Archive for Design
What You Can Learn From Steve Jobs About “PowerPoint”
Posted by: | CommentsEvery CEO eventually has to do a presentation. And that invariably means that you have to use PowerPoint–or if you’re lucky enough to be on a Mac, Keynote (which is way better, by the way). Note: That’s also why “PowerPoint” is in quotes above since Steve Jobs clearly uses Keynote–but you get the point.
While watching Steve introduce the iPad last week in real-time on Gizmodo (hats off to B. Lam and Jason Chen at Gizmodo who were doing photo and text blogging during the presentation–I was majorly impressed), I thought that I’d share some of their images of Steve’s slides so you could see how a master does his “PowerPoint.” So, here we go.
Here’s one of Steve’s first slides. Notice the simplicity of the design. A short quote in large enough type to read, and a simple image to further drive home the point. Also notice the cool reflection of the image.
As Steve started to talk about mobile platforms he posed a question, “Is there space for a device between a cell phone and a lap top?” Here’s how he represented that.
I love this next slide for it’s simplicity and color popping. No fancy charts. Just one image and one number–that’s all that matters!
Changing gears, when Steve wanted to talk about environmental friendliness, he took and created a “report card” check list that didn’t just look like another table. You get the point. Nothing confusing here.
Here’s another slide where Steve’s team had to convey a list of features (in this case, iWork software for the iPad). Notice the simplicity of the image and six statements. Once again, you get the point.
When Steve started talking about price, he started with one slide with just one number on it. Unfortunately, slide images don’t do justice to the animation Steve and his team used. The number actually dropped from the top and kicked up some dust until it settled with the following clear slide. It really was one of those awe moments when you could hear people’s shock and awe.
Probably, the only somewhat confusing slide Steve used (which isn’t too confusing) was this one announcing the different price points based on memory and 3G (an extra $130 per model)
So, there you have it. A few lessons from Steve on doing a “PowerPoint” presentation.
- Keep your slides uncluttered. Strive for simplicity.
- Use large font sizes (anything less than 40 pts. should be a concern). The bigger the better.
- Use one large graphic and minimal text to say a lot.
- Strive to find a simple way to say something complex.
- Get to the core of your point, and just illustrate that.
- Look for creative ways to say the same things
- Don’t spend time reading off your slides. Their job is to augment you, not drive the presentation (note: if you don’t put too much info on a slide, this becomes automatic).
- Use lots of slides. It doesn’t cost any more to add an extra slide. You don’t need to cram a lot of info on one slide. Most of my presentations have 80 – 140 slides.
- Practice, practice, practice. Steve and his team run through their presentations multiple times before going live.
- Get a Mac and Keynote. You’ll be glad you did!!! :-)
P.S. Post writing the above, I found a YouTube video that takes a humorous look at the adjectives Steve and his team use. Even as a Mac Addict, I have to admit, this is fun (cool, awesome, unbelievable, remarkable, exciting, gorgeous, amazing, super …)
Steve Jobs’ Presentation Secrets
Posted by: | CommentsIf you’ve ever watched Steve Jobs do a product launch, you know you’ve watched a master communicator. And if you’ve ever wondered if you could ever communicate as effectively as Steve, there’s good news for you. Business Week Small Biz columnist, Carmine Gallo, has just published a book on “The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs.” And BW, has just run a photo gallery outlining the 15 major lessons from the book.
The ones I found most interesting and can probably help you the most were as follows.
- Plan in Analog – In other words, before Steve and his team move to Keynote (the Mac version of Powerpoint) and other digital options, he starts by creating/writing a storyboard, similar to a movie. And just like any good story teller, he builds anticipation and plans for surprises. When was the last time you did that?
- Focus on Benefits – Even though Steve is usually revealing updates to products, he doesn’t focus on the product. Instead, he focuses his comments on the benefits that come from using that product. Similar to the old adage, “No one needs a drill, everyone needs holes,” Steve keeps drilling down on benefits, as you can see in the following image for why developers should create Apps for the iPhone.
- Create Twitter Friendly Headlines - I love this one. If you look at the number of words on a typical PPT slide, vs. a Jobs’ slide, it’s almost humorous. Steve is notorious for minimalism. So, for example, when he introduced the MacBook Air, the title slide simply said, “World’s thinnest notebook.” Can you position your products with just three to five words?
- Create Visual Slides – I actually watched the webcast when Steve was introducing the MacBook Air and I can remember this slide. The image of a laptop inside an envelope was powerful. Not much more needed to be said. Note also how uncluttered the image is. Take a look at your last Powerpoint presentation. How many words were on your average slide?
- Use Props – Another common feature of most of Jobs’ presentations is that he always does some kind of demonstration. Frequently he sits down at his Mac and then you watch the screen to see in real time something that he’s doing. It might be to demonstrate the ease of creating a movie in iMovie or retrieving a lost file in Time Machine or playing around with new cool app on the iPhone. What can you use besides your voice and PPT slides?
- Practice a Lot – This is one of my favorites. I’m forever telling speakers they need to practice more before they get up to speak. While Steve’s presentations may come off very relaxed and unrehearsed, they’re anything but. He prepares for days for every moment of the presentation. Now, while you may not have days, you should at least run through your talk two or three times before presenting it.
Well, those were my favorite six. But you can see the whole presentation at BW by clicking here. However, don’t forget to print this list of six things out and use it the next time you have to give a presentation. Taking your cues from Steve Jobs isn’t a bad model to follow!
To your accelerated success!
It’s Not About Your Product!
Posted by: | CommentsI received an email from my mother last evening about a social experiment that the Washington Post conducted two years ago with Joshua Bell, the world famous violinist. That said, I think the real value of the experiment drives home an incredibly important message for business owners and senior executives.
The basic story line goes like this (note: hang in there, this has a great ending).
To test their ideas, the Washington Post had Joshua Bell, dress like a street musician and play six Bach violin concertos for 45 minutes on a cold January morning at a DC Metro stop. During that time frame, approximately 2,000 people passed by him on their way to work–only a few of whom stopped to listen.
All totaled, by the time he was finished 45 minutes later, only six people had stopped long enough to listen for any length of time and only 20 people had given him any money. The total take for 45 minutes of Joshua Bell’s playing time that morning at the DC Metro stop, $32. The applause, none.
Now, what makes that so remarkable, is that Bell often plays to sold-out audiences in the best performance halls around the world, he’s undoubtedly one of the best violinists on planet earth, he plays on a $3.5 million violin, he normally charges around $100 per person to hear him perform (e.g. 1500 people x $100 = $150,000), and he normally plays to standing ovations (I know, I’ve seen him play).
So, let’s recap what happened. The same Joshua Bell, playing on the same $3.5M violin, playing six of the most beautiful violin concertos of all time–and with the same brilliance as he normally does in a performance hall (where the receipts might be anywhere from $100K-$150K) only walked away with $32 and a few people willing to stop for a few minutes to listen.
So, what made the difference? It wasn’t the product (Bell playing Bach on his $3.5M violin), was it? No! It was the context, the perception of value, and the packaging of the product that made the difference–NOT the product itself.
But isn’t that exactly the mistake that most businesses make. They keep thinking it’s about their product or service. So they keep talking about their product or service as though that were everything–but it’s not. Whenever anyone gets sucked into focusing on how great their product or service is, they’re almost always sucked into a commodity mindset (and they end up with $32 playing on a DC Metro stop).
However, there is another alternative. The other alternative is to boost the perceived value. Looking at Bell’s normal marketing plan, changing the venue (i.e. the packaging) to a first-class performance hall, like the Kennedy Center, changes his perceived value immensely. Raising his ticket prices, changes his perceived value.
Doing PR on TV and radio, increases his perceived value. Winning competitions increases his perceived value. Being the featured violinist in Hollywood films increases his perceived value. Playing alongside some of the greatest violinists and conductors, increases his perceived value. Letting people know he plays on a $3.5M violin increases his perceived value. Sharing testimonials of listeners, conductors, and famous people increases his perceived value. Etc.
In other words, it’s not the product itself that creates the value. Whether Bell is playing at a DC Metro Stop or at the Kennedy Center, it’s still the same product. However, the difference in perceived value is the difference between $32 and $150,000.
So, as you look at your products and services, what can you start doing NOW to increase the perceived value of what you offer? Remember, you don’t want to focus on your product or service alone. You want to focus on increasing the perceived value of what you offer–and when you do that, you’ll immediately begin making more and more money for the same product or service–just like Joshua Bell!
To your accelerated success!
Are You Sizzling Hot?
Posted by: | CommentsWhen your prospects and customers think about you, do they think, “I have to have that!” Or, “I need to go there!” Or “I need to use them!” Or is it more of a more of a, “Let me think about it.” Or a “I’ll get back to you.” Or, “I’m doing my due diligence,” kind of thing?“
It’s an important question if you want to grow an accelerated growth company.
If you’re not sure, then just think back over the past few years. Think Twitter. Facebook. Myspace. Apple. Starbucks. Google. Netflix. And Dancing with the Stars (Note: I don’t watch :-), however it is consistently in the top ten shows, according to Nielson–though I’m much more of a 24 kind of guy).
Each of those companies (and shows) has grown significantly because they were sizzling hot and word of mouth took off.
So when was the last time you (and your team) asked, “Is what we’re doing sizzling hot?”
Or similar questions like, “Are we addressing a big pain or problem that needs to be solved?” “Are our customers raving about us?” “Are the media and our target market beating down our doors to get to us?”
If not, then maybe those are the kinds of questions you need to ask—and then answer. I’ve found very few businesses that ask (and answer) those kinds of questions, even though they’re vital to a company’s success.
And don’t think your business is different. A few week’s ago I met Seth Goldman, the CEO of Honest Tea (which is President Obama’s favorite drink). If Seth and his team can make colored water sizzling hot, you can make what you do, sizzling hot as well. Your category and niche are irrelevant.
So, how can you make what you do sizzling hot over the next three months?
To your accelerated success!
Google Lessons for Growth
Posted by: | CommentsIf you thought like Google, how differently would you run your business?
In essence, that’s the idea behind Jeff Jarvis’s new book, “What Would Google Do?” (not to be confused with WWJD, though some do confuse the two :-) In a Businessweek (2/9/09) article, Jeff took and applied some of the core lessons from his book to the auto industry (you can read the article by clicking here>>).
However, since most of us aren’t running car companies, I thought I’d just share a few of the core ideas from the article and then let you play with them to apply to your own business. For example,
1. Give up Control. Don’t try to manage everything. Google doesn’t tell us how to do our searches or what to search for. It allows us to play with its technology and find happy accidents. Unfortunately, I watch too many executives and owners trying to control every part of the experience from their staff to technology to customers.
2. Low Prices are Good (Free is Better). Google doesn’t charge for us to use its search engine, nor for some of its most powerful tools, like the Google Optimizer or Google Analytics. It gives away a lot to drive the economic engine in another arena (Adwords). Though I’m absolutely committed to charging for value, there’s nothing wrong at all about figuring out what you can give away for free. The give to get strategy is alive and well–and in Googles case worth billions.
3. Release Experiments in Beta. Unlike some of us (me included) who prefer to release in full functioning perfect form, Google is willing to release new ideas in beta and then let’s users determine what to keep or change–or even if it should exist at all. Again, my observation is that too many of take too long to release ideas because we’re continually tweaking them (i.e. trying to perfect them), when we ought to be getting them out there and then letting our customers help us make them better.
4. Create Feedback Loops. Following on the heels of the point three, the only way to continually improve is to continually receive feedback (which too few of us do). Google excels at this by making it easy to make comments and by aggressively seeking out customer feedback. Even more impressive, they actually want it :-).
5. Manage Abundance, not Scarcity. Google doesn’t try to limit its exposure. The more content it can organize and the more places it can put ads, the better. Unfortunately, too many of us believe there’s a limited amount of opportunity out there and therefore spend way too much time trying to protect what we’ve got. Instead, we ought to think abundance and see opportunity everywhere.
6. Open Up Your Design Process. Google is all about collaboration, not secrecy. So why not open up your design process and allow your customers to help you design what you sell, so they can then buy the very thing they helped you design? What a novel idea!
So, as you look at your context, in your business, which of these Google lessons do you need to apply in order to help you grow your business faster?
Wolfgang Puck: Put Your Signature On It
Posted by: | CommentsIf you could achieve Wolfgang Puck’s success, would you? If you could go from being a young Austrian boy who was fired from his first cooking job to being a world renown chef and restauranteur with a global brand that includes 15 top rated restaurants (including the famous Spago Beverly Hills), 80 Gourmet Express locations, a catering company that hosts some of the biggest events around the nation (including the annual Academy Award’s Governor’s Ball), as well as producing a line of consumer packaged goods, kitchen appliances and utensils, books, media content and licensing, and television celebrity, would you want that? Probably! Without a doubt, life has been very good for the Austrian from Sankt Veit an der Glan.
But what got him from there to here? Apart from good fortune and good business partners, I’d suggest that the number one takeaway from his life would be the title of this edition of Remarkability Caffeine–he took ordinary things and put his signature on them.
When he first hit California, he worked at Ma Maison where he took french cooking and put his signature on it. Since California was bright, airy and health conscious he took classic french food and used lighter sauces and Californian ingredients to create a more healthy and fun french food.
Instead of a dark subdued and formal gourmet eating environment, he created light, airy and informal dining for gourmet food. He took an ordinary American favorite, pizza, and turned it into a fine dining option. His signature pizza was his smoked salmon and caviar pizza (something that clearly wasn’t on the menu of my hometown pizza joint back then).
He also took Asian cooking to a new level by creating a category called fusion (because he fused together American, Asian and French cooking). You may not recognize the term, but I’d venture a guess that at some point you’ve probably had a Chinois Salad (a chicken salad with a Chinese mustard vinaigrette dressing).
The fact that some of these items seem so normal now is a tribute to the genius of Wolfgang Puck. For whenever you and I see genius, we quickly see others copying it (which is why the most remarkable people are always reinventing themselves and their businesses). Wolfgang Puck never stays still or content with what he’s done. Everyday is a new day for him to put his signature on something different.
So how about you? What have you put your signature on? Or what has your business put its signature on? What have you taken and made new? What makes you unique and different from everyone else? While benchmarking has it’s place, just keeping step with your competition is a losing proposition. You want to be the only one who does what you do. You want others copying you, not the other way around.
So what can you put your signature on? What is it that only you do? Refuse to be a "me too!" business. Take one thing you’re currently doing (that all of your competitors do as well) and figure out how you can do it differently. Go ahead, be remarkable. Put your signature on something today!
Be Willing to Spend a Little More to WOW a Potential Customer
Posted by: | CommentsWhile remarkability tends to decrease the cost of customer acquisition (i.e. as more people remark to others about your products and services, you pay less per new customer because word of mouth doesn’t cost you directly). However, what often drives remarkability is your willingness to spend a little more money on the new customers you do actually attract. For example . . .
Several years ago, when I used to pastor a large church, I needed to hire an architect to design our first building. After doing our research, we brought in two national church architectural firms that were used to designing and building large church buildings and one local firm that had a great reputation for building large public buildings, including concert halls, but hadn’t designed a church (we liked to think differently so we thought that hiring a non-church building architect might allow us to create a church building that would be, well, remarkable!)
The two national firms both sent us similar packages, packages you’d expect an architectural firm to send (with letters and references, basic outlines and images of projects they’d done etc either in a folder or comb binding). Neither was bad. In fact, they were good. But they were predictable (which means they were ordinary).
Then we received the package from the local firm, David Schwarz. David’s package wasn’t ordinary at all. In fact, it was a 272 page hardbound book,weighing in at a hefty 4.2 pounds. And it was gorgeous. The photos in in are simply stunning. As soon as I received it, I walked around my office and showed everyone ("Can you believe this?"). Still to this day, I can’t think of any prospective company that’s sent me anything as stunningly beautiful as that book. In fact, while the other architectural firms packages are long gone, this book still sits on my shelves.
Even though it’s been four years since I first opened that book, I can still see my favorite image in my mind’s eye.
Now, think about this. The architectural fees on this project were projected to be north of $1M. Realizing that, don’t you think every architectural firm would want to WOW a potential client with more than a typical report oriented package? Absolutely. But how many do? Not many.
And this is true for most businesses. The typical thought process, usually driven by account types (and yes, I was an accounting major at UW-Madison) is to spend the least amount possible on acquiring a new customer. But spending the least, isn’t always the wisest choice.
As soon as you or I consider the lifetime value of a customer, plus all of the other people they’ll tell about our products and services (provided we actually do WOW them), there’s no question that it’s worth spending a little more to acquire and retain a customer.
So, in your business, what would WOW a potential customer? What can you give them or send them that would take their breath away? Or what might cause them to immediately tell others, "You won’t believe what XYZ company sent me today?" Ordinary companies benchmark their competitors and do something similar. But remarkable companies do something different. They look at what everyone else is doing and say, "We can do better than that!"
Note: While we originally selected David Schwarz, we came to realize that choosing an architectural firm that specialized in large church facilities was a better choice for us so we ended up choosing Beck out of Dallas and were thoroughly happy with them. So don’t read anything into my earlier comments other than that David’s firm’s 272 page, 4.2 pound book was a WOW I’ve never forgotten. I think highly of both firms and would recommend either firm to anyone considering an architect. At the end of the day, selecting the right architectural firm is about fit–and not just the talent fit for a specific type of project but also the relational fit as well, which can’t be determined from a book or a report. That kind of fit is only discovered face-to-face, when you start working together. And in an architectural project, that fit really does matter as you’re probably going to be spending a whole lot of time together :-)
When Was The Last Time You Updated Your Website?
Posted by: | CommentsAs a small biz leader, you know that getting a website up and keeping it up-to-date with current information is a job. In fact, it often requires so much time and effort from us (or our team) that once we get one up, we tend to keep it up . . . forever. The problem, of course, is that tastes and technology change rather quickly these days.
This is complicated by the fact that more and more people check our businesses out by going to our websites before they ever have a conversation with us. So, if we’re still using the website we designed two or four or six (yikes!) years ago, we are communicating a message–but probably not the one we want to communicate.
It’s kind of like clothing. I used to wrestle with some of my staff over this one. I’d have to keep reminding them that for the vast majority of people, when they come to do business with us they bring their eyes. Whether we think customers should make judgments about us based on how we dress is irrelevant–they do! Which is why I was forever reminding them (and others), "Clothes don’t make the person, but they do make the message about the person."
The same is true for our websites. Whether we think customers or potential customers should make decisions about us based on the quality or design of our websites is irrelevant–they do The only relevant questions then are, "What kinds of messages are they currently getting?" and "What messages do we want them to get?" Everything else is extraneous.
Personally, I had to face this issue this month. It was hard for me to believe that I had actually designed my website two years ago (time flies). Realizing that, I started doing some web research on web 2.0 design changes etc. Once I did that, I had to admit, my two year old site looked very old school. In another posting someday soon, I’ll talk about the changes I made and why, but for now, I just want to leave you with the question I started with, "When was the last time you updated your website?" And I’m not talking just about content. I’m talking about a wholesale update. If your answer is any number over two, it’s probably time for an extreme makeover.
Note: If you click on each of the images, you’ll get two larger images. Then you’ll actually be able to see the differences between the ‘06 and ‘08 versions. Though neither is perfect, you can at least clearly see the change in philosophy and design between old school and new school (and this is only a two year difference)
To see my company’s new site up close and personal, click on http://www.makeitremarkable.com
Discounts Don’t Trump Theater in Retail
Posted by: | CommentsWhen I first arrived in Germantown, MD back in 1989, Giant was the "in" grocery store and Safeway was "out". Then, around the turn of the century, Safeway relocated to a new location with a better design, look and feel. Shoppers started migrating.
Then a few years later, even with a better looking (and newer) store, Safeway again did a whole new makeover solidifying the difference between the two of them so that it’s undoubtedly clear they’re not in the same league. Since selling is theater (meaning that the look and feel of the place matters), Safeway has literally been a Giant killer.
However, this past week, Giant tempted me with four 10% off my entire purchase coupons (one for each of the next four weeks). Since I normally spend around $150 week in groceries I thought, "Hey for $15-$60 bucks, I’ll give Giant one more try to see if anything has changed over the past few years." Boy, was that a mistake!
From the moment I entered I kept thinking, "Fifteen dollars isn’t enough to comfort my soul." The whole look and feel (the theater part) of the store was abysmal. I can’t think of a better phrase than that it was "soul-less." It felt like a throwback to the 80’s. 
Ugly tile. White paper signs with big black type. Yellow and red "Everyday Low Prices," signs. Wide aisles because they’re not moving enough inventory (I wonder why?). Bright white lighting. Employees who don’t smile or ask, "May I help you?" Etc. It was depressing.
It didn’t feel like any improvement had been made to the store in years. There was no energy. No excitement. No passion. It was soul-less. Ten percent off the total purchase at a grocery store is a nice discount, but not for what it cost me. In other words, their discount got me to come to their store one time. But that shouldn’t have been their goal.
Their goal should have been to so WOW me that I would be willing to leave Safeway and start doing my business with Giant. However, the good news for Safeway is that they have nothing to fear. I’ll be back "home" at my local Safeway next week–and every week after that. Why? Because discounts just don’t trump theater in retail. Safeway’s got it. Giant doesn’t. And that difference is worth a lot.
So, as you take a look at your business, if you’re in a business with a fixed location (retail, commercial, office, church etc.), what does your physical plant say? Regardless of what you may want to think, it is saying something. The question is, "Is what it’s saying Wowing your customers or pushing them away?"
P.S. If you’re willing to take the risk, invite three to five people to tour your facility THIS WEEK and give you honest feedback about what it’s saying and what they noticed (like the ceiling tile that was water damaged three years ago that hasn’t been replaced yet :-).
Note: This is not a post about every Giant or every Safeway store in the country. So please only read it as an example of how theater really does matter when it comes to selling.
Unleash the Power of Five (Virgin America)
Posted by: | CommentsAnyone who knows me knows I love to think in terms of fives. I see almost everything that way. So you can imagine my delight when I recently read how the CEO of Virgin America, Fred Reid, has used the Power of Five to shape an entire airline. Previously, Fred was the president of Delta, as well as the president and COO of Lufthansa and now he’s heading up this new Virgin America low-cost airline carrier.
In an interview with Linda Tischler from Fast Company (11.07), Linda asked Fred about what his playbook from his previous experiences taught him about how he ought to shape the Virgin America experience. His answer, "I asked myself, ‘What are the five things passengers love the most and hate the most about legacy carriers? And what do they love the most and hate the most about the low-cost carriers?’" Excellent!
By using a number, he forced himself (and now us) to go beyond the easy "top of the head" answers. And by using the word, "most," he forced himself (and now us) to go beyond the first five to create a pool of answers, out of which he could simplify it down to the top five "best" answers (and hence, not be overwhelmed with a long list).
I’m sure you could come up with your list of likes and dislikes about airlines, but in his case, the end result of those lists resulted in a low-cost airline with assigned seats (unlike Southwest), premium airports only, a frequent flyer program from day one, first-class seats at incredibly low prices, no price gimmicks, an ability to see the seat on your flight before purchasing on the web, etc. In other words, he took his lists and said, "We’re going to create something that avoids the negatives and enhances the positives." Sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it? But have you done it?
Have you written out a list of the five things your potential customers/clients/members love about your competitors? And the five things that they hate? If you haven’t, why don’t you do so right now.
What they love (or like) about your competitors
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What they hate (or dislike) about your competitors
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Then take that data and use it to change the way you do business. If a new airline carrier can use the Power of Five to get it off the ground, something tells me it can help you as well. Because anytime you and I focus what our companies or organizations do on eliminating what our customers/clients/members hate and enhancing what they love, we automatically become more remarkable!