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Post by blaircavalier on Sept 12, 2013 11:09:30 GMT -6
INSTANT MBA: Think Smaller Than Your Competitors
Sometimes smaller and similar is better. No one wants to buy a product that is smarter than they are. Sometimes individuals appreciate the simple things. Customers enjoy simple products that are user friendly. The one thing businesses need to keep in mind is what their customers want. It's not all about making a product bigger and better than your competitors, but more about making a product that appeals to wide variety of individuals. Allowing a product to appeal to many different kinds of needs, keeps the market for the product open. The bigger the market, the better the product has the chance of doing. I think businesses sometimes forget exactly what their customers want because they are too busy focusing on beating their competitors.
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Post by lana.guay on Sept 12, 2013 11:24:55 GMT -6
What I took away from this article is that your product does not necessarily have to be the most elaborate and complicated product out there to be successful. Simpler is often times better. Some products are more marketable when they do not try to exceed expectations, but instead if they just get the job done. People like easy and fast products, not the ones that are too complicated to understand and take more time.
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Post by boris on Sept 12, 2013 16:32:01 GMT -6
INSTANT MBA: Think Smaller Than Your Competitors
You have to work smarter not harder, the same works for your products, you can not sit there and try to make your competitors product better instead, you should innovate something better and simple. Your product can have all the bells and whistles but if it is not simple enough for people to use, they will not buy it. The product needs to be practical, useful and affordable all across the industry in order to be the number one product.
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Post by bneedham on Sept 12, 2013 19:51:05 GMT -6
INSTANT MBA: Listen To Everyone But Don't Take Advice From Just Anybody
The article seems to represent the idea that to grow your business you should not focus on having a better product but a more accessible product. I agree to some extent but I believe this line of thinking could cause issues. You want as many people as possible to be able to use your product but you risk alienating the more "hardcore" users of a product by over simplifying it. For example if you are making a program to edit photos and want to make it have mass appeal you are going to make it very easy to use and doing so will take production time and money away from expanding on the unique features that your product could offer. The argument can be made both ways that without the expanded audience you won't have the capital to expand your product at all but I just don't believe that increasing accessibility is a cure all solution for any business model.
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Post by natjohnson90 on Sept 13, 2013 10:37:35 GMT -6
Amit Bendov had a smart idea when he said think "smaller" than your competitors when joining the market. He said, " don't try and make your product better and smarter than your competitors, but make it simple to use their product. Therefor, I understand where he comes from when he say think small, make your product easier, simple, and cheaper than your competitors
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Post by wparker on Sept 14, 2013 16:34:26 GMT -6
"Think smaller than your competitors"
Also think of it this way, those large corporations started off as a small business too. As the article says, don't try to make a competitors product simpler or cheaper. For one, it doesn't really show much originality because you are taking a current product/service and trying to change it somehow. Just think of something you want to do or create and go with that idea. Even if you do have a similar product/service, don't be the company to offer free giveaways if customers buy from you. That shows too much desperation as well as customers may think "this must not be that good if they are willing to give me free stuff." Instead, offer better customer services such as: 24 hr customer calling, evaluation surveys for customers to give your product/service feedback, or even offer to go to the customer for maintenance. It may be costly in the beginning, but as volume of customers increase, the cost will be well worth it.
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Post by leetaranto on Sept 15, 2013 11:10:54 GMT -6
INSTANT MBA: Think Smaller Than Your Competitors
One does not always have to think larger in order to beat competitors. You have to be more detailed instead of looking at the bigger picture. Just because you copy your competitor does not mean you will win the market of what the product is in. Being able to look at the things that your competitors are not is the way to find your niche and have an competitive advantage. So, because you are looking at the big picture and not what the consumers wants you have to think small.
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Post by dorcas on Sept 15, 2013 14:14:39 GMT -6
INSTANT MBA: Think Smaller Than Your Competitors
I like this piece of an article, i think it is true, in business we do compete with our competitors but sometimes we need to realize that we need to be unique in some way,that is to implement the differentiation strategy. It is even worse to compete with competitors who have more resource that you do, in this way i think her idea comes in,just be your self, think smaller. The small things that the bigs business do not see are often important and will give you an advantage.
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Post by ernestmajoue on Sept 15, 2013 15:09:47 GMT -6
This article makes a good point on introducing a product to the market that is cheaper and comparable to another more expensive advanced product. I agree with this and it also gives your customers more options and cheaper prices. Your company can still profit by being not as high tech but close enough for average consumers. This can work with a variety number of products.
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Post by kathrynprieto on Sept 15, 2013 21:03:31 GMT -6
INSTANT MBA: Think Smaller Than Your Competitors
The CEO of SiSense is making a great example of having effective, achievable goals. Both of these are important to be successful. "Easier, simpler, and cheaper" products are a great and usually guaranteed way to stay competitive. Saying that "trying to build a better version of a competitor’s product is not the way to get in the game" may be a bit of a stretch, but I understand the author's point of aiming for more versatility and usability. Making a product that everybody can use is a great way to have ultimate reach into all of your potential customer's homes.
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Post by zekesonnier on Sept 16, 2013 19:37:57 GMT -6
INSTANT MBA: Think Smaller Than Your Competitors
When Amit mentions tailoring the product to competition in small and large firms I thought he was referring to the scope of products and features offered by him. After reading the article it seems as though Amit is saying to not drastically change the product by exceeding the competitor's but simply make it easier to use, more user friendly. I have never though about a firm's competitive advantage in this regard. To me it seems like a good idea to keep the product in it's similar design because the firm will already know the demand for the product and making it simpler will have more of a change of success rather than making drastic changes. Although, for this theory to work I think it would depend on the types of products the firm offers. Technology is constantly changing and becoming simpler but it still advances along time.
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Post by billyg on Sept 17, 2013 10:54:10 GMT -6
INSTANT MBA: Think Smaller Than Your Competitors
Bendov wants readers to understand his view on how to become a better and bigger company. He stresses that making a similar product that is simply better is not quite the best way to go about doing this. A company must make a product that is easier to use, more affordable, and less complex. Preferably, the product should be scaleable to both the large and small companies. A company should make a product that can be used by anyone and not just a select group in order to have the highest level of success. I have purchased many things in my life that were useable for only a few things and by a select group of people. However, I always thought many of these things could be tweaked to be useable for other uses and in an easier fashion. If I found myself providing a good or service in the future, I will certainly looked to deliver something which can be used easily and by almost anyone.
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Post by ashleylevernharrison on Sept 18, 2013 21:57:22 GMT -6
INSTANT MBA: Think Smaller Than Your Competitors
Being complex is sometimes not a good thing. If your company makes software that is very complicated to use, then no one will want to use it. The most successful companies that are in business today make simplistic products. Take Apple for instance, I believe that the reason for their success is their products are simple and easy to use. Anybody can literally pick them up and figure out how to use them. My aunt just got an iphone recently and she is able to use it with no problems what so ever. Before she got the iphone, she had a blackberry and it was too complicated for her to use (she hardly ever used it). Now that she has an iphone, she has a facebook account and she is always on the internet.
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Post by phenry on Sept 21, 2013 11:49:11 GMT -6
INSTANT MBA: Think Smaller than your Competitors After reading this article, I think the advice given can only work for certain industries. Thinking smaller is great, but I think a better way of thinking could be thinking more efficiently. Sometimes, basic may not be what is going to give your company an edge. Also, the word “cheaper” does not settle well with me. Customers may not always want the cheapest product. If something is too cheap, the quality may not be up to par with what the customer is expecting. I think finding a less expensive way to make something and becoming more efficient is a better goal than just producing a cheaper product.
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Post by cory on Sept 23, 2013 10:48:57 GMT -6
INSTANT MBA: Think Smaller Than Your Competitors
This article is interesting because it's advice is to not what most people would expect would be needed to run a successful company and compete in the market. Many managers may think that they need to have the most advanced and complex products to compete with the other firms in the market, which in reality many firms will do better offering smaller, simpler products that its competitors. This may not work in every industry, but if you can distinguish yourself from your competitors by offering a simpler product than theirs, than you have the potential to make higher profits because your operating expenses will be less.
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