OUT of the Frying Pan into the F!re

Most of us do not have a part time or rather full time job and summers are the only time we can earn those big bucks for ourselves. So why do we intern?

Simple, so that we aren’t completely blank on our first, full time, money earning job! But that’s only till you are a student, the next step is “out of the frying pan into the fire, I mean the job”

Finally the competition’s over and your job on, now what? What can you expect on the first day of the job?

After stunning your employer with your cover letter, resume, and interview, what do you have to do and what should you know? A few things you might be able to expect:

1^st Meeting with boss.

One purpose of the first meeting with your supervisor is for you to find out exactly what kind of fire you’ve gotten yourself into. In this meeting, you should be able to determine your supervisor’s expectations of you and clarify your areas of responsibility of your new position. It is also an opportunity for you to voice your goals and objectives, and ask any questions you may have at this time. (or forever be silent :D)

2^nd Round.

You will most likely be taken around for a tour of the place, showing you your work space. This is your first chance to meet everyone in your work environment and find out the people with whom you’ll be working or running into during your time there. Most are accommodating of new employees and you’ll learn soon who’ll be your fire extinguisher.

3^rd Get to know where’s what.

It’s really bad to get lost in your work place, try finding out where the café is the bathroom, the nearest exit, the elevator or even codes to the doors. It would be embarrassing if a stranger walks into you looks at your office ID card and wants directions to some place .

4^th Familiarize yourself.

Read any literature about your job and the company you’re hired by. Go through any materials that may have been left for you by your supervisor or former employees in your position. Get hold of some sample projects that previous employees have held in that position before you. Browse through old files on your computer system or through the department’s internet or intranet site. Go through hard copy files in the filing cabinet. Yes and since the work environment leans on an internet connection, make sure yours is working.

5^th Lots to learn.

Some of you may be left with lots of room to learn the ropes on your own as you go. Or, you may receive some form of formal or informal training in how to do your responsibilities and training in the company procedures and policies.

6^th It’s your turn now!

Everyone has their own experiences to learn, reuse and tell. After getting out of FC we have to find our ways around these tunnels but thats two years from now........

Competitor Analysis Framework

Michael Porter suggested a framework for evaluating competitors. This framework is based on the following four key aspects of a competitor:

· Competitor’s Objectives

· Competitor’s assumptions

· Competitor’s strategy

· Competitor’s capabilities

Objectives and assumption drive a competitor and strategy and capabilities are what the competitor is doing or is capable of doing.

Competitor’s Objectives

Knowing your competitors objectives facilitates a better prediction to the competitor’s reaction to the different competitive moves.

Whether the competitor is meeting its objective provides an indication of how likely it is to change its strategy.

Competitor’s Assumptions

A competitor’s assumption maybe based on a number of factors such as

· Beliefs about its competitive position

· Past experience with a product

· Regional factors

· Industry trends

A comprehensive Competitor’s analysis also would include the assumptions a competitor makes about its own competitors and whether that assessment is accurate.

Competitor’s Strategy

The two main sources of information about a competitor’s strategy are what the company says and what it does. The stated strategy however differs from what the competitor actually is doing. What the company is doing is evident where its cash flow is directed.

Competitor’s Capabilities

Information of the competitor’s assumptions, objective, and current strategy is useful in understanding how the competitor might want to respond to a competitive attack. However, its resources and capabilities determine its ABILITY to respond effectively to an attack.

Ways to Advertise

Ways to Advertise 

Small local businesses who target their local community often overlook some very simple easy and cost effective ways of advertising. These low-cost methods are not generally so suitable for big corporations with big budgets, but these ideas can be very effective (and very inexpensive) for small businesses and self-employed people targeting the local area with small advertising budgets.

Here is a quick list of these local advertising ideas, which with a little imagination and selective effort can be developed into a very effective local advertising campaign, providing a continuous pipeline of new business:

• Posters in windows and on notice boards, and in staff rooms of local businesses.
• A promotional stall at a convenient store or a famous store.
• A stall or leafleting presence at a local relevant gathering or event. (School, College parties)
• Using leaflets or business cards in dispensers where local people sit and wait or queue or gather, for example: at the doctor's clinic, dentists, vets, tourist information office, outpatients departments, library, day care centers, post offices, newsagents, hairdressers, salons, takeaways, cafes, hotels, restaurants, golf clubs, fitness centres, etc.
• Regularly giving news and interesting pictures about your work to your local newspaper (see PR below), or perhaps even writing a regular column relating to your specialism in the local free newspaper or magazine.
• Offering existing customers an incentive (gift of some sort, or money off your next supply) for introducing a friend as a new customer for you.
• Door-to-door leaflet distribution through the postal service or other suitable service.
• Local trade directories - typically monthly publications distributed to the local community.
• Targeting special offers at local big employers, through their PR and/or HR/social activities.

While most of these methods are for small companies and local campaigns, a few can certainly be adapted and used effectively by big organizations with surprisingly good and cost-effective results.

Try Listening to the customer

(i just had to copy paste this)

When IDEO remodeled the shopping cart it went out to the customers for suggestions of how to make the cart better. Listening to the customer is VERY important, it's them we are serving.

Telemarketing

Remember the first combined class we had and Sir. Mannan talked about "not" annoying the customer. I came across this cartoon which just says it out loud.

'Telemarketing is irritating"

Telemarketing has become a nuisance to people, as marketers tend to call during work hours, dinner time or the relaxation hours. With the image of fraud schemes associated with telemarketing, people tend to resist the promotion and if pressurized the conversation will definitely have a negative outcome.

After thought

Haven't you ever been disappointed by Warid's "down load our new ring tone and wall paper for Rs.10/ excluding tax."

CHAP 11 Pricing

Even though the book doesn't talk about Economy Pricing and Premium I thought it's good if we know it.

Premium Pricing:

High price, High quality

This is usually seen with luxury products and services.

Cruises, hotels and air travel.

Penetration Pricing:

Low price, High quality

This pricing strategy sets a low price inorder to attract a large number of sales.

Dell, France Telecom, Sky TV

Economy Pricing:

Low price, Low quality

The strategy is used for goods that have low consumer involvement.

Salt, soup.

Skimming Pricing:

High Price, Low quality

This strategy sets a high price for a good new to the market attracting a large profit even if sales are low.

Sony's HDTV, Digital watches.