Archive for 2004
Pinpointing that Center of Value in AMR
Several speakers at The Metering Billing CRM/CIS Americas 2004 Conference had thoughts about the origin of the value in this industry, but the fun of it was that each speaker had a slightly different take on the subject. Consider the following quotes. Ross Malme, President of PLMA, stated the “product isn’t the meter, the product…
Read MoreRelationships vs. Deliverables
Which drives revenue success, the ability to forge strong customer relationships or the ability to create a compelling products and services? Not long ago, a noted speaker at the Chicago Business Marketing Association claimed that in business markets, relationships drive everything. In support of this claim, informal discussions with sales and marketing executives in a…
Read MoreUnderstanding the Fundamentals of Managed Availability
The amount of data at our disposal can only be described as fantastic, increasing dramatically every day, as does the degree to which we depend on it. But data without applications and systems are but 1s and 0s on magnetic media. Integrate the pieces and you have information. Information is an asset. It is powerful,…
Read MoreThe Case for Price Discrimination
It is a simple fact: different customers will place different values on your offering. Some will greatly value your product or service while others will value it less. There is little to profit in driving all customers towards a homogeneous demand level, but there is much to profit in taking advantage of the heterogeneity in…
Read MoreThe Licensing Model
In an earlier edition of The Wiglaf Journal Bob Brill and Carmen Patti, of Patti and Brill LLC, discussed the key role of the patent attorney in defining effective patent claims and prosecuting the patent application for a new and innovative development. They also introduced the concept of commercializing patented inventions by licensing. In this…
Read MoreCreating Markets: Partnering with Value Creators in Sales Channel
For many executives, the question of sales channel selection and management is framed as a question of determining the best means to create a conduit for reaching end customers. Framed in this manner, distribution channels are examined with a focus on driving the maximum flow-through of product from the producer to the end customer. In…
Read MoreSmart Money: Investors That Bring More than Cash to the Table
Securing initial investments for a new venture is an early hurdle for entrepreneurs. While most executives are delighted to receive a cash injection from any legitimate investor, a few executives have the privilege of receiving more than cash for equity. For them, the investor will bring not just money, but Smart Money. When I first…
Read MoreMeterSmart in Brief
In partnerships with utilities, MeterSmart provides commercial and industrial (C&I) submetering solutions through hardware and services. Born out of a project in South Texas with a Hunt Power L.P. affiliate, they initiated operations as an independent division in 1999. Differentiation As a young company, MeterSmart faces numerous entrenched competitors in the submetering industry. According to…
Read More Price Boundaries
Balancing Profits and Customer Acquisition
At what price should your product or service be sold? When releasing new products or services or reviewing existing practices, executives address pricing with many uncertainties. Nailing the perfect price schedule is the golden mirage which we chase. Reaching a strong price schedule will require multiple steps. The first should be an examination of the…
Read MoreConcerns of a Sales Manager
While getting a team of sales people to perform at their highest potential challenges every sales manager, some come closer to reaching this goal than others. Rich Creegan, Sr. VP of Global Sales at Lodestar has created high performance sales teams in several positions during his career. His resume of over 25 years of experience…
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