance that you're ...
3
Drew Houston actually has presentation on this called Startup Lessons Learned. It will run you through most of what you want to know.
It's simple
It's easy to install
It works without interupting me
It solves a real problem most people have
It's free to try
To upgrade, I have to tell people
They had 20,000+ users before they even finished the product
3
I would focus more on benefits other than mere features. Customers purchase because each feature gives them a benefit, not because the feature is merely there, so you should make sure to explain all benefits, perhaps tied to a specific feature, but focus on benefits.
That said, as Christian suggested, I would use the home page to explain the benefits your ...
3
I agree with you the Service vs Product dilema is really eternal. While service ensures $$ right from first day, a product can ensure huge scale that a service business can never ever think of. The good part with your business is you already have people on board and you have worked on projects in your market. Though your product experience has not been ...
2
Invite some people to participate in a beta? People will be lured by the opportunity for participation in an exclusive community, and at the same time, they will understand why there's no other content. Then, when the site launches to the public, you will have some content. There's also the obvious benefit of being able to squash any bugs before you go ...
2
I think the thing you need is TRAC.
Their own site is the best demo of their tools, since it is actually rendered by it !
http://trac.edgewall.org/
It provides a ticketing system, a wiki, can be linked to SVN and has a lot of plugin/extension
We use at in my company and are very happy with it
2
Long time ago, I used to have this belief "Oh! If I make a free software, I will have tons of users and then I can build a second product and market the second product to my audience from the first free software".
The problem is "You still need to market the Free product" and the effort is almost the same if you build a free or paid product. So why not ...
2
The poor mans version is the Paypal Subscribe button, you can set the iteration, amounts, and it will send emails based on the transaction result.
You can step it up a bit with services such as CheddarGetter.com, which give you a bit more control, and an api.
If you have a merchant account, you can also use Authorize.net for subscriptions, that also works ...
2
If your business doesn't solve my problem(s), I have no use for you and definitely no reason to give you my money.
Places To Look
Yourself - what are you interested in / know something about?
Other Groups you have Accessibility and knowledge about. If you know a lot of bar owners, work with them.
Identifying Problems
Listen to complaints and/or solutions - ...
2
I've built dozens of web sites using a wide variety of hosting companies and the majority offer little to no customer service. Half the time I picture them sitting in their mom's basement in their underwear working on the next best coding breakthrough. These are generally people that do not play well with others. They want to be like Google and sit in a ...
2
I would avoid the use of the terms web app and platform.
In non-technical situations I use the phrase "online tool". I build online tools.
Find some entrepreneur meet ups where you can practice pitching your services to non-technical founders looking for tech co-founders. That will help you refine your message and find out what your clients are looking for ...
1
I think you are trying this from opposite end. What I think is if I am selling something good and genuine product, I can sell it to anybody whether he needs the product or if he doesn't needs the product I will create the need.
You are selling a chat application so its just not the Web Hosting companies which needs it more. Live chat application is used or ...
1
Nobody buys an idea. I would be a trilnionare by now. I mean, well written, designed, planned ideas with a good marketing before the idea was finished.
The thing is, that you can sell them services once you have it working, and you will need to comply with public services rules and requirements.
What you can do, is to make some marketing materials ...
1
How about this list - "Quora - What are some crowdsourcing services similar to Amazon Mechanical Turk?"
Some are alternatives, some are meta-platforms built on top of mtuk and may not have the same US-only restriction.
1
No offence, but I think you're certifiably insane trying to run with this model with external sales agents and "Custom Software Solutions" rather not a defined product.
So sales person Bob talks to a customer, gathers requirements etc. etc. You (presumably) spec the job and price it. Bob negotiates with customer and is so focused on closing the deal that ...
1
Commissions could range anywhere from 5% to 50% depending on your involvement and what you are providing the salesperson.
Let's say he's completely independent and receives no salary. You don't give him any leads or manage him in any way -- only provide the product to sell. In this case, I'd say you'd be looking at 50%.
If you provide him/her an office, ...
1
Couple IT consulting models that come to mind
Hourly - Typically an initial quote or estimate is still needed
Fixed - If it's something repeatable you do often. Setup a new server, re-install a desktop, build a fixed spec website then fixed can be very lucrative if done right. Don't do it on risky projects, only things that you can do with consistent ...
1
Definitely don't charge for the result at a flat rate. The seemingly simplest of jobs can turn into hours of nightmarish troubleshooting. All the time spent should be charged so you don't sell yourself short. You may charge a retainer, but they would likely expect immediate service when an issue arises. Don't do this if you are working alone or have ...
1
I would recommend you to check out your favorite service sites in the web and see how they did it.
My first thought is:
Top features on the homepage - "read more" link leads to a 2-column page listing the top features of each category. Each feature box probably need a nice looking image
if you have different service degrees, make a feature comparison ...
1
When I got hooked on Dropbox there weren't really that many alternatives to it. There were a few that offered a backup + some sort of syncing interface on top of Amazon S3 and there was Microsoft's Live Mesh which was in beta and didn't look very appealing at the time.
Here is why I personally think DB was successful.
It's extremely simple to use and ...
1
First your product has to be good enough that people will say nice things about it.
Then when they send you an email which says something nice, ask them if they would allow you to use a specific quote from it as a testimonial on your website.
I have never had a person refuse that request. They wrote it because they meant it and they don't mind others ...
1
If you're happy with SVN then there's not really any need to use anything else. Some developers prefer distributed systems such as Git and Mercurial, but you could always migrate to those later if required.
For continuous integration (automated testing), Hudson is a good Open Source option. TeamCity is also pretty neat and is free for up to 20 users and ...
1
It's a bit like the chicken and the egg. You need the content to attract users but you need the users to get the content...to attract users. So they start small, find users through networking, through just the sheer value of the product and users telling other users. Then as things start to grow, typically marketing and business development efforts will ...
1
Here is a process to determine if something best meets your needs:
Define your needs (including what you do not need).
If your question above is complete, that would be:
a) manage going door-to-door to 700 properties
What does this mean? Mapping capabilities? Scheduling? Assigning staff?
b) account for each property whether they require my service
Is ...
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