THIS ISSUE INCLUDES: •  What's New? •  Going, Going … Gone! •  Resource Referral •  Lessons Learned •  Tips & Tricks •  Community Leaders •  Member Spotlight •  Community Stats •  Your Account Summary •  Success Story •  Special Thanks •  Last Laugh

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WHAT'S NEW?

Dear Askers & Answerers,

I have several changes to announce. First, we switched the question-closing schedule, as I mentioned we might last week. Now, reminder emails go out to Askers a bit earlier to encourage everyone to close their questions by Day 10. One side effect is there are fewer open questions at a time now. So when you see a drop in our Community Stats, don't be alarmed. It's a good thing!

Next, we changed the blue button across the top of the site that used to say: "Know-How Exchange" to "Forum." This is to alert MarketingProfs newcomers to the fact that MP has content across a variety of media: articles, seminars and a forum. Our forum will still be known as KHE. It's just the navigation that changed.

Third: We put a cap on the length for question titles (50 characters). Some members were putting their entire question in the title and nothing in the body. With such long question titles, it was getting difficult to tease them in the MarketingProfs newsletter and other locations. Also, they were a little overwhelming to look at. This should be an aesthetic improvement.

Finally, my favorite change. And I believe it's SRyan's too (since she suggested it a while back). We have added a new column to our Search Results page to display the number of responses a question has so far. One way you may want to use it is to focus on answering the questions with the fewest responses - to increase your odds of winning points. Or, you may want to check in on the questions with lots of responses, to see what all the fuss is about.

Stay tuned. There are lots of new developments on the way!

Happy exchanging,

Val Frazee
Moderator, Know-How Exchange
MarketingProfs.com

GOING, GOING, GONE!

Here are KHE's 10 oldest questions. They're likely to close soon. Have an idea to offer? Better do it now!

1. Marketing Budget Benchmarks
2. Wizard? of Ads and December ad spending
3. cheapest way get qualified prospects for ent. s/w
4. Is there Research / Info on KM impact on Revenues
5. how to bulid points program for customer club
6. Why is 'STRATEGY' different from 'MARKETING'
7. Metrics for adding employees to centralized Mktng
8. casscading information in large office
9. How do I structure syndication of ezine content?
10. Developing a qualified prospect list.

RESOURCE REFERRAL: SEARCH TERM SUGGESTION TOOL

Thanks to DavidatHaley for passing along another handy resource:

"I was just playing with the Search Term Suggestion Tool at Overture.com and found it to be worth a few minutes of my time."

I played with it too, and decided it's an awfully quick way to brainstorm a giant list of search terms. It's also interesting to see how popular the possible variations are with searchers.

Resource: http://www.content.overture.com/d/USm/ac/index.jhtml (click on "Search Term Suggestion Tool")

I'm always looking for resources to share with our readers. If you know of one, send me a blurb. I'll send you 250 Question Points.

LESSONS LEARNED: HOW TO FIGHT PIRATES

Last week beat.attinger asked a question about the spare parts business. In short: How do we battle fierce competition from low-cost pirates without getting into a price war? Here are some insights from the conversation that followed.

• Rajiv Badlani: It is human nature and prudent business practice to seek the best value for money one can get. If a lower priced product can deliver better value, you'd buy it, wouldn't you? If you can tangibly demonstrate the superiority of your product and clearly differentiate it, you don’t have a problem. But if this isn’t feasible ... here are some options: 1) Announce an upgrade retrofitted free to those who have never used an outside vendor’s parts. 2) License your pirates. 3) Maybe even certify their products for a fee. 4) Or, consider getting out of a sector that doesn’t have anything left to offer you.
• jose04: Educate the client that getting your licensed product is valuable. Show them (prove it to them) that buying from you will save money in the long-run. ... For industrial products, clients value relationships, trouble-free services and lower long-term costs. At any cost they wouldn't trade short-term profits for machinery breakdowns. Prove that [you're the long-term solution]. If you find it difficult to do so, it means the pirates make their copy better than the original. Then, either you learn their trade and do it better, or run. Your cash cow is not working anymore.
• aosterday: Why don't you say just what you told us - there are pirated parts out there made in other countries, but that your product is conceived, designed and manufactured in the good 'ol USA. By Americans for Americans. When it comes to machinery, an IUSA stamp says quality.
• Vevolution: How about playing off the reliability angle? "That pirated part may cost less intially, but how many times will you have to replace it within the life expectancy of our quality parts? What does that down-time cost you? Are you really saving money? Plus, what guarantee do you have that the 'pirate' will be there when their part breaks?" People want to feel secure in their purchasing decisions.
• thinkmor™: We had a similar problem in Eastern Europe for an electronics brand with grey imports. You can extend Gary's reliability suggestions to offer a Service Guarantee Certificate for your parts that have extra value for your customers. Use your customer lifetime value to find what additional offers you can incorporate with your value propositions into the equation. Additionally, you can do a sales promotion to incorporate your Service Guarantee Certificates as a double incentive.Communicate this to your dealers, agents, network and make a campaign out of it.
• w.j.macarthur: Remember it is the "perceived value," not the cost or price that concerns a customer. Look at adding value to your spare parts with such things as: a) Just-in-time delivery; b) Holding fast moving stock in-country; c) Providing credit facilities if appropriate; d) In-country trained and certified service people offering 24/7 service; e) Guarantees; f) Provide a cost analysis [show replacement costs: down-time, reduced productivity & client satisfaction]; g) Freight free delivery. Final note: We all will pay more for service, so explore ways to add service and value to your business.
• virago: Let me ask you this - how do you market your spare parts? Are they just "spare parts" or "genuine spare parts"? By trademarking and branding your spare parts SO pirated companies cannot copy them. ... One of the best examples I saw on spare parts was in Australia. Toyota Genuine Parts was marketed to car dealerships and end users to try and reduce the use of pirated products. It has been running for many years with many of the suggestions that macarthur above mentioned but the difference was if you didn't use the geninue parts you would void your warranty on your vehicle. ... Also you have to determine if you want to keep your margins or keep your business.
• jcmedinave: The best way is to advertise and alert people about the differences between the original parts and copies. Are there differences? Not only in the appearance, but in the functionality and benefits. Advertise the differences in the same product, send them to the current customers, develop alliances with government departments in charge of taxes and interested in consuming legal parts.

The Question: Spare Parts Business: How To Fight Pirates and Defend Market Share?

TIPS & TRICKS: MY OPEN QS

A few weeks ago we added the "My Open Qs" link in the right nav box. You'll find it under "Account Info" when you're logged in. This feature gives you easy access to your own personal list of Open Questions.

One of the great things about this feature is now you don't have to hold onto the email alerts with links to your question, just to navigate back to it. Also, if one of our moderators moves your question to a better category, you won't have to search all over the place to find it.

So please do take advantage of this feature the next time you have a question running. And let us know any time you think of something else that would make KHE easier for you to use.

Have a question? Ask the experts.

Post a brief synopsis below, and invite other members to offer their feedback.

My Question Title

COMMUNITY LEADERS

As of this week, these are our superstars! The Most Inquisitive are those who have asked the most questions. (Where there's a tie, we broke it based on number of points they offered for their questions.) The Most Expert are those with the highest number of Cumulative Points (given to them by question authors for offering helpful answers).

NOTE: These are our top members as of midday September 9, 2004

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: MEET DEREMIAH, *CPE

Anyone who has interacted with Deremiah, *CPE since he joined us two months ago knows what a warm-hearted and unique character he is. This week we get to learn a little more about him.

Where are you based?
Saint Charles, Illinois, U.S.A.

What do you do in real-life?
I'm the world's only *CPE, Customer Passion Evangelist. Through public speaking, teaching and training I evangelize customers with passion.

Tell us about your company.
*CPE is a consulting service "Inspired to teach you how to build creative synergy, effective implementation of ideas, marvelous communication techniques and long-term relationships." Through it I successfully provide customized, entertaining, content-rich presentations for any of your public-speaking or training engagements. My approach is to interview professionals in an organization - from executives all the way down - to get a better picture of what is working in a company and what isn't. I can offer your organization multi-faceted solutions and peace of mind for problems that non-profit organizations, schools and corporations face on a daily basis. My solutions come bundled as either personal or professional development.

I've worked with many clients offering mostly inspirational presentations that motivate people through life-changing concepts. My ideal client loves for me to come in and help them strengthen their internal skill sets and emotional qualities. This will help people in their organization tap into the real human potential they already possess. Specifically you will gain the knowledge and expertise to create win-win situations in your relationships and this will make you more happier, healthier and wealthier. My mission is to create a world of servants so that people will effectively run powerful companies by positioning the power of service.

Explain your Community Name.
My community name is a combination of my birth name (Deremiah) which is a Jewish name in Hebrew that means "Jehovah does succeed" and my company name (*CPE). For several years this has become my stage name in business circles. Please don't tell Cal I said you can Google me to find out more.

What is your favorite marketing book? Why?
The Bible. Because it has so many marketing ideas and marketing solutions.

How did you get started in marketing?
Well to answer that question honestly: Just about all my life. I got started one day around 5 years old when my cousins had taken me to downtown Chicago to go shoe shining. While they were not having much luck getting clients they consulted with me about how to get customers to allow them to give them a shoe shine. I told them to have a shoe shining contest where one person would shine one customers shoe and the other would shine the customers other shoe. Then the customer would allow me to judge which one was best. It went over big and they made a lot of money and I even got a few tips from the customers. Then at 11 I bought some flower seeds from a comic book that I sold in the neighborhood. I learned a lot about why people would buy and why they would not.

Do you have a mentor?
I probably learned my greatest insights from my mentor Mark Victor Hansen, co-author of Chicken Soup For The Soul. He taught me that you can get more out of life simply by knowing how to ask people to help you. He also taught me to draw many huge benefits out of one idea. My other mentor was a Jewish woman named Anita Gold who I call moma. She taught me everything I know about how to create amazing PR, sales and marketing campaigns that repeatedly successfully work over and over again.

Do you have a favorite gadget/tool?
Yes it's called Favor. It's a great tool that helps you to accomplish so much more and often times at no cost to you. Their is a proverb that says: "Favor is better than Silver or Gold." There is nothing like the favor of others.

Have you made any offline connections with KHErs?
Yes, plenty but I believe that's only because people are not afraid to reach out to me after reading my profile.

Do you have any advice for new members of KHE?
Yes. Go through the KHE archives they are full of a great deal of the answers you are seeking. Jump in, read a lot and share your knowledge.

Do you have a favorite quote you want to share?
Benjamin Franklin said: "If the facts don't support the theory then change your theory."

He also said "Don't pay too much for the whistle. I think that humanity brings much misery on itself by the false value they put on things. By their giving away too much for the whistle."

Is there anything else you would like to say?
Stop doing what you can. Do what seems impossible. Do what you LOVE & LIVE with PASSION!

COMMUNITY STATS

Active Unique Participants (to date): 2,580
Closed Questions (to date): 2,846
Currently Open Questions: 74
Total Responses (to date): 20,927
Subscribers to this newsletter: 9,297

YOUR ACCOUNT SUMMARY

These numbers come directly from YOUR profile. Question Points tells you how many points you have available for asking questions in the forum. Expert Points indicates your standing in the community based on answers you have posted. Visit this FAQ, if you want to know more.

Question Points: %%PointsBalance%%
Expert Points: %%PointsCum%%

Click here to buy more Question Points

SUCCESS STORY

This week's Success Story comes to us from Aleerak.

"I have just started a Master of Business – Marketing program. However, I do not have a marketing degree, I have a psychology degree. So despite reading all I can on marketing, there is still a lot I don’t know. Discovering MarketingProfs by chance on the Web helped alleviate my stress and confusion as I was completely drawing a blank on one of my questions for a paper I was writing. The responses were amazing – clear, concise and precisely what I needed to be able to understand my question and answer it correctly. I would recommend MarketingProfs in a flash."

The Question: Cultural Meanings

SPECIAL THANKS

Thank you, Deremiah, *CPE, DavidatHaley and Aleerak for providing content for this newsletter. And thanks to all the following community members who have emailed or posted suggestions, technical reports or questions in the last week. Your feedback and energy drives this community's development. We couldn't do it without you!

Jett, SRyan, ASVP/ChrisB, Vevolution, mbarber, Jim Deveau/Catalyst, JBtron, tjh, SteveB, Pepper Blue, Den E V, Suze, kenyoncrowley, Tricia Syed, jamesmcroy, ohallost, dalexander, masad, nayanleke, sumithra, twhyman, Marie, mintsburger, alice, wasim_hnl, Doug I, kassean, Mike Schultz, hadanisr, Sweetasman01, emily.jelsomeno, joe, bgraham, axx, passara, Deremiah, *CPE, Peter (got points?)

LAST LAUGH

I like to end with a smile. So this space is dedicated to something amusing I find posted in our forum.

I thought it might be fun to plug an OPEN question, for a change. This is one you all can jump in on. A nice 'n easy marketing-related conversation for the end of the week, brought to us by mjklanac.

The Discussion: What's the Best Marketing Joke You've Heard?

Forum Feedback: The Know-How Exchange is still young. So we're constantly refining how things work. We have a gigantic list of action items, and your feedback helps us prioritize it. So please feel free to reply to this email with any suggestions. Thanks, in advance, for your time!

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