QG Software Blog

On his blog (OnStartups.com) Dharmesh Shah came up with five sales tip inspired by… Turkish Rug Dealers.

I happened to travel to Istanbul last year and even purchased a small rug there. So I couldn’t resist coming up with three more sales tips to add to that list:

6. Offer different price tiers: Turkish rugs aren’t by far the cheapest. The diversity of parameters like material, size, density of knots (it just sounds like I know what I’m talking about) gives the possibility to the dealers to come up with a combination of price ranges for any choice you consider. If you feel like your choice is too pricey, the higher price tier in the same category will make it suddenly more attractive. Now you instantly feel cautious and smart, instead of going for the highest prices or being a cheapskate. Offer your customers different tiers to make them more comfortable with their choices.

7. User partnership. I live under the suspicion that the Turkish Rug Dealers are a part of an underground network. And this network stays in close collaboration with The Turkish Ceramic Dealers and Turkish Evil Eyes Amulet Dealers networks. If you can’t find anything that catches your attention in one shop, every dealer will gladly recommend you another place where you can find it. Sometimes they will even walk you there, if it’s in the same market strip. Just to make sure you don’t escape by any side route. A tourist in a shopping mood is too valuable to let him get away. Build a partnership network with companies working in complementary businesses. Together you can build a much more sophisticated trap for the unsuspecting prospect.

8. Create a sense of urgency. The rug you like is always the last one in this particular hue. And, as a matter of fact, the secrets of that specific dye was lost forever and the demand for this rug is so high that it will be sold before you manage to pull your wallet out. You will have to twist the dealer’s hand and force him to sell it to you ASAP. Give your clients a limited offer, like an expiration date, instead of a generic timeless/countless one. “Only 234 items left in stock – act now!” and all that HSN-overused pitch. But seriously, it’s proven, and it works.

Now, you knew all that already, but didn’t it make it much more intriguing to use the Turkish Rug Dealers?! All the credits go to Dharmesh, though. Read the rest (well, actually the first) of his tips here.

CrazyEgg just entered the crowded market of Website analysis tools, despite the presence of a 800-pound gorilla in the room (Google Analytics). We’ve been using Analytics along with other tools, ranging from classic StatsCounter.com to sophisticated desktop applications like ClickTracks.com.

Considering that Analytics is free and also integrates with Google AdWords, why even bother checking another tool? The answer is simple - it’s different.

CrazyEgg is pretty light, and has two main tools - site overlay and heatmap. The first option is available in Analytics but the second one is pretty interesting. The heatmap color codes where exactly the users click on your page. Here is a quote from MicroISV on a Shoestring blog:

“Incidentally, if you’re wondering “Why does Crazyegg report different data than Analytics?”, the answer is that CrazyEgg tracks clicks on a per-coordinate basis and Analytics tracks them on a per-URL basis.”

This will give you a new angle of view on your stats.

The free version of CrazyEgg will track up to 4 pages, 5000 clicks/month. The setup is easy, so go ahead and check it in action!

P.S. These guys also have a great sense of humor.

- Sergei

Small businesses are on the rise, according to the “Intuit Future of Small Business Report”. And the demographics are changing - now baby boomers and Generation Y are leading the pack. Here are some snippets from the report:

“Americans aged 55 to 64 form small businesses at the highest rate of any age group—28% higher than the adult average”

“… currently rising Generation Y (ages 5 to 25) … the most entrepreneurial generation ever.”

If you want to find more information about these trends, the 20-page report is available for free here.

- Sergei

The interview lasts for an hour, but it’s worth it. Joel and his partner, Michael Pryor, share their thoughts and plans on Fog Creek Software.

Those who have read “Joel on Software” and “Founders at Work” will be familiar with most of the things discussed. Joel also covered some new topics like the next release of FogBugz. The most interesting detail is the plan for offering the hosted version of Fog Bugz – a very common trend in web2.0 world.

Joel nicely blends the old traditional practices and the new trends. He got some years under his belt working on software development, and it gives him a certain perspective on things.

Definitely worth listening to. Don’t mind the random people walking casually behind the scene.

Check the interview here.

- Sergei

If you have anything to do with software development and didn’t read “Joel on Software” by Joel Spolsky yet, you should.

Joel is a software developer who lives in NY city. Before starting his own company, Fog Creek Software, he worked for big players like Microsoft and Juno. Joel shares his thoughts on his blog from 2000, and this book is a compilation of posts from it.

The book is entertaining, informative and easy to follow. You can read it on and off without going through each paragraph a dozen of times. I actually took it on the flight to Europe and was reading it through that long journey - in the bar, in the airport, on the plane. I finished reading it somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic ocean and almost felt sorry getting to the last page. Coincidently, the purpose of my trip was to conduct a bunch of interviews and the book had a great chapter on this subject.

A lot of startups bloomed lately, and new software spawns every day. Novel approaches to development are evolving (check “Get Real” by 37Signals). With all that web2.0 buzz going on, Joel takes a more “traditional” approach on developing software. He keeps it up to date but relies on experience accumulated over the years. Here is an interesting quote from his book:

“A lot of software developers are seduced by the old ‘80/20′ rule. It seems to make a lot of sense: 80% of the people use 20% of the features. So you convince yourself that you only need to implement 20% of the features, and you can still sell 80% as many copies. Unfortunately, it’s never the same 20%.”

The book is mostly about desktop software development, but a lot still applies to the web development world. He writes about planning, putting together specs (the Achille’s Heel of many failed projects), assembling teams, testing, selling, support and many more business related issues.
When it comes to scheduling and tracking tasks, he recommends keeping it simple - just use lists in Excel. I would go even a lower tech route and use good old paper and pencil. Nothing feels as rewarding as crossing out the completed tasks at the end of the day. However, what works well for one person may not work as well for a group. Especially when people working on the same project live in different places and even different time zone. Having a central location, where everybody can see what needs to be done and what has been done, is essential. A piece of paper can not send email notifications or have files attached to it. Eventually you may need something more.

In case you are looking for a solution to synchronize your team efforts and keep track of your daily tasks, give a try to Project and Team Manager. It’s a web-based application and can be accessed from anywhere, making it easy to maintain virtual teams. You can check the online demo here.

- Sergei