If it’s all free then what?
February 27, 2008
Earlier in the day, social media analyst Jeremiah Owyang talked about the conflict between what he puts out on his public weblog and the needs of his clients. He said:
It’s really hard to write my blog, some are asking for more info, yet I have clients and employer to think about too
In response, analyst relations maven Carter Lusher, said:
@jowyang I got an earful yesterday from an analyst vendor client about analysts who provide too much content via blog.
I then had a Twitter exchange with Carter where he said:
It was definitely “why should I pay for services if it going to be on the web” sort of thing. Some research can be found on the web, esp Waves & MQ, due to vendor buying reprints. Average Garter, IDC, Forrester notes, not so much.
My response is straightforward. You can afford to give away 80% of what you know because it could be found one way or another by searching on the web. Doing that lends credibility as a source for more valuable information. It certainly lifts you above the many so-called analysts who hide behind very expensive paywalls. It turns out that Carter agrees. That’s good validation coming from someone who earns from the analyst relations business and is both well respected and highly influential. How does this apply in a professional context?
The analyst community earns much of its keep from vendors and to that extent is compromised. But it could still perform a useful service to buyers by letting them in on many of the things they know and which ought to be common knowledge. That’s what I try to do both here and in the other places I get to write. Why? As I said here earlier today, buyers are often at a hopeless disadvantage against the big vendors.
I gave one set of reasons in that article but here’s another - time constraints. Buyers don’t have the time or resources to research everything they need to know. Hence folk like my friend Vinnie is gainfully employed beating up the vendors on price negotiation. Folk like Brian Sommer bemoan the current state of ‘consulting.’ As he should. Consulting and analysis are not a million miles apart.
How do you make a reasonable income? Simple. The 20%. If the 80% is good enough then the 20% more than pays for itself. At least that’s what I’m finding. If people baulk at my fees they can always go elsewhere. But that’s not happening. While there is the inevitable ‘negotiation’ when I explain the value proposition, clients get it. Another twist on the value pricing model? Sure. One that works. Every time.
PS: - For more on this and related topics, check out Carter Lusher’s blog. It’s insightful and packed with good tips.
Cover-it-live: adding client value
February 27, 2008
Courtesy of my friend and Irregular colleague Jeff Nolan, i’ve found this incredibly useful tool called Cover-it-live. It allows you to include live blogging about any event you choose directly inside your website or blog.
Think about covering the Budget or other important events and then think about how this adds direct value to clients. Cover-it-live is interactive which means you can field questions directly from anyone on your website. As the ‘owner’ you can filter out dross, always useful when there is something contentious in play. It’s freebie right now so there is no cost penalty.
This is one that goes in the ‘awesome’ category and which I’ll be using in the future.
Coincidentally, it would be even better if (when?) this is integrated to Craig Cmehil’s already awesome eventtrack. That way you get a full record of all interactions around an event. From there, it is a small step to visualizing the results in something like the Many Eyes which Sam Lawrence talked about yesterday.
UPDATE: Chris Green says Cover-it-live collapsed under the weight of traffic about an Apple event. Unlikely for a Budget 
The sub-prime primer
February 27, 2008
Courtesy of A Friend. The accountant’s take is funny. (slide 28)
FreshBooks gets expenses - at last!
February 26, 2008
Our good friends at FreshBooks have released version 4.3. The big news is they’ve (finally) got around to including expenses inside the application:
You can now track your business expenses in FreshBooks. You can enter anything you spend money on. If the expense was for a client, you can log it any time. When you next invoice that client, you will be prompted to add the expenses to the invoice. Each expense can be tied to a category and you can even tie an expense to a project.
Congratulations - I know it has been a long time coming. What is not made clear from the release is whether FreshBooks has taken into account the VAT rules which apply for the UK. (I couldn’t reach the company to confirm - I’m sure someone will comment.)
I also note they now claim 300,000 registered users. That’s a great achievement when I think back that less than two years ago, the company had some 65,000 users. At the time, CEO Mike McDerment said that around 9-10% of his business was coming from the UK.
Other major upgrade elements include:
- View and save invoices as PDF
- Import Outlook contacts
The global micro business market is really starting to get interesting as more players enter the fray. Earlier today, I spoke with a firm that is using multiple online accounting systems to manage different parts of their client portfolio. That plays to Ron Baker’s airplane metaphor I discussed yesterday. I’m meeting with this firm in the next week following which I hope I will be able to say more about their market and business strategy.
Congratulations again to FreshBooks. A great achievement that demonstrates how well this market is maturing.
