Getting the basics right makes money – Ascent

Yesterday I went shopping for a laser printer. I went to Pricespy and Trade Me, along with Ascent where I have successfully purchased before.

Pricespy sent me to a few stores, including Ascent, but I will pick on Computer Direct who came back  as the cheapest. They have a good url, but they are not a company that I have heard of. Still, they looked professional enough, and so I placed printer into the cart.
computerdirect
All good, if a little dated, but when I clicked on check out I was confronted with this:
computerdirect

Sorry – I don’t know you, and although I’d buy a printer from you I have no wish whatsoever to register on your website. You have also not yet told me how much shipping will cost, and given that I do not trust you I choose to stop. Goodbye.

For a simple lesson on how to do this (and to buy my printer), I headed on over to Ascent. Here is their cart:
ascent

and here is the next screen, which is excellent. I can simply click the center button and buy what I want to buy. I don’t have to register, I don’t have to remember a login and password.
Ascent

Oh – and before you can say lock-in and email spam, you should know that not only did I buy something else from Ascent two days ago, I have also purchased several expensive items from them over the years. Each time I just go through a normal checkout process. What I am trying to say is that it is not being registered that increases loyalty, it’s the site usability and the service. And that’s clearly worth a few extra bucks.

Ascent were first recommended to me by a red headed chap at Trade Me a few years back, and I’ve since recommended Ascent to others over the years, and I also commend them to you.

From Twitter @normnz agrees – “Ascent are worth every extra penny. Their service levels are extra-ordinary” and @vavroom says “Been dealing with Ascent for years. Service is *exceptional*. Would not think about using anyone else.”

This sort of word of mouth marks the difference between really successful businesses and lousy businesses.

What are you doing for your business to generate this sort of response? How do you stack up versus your competitors? Do you even know?

Getting the details right – ACC’s ActiveSmart doesn’t

Years ago I had a boss at Mobil Oil who had a mantra – “Retail is Detail”. He was all about getting the little things right, and right every time, in order to maximise sales. It was pretty smart, though it helped to have the big stuff right first!

Web sites are the same. The greatest looking websites can fall over in a screaming heap if the little usability things are not done well.

Today’s victim: ACC’s ActiveSmart website, which looks oh so nice, but using it is not so easy. I’ll walk through my experience. Each interaction is a chance for the site to build (or destroy) my trust in the site, the service, the developers and the owners

I arrived there by clicking on an advertisement, which looked pretty cool. I got this landing page which also  looked  interesting.
activesmart
I just started clicking stuff as unfortunately I couldn’t see a way to check out a sample plan, which was not a great sign – but I nosed around a bit, and eventually clicked the home button.

and got this:
Activesmart
It’s different from the first home page I saw – and I was confused and my trust in the site dropped a bit.

So I went back to the original page and decided to give it a go, and entering the login process.

activesmart

Whoops – it seems that I failed to create a sufficiently long password. This is for a site where I am unlikely to want a password that I can’t remember, and where you didn’t tell me to make the password long and complicated. More loss of trust.

But whatever – I guess for some fitness can be really personal, and so out came the industrial strength password, and on I went, a little miffed.

activesmart

Whoops again – it seems that I didn’t click the T’s and C’s box. More trust gone and I am more miffed – why didn’t the website tell me this when I got the last error? Despite the cute website I am beginning to suspect all is not well.

But I plug on, and get told that I have been sent an email.
activesmart

I suppose that’s fine, but why not log me in now so that I can keep moving? If my account isn’t verified you can always delete me right? It’s not as if this is a bank or anything.

But off to me email I go. Can you guess what I see?

my email, munged a bit
That’s right – there’s my top secret password. In the clear. Thanks a lot you lot – now everybody on the internet can see it. My trust in your site just went from 80% to 20% in one hit.

Losing all hope I clicked on the link in the email, and got this:
activesmart

So although I’ve just seen my login and password in the clear, the included link does not result in a populated login screen? That really dumb, and I am clearly feeling that you are not with the program. Say goodbye to yet more trust.

But still – it is cute looking, and I do want to see what I get, so onwards I go to create a plan.

Next, well it’s an ACC site I know, but really – do I need to tick this many boxes to get to a plan? (I’ve reduced the size to save space – the questions are things like “do you have a heart condition”). More trust gone.

activesmart

Next you want some details. I understand you need my age and weight because this is a fitness thing….
activesmart
But I don’t understand why you need my birth-day. That’s personal. I’m getting pissed off now – I don’t trust you with my details any more and you are getting a bit too personal.
activesmart

Now I need to choose what sort of plan I want. I wanted something across multiple sports – running, walking, cycling and so forth. Sadly that was not an option, and more sadly it took until now for me to realise that.
activesmart

I chose cycling but by this stage had lost all hope and trust – and was just making stuff up. The site was no longer potentially useful to me, nor was the resulting pretty but useless plan.

activesmart
So I decided to cancel my account. To ACC’s credit this was actually pretty easy – trust enhancing even.

First I “archived” the plan (why couldn’t delete it?)

and then I canceled the account:

Great – I’m done. It seems that canceling accounts is a strength. That’s a little worrying.

Well no – not so fast. When I tested by creating another login with the same name, my old one was still hanging around:
activesmart

So now my information is on your tables for posterity – I’m not really deleted.

What part of delete don’t you understand? This certainly sounded the death knell in the “do I trust this site” stakes.

How to fix it?

It’s not really that hard as the website is fundamentally there.

It needs to be tweaked, and constantly, which needs ownership, resources and a mandate.

Somebody that ‘gets it’ needs to own the user experience, looking constantly for the sort of stuff I have mentioned above. That person may already exist, but they need a mandate for the  time, money and people required to make the continuous improvements, and those people themselves need to have the time and talent to make the changes happen.

I would firstly fix what I have mentioned above, but more importantly do some usability testing. Don’t spend any money, but sit individuals down and simply watch them use the site, without prompting, aside from asking them to do tasks. Get them to talk as they are doing stuff. The results can scare, but will also give obvious ways to improve. This advice should not be surprising to anyone in the industry.

Buy and read Don’t make me think. It’s title says a lot, and the text is even better.

Overall I am worried that this site was built with a budget and then left alone. I cannot stress enough that websites are living – they need to be constantly improved. I like to think of the ongoing spend on website tweaks as a maintenance budget, as just as with a large piece of equipment if we fail to spend enough on website maintenance and improvements then the website will ultimately fail.

Vodafone 3G Coverage misses the money

I really should have checked the SSC Broadband Map before signing up to Vodafone 3G coverage.

It appears that Roseneath, one of NZ’s wealthier suburbs, and where I live, is barely covered by Vodafone’s 3G service.
roseneath
Actually there are plenty of gaps across Wellington – including Karaka Bay, Worser Bay and Seatoun, where many of the folks from the Miramar movie industry live.

broadbandmap

You can forget about Vodafone highish speed mobile broadband if you have the time and money to ski Ruapaheu this year – there is not a whisker of Vodafone 3G
broadbandmap

While in Auckland the wealthy suburbs of Mission Bay and St Helliers seem to partially miss out as well. Is this a conspiracy against the wealthy?
broadbandmap

This is not great from Vodafone – either the map is wrong, or they are missing out on a segment of the market that can easily afford to pay for 3G, and one that travels around New Zealand a lot. Don’t start me on the huge posibilities of revenie from international travel – at least not until the global roaming rates fall a few of orders of magnitude below $30,000 per GB.

Around New Zealand coverage is pretty sparse, with State Highway one uncovered for much of the journey up the North Island, and many towns simply missing out.
broadband

The South Island is worse.
si

But Vodafone still wins here – as there is no Telecom 3G coverage for those maps. In fact their own coverage maps are hard to find – there are only links on that “coverage map” page. Here’s the Wellington one (pdf)  – too low resolution to be of any use, and vague as to what goes where.

However in Australia Telstra Clear went from dodgy last to being the best 3G service by far – and they did a similar thing to what Telecom is doing in NZ right now – upgrading their vast existing network and leapfrogging everyone else.

While I would like to see a pre-emptive coverage response from Vodafone NZ, I’m pretty sure they won’t invest – they have got a good percentage of the population, and it is hard to justify hitting the sparsely populated rural areas. In Australia though there was a tipping point, where it became obvious that Telstra has coverage in say, Leonora, and the others simply did not. so going forward, if you ever find yourself needing data in the middle of nowhere, skiing on Whakapapa say, then Telecom will look increasingly viable.

Guilty – but what about the Police organisation?

The Policeman who turned to chase a motorcyclist on Buller gorge, blocking the road and causing two other motorcyclists to be seriously injured, has just been found guilty of dangerous driving causing injury.

He is no doubt haunted by the accident – as a professional officer policing road safety the decision to make a 3 point turn on a narrow, windy and 100kmph road was very poor.

My earlier post questioned whether road safety was a value for the police force, or whether detecting speeding came first. The maneuver was reckless for three reasons – he could not catch the bike anyway, the turn itself was dangerous – especially as bikers often ride together, and the attitude of “stop all speeding no matter what” was not putting common sense road safety ahead of the letter of the law.

“The first and foremost duty of everyone on the road it to ensure safety – that of ourselves and that of other drivers.”

However there is much more to this incident than one individual’s actions:

“There is a systematic safety culture failure that really scares me here.”

When there is a personal failure we should look beyond the actions of one person and question the organisation. I know very little about the inner workings of the NZ Police force, but I would hope that they now internally understand the circumstances that led to Anthony Dale Bridgman making that 3 point turn.

  • Was zero harm when traffic policing reinforced as the number one priority to all staff, no matter what else?
  • Was there a quick safety process to check whether a pursuit will be safe? (e.g. a grown ups version of stop, look listen. I like answering a quick “what could go wrong?“)
  • Was the police vehicle and driver training suitable for the roads?
  • Was the road safe enough?
  • Was motorcycling speeding on that road a road safety priority?
  • If slowing speeds on that road was a priority, then was there a safer way to do so?
  • ..and so on. There are structured processes for conducting this sort of review.

I will note that from what I have seen on the roads and in the newspapers the NZ Police force seems to generally understand this sort of stuff more than virtually any other police force I have seen – and I have ridden on roads in over 60 countries.

However I am very concerned that the way statistics are coded and interpreted in New Zealand means that there is an overemphasis on speeding and an under emphasis on road quality.

It’s easy to code “excessive speed”, but much harder to say “yet another lousy NZ road” when reporting an accident. The primary cause of this particular accident was the incorrect actions of an individual, but “lousy road” was very high up on the list of contributing factors, along with the other answers to the questions above.

<update>

From a new article on stuff:

investigating officer Detective Senior Sergeant Tony Bernards said the verdict was “satisfying”.

He believed the crash was an “aberration” and would not prompt regular officer training.

The police manual required officers to be prudent and competent drivers and not put other motorists at risk, he said.

“This was a very unusual event.

“There are many times a day when officers make the decision to turn and do not because it is unsafe.”

How to blog anonymously

As we progressively lose our freedoms on the internet, it was timely to have a read of some of the excellent material written by Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society – it’s part of the Harvard Law School and has the delightful url of cyber.law.harvard.edu – as it was started from a seminar way back in 1994.

The Center’s Internet and Deomcracy blog has a recent post on “How to blog anonymously“, and explains why anonymous speech is important:

Like 18th century phampleteers (or even the writers of the Federalist papers), anonymous bloggers are empowered by their aliases to challenge taboos, censors and government power.

…The internet is the last bulwark against totalitarian control because of its fluid and democratic character. That is why anonymous blogging is so important. Difficult to trace or gag, it is the kind of speech most likely to impact an increasingly interconnected and web-dependent world.

However – it’s a dangerous game this blogging:

Of course, be extremely careful. Use these tools at your discretion. Reporters Without Borders has a comprehensive list of jailed cyber-dissidents.

The GlobalVoices site has the guide to blogging anonymously,which comes with a chilling caevet:

These directions do nothing to prevent you from being linked through other technical means, like keystroke logging (the installation of a program on your computer to record your keystrokes) or traditional surveillance (watching the screen of your computer using a camera or telescope). The truth is, most people get linked to their writing through non-technical means: they write something that leaves clues to their identity, or they share their identity with someone who turns out not to be trustworthy. I can’t help you on those fronts except to tell you to be careful and smart.

The bold part is important. The surveillance measures that are increasingly coming in are not that important to the either “criminals” or “freedom fighters”. Decent police work is much more effective at finding out about bad things happening, which is why societies should make sure their police, court systems and bureaucracies are corruption free and focused on the highest risks. New Zealand always scores very highly on these stakes.

Anyway – to cut a long story short, if you don’t want the ISP’s in NZ (or anywhere) to be able to see what you are doing, then use Tor, proxy servers, gmail and wordpress, writing your posts offline in say notepad and secure erasing everything along the way. You may not be really avoiding any real threat to your personal freedom in New Zealand, but you will be helping people that have real issues.

It’s a draconian move to go undercover, but there are some topics and writers which lend themselves to being anonymous. Consider though the words of GlobalVoices:

A final thought on anonymity: If you don’t really need to be anonymous, don’t be. If your name is associated with your words, people are likely to take your words seriously. But some people are going to need to be anonymous, and that’s why this guide exists. Just please don’t use these techniques unless you really need to.

We are being watched now

Via the NBR I hear that ISPs can snoop on us from April the 5th.

S92 was nothing. The Telecommunications (Intercept Capability) Act, coming into full force on April 5, will let the Police, SIS and the GCSB (Government Communications Security Bureau) execute search warrants on internet service providers to grab users’ data

Right now the law applies to voice calls, and April 5th sees that extended to everything passing over your ISP. That means email, VOIP calls, blogging, torrenting, facebook personal messages, intra-company communications, emails to your lawyer – and so on.

As the NBR helpfully points out, the spy base at Waihopai “has been able to tap internet communications systems for years” and from ISPANZ President Jamie Baddeley we hear

“some Ispanz members have already engaged already in legal interception. The police have been very pragmatic. I don’t think it’s a big issue.”

So nothing has changed really. Wire tapping can only be in place with a court order, it seems that this is happening already and that is how it should be. We just have to, as a society, make sure that the overall number of cases is low, and that tapping isn’t retrospective or go on for too long. Find the bad thing that you got the court order for then make an arrest, find nothing (or something else only) then turn it off.

But, along with section s92 of the NZ copyright act, the Australian Government’s somewhat clueless efforts to censor their internet and the NZ libel laws, we have an increasing chilling effect on our online behaviour, and expensive unwieldy compliance for our ISPs.

The ISPs are struggling merely to get us connected, let alone at a decent speed. Now they are being asked to police content, place surveillance capability in line and (in Australia) censor. All this adds cost and complexity, and ultimately degrades the service that we get in our homes and businesses.

Keith Locke from Green Party has the last word

“No one is denying we may catch a few more criminals through these powers, but there is a huge downside for us. The big downside has two aspects. One is our privacy, and the other is how these powers could be misused by agencies of the government.”

Where I live, What I do

I’ve always struggled to describe where I live and what I do. Here is some clarity.

Where I live

After almost two years of attempting to live in both Fremantle and Wellington (and largely failing at either), I am now back in New Zealand for the foreseeable future. I’m based in Wellington, and will commute and stay in Auckland as required.

It’s exciting.

I’m continuously amazed at the optimism and energy levels of people across a variety of industries in New Zealand. NZ feels ready to not just weather the storm, but also to take advantage of the global turmoil.

What I do

I work across three main areas – early stage businesses, consulting and directorships – often all three at once, and often including an equity stake.

Coffees
I’m always interested to meet and listen to people, learn about new companies, get the nerdy tour of the facility and products, give free advice and drink coffee. This first coffee meeting is always free, and will often result in some great ideas for your business and learning and fun for me, so please get in touch.

Consulting
If the coffee was good, then I am always looking for interesting strategic consulting work, short or long term. My specialties are turnarounds, growth and exits, and in pretty much any industry and company size.

Consulting can range from running short workshops, working for a few days with your team, providing ongoing advice –  through to taking the reins for a few months to drive a turnaround. You can see some examples of this work in the About Lance page above.
(If you cannot afford my increasingly outrageous fees then I can work for equity, for public good and for kind.)

Public Speaking
I’m more than happy to speak in front of groups – actually I really enjoy it. If you feel that some of my experience is relevant to your organisation then drop me a line.

I’m happy to talk about almost anything, from making the most out of you career and life, though to adventure motorcycling, leading teams and companies, Nickel refining (not really), web usability and of course media, dot coms, business strategy and investing. I like to think I am funny as well.*

Education
I’m keen to help out in an academic environment – at a University or even the occasional school. Drop me a line if you think a Yale MBA and too much consulting experience will impress your class.

Directorships
I will consider NZ directorships – from smaller companies that are going through rapid growth through to very large companies that need strategic advice. I have very strong views on the role of a director, which will be all too apparent to longer time readers and those that have been in a board room with me.

Investing
Aside from early stage investments, I am quietly looking for NZ based turnaround opportunities, distressed companies and start-ups to invest in. It could be an MBO, a take over or simply a turnaround with equity upside. In the back of my mind is my desire to raise some sort of fund and make a range of investments in distressed companies. If you are incredibly wealthy and looking for somewhere to put your money – then operators are standing by.

* Reader Opinions may vary. Also please note that I was in the losing team at the Foo Camp debate – “That the Future of NZ is F****d”. That was organised by Roger Dennis and myself, and he proved himself the better man by placing himself on the winning, negative, side. I  argue, or course, that the affirmative team was always set up to lose.

Current Portfolio
Here’s an update on the companies where I currently have a private investment:

Texmate NZ (PLC’s and electronics design and manufacturing) is going well, and even seeing strong forward orders. It helps to be a minnow in a huge market and to have a cheaper, more flexible solution than your competitors.

Lingopal (phone based phrase translation) (VC backed, founded by my cousin in Perth) is waiting for Apple to approve the first product. It was rejected on the first pass after 8 days so we took out some phrases and are re-submitting.

PowerKiwi (buy our products online at Powershop) is up and running with some very cool people on board. We’ve sold over 30,000 units of electricity credits already, growing from zero a few weeks back.

Chainui (NZ’s finest tea) is formerly Chai Tea NZ, and has re-branded as Chanui. “Cha” is tea in several languages, and “nui” is Maori for big – so that’s Big Tea. The new boxes are appearing on supermarket shelves, along with Chanui tea bags which will let us hit the other 90% of the tea market.

Valuecruncher (online valuations) has just made a big change – we now make recommendations for shares rather than giving a black slate. Check out Google: http://www.valuecruncher.com/companies/514

Widentifi (city based location, VC backed) continues on, under a confidentiality cloud, but progressing well.

There are two or three other potential start ups in very early stage, and plenty more out there. One is “Monsters” (toys), which has started to gain traction. This could be big, but sadly I’m keeping it offline for now.

I have lots of energy and time for these, and am keen to get involved in several more..

If you do wish to get hold of me, then drop me a line on 021 526239, use the Contact Me form or DM me @lancewiggs on Twitter.

Trains, buses and cars – we need them all

A nice rant by Bernard Hickey against the rushed Auckland electrification decision. I’m not arguing with him on the rushed aspect, nor on the specifics of this particular decision, which seem to be remarkably absent.

However the comments have unveiled a cars versus buses versus trains versus whatever war.

Let me copy my comment on the thread:

To me it is simple – a decent sized city (any city really) needs multiple modes of transport, and Auckland is currently a public transport joke.

The aim should be to make the retail cost of each transport option include the full cost or benefit of it’s economic externalities.

  • That means driving a car should incorporate the cost of smog, congestion and road building/maintenance.
  • Travelers on a bus should receive some of that car congestion subsidy – after all they are taking cars off the road.
  • Train riders should receive more, as they are using even less road space and resources per person.

And that’s why trains make economic sense – they work when you add the numbers up correctly.

When we add the true cost of carbon emissions to the equations then things will really start to pay off – for trains and for us all.

Meanwhile car drivers already pay a lot of tax for emissions and so forth via fuel tax, but they do not pay for the congestion cost. It’s a real cost – increased fuel consumption and wasted time spent in traffic for thousands of people.

But we can only start charging for congestion when we have a viable alternative transport system.

So yes – bring in more trains and other mass transit options, and especially bring in more transport to more areas.

Is Powershop forcing a competitive response already?

Is this the first response to Powershop? Via a secret source, Contact energy is offering 12% prompt payment discounts, up from 10%. In this game that’s a huge discount. Click on the picture to see the original (it looks the same). I don’t get the “no credit card” rule though – at least not from the customer’s perpective. The credit card companies take less than 2% commission, and payment is made to Contact on the same day, so why not give a 10% discount to those on auto-payment via credit card? It’s hard to set up a direct debit (especially for those like me with the inability to handle paper transactions), so I can see the reason for an incentive. But it is scary just how much Contact is giving away here – it is saying a lot about their current margins. It’s good to see a reaction, if that is what it is. Keep the sign-ups to Powershop coming, and let’s make the retail electricity market a bit more dynamic.

Powershop aims to open up the retail electricity market, and make it easy to select the cheapest deal. The prices are right, and you can sign up to Powershop via Flowerpower now – and get $20 of free power. FlowerPower is a PowerKiwi Limited product, and I’m a co- founder of that company.

Why living in NZ sucks, and how you can profit

I want another power cable for my Zumo motorcycle GPS unit. It’s so I don’t have to rip the one out of my KTM here in Perth, which gives me the option of doing an epic KTM sand tour again later this year.

So I Googled “Zumo Power Cable”, and find DirectDepot – a US store that has one in stock. I got through the checkout process, only to find that they do not ship out of the USA. Useless.
DirectDepot

I try http://www.challengermotors.co.nz/, but while they sell the Zumo units, they have only 126 products in stock and no Zumo cables. Useless.

Christchurch store http://www.mapworld.co.nz/ has Garmin GPS’s, and even mention the cable. But they have no store – only a phone and email. How am I going to buy? (It’s Saturday 10pm in NZ). I sent them an email. Whatever. Useless.

Garmin.com only gives me the world’s most random assortment of countries to ship to when I sign up.
Garmin
Useless.

I sent their CS staff an email as well. That was tough – as their support services seemed to be only by telephone, and only during strange hours. However I managed to find a buried link, and this time I was even able to select my country.
garmin

Amazon had the cable, a slick process and knew me. But the pricks won’t ship me a cable. That’s right – they won’t send a fucking cable, but they will send DVDs, books and what not.
Amazon. Wankers. Actually it is Garmin's fault.
I have to admit that Amazon has lost a lot of my business in the last few years – I used to buy hundreds of dollars worth of books each few months, but shenanigans like this have destroyed my trust. Useless.

eBay.com.au will sell me a Zumo car charger cable, but not a motorcycle charger cable

The http://www.downunderpilotshop.com.au (everything Aviation) looks promising, but their price is – well AU$45 for a cable.

Trade Me gives me one response – and that’s a music CD.
Trade Me

Boatersisland.com has them for US$15.99 – which is great.
Boaterisland
Yet their registration form looks like this..
Boaterisland

..and I don’t know whether they can ship to NZ. I suspect not and I’m still smarting from Amazon and Direct Depot. Useless.

Remember – this is Garmin’s fault (at least for Amazon) – they can allow Amazon to ship if they want to.

Ryda.com.au looked promising, but no cable in sight. I tried their amusing search (check the word Zumo below) and yes – there was one for $27.85. Just look at that saving!
Ryda
Ryda

But sadly they only ship to Australia. Useless.
Ryda

Octapc advertised through Google adwords, but has no Zumos. And their site is very poor.
Octapc

Useless

I went back to downunderpilot.com.au shop, hesitated at the form, then noticed they had a NZ shop. WooHoo.

I jumped in, ordered using the ridiculous form, suffered through an archaic process including a declined credit card with an incorrect error message.
Pilotshop nz

(The number was actually right, the name wasn’t.)

So there it is – NZ$53.50 for a US $15.99 cable.
dowununderpilot

The Downunderpilot.co.nz site feels so 1999, the price is wacko and it’s aimed at pilots for goodness sake. But good on them for being there and for having the Zumo cable available.

Why it sucks to live in NZ and Australia

In the USA or the UK I would simply go to Amazon or Garmin, order the  cable, and it would be there the next day or the day after that. And it would be cheap.

So  why is it so hard for Kiwis?
Why are overseas retailers not able to ship to New Zealand? (The suppliers tell them not to so the local distributors can charge monopoly rents)
Why are NZ retailers so poor with product selection, price and usability? (Our market is too small becasue suppliers treat us as a market, where we are ust part of the world like everyone else)
Why does it have to take so long to receive stuff? (We live a long way from critical mass, but if I can get a package from the USA in 3 days then anyone can)

So if you have got this far (and I’d apologise for ranting, but it is just so much fin) then here’s a business opportunity. Don’t worry – there are plenty of opportunities to go around.

1: Go and have a look at Torpedo7 and Fishpond.
Right – both operate out of New Zealand, have ecommerce stores in each domain and quickly service Australia and New Zealand. They treat the CER region as one country, have favourable GST breaks and can ship really quickly. So should you.

2: Look around the ecommerce space in the USA. Pick an area/store that is not represented (well) in New Zealand and Australia and that you feel will do well. Don’t be greedy and pick two or more – that’s doing what Ferrit did, and not doing what gameplanet, torpedo7 or fishpond did.
Talk it up on twitter and blogs so that if anyone else is doing it they will let you know, and you can do something else. No kidding – tell people now, and make sure you really have done your search for competitors. You did check Trade Me and eBay.com.au right? There is nothing worse than a “suprise” competitor that already owns the market.

3: Go and find suppliers that can drop ship, give you goods on consignment, get you good prices and just get you goods. Buy some of the 20% that you will need to ship fast, but keep your inventory low to save on cash spend – it’s going to start slow.

4: Build an online store. Copy shamelessly from the good ones like Apple, and do not ever outsource because that will cost you a fortune.

5: Get the word on the streets. Don’t spend much money – the best growth is organic. A few google ads and great service are all you need.

6: Call me, give me 5% of the company (or try Rowan Simpson) and put me on your board and quick dial so that you get free advice without having to read my rants. Seriously – share the equity around – use equity not cash where you can, and bring along a bunch of friends on the journey with you. After all – who wants to be a lonely multi millionaire?

7: Profit.
Oh – and watch your cash flow. Inventory can kill you and so will expensive board members. Don’t quit your day job until it is really obvious you can.

The real estate market plunge

Alex Tarrant over at Interest.co.nz had a couple of, well, interesting posts on the housing market in NZ.

There is a piece on the February housing statistics, which rose dramatically versus January, although the median price stayed down, and the number of days to sell was a record 62. Alex also looked at the REINZ commentaries over the last year, and to their credit REINZ has pretty much got it right each time.

So let’s look at the total year on year dollar transactions for the real estate market over the last year and a bit:(Red is older, green most recent)

REINZ

It’s been a pretty steady decline from October 2007, though February was an excellent month this year.

Let’s look at what is near and dear to the industry – estimated commissions. I’ve just used 3.5% as a wild guess – what’s important are the orders of magnitude. The fives months between September 08 and January 09 saw $182 million more less in commissions for the industry than the corresponding period a year earlier. $182 million pays for a lot of agents, and a lot of agents’ flash cars and investment properties.
REINZ, 3.5% commission estimated by me
Let’s also smooth out the effect of a lousy January and a great February – and apply the average of the two to them both. You can see that we are not really seeing a resurgence.
REINZ, my smoothing

Finally, as The Bank Manager notes in the comments on interest.co.nz, the February sales in 2009 were a huge drop from previous years. This chart is telling:

REINZ

Things are really not good for the real estate industry, nor for homeowners with large mortgages and uncertain jobs. Nice February statistics are a start, but is it a bounce or a dead cat bounce?

<update. Alistair from realestate.co.nz has introduced an excellent chart:
realestate.co.nz

This is really scary – it shows we still have quite a way to fall. Brace yourselves – and remember that these things tend to overshoot.>

Blame directors for failure, CEOs for success

Fairfax (Reuters) belatedly opines that Directorships are not a reward, but actual work. It’s an article based on US companies, but is applies to every jurisdiction.

I absolutely agree – a directorship is a very serious obligation.

I propose a simple philosophy

  • Blame the Board of Directors for failed companies
  • Credit the CEO and management team for successful companies

The Board is responsible to shareholders for the performance of the company. Their ultimate power is to take out the CEO and replace him or her with someone else. If they fail to exercise this power in time then value is destroyed, and (in a reasonable jurisdiction) they are opening themselves up for shareholder lawsuits and more.

The CEO on the other hand is there to do the best job he can do to increase the value of the company – and a smart board steps aside a bit and lets a successful CEO go for it. A smarter board will keep challenging the CEO with questions on strategy, implementation, culture and succession. They will also make sure the legal and fiduciary obligations are up to date and keep a very jaundiced eye on what could go wrong.

And plenty has gone wrong recently, often in companies ruled by a strong CEO/founder/majority shareholder.

So here are a few starter Q&A’s for existing and prospective board members

What should you do if you do not agree with the company’s strategy?

Voice your concerns. Your responsibility is to the shareholders, and you are their representative. So if you don’t like the strategy, then get the discussion going. You are on the board because your voice needs to be heard. If it is a matter of degrees, or if it is big but you can live with the alternative, then a good discussion (with well researched inputs, and a constructive atmosphere) is the right thing to do. If the strategy is wildly different from your beliefs then perhaps it is time to make a stand, or get out. More on that down the page.

What should you do if you think the CEO is “off”

CEO’s can go off – they may get stale, not grow with the company or change with the times. You may have employed the wrong person in the first place, or they may have out-grown the role and want to move on. Firstly talk to the other board members, and see if your concerns are shared. Then constructively engage with the CEO to help him change his ways or move aside for a successor.

However if the CEO is really going off the rails, or if you think there is fraud involved, then you need to get down and dirty. Call or meet with the other board members, or with the non-executive board members only. Agree on a course of action, which may be asking toe CEO to resign, issuing him with firm instructions or demands (or else) and/or shopping for a new CEO. It’s important to move together, and firmly.

What should you do if someone makes an offer for the company?

If they are serious, then you have a duty to the shareholders to maximise the value of their investment. This is a duty to all shareholders, not just the majority, and it is a duty taken very seriously by courts (at least in the USA). You should consider the company “in play” and the  independent directors need to step up to make sure that the interests of the executives and/or major shareholders do not come first.

Next you should retain professional advice (a great way to CYA), and seek to maximise what you can sell the company for. You firstly need  to have a very clear understanding internally of what you believe the company is worth – actually this is something that you should always have. If the offer is within reach of your internal range (or above your share price) then it’s time to create and run an auction process, whether public or not.

Should you accept board positions when the founder has a majority share?

Yes, But. Yes you can accept these, but the founder has to understand that you are putting your reputation and more on the line. That means he needs to accept that the board has a certain amount of “veto” power, and even more specifically that the independent directors have a de-facto veto over any major decisions. If they do not have this power then the board cannot represent the interests of all shareholders, and is a powerless advisory board only.

What should you do if the founder/majority shareholder/CEO/rest of the board doesn’t take your advice?

If it persists, then resign. You are not a figurehead, and if they demonstrate time and time again do not want to listen, then go gently into the night. After all you may be wrong, but like it our not as a board member you will be responsible for the failure of the company, and if you strongly believe they are going the wrong way, then you need to get off the ship. Of course this is a drastic action, but you have to keep your integrity.

What should you do if you see illegal activity happening by the company/founder/majority shareholder/CEO?

Resign, and quickly. This is the main power that you have, and you should also report any illegal behavior to the relevant authorities. Illegal behavior is a huge indicator of impending financial disaster, and so as a board member you should treat it with utter seriousness. It’s also, well, illegal, and you can go to jail yourself if you do not react appropriately.

On occasion the CEO (say) may have stepped out of line a bit, but not too  far, and the Board can place controls and mandates to bring things back into control. However as a board member your reputation and freedom are on the line so these will be treacherous waters.

What do you do if the board meetings unproductive or simply do not happen?

Step up and make the changes required. Boards that do not meet are asking for trouble, while poor board meetings will rubber stamp poor decisions. If you see this happening then it is your duty to shareholders to make sure that meetings happen and that the board it doing the right thing by shareholders. Once again it is your reputation and even perhaps freedom on the line.

How many boards should you be on?

Up to as many as you can cope with – and this is a function of what else you have on, but more importantly on how efficient and effective you are, and what else you have on your plate. It’s the old adage t0 give the busy person things to do and they will get done.

Should I recruit a “professional director”?

Rarely I say, and even then maximum one person. I’m defining a professional director as someone who is only doing directorships for income, they are usually older and retired from direct involvement in business. To me this risks losing perspective, as the professional directors are not engaged at the right level. It may make sense to have one elder statesman of this type for the history and network – but the majority of the board should be dynamic and involved. This doesn’t mean don’t get people that are experienced, but please make sure you have a mix of youth and experience.

I’m a founder/CEO – what sort of people should I have on my board?

People you respect, can learn from and will listen to – they have to hold you to account after all. People that are different enough from each other so they bring different points of view – be it from their skill set, industry experience, age, gender or ethnicity/country of origin or seniority. They are there to work, are are underpaid, so genuine interest and passion for the company is really important.

I’m a founder/CEO – how many people should I have on my board?

From 3 to 12, and it varies by the size of the company and the complexity of the business. The EBRD has a live-in board of 23 Directors and 20 alternates, along with a Board of Governors 126-strong (2 from each country). Somehow it works. I’ve also seen a board of 3 people work well for Lingopal. It’s the skill-set and the engagement around the table that is important, and you should get the minimum number that works.

How should you compensate board members?

Some research I saw (part-directed) at McKinsey was equivocal on a lot of board behaviors, but very clear on one. The more money on the table when the board meets, the better the results to shareholders. That means the major shareholders should be there, and that board members should have their own money at stake. It’s true for the 3 people Lingopal board meetings, and it is true for Microsoft and the EBRD. Let the non-investors accumulate shares, by earning them or buying them at a good price, (preferably not by options as it encourages risk taking) helping them pay for those shares with a loan. Pay them a bit in cash as well to help make ends meet.

That’s my take – Do you agree with these answers? What other questions are important?

Dell – useless useless useless

Go to the home pages of Dell.com.au or Dell.co.nz or Dell.com and search for “30 inch monitor”

Marvel at the results.

Well don’t bother actually – as here are those results.

On Dell.com you use this search box.
dell

and get a nice list of 30 inch monitors. No surprise there. There are even some NEC models shown.
dell

For the downunder sites the search box says “Keyword search”.
Dell NZ
No idea why. Perhaps it is because it doesn’t actually work. Note how the phone support phrases are different as well.

So let’s see the results. You know this isn’t going to be good.

On Dell.co.nz you get this – three error reports containing the search phrase. I really wanted to buy a monitor, and these error messages are kind of scary.
Dell nz

On Dell.com.au it’s even worse – I have no idea how the search found these two printers, and nothing else.
dell au

As an aside those printer photos and descriptions are completely useless. Oh and those two printers – are actually the same  model posted in different sections of the site.

This cannot be that hard to get right – yes search is hard, but for goodness sake the mother-site is working well.

I am continuously staggered and saddened by Dell’s descent, over the last few years, into usability hell. Fail.

Sometimes even Apple gets it wrong

OK so actually a lot of the time Apple gets it wrong, their US-centric approach has given us locked phones, locked and therefore useless DVD drives and, in conjunction with the RIAA and MPAA a crippled iTunes in outside of Nprth America. (That last one is solveable – but lots of lawyers are required to change a heck of a lot of contracts.)

However as Apple gets it right so often, it is still la bit surprising when they make a silly usability mistake – like this one on the Australian Apple website:

I was idly looking for a retailer near Fremantle:

where to buy

So entered “Fremantle” in the find a reseller box

Find a reseller

And got this useless and rude error message.

Whoops

That annoyed me.
What they could have done better is to also give me a list of states/cities to click, or a list of all of Australian stores or, even, better converted Fremantle into a post code (really not hard) and returned the right list.

I hit back and realised that a post code was the required input format, and  so I guessed.

Apple’s Californian staff may not realise that the rest of the world doesn’t really care about zip codes. The staff don’t seem to travel much – at least not independently  – so they probably don’t realise that travelers in a particular area are unlikely to know a local zip/ost code. Or the names of local towns.

Which is what makes the output list really frustrating.

The actual list

I really have no idea where these places are. How hard is it to plonk them on a map? I’m trying to find a place to buy your products after all.