researching your client

marketing entering the web space

Thankfully the net gives us an option to sell anything from anywhere.
Your customers knows what they want. Do you know who your customers are?
What should be the next communication
I notice that many entreprenurs send WhatsApp messages to friends expecting them to be forwarded along the way and their brand or their product to become famous in this way. However this hardly happens. What does happen is that the WhatsApp message is limited to some groups and does not create any kind of buzz or reaction. Some people have email addresses of friends and they repeat the same Whatsapp exercise with email and expect better resultse are friends to forward the messages to the people India friend's email is the whole exercise is meant Tu advertise there brand products unfortunately nothing happens. What do you think is the problem? The problem is very obvious that people who matter are not seeing the message. The message is seen by people who may sympathize with the sender but are not interested in the product. So the first step for any small entrepreneur of business should be to collect email addresses over phone numbers of people who are actually interested in their products. Now this is the tricky part. How do you get the contacts of your potential customers. This is achieved in two ways. 1 find them on social media through social media advertising. Or talk about your product in such a way that will help your customer m it it is obvious that your customer that your product is built to help your customer to do a certain thing or solve a certain problem you have to write about that problem you have to talk about that problem and how your product or service solve that problem.
Where do you find your audience
A friend of mine had a shoe shop and wanted to go online. Similarly another friend had a watch shop. They asked me to help. We made a website for them with their items to sell.
Preliminary guess work: men, formal
Watch older men
We went to Amazon and Flipkart and other similar sites and observed what they customers were upto. How they appreciated the products they liked whatever kinds of words they used to criticise the products they rejected.
The next step we wrote product descriptions using those praises

Identifying your buyers
Go to Amazon and to your niche product. Look at the customer reviews. Notice the words they use to express their concerns on voice their appreciation. It is just like talking. You do that all the time.
Make a social media page and share
The road is long and hard
Talking to kids or adults. Speaking your buyers language.

Talking clients or bosses and friends

Finding the right buyer

Marketing to you clients - finding the right target audience

Customer avatar. 

Many new business owners even to this day complain to me about not getting enough customers even after putting up bright hoardings near their shops. The most recent one was a person referred to me by another client. This person sold health equipment.  Although my first question usually is why would they start a business in a place like the one they are located the question itself is to find out the kind of research that had gone into their decision. Unless they are selling mutton kebabs in a predominantly Jain locality, I would not mind any location. With all due respect to the 'location, location, location' quote I have seen shops in narrow lanes doing better than some on the best junction. In fact, I am witness to two leased space diagonally opposite each other on the best location in my area being a jinxed that you will find it put up for hire every year. The old tenants usually went out of business and the new one very hopeful because he now has the prime albeit the must expensive space in the area.

Building the right buyer persona.

Whatever your product your buyer is the one who wants to buy your product. Not to one who you want to sell. Sounds cheeky. It is in a way. When we open shop we would like to see all kinds of customers. Our kind of customers. But many times this is not possible. Is we sell blazers and suits then customers for blazers will walk in. And if we are selling jeans then people who wear jeans will come to us. A businessman well hope everybody under the sun buys from him. This is not possible either. What we need to find is what the customer wants and why.

Who is your customer?

My customer is the person who is savvy, talks slick and stays in touch with the news. But the guy who wants my blazer works in the local hotel at the reception and doesn't care what's happening in the world. He is wearing the blazer only because his boss has made it compulsory and is giving him the allowance to buy the clothes. This guy may want to save some money in the bargain. But here's the catch either ways he wants to look great in his blazer. He would not want to compromise on that. But here is another angle. I don't want to sell to people like that. I want to sell expensive stuff to expensive people. Did we talk about location? For this we need to be at the right place. Where our buyers would like to go out and buy and not be in a place where my buyers would not go. 

Then there is the message. Is my buyer buying for office use or for regular use. Is he young and savvy or happy go lucky casual high flyer or the no nonsense, attention to detail guy.

Attracting the buyer with the right carrot.

There are two types of carrots. One is aspiration and two is fear. Or in other words the good carrot and the bad carrot. The good carrot will include it client for suits a blazers eager to appear trendy to the opposite sex. Or he wants to appear well to do. Or casual not a care for the world person. Or someone who is completely into his work. Like xyz says to Anne Hathaway in the movie 'The Devil wears Prada' that your devil may care attitude look was designed in this very office.' And it is not about guess work but about data. Actual information. You cannot walk into someone's office and pretend to know him. You risk being labelled as a Hustler. 

The bad carrot is fear. That may be just the opposite of his aspiration. Fear that someone will point out a flaw in the suit and label him an impersonator. So if the guy wants to look like this Armani wearing slick go getter but he suit doesn't fit then he has had it. He might as well wear a track suit to the meeting. 

The Apple with the carrot

Once you know your buyer you should know what he likes. This includes things other than your products. Dale Carnegie talks about rapport in his book 'How to make friends and influence people.' he says that the most successful salesmen do not rush in to make the sale but try to find out what their client is interested in and talk about that. He talks of a salesman who was given a few minutes to make his pitch to a wealthy businessman and that guy wasted the time talking about the potential customer's love for xyz. Wasted did I say. He made a friend for life and got orders that he hasn't even expected.

We find that the best way to market ourselves is not to market but make friends. That's the basic idea behind marketing. And that's what I have noticed in many shops. One of my uncles is such a sweet talker that people came to him solely because he smiled and greeted everyone and in some days became a good friend of any customer. The man was not a shop owner but a salesman. He was qualified but a physical ailment restricted his movements. A little experience in a pharmacy shop have him a pharmacy experience. And he usually stuck to that job profile. However, he did change his place of residence frequently. His employers would usually beg him to stay. But I did notice wherever he went he gathered his own'friends' and a visit to meet him at the shop where he would start working would usually mean meeting his new customers. He knew their names, their spouses names and what they did and where they lived. This by a man sitting in a pharmacy and who can hardly move. And that was his strength. He took care of not only talking to the customers with obvious cheer and a feeling of genuine happiness to have met them. That is the trick to get customers and grow your business. And if you believe it may easy for local shops but not big organisations. Then you couldn't be further from the truth. Because social media now gives you a chance to meet everyone and know what they like and dislike.

We live in a time where the market seems to be saturated with any product or service you can imagine. While the competition looks killing it also gives us a chance to know insights about customers in our niche or similar areas. Online e-commerce sites are great places to hang out and listen to praise and criticism about products and services. Since many organisations are using social media to engage customers you can find feedback on products and services the too. Similarly Google reviews too gives valuable insights.

Hang out and see what customers are saying. The good. The bad. Find out how you can use the good to market your product and the bad to tell customers

by Sauban Pathan, Communication Expert. He is a marketing communication adviser and strategist for many organisations.

Story telling

story telling, experiences.

David Ogilvy said to the truth but make it fantastic

Simon sinek ; people don't buy that you do they buy why you do it.

Why, how, what; check the golden circle

We are :

Content experts who firmly believe content is truly king.

Communication experts who know what to say and how to nurture relationships.

Copy writers and content writers who understand marketing and engaging a customer and nurturing him from awareness to being a loyal customer.

A platform for content writers and copy writers to work at their convenience.

Marketing communication experts. if you have something to sell 

We make sure your customer finds you. 

your customer will find you. trust us.

the right message to the right person.

content marketing. etc

mission statement : to market products and services for businesses and professionals leaving them free to improve and nurture their core competency 

How do you get your business communication right

How do you get your business communication right -- this article has to be great from a business point of view and rehashed to be be personal point of view.

What is your business communication? And how do you get it right.

What does the world make of you. How do they form an opinion about what you do and indirectly who you are depends on the signals you send out to the people who are watching you. Whether you are a single person who trains people or a motivational speaker or a company your  signal is the message you send out to your customers and your potential clients. The message is sent out in many ways. Your  name, your logo that includes the colours you choose. Your adverting, your information, your packaging. The interaction with your customers on social media, phone and in person. Not only your customer care but also the people who deliver your products. The package design. I would go as far as saying everything a customer or potential customer can see about you is your message. 

There are many aspects of your message that you can control directly and we will start with your vision about what you do or what you want to do.

Remember that your brand persona should be one of a friend that adds value to your customers life.

A lot of existing businesses and startups do not bother with their vision. They believe that a vision statement is just cosmetic adornment on the website or brochure. No. It is not. You need to be very clear what value your business is bringing to the consumers table. It has been amply proven that people are not loyal to products but to personas they would like to be associated with. Simon Sinek who is he said "People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it." Nobody recommends a product that doesn't evoke any emotion. 

"Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion." - Jack Welch 

A vision is not just for the consumer, but it is also for you and your employees. As I stated earlier you should understand for yourself what value you want to give to the customer and where you see your company in the long run. Write down your thoughts on a piece of paper and look at it from your customers point of view it as yourself as a customer. Would you like what you've written? Honestly, it doesn't have to be likeable because it is more of a driver for you than for your customer but certainly it shouldn't be blatantly Hitler-ish. But let's look at some vision and mission statements. 

Amazon

"Our vision is to be earth’s most customer centric company; to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online.”

Amazon was not always an online marketplace for everything under the sun. It used to sell books at one time. Today we all know Amazon as a global phenomenon tinkering with the idea of same day delivery through drones. Was this what they thought of when Jeff bezos started the company? Probably not. However, their mission statement is certainly a big dream for a startup. So dream big when you think of the future of the company. It certainly will make the investors happy. At the same time vision statements don't change over time. Nobody's putting a gun to your head, but it's nice to have a long term vision and start low then to have a low vision and keep changing it after every milestone.

Another online marketplace eBay has a vision statement that stated sometime ago:

At eBay, our mission is to provide a global online marketplace where practically anyone can trade practically anything, enabling economic opportunity around the world." 

They changed their vision to this:

Our mission is to be the world’s favorite destination for discovering great value and unique selection.

As I said nobody's putting a gun to your head. You write down your vision as if it is written in stone. However, down the years you believe that your vision needs an eye check go ahead and do it. Don't however wait to get down your vision statement. 

Now that it's amply clear that your vision statement need not be a small target but should be a long term goal that you dream to achieve. Once you have that jotted down, you start planning the how. 

The how is is a step by step plan to achieve your dream.

This is well illustrated with the soft drink giant coca Cola's vision.

What about a well known consumer product

Coca cola..

The Coca Cola Company Mission

Our mission is:

To refresh the world in mind, body and spirit

To inspire moments of optimism and happiness through our brands and actions

To create value and make a difference.

The Coca Cola Company Vision

To achieve our mission, we have developed a set of goals, which we will work with our bottlers to deliver:

People: Inspiring each other to be the best we can be by providing a great place to work

Portfolio: Offering the world a portfolio of drinks brands that anticipate and satisfy people's desires and needs

Partners: Nurturing a winning network of partners and building mutual loyalty

Planet: Being a responsible global citizen that makes a difference by helping to build and support sustainable communities

Profit: Maximising long-term return to shareholders, while being mindful of our overall responsibilities

Productivity: Being a highly effective, lean and fast-moving organisation.

The Coca Cola Company Values

Our shared values guide our actions and describe how we behave in the world:

Leadership: The courage to shape a better future

Collaboration: Leverage collective genius

Integrity: Be real

Accountability: If it is to be, it's up to me

Passion: Committed in heart and mind

Diversity: As inclusive as our brands

Quality: What we do, we do well

 

Or Nike .

It is quite possible you use one of the brands given above. If you have had a good experience with the brand you may even have liked the statement it makes, but if you had a bad experience with anyone of those brands then you may have muttered 'yeh right' under your breath. At this time you should know that your personal experience doesn't make a difference to the thousands of satisfied customers of those brands. And there are bound to be goof-ups along the way. Unless you are making more mistakes than doing the right thing then you can even make small goof ups work in your favour.

Let's take the example of a niche product like Chanel

The purpose of your vision is not just to show the world that you are committed to your cause and they need to believe that you are committed if you want people to join you but it is also like a reminder to you to remind you what you need to achieve. When you are getting down and unmotivated this is what should get you out of bed on a bad day. Navjot Singh Sidhu the Indian cricketer and two times MP talks about a time when he was kicked out of the Indian cricket team. There was an article in the Indian express by Rajan Bala calling him a stroke less wonder. Sidhu a famous celebrity now after a successful career in cricket says he put the article on his cupboard to remind him to get back into the team. After a lot of hard work and pain his reward was he was known as a stroke master and the same journalist praising his improved form years later.

Not everyone has a vision let alone a vision statement. And that's why most people go through life without making a mark on the timeline. Write down your vision statement today and once you have done that plan how you will achieve it. Make it a life statement for you look at it everyday and work towards achieving your goal milestone by milestone. Best of luck. Stay focused

Practice with Nouns Adjectives and Possessive

How to be successful

To be successful at anything you should have knowledge what success in that particular field is. You want to be successful in a business. You want to be successful in your profession. You may be a salaried person and want to be successful at what you do. Success may be a promotion. Maybe you want to be successful with your family. For many success is simply being happy, or being famous, or having money.

In my years of experience teaching communication skills I learnt that success to many young people was having a big house, a big brand car and a swanky office. Some even had thought of the interior design of the office, the location of their house and the brand of car they would own when they were successful. However, the one thing they had not thought about was how they would achieve this. To have a dream is not bad, but most people are not dreaming about their goals, but the benefits of their goals. 

If someone says he or she wants to have a Mercedes or a BMW or a Bugatti or Ferrari that is at most a short term goal or a low aim. It is usually a joke to say you want a Toyota in life. Everybody will chide you for not being ambitious and setting low goals and the person may even pride himself to be practical. But neither side will usually ask how? The most important question in the whole equation, how? While a group of people believe that success is a lot of hard work and loads of luck, another group feels working smart not hard and having the right contacts not luck will bring success. Both sides are right to a certain degree.

Your goals whatever you define them to be - a big branded car, a home in the city's swankiest localities has to be backed up by a plan. So instead of arguing about ambitions and goals, plan how to get it done. 

I had a colleague who wanted a corner office with some employees working for her. I thought she was pleasantly ambitious. Unfortunately she did not have a plan. One day she came up to me and introduced me to a young fellow as her fiance. I felt that she looked far more beautiful than he deserved but who was I to judge. Love is blind. She had met him in one of the events we used to organise. Some days later she informed me she had decided to get married to the guy. As a good friend I was happy for her at the same time raised some concerns about how they had just met and it was too early. I stopped myself for worrying too much. I thought it was probably because I felt the boy was not a match to my friend and that was preventing me for being happy for her. However, in the course of our discussions she said something so wild I almost fell out of my seat. She told me not to worry about her since she was actually marrying to get that corner office she dreamed about always. This guy had the means to get that for her. I was convinced she had lost her marbles and tried to reason with her. Now even more argumentatively. But she wouldn't hear of it. I am sorry to say that story did not end well and you can understand why.

This story illustrates that when you don't have a plan and grab at the first opportunity you believe is golden it could be a huge risk. If it doesn't work out, like in the case of my friend, but it could be worse when you have a degree of success but are stuck with something you do not enjoy or even hate doing. 

So the first step you should take today is to plan. Write down the first thing that comes to your mind regarding your success. We have a long way to go. Write down what you wish you would love to do only if somebody pays for it. Sleeping is not an option but anything productive it could even be doodling. Sit back and take a long look at what you have written and ask yourself would you do that work day in and day out yet feel absolutely comfortable. 

One thing to remember here is that whatever you choose you are bound to get bored. But mind you there are two types of bored. One is getting bored of something where you don't want to see or hear about it ever again. Like a person I knew. He wanted to be a car mechanic but a couple of months into the job he shuddered to even think about going back and one day he simply left the job never to return. So much so that the smell of petrol or grease made he sick. But the other kind of bored is that you need a break which can be easily solved by a small vacation in a nice attractive place paid by the money you earn doing what you like. 

One more thing is that if you are doing what you like then it becomes so easy for you that it is like breathing you can do it in your sleep. 

Once you have decided that what you've written is final, wrap the paper and put it near your bed. Handy. If you believe not then repeat the exercise. Go to sleep at night. After you are fresh take a look at the what you have written again. If you still believe you are willing to do that all your life. If you believe that every day you get up and are willing to go so that work with all your passion then You are ready to take the next step.

The state of affairs

This is one of the old trains the British built for us during their rules and now is part of the railways museum in Maharashtra. Believable? Of course it is. What is not believable is that at this time when we are planning metros across the city of Mumbai and bullet trains across the to reduce travel time, this is a train that is part of the harbour line fleet today in 2017.

In other words we have progressed so slowly that immortals have died waiting for us to become a vibrant economy.

We are fed with plans and dreams but are given lies and feel happy solutions. We are kept in fear all the time. Fear of a country attacking is, a community overtaking us and changing our values

The night the ghost got in

.
Summary:
This is a story of one night in the author's house. These extracts are from a fiction book by James Thurber : My life and hard times. It is an auto biographical story that means the author is writing about himself. But it is fiction as I said before.
The story starts with the author coming out of the bathroom after a bath and drying himself. That's when he hears footsteps downstairs near the dining table. He wakes up his brother Herman. Herman got scared and ran back into his room and slammed the door shut. James shut the staircase door. Hearing all the commotion woke their mother who came out and demanded to know what was happening. Although the author and his brother thought the sounds had been made by a ghost but they told mother that they believed there was a burglar in the house. Mother wanted to call the police, but the phone was downstairs. So she the her shoes at the neighbors window to ask them to call the police.
The police came along with some reporters. The police searched downstairs and when they found nothing they came upstairs to tell mother. That's when they heard the author's grandfather in the attic. They rushed upstairs to the attic. Grandfather believed he was still in the war and as soon as the police entered the attic started shooting at them.
After all the police managed to come out of the attic one of the reporters asked James about the matter. James told him about the ghost. At this all the policemen left.

Another lynching

Another lynching. Mob mentality. Education Modi response. He talks of the mahatma. Meanwhile another mob gets lynched.

Junaid's death strikes a chord because he is a child. Just 15 years old he hardly knew Indian politics had come down to. How low we've become. Doing everything wrong yet riding our high horse. Junaid simply wanted to get in his new clothes and celebrate an auspicious day he had been waiting for a long time. It is unthinkable what those goons wanted to prove by killing the child. Mohamed Akhlaq was killed for the same reason and so was the techie from Pune and so was the old man from Alvsr. 'Beef ? No! Because they were Muslim. 

Prime minister Modi issued a statement condemning the killing, and it is very obvious to many people why his statement is just a farce. First, everybody knows he became Prime Minister on that agenda. Creating hatred towards Muslims and promising everything under the sun for Hindus. So what he is now saying is opposite of what he has been saying for the past so many years. Ask Rajdeep Sardesai and all the journalists who asked him if regretted what happened in Gujarat. 

The second reason why he is obviously not sincere in his anguish is that he invoked the mahatma. He said the Mahatma would not approve. The Mahatma, as everyone knows is one of the most hated figures of the RSS. RSS is the organisation from where Nathuram Godse the Mahatma's killer originated. They and it's break away factions celebrate Nathuram Godse's birthday. So invoking the mahatma is like talking about the teacher who you do not like and make fun of always. Mr Patel will not approve. The rest of your gang know you are being sarcastic and Mr Patel's injunctions are meant to be broken. Even while he released his statement saying these killings are wrong lynch mobs are doing their work unbated. 

DO THE LYNCHINGS HAVE STATE’S BLESSINGS

The mosque as a knowledge center

In a series of small posts I will try to explore the feasibility of mosques as schools. I write this article to find a solution to some problems that seems to be invisible to most Muslims. At the same time this article is an attempt to reach out to like minded Muslims who can see the problems, but have not been able to voice their concerns about the current education scenario of Muslims in Mumbai.

In the first part I will put forward some of the problems I have observed:

1: Vacant Spaces: Many mosques in Mumbai are huge and can accommodate 2 schools. Most of them at least one. However, these huge structures are empty most of the time except on Fridays. Friday afternoon prayers are the only time the mosques seem to be buzzing with activity. In fact, many Imams and Maulanas lament about this in their sermons. The only other activity that may be happening in these mosques other than trustee meetings is the learning of Arabic. Unfortunately, learning of Arabic doesn't mean learning the beautiful language of the Holy Qur'an, but simply the phonetics of the alphabets that children will learn to mimic with proper pronunciation without understanding a single word of this divine message.

2: Christian Run Schools. Schools run by christian churches have been known to try to influence students that Christianity is a better religion and Islam is bad. Visits to the church and praying to Jesus are part of daily routine in such schools. There have been incidents where convent schools have gone out of their way to pressurize students fasting in the month of Ramadan to break their fasts either by forcing them to drink water or giving them physical tasks that are exhausting. There have been incidents when christian church run schools have flat refused Muslims admission to schools because of their religion and have even offended parents by saying things like "Why educate your child since he is going to grow up to be a terrorist anyway?"

3. Muslim Run Schools: These are of two types. One - old Urdu medium schools. Urdu maybe the language Muslim grand parents identify as Muslim Language. The fact is that it isn't. English is a language that gets decent jobs to a vast workforce that steps out of schools and colleges. Knowing Urdu as a language is not bad, but knowing only that language puts students at a disadvantage. Most of the Urdu schools are Government aided and the people in charge of these schools are unwilling to give away that privilege. I will not go into the corruption that may or may not exist to maintain status quo for trustees in charge of these schools, but the same trustees have confessed to me that admissions to Urdu schools is dropping. Parents prefer to send their children to English Medium Schools. Converting the school to English medium is not an option for these schools as one president of an education trust put it - the teachers will be out of work. For some odd number of teachers who are teaching hardly anyone, a vast majority of Muslim children have to seek admission to the next alternative - the Christian run schools.
The second type of Muslim schools are Islamic schools. Most of these newly founded schools are run by opportunistic people who want to cash in on this trend. They rent places to run schools and try to earn profits from well meaning parents who want their children to learn Islam and acquire 'worldly' knowledge also. These schools offer nothing more than a couple of periods of Arabic reading practice and a normal English school for which they charge ridiculously high fees which many Muslim parents cannot afford. Some well meaning schools cannot lower their fees since their operating costs are high because of the rent.

The mosque as a knowledge center 

Local

The local trains are like hell on wheels in summer. Especially the harbour line of Mumbai. No proper ventilation. Dirty. People sitting with shoes and dirty chappals on the benches. Fish traders spitting and spreading diseases and foul smell. Of someone wants to look away outside the compartment then you can see more dirt

Designing school syllabus

While designing any syllabus care has to be taken that 

* Children are not over fed information - sometimes a lot of information is not useful to them yet it is in syllabus because educators believe it should be taught. I have always advocated leaving history to higher class and to be optional. Similarly, geography can either be minimised or left for later when a student would choose to know more about the subject. 

* Mathematics and Science too can be minimised so that the child learns only what is necessary. 

* Let's face it most of us have never needed chemistry or trigonometry and other such complex information in our life. Let's leave it to people who choose to learn it and use it, like our doctors and engineers.

* Once the syllabus becomes strictly information that is deemed necessary then we make sure our education institutions implement a learning regime that ensures every child is actually literate when he or she completes his minimum course. Like say by the 7th standard or matriculation. This is better than having students who get certificates but are good for nothing.

Now how do we ensure this happens?

We have to overcome the problem of boredom. We have to keep them interested. We usually force them to learn but they will remember better when they are excited about what they are learning. 

A reference to how it has been done earlier: 

Malcolm Gldadwell in his book The Tippng Point talks about the science and methodology behind the making of a television programme called Sesame Street. He details how by trial and error the channel came up with a formula to keep the children glued to the TV and at the same time learn something. They involved various kinds of scientists and entertainers to come up with a winning formula. Later another team at a rival channel - nickelodeon, came up with a programme called Blues Clues which beat Sesame Street to the TRPs. Apparently Blues Clues was simpler to understand than Sesame Street.

How to get our children to learn

Gc

Good Interior design takes into consideration the clients’ needs for functionality and aesthetics. However, when it comes to investments in design is it possible to go beyond expectations? Further, is it possible to present a holistic design that takes care of all best practices yet helps an organization to achieve its goals?

GC was started with a vision to offer clients with a strategy that contributes towards the progress of their company. GC designers spent a lot of time researching every aspect of design and client expectations to know how to make working space contribute to a firm’s return on design investments. It took numerous conversations and hours of research with clients and stake holders in the architecture and interior design. The result is what GC designers like to call  ROIIDS or Return on Investment Interior Design Strategy.  

ROIIDS is a planning and designing strategy that goes beyond providing the best planning and designing.  ROIIDS provides solutions by merging the functions of interior design with effective marketing and advertising objectives. It takes the client’s vision of his business, his company’s long and short term goals and inculcates it to the employees through design. For example employees not only need to feel happy to come to work, but they need to remember their goals and share the company’s vision. At the same time employees need to get inspired to do their jobs to the optimum. That’s a result of applying ROIIDS in the planning and designing of an office or any work area. ROIIDS is a strategy that helps increase sales, supports marketing and puts technology to optimum use. It is like an entity that is constantly at work along with the employees to improve business.

An example of how ROIIDS works is marketing and advertising psychology which can be seen in mall design. Design can urge a person to pick up an item a customer hasn’t originally planned on buying. Similarly, design can make people evoke emotions such as trust, enthusiasm, focus and loyalty.

GC recently designed a sales office of a reputed builder in Mumbai to make visiting customers feel comfortable, without being overwhelmed and give them the confidence to take a positive decision they were hesitant about.

GC endeavors to be the game changer in the interior design industry. 

How to make a budget for renovation in your house.

Making changes in the house? Home renovation can be a tricky thing and very messy too. However, it doesn't have to be rocket science. You're going to show your contractor the areas you want to get renovated. Let's say its the complete house. You know exactly how high the ceiling is and how long and wide your rooms are.

If you have absolutely no clue how to start making your budget to renovate your home then remember to confine your expenditure to approximately 10 percent of your total house cost. 

A structural change will need a permission from the society if you live in one. If not you need to be clear about the plans since it will be a waste of time and money to regret making a wall or a sub roof once it has been done. In case of structural changes it is usually a good idea to involve an interior designer. Their expertise will come in handy to reduce the cost too which they will then charge you, but on the bright side the change would have been planned and better executed if you tried it on your own.

You need to first decide that you want to make big changes to your house or just do a change of the colour and getting off it since you are now bored of seeing the same old every day.

Once you've decided another easy way to know what you would be spending is to ask contractors to give you a quote based on the work you need to get done. A contractor usually brings along a team of workers leaving you a single point contact to coordinate your work.

Measure your walls. Thankfully they are two dimensional. Length and height. You will find the square feet or square meter of your wall. Length multiplied by height gives you. This is your base calculation for calculating plastering, painting and tiling or anything that you will get done on the walls. Multiply that with the current rate of the work to be done.

For e.g. if your wall height is 10 feet and length is 12 feet that makes it 120 sq feet. Multiplied to 25 Rs will equal to the money you will be spending approximately to paint that wall, Rs 3,000/-. Painting and tiling budgets will differ according to the material you are using. 

Remember the rates will differ not only for each contractor, but also according to your contract terms - only labour and labour plus material. If you decide to let the contractor buy the material it will save you time and energy, but might prove expensive since any discount provided by the stores will go into the contractor's pocket. Only labour contract will make the labour charges skyrocket since the contractor has only his commission on providing labour to you. So he may hike rates. 

Any surface that has smaller (and fixed) width will be measured in running feet. Like the window sill or the border design to your false ceiling or door frames. Plumbing pipes too come in running feet.

Prices for faucets, bathtubs, showers, can be found online or in the local home decoration store.

Plywood is also measured in square feet. There is commercial plywood and marine ply to be used in places where there is a chance of moisture like in the kitchen. 

The electrician's work is measured in number of plug points you ask him to put in your house.

Best of luck with the renovation feel free to write to info@megatown.in for any inquiries.

Neil Patel Digital marketing

Points to remember - Neil Patel
Module 1
Research you client:
Demographics
Who are your customers / who are not
Why do they buy
Why will they buy from you
Where do they live
What do they want
What are their life goals
Male female
What's their convenience and inconvenience
Axiom profile: movies people regrets fears events interests
life nags: anniversary, what they've become, regret not doing
Nightmares and miracles, loss and relief
What they avoid, worst scenario e.g. being there for daughter wedding. Heart attack diabetes scary situation
Best clothes - should fit right

Trigger words
Should have emotional value, motivational value: 10 words write them down and rate them

What is your product
What does it solve
Symbols, metaphors, visual represent, connection to client
What is your ambition - the larger than life aim
Module 2
Competitive intelligence
Key words
Check follow.net, Alexa, ispionage, quant cast, offer vault, spy full,
Identify and reverse engineer competition
Ranking, demographics, bounce rates, back links, keywords, ppc
Module 2
Advertising budgets
Gender education where they are browsing, age, income, children,
High ROI keywords
Module 3
Competitive switching
Competitors swipe files
Data points
Spy fu : adwords used by competition
Ads can be reused after some time and not necessary thrown away
Maybe depending on time of the year. Reuse maybe by tweaking
Use evernote
Competitive sales analysis
And swipe files
Free trial it call performs better
Ramit sethi
Opt in - email sequence - unique email sequence for each product.
You can use Gmail combination like saubanpathan+neil@gmail.com with as many as you like swipe files of competition is good.
Buying pattern analysis
Find reviews and what they are saying. What they liked and disliked.
Offer vault: make a repository of offers
Check ad networks. SEO. Steps in the funnel. CPA.
Reverse engineer technology.
Check out: yahoo small business, crazy eggs.
Find out what tools the competitors website is using for marketing
Make 4 long term brand strategy. Ethos, personality.
Using competitive intelligence for branding. User face book Search. Groups posts, check languages.
Elements of your core sorry.
Your origin story
Why? Where - did you start. What struggles? Where

Module 9
12 April 2017
Titling your lead magnet
The title should describe what the customer will get out of it.
Clear beats clever
1. Be descriptive 2. Tell them the end result. 3. Can be ridiculous, absurd. 4. Shocking numbers or facts or statements: how i lost 36 pounds in 10 weeks with this shocking super food
M9 - landing pages for lead magnet
Getting people to opt in to the free gift
Landing page should not have any other button other than CTA or terms and condition
What do they want and how to take action
They should immediately know what is in it for them
What's the free gift
Button should be the most prominent
Format of a landing page: headline, sub heading, benefits - bullets, credibility, image of gift,
Module 10 - creating a trip wire
What is a trip wire
Not necessary but a good practice. A something important for a low price. Really low price.
Trip wire form. Order form.
Re target pixels.
Thank you page
Video sales letter
Order form elements

What kind of children do we want?

How do or children become what they are? It is a simple question. But most of us do not know the answer. Some of us know and do not care. Only some of us know the answer to this question and care. These are the children who grow up to be the Apple of their parents eyes.

Success mind you it's not the criteria here. Attila the Hun was a successful person, Genghis khan is successful by some standards, but when you call a child the Apple of parents eyes you mean that soon or daughter turned out all right. She was educated and she improved her knowledge. She was given a set of standards and she set them right and proved herself worthy. She set the bar high and she made it look achievable. In other words she has the personality of a winner. She may not be the CEO of an MNC but whoever knows her swears by her intensity and integrity. She may not be a political leader but people are willing to do what she tells them. Now that's what we want our children to be.

Every father wants his children to be successful in terms of money but when the child takes him to an old age home when he doesn't have time for him he realises his mistake. Every mother wants a mama's boy but when the boy follows another girl she wants to compete for his affections.

Every selfish desire turns out to be wrong in the long run. So what would we like our children to be like.
1) Happy? We would definitely like then to be happy. So teach them to find happiness wherever they are.
2) Achieve? We want then to be achievers. So make them people who get up after every defeat and fight fit what they believe in.
3) Never to lie to you. Then teach them not to lie to anyone.
4) To be there when you near your end. Teach them to be good to everyone regardless of their differences.

Education making technology work for you.

The biggest pain points of Indian education are lack of resources, you can read that as  'Qualified teachers' and 'time' for these teachers so that they can help children in need of guidance. Any parent whose child is not performing in school will tell you the reason - the teacher doesn't pay attention to my child.  Teachers have become people who tell the child what to study at home, when it is their job to explain concepts. Teachers have become people who make ridiculous demands for projects which they have never taught their students and know that parents will eventually make the projects before submitting it to the school. In short teachers are to blame for students spending so much time in school but not learning anything.

But are the teachers really to blame or are we setting them up to fail?

We have put teachers in such a position that they are bound to fail. We want then to complete the curriculum. Give and assess projects. Design, take and assess tests. Do other admin work. And also help children learn. And the priorities are not defined. Like any other good employee they prioritise according to the demands of the administration. No wonder they fail! They are doing what they are held accountable for and the responsibility to teach is never a priority unless the school decides that's what they want to do. That is why we have good schools and bad schools. Good schools take responsibility of the teaching and make sure students learn and that's why you hear things like xyz is a good school and a bad school does the opposite, that's why you hear people criticizing the school. Why is that when the curriculum is the same for both the schools?

We should try and give the teachers more time with the students.

How? Thank fully the education ministry probably after realising the need of the hour has decided to use technology. How they are going to do it i honestly do not know, but as a teacher I certainly have some suggestions.  The government with its vast resources and funding can record lectures and programmes of concepts that are taught in school. There are enough studies floating around and experts who are authorities in the field of education and learning who can guide us with learning methods and outcomes. Test design and assessments can also be handled by technology today leaving the teacher free to concentrate on individual weaknesses of the students.

A teacher in Finland where they firmly believe that children should have fun while learning implements what they call learning to learn style of teaching. She usually devotes around three hours per student. However, school days in Finland are short. Although we can definitely ease up on our students, they can spend time in school learning new skills rather than simply knowing what to study for the exams.

Standardised tests should be given, not to differentiate between students but rather to make it easy for them to learn at their own pace. That is the advantage of technology we should use to the maximum. The teacher too can let her hair down literally and have fun teaching the students - actually teaching the students and the school with is resources can aim at the holistic growth of the child than simply going through the motions of finishing the curriculum.

Does nationalism mean killing one community

Zealots in whatever form they come are dangerous to humans. That is because they will try to prove themselves right at whatever cost. The world is going through a crisis at the moment. It seems that it is the era of extremists and idealists. While the name ISIS Comes to mind immediately we believe we are safe in our own countries away from the middle east where they are recognised as clear and present danger. However, what is worrying is that there is a new breed of zealots present in the form of nationalists. 

Nationalists would like us to believe that they are lovers of a nation or patriots - a word they like to throw around very much. We have found that this may not be the case. They are usually haters of everything that is not them. In other words - extremists. We see Muslim extremists and quickly condemn them. But what about the people who play on our fears to sell themselves as leaders and saviors.

Somewhere in the arms race, world domination and controlling the natural resources of other countries, an organisation called the All Qaeeda was created. This organisation existed as long as the Bush administration, then faded away. It was replaced by ISIS a more vicious and deadly force seeking revenge of western atrocities on Muslim nations. However, for some reasons it has proceeded to exact revenge from other Muslims rather than the western powers it had sought. Muslims started being discriminated against in the name of this new organisation and openly being called terrorists.

 
In the history of unfolding events which is being witnessed by everyone, Muslims suddenly became the reason for everything wrong. They even started being disowned by countries where they have lived in for centuries.

 
France started a systematic persecution of Muslims by every kind of ban it could think of. The leader elected to France was elected with a promise of ridding the country of its problems and the aim being the country would be Christian again. 

In Burma, Buddhists, the icons of peace started killing Muslims indiscriminately in a form of ethnic cleansing. In Central Africa, a clash of Christian and Muslims has left many Muslims homeless or dead. In India, forces that had been allowed to poison minds of countless Hindus who should be worried about basic necessities like water scarcity, education and development now are thinking of getting rid of Muslims and making India a Hindu nation. 

The irony is that the very rights each state claims to be protecting, it is taking away from other citizens. This is not new and one community has always sought the upper hand over another through violence. The violence usually justified through some rationale and most often it is a case of turned tables. Earlier it was conquering land, then it was spreading religion now it has taken the garb of nationalism.

The education system needs a revamp

The education system needs a revamp. Almost everybody knows that. So the question is why doesn't anybody do something about it? Students do not gain anything from their years in school. It is like 10 precious years of school thrown away in hope that one day the child will learn something. In the meanwhile there are businesses that benefit from this neglect. Private tuition classes are the obvious culprits who actually help children pass. Work that should have been done by the schools.
When will the stake holders be responsible to dictate what should be in the curriculum rather than politicians and bureaucrates who have their own agenda. Why should every state have a say in the syllabus rather than people who it is supposed to help. The syllabus should be decided by industry people who need young talent to be competent on the global level. The syllabus should be decided by parents who would like to have a say in what their child should be learning. And of course most important the syllabus should be decided by the students who have to study and go on to take up a career in their chosen field.
Ask the children? What do they know. Yet the decision to allow children to the next class was supposed to be a child friendly decision. Gary good that did. Children need to learn some basics while they are growing up. These basics should be taught to them in the first few years of school. Basic math, languages, science that would help them in life. All other agendas should be put aside. Up till a certain age the basics should be made strong and then the studies that will help in future career should click in. Exams should then be easy to give. Whenever the student wants according to his pace.
The authorities are so rushed to make children skilled labour that they are not concerned about the mental and physical health of students. What we need is a young person who had decision making abilities and who is sure footed about his choices and not whimpering puppies who take up whatever is offered or get waylaid by the side.

Muslims must really start improving themselves

In a time when Muslims find themselves boxed in from all sides because certain powers believe subjugating a set of people is a means to an end. Laggards who are easily influenced by leaders they trust for no reason other than they are from their own religion or community join in the subjugation and start rationalising wrong doings by quoting references and history books that exist nowhere but in the minds of those leaders who are after their own agenda. It is easy to see this phenomenon in history during the crusades, inquisitions, Holocaust, pre emptive strikes by America, trump's shenanigans and the growing intolerance in America and the Sangh parivar's atrocities in India against Muslims Christians and backward classes.
Most Muslims realise this and feel helpless. You see your brother's and sisters being killed in Syria, Iraq, Palestine, Burma, Kashmir and various other places and hope that people will realise that Islam is a very good religion after all. Maybe this Islamophobia is good and interest in Islam will increase. However, what most of us don't realise is that most of the problems maybe because of us. Maybe our very nature of being sad at the news of some calamity falling on our brothers and us getting sad for sometime but going back to work as if nothing had happened is to blame.
Yes for all is worth Islamophobia has increased interest of people who wouldn't have bothered to look up Islam. That is god's way of damage control. Damage that we have done. And we still are not stepping up to do or jobs.
Dawah or invitation is one of our duties as a Muslim. But we keep away from it citing friendship and career. It may affect our friendship or relationship at work. Why are we not looking for other ways to do or job. Is it that we just want to shed crocodile tears for our brothers and sisters but when the time comes to take some concrete action we are just strangers to them.
Most of the newly interested people are turning to the internet for information. What they are getting is dubious sites that are spreading false information about Islam. No wonder they will feel that the people responsible for wrongdoings against Muslims are somehow justified. Go to quora and see the number of questions about Islam and the answers. People having the wrong agenda give false information sometimes even disguised as Muslims or Muslims who have learnt that Islam is wrong.
This is a God given opportunity to do dawah even without all to look the terrifying excuses that you had about broken friendships and lost jobs. But first you need to learn what Islam is yourself. It has been a long time you have been dating the Shahadah without knowing about the religion you profess to believe. Pick up that book called the Quran you know to be the message of God and find out what that message is. Then get on the net and do the job you are supposed to do as part of Muhammad's ummah.
Clarify doubts, tell the truth about false accusations. Give some time everyday or at least every week. Recruit more brothers to do the job.
And while you are at it start doing one more thing if you are not doing it already. Start greeting everyone. Give salaam to fellow Muslims and other preferred greetings to all you know. Don't be stingy in this regard. Everybody should be greeted in such a way that if for any reason you pass people by in a hurry they should stop you too ask if everything's ok since your did not greet them.
Peace!

THINGS TO CONSIDER BEFORE HIRING AN INTERIOR DESIGNER

What are you designing? 

It is not necessary to design the full house.

When you think of designing we usually think of designing the complete house, which may well be if you can afford it. However, if you are on a budget and want only a part of your house to be designed then don't be embarrassed to get only that part designed. It could be you want to beautify the area where you entertain guests at home or in the office. Maybe you want a Den for yourself. Do not hesitate to call in the friendly neighbourhood interior designer to help you out if you want to give a special touch to that favourite or important place in your house or office. 

Know and plan what you want

Prepare detailed document of what you want before calling the designer. Make sure that you have made an extensive document to explain your point of view and what you are expecting from the design. It doesn't have to be technical. Put in simple terms why that space is worth the trouble you are taking. Remember you are telling the designer what you expect from the design and not dictating what is to be done, else he might ask you to go ahead and design the place yourself. 

Get quotes and preliminary designs.

You have to decide if you want only the design or put the designer in charge of completion of the execution. In any case you will have to get a quote from them. Make sure the quote is detailed and gives a break up of everything you are expected to get according to your agreement. If you opt for design only, you would want detailed maps of the lighting and electricals along with placement of furniture and information about the material to be used.

Budget / Timeline

Expenses usually depend on the efficiency of the execution. So you should know your budget and be a little flexible at the same time. The time that the project will take should also be clear. Sometimes last minute changes or decisions are taken as excuses to prolong work with the comment 'if you hadn't added xyz we would have been on schedule.' Although some times this may be true. 

In case of important rooms will there be alternative accommodations

In case you are revamping or designing your bedroom or kitchen it becomes difficult to cook or sleep while the work goes on. In which case you will have to make alternate arrangements for yourself or take the help of the designer or contractor to offer make shift arrangements for you.

Your views

Agreement in document

Demons of Demonetization

Demonetization has been one of the biggest decisions of the current government. It is a bold or audacious step. Not many in the common public knew it was a possibility, let alone the fact that it has happened before. The fact that the government under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh tried to change it is another story.

The rhetoric that started out as rooting out corruption (probably because according to people, ministers are the most corrupt and the people caught are mostly ruling parties members) has turned to cash-less transactions. Paper has its own problems, but as the calamity in Chennai has highlighted plastic money comes with its own set of problems. No electricity and Internet cannot help in smooth transactions. 

High dependency on technology is also vulnerable to hacking and if Hollywood movies have got their calculations right anybody with the right skills and wrong intentions can steal money from millions of honest tax payers. On a serious note hacking is a clear and present danger. 

Usually banks have solid firewalls, but occasionally one hears of the odd person who breaks through. On the other hand, credit card frauds are not rare and one reads about them at regular intervals. It usually happens to someone else somewhere else, but if we are going digital we may as well remember that. 

A high percentage of transactions in India are done through cash and in areas where connectivity is not a usual resident. Add to that the fact that cash gives the business people the advantage to bargain. The various auxiliaries of business like commission agents and facilitators will probably go out of business, which for many will be good riddance, but for some others are necessary negotiators. The agents who will want to fight for survival will be instrumental in increasing prices to accommodate compulsory taxes.

There could be many more repercussions than the ones mentioned above.

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