Plans Are Great, but the Execution Is Everything

Many engineers work with some documentation. Whether it’s a design document or an instruction manual for building the product, for instance, when building a car or anything that requires motion, the engineer must incorporate the kinematic formula to avoid motion sickness in the passengers. Even when they’re just making something for fun, they will still want to understand how it works and build another if they break it!

When creating a new product or service, you need to have some documentation so that future employees and contractors know what they’re building and how it should work. This means that your documentation needs to be accurate and concise enough for someone else to understand and reproduce your work.

However, documentation only gets you so far. You will still need to build out the product and test it before making any changes. This is where having an engineering mindset comes in handy – as an engineer, they know that changes aren’t made until there’s something to analyze and test.

To do this, you will need to conduct a test and record your results. In the case of engineering, this might be a stress test or a motion simulation. In the case of your new product, it could mean that you create a prototype that customers test before going into full production. Moreover, engineers must perform tests before moving forward with a product. The earlier the test, the fewer holes in the design and the more time they have to fix it. Rushing into testing will lead you to build something that doesn’t work well or fails horribly.

Iteration is Key

No matter what type of product you’re building, there will likely be multiple iterations before the final version. Even though the frame and engine might not change, cars go through many iterations before they are released to the public, even though the frame and engine might not change. When creating new products, your product will go through several design phases before it’s ready for the market, including testing, consultations with customers to see what they want, and revisions.

Engineers have to iterate through their products as well. Many of the greatest engineering minds repeat their creations several times before release. For instance, inventor Nikola Tesla built his famous coil seven times before perfecting it. In his autobiography, Tesla said, “I do not rush into actual work. When I get an idea, I start building it up in my imagination. I change the construction, make improvements and operate the device in my mind.” Edison’s lightbulb went through over 1,000 iterations before it was the right shape and brightness!

Just like in engineering, when you’re creating a new product, your product is going to need multiple iterations before it’s ready for production. You must document these changes and make sure they are easily reproduced by following step-by-step instructions.

Small Changes Can Have Big Impacts

During the engineering process, there will likely be small changes that can impact your entire design. You might find out your wheel well is too big to fit into the frame, or you may realize that you need a few more bolts for everything to line up correctly. When designing new products, you might find that a slight change in the functionality of your product can have a significant impact on customer satisfaction or conversions. This is why it’s crucial to test each iteration of your design and continue to follow up with users throughout the entire process. You ensure that you’re creating the absolute best version of your product by doing so.

Engineers are often faced with making small changes that have a large impact on their design. For instance, when the Apollo 13 module malfunctioned on its way to the moon, engineers could make an emergency landing by changing only one variable in the design – how much battery power was left. 

Another example of a small change leading to an impact is the invention of the nickel-iron battery by Waldemar Jungne. He had initially made his battery with lithium, but this caused the electrolyte (a liquid that conducts electricity within a cell) to evaporate and become unusable quickly. So he switched out one material for another and found that his new design was much more effective.

Your Idea Isn’t Always What Your Customers Want

Engineers are typically very creative. They come up with different ideas about solving problems or improving functionality, but that doesn’t always mean the idea will work for customers. It’s essential when creating new products to stay in touch with your users and get their feedback throughout the entire process. Engineers may know what they need to do, but getting customer feedback is vital to create the best product possible.

For example, Apple is known for its aesthetically pleasing products. However, the iPhone wasn’t always this way. In 2005 Apple released the first iPhone, and it had a candy-bar design with a small LCD screen on the front and only four buttons on the sides. Over time, Apple kept getting feedback from customers on ways to improve the functionality and usability of the phone. As a result, they added a front-facing camera, an app store, and more external buttons for ease of use.

Engineers should always keep the idea in mind, but it may take several iterations before you can create your final product. Stay in touch with your users throughout the process to collect feedback about their needs and wants so that you can make the best possible product for them.

To conclude, engineering is a mindset that helps you approach all kinds of problems in life, not just problems in your field. Thinking like an engineer when creating new products will help you iterate on your current product and continuously improve upon it. Remember the 3 R’s: Reduce risk with testing, Repeatability through documentation, and Replication so that you can produce your product quickly and easily for large-scale production.

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post 4 Ways How an Engineering Mindset Helps Create New Products appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

Your Products and Services Visuals 

Whatever is the concern of your small business, a good visual representation will increase your chances to grow the sales. Truth to be said, good and striking images will sell both the product and service. Try to tell the story about your business visually. This means that you need to come up with a concept that is unique. You can use all the visual means to deliver your message. Things like videos, whiteboards, and high-quality images will present your customers with how you solve problems and will give them insight into the products you are selling. 

Live Streams 

It is important to take advantage of all contemporary digital means and live streams, and video conferencing are definitely one of the main ones. If you are asking yourself how this will help you sell your products and increase selling rates, well, it is quite simple. This is done by using some of the live streaming platforms, and regularly live stream of your products and service presentations will make a huge difference. How so? You will show and present your customers how your products actually look, what are available alternatives and how you can use them. If you’re offering a service, on the other hand, you may show how the problem is fixed and the pros who manage the entire process.

Reviews

Work on getting positive reviews. Believe it or not, positive reviews are the first thing that your potential customers will search for before they even consider getting any of your products. Therefore, you must make sure that your services and products are on the highest possible level. Negative reviews do not mean that you should let yourself regret it, on the contrary, that is your room for improvement. If you find objections to be truthful and realistic, those are the things that you can turn into your own advantage. Most business owners choose to disregard them; don’t be one of them; instead, utilize objections to improve, and use the live streams and graphics described earlier to convey the improvement based on the objection.

Marketing 

Marketing has been described so many times as a strategy that it has become a cliche. It is, nonetheless, effective. There is no business and sales growth without good-quality marketing. It is even simplified nowadays because you do not have to use only real-life space for showing off your products, virtual space is an even bigger area for product marketing. Consider investing some money into a marketing campaign that will have its own space and will certainly reach a great number of people. A perfect place for this is a social network. Most people today have accounts on social networks and people getting interested in your product and service have a possibility to reach out and purchase it directly or by using a website. Anyway, marketing can help you breakthrough and increase your sales. For instance, you can use this service to get likes on your TikTok videos and help your engagement rate!

Stretch Goals 

Your employees are the key to your business’s success and you must make smart choices when it comes to employee engagements. Applying pressure and asking them to improve their performance can only lead to frustration and overall dissatisfaction. This is why you need to create stretch goals. These are basically parts of some bigger aspirations. Stretch goals, when achieved, are the beginning of some other, a greater goal that will bring you closer to the ultimate destination. This is more effective than chasing and putting all effort into achieving the final stage. By completing the process of achieving the stretch goal, you will make your sales greater with every new step. 

Calendar 

Your presence on the market is one of the key elements for growing your target audience and increasing your sales. Make a calendar that will assist you in keeping track of new releases, ad placements, social media updates, and any other ways of remaining visible and accessible to your clients. This will increase your chances of growing your company and sales at the same time.

Growing sales is a dark place to be for businesses of every size. Small business owners need to be focused and apply strategies that will promote their business and put it in the spotlight. This will make them level up and improve their operations and even implement some innovations that will make them stand out.  

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post Tips For Small Business Owners On How To Double Their Sales appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

Whether you are an existing business or a new startup, if you are intending to sell some new products there are some steps you should take first before you invest any money. At some point, most businesses need to expand their range of products or services, you just need to make sure you go about it in the right way.

Research and More Research

The amount of research you need to do cannot be underestimated. You need to know what the best audience is for you to target with your marketing. This is important, as your marketing strategy might be totally different for young females than it would be for male pensioners. This is much easier to do with today’s technology and the analytical tools available to help you. There are also online research companies that will carry out this task for you.

You also need to research your competitors. You need to look closely to see if you can improve on the way they do things. For example, most people would happily pay a little bit more for a product if they get excellent customer service. If your competitors are failing to provide a service that is up to scratch make sure yours excels in every way. You also need to check how their price compare to yours and is their products quality as good as yours?

Research to make sure there is a market for the new products you are intending to sell.  Most consumers buy a service or product because it fills a need. Make sure your new products solve their problem and don’t sell them just because they will increase the number of items in your store. Expanding your range is great, but only if it is with saleable items.

Product Liability

There are no federal laws in America for product liability; it is up to each state to have their own rules and regulations. In most of the country, the liability lies with any seller in the selling chain from the manufacturer to the retailer.

Bearing that in mind, it is up to you to avoid product liability claims by ensuring that products are tested and safe. This should have been done at every stage of the selling chain, starting with the makers or importers, then the distributors and finally by you. In theory, this should mean that no defective product ever reaches US consumers, but unfortunately, that happens all the time.

People can suffer a life-changing injury because of a faulty product, and it is advisable for your business to have product liability insurance in case this is a product you have sold.  You may also want to consult specialist lawyers like Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C., who deal with liability claims for some advice on covering yourself. The legal fees and the amount of compensation due in cases like these can be considerable amounts, and you need to make sure you are covered. It is not generally an expensive type of insurance, although of course for products that pose more dangers it is dearer.

Be Eco-Friendly

There has been such a huge amount of coverage in the media in recent years, about how we all need to change our ways to help save the planet. There are a growing number of consumers and consumer groups who favor buying from businesses that can show their products are eco-friendly or that their wrapping and shipping materials are at least.

Before you start selling your new products look at how they are packaged. Plastic is becoming very frowned upon, as well as others things that will not degrade. If the product itself, the way it is wrapped and your shipping materials are all environmentally friendly, you are far more likely to make the sales you are after.

You may also find that once a consumer group has found your eco-friendly products, they pass the information on to others with the same frame of mind.

Are Your Company Policies In Place?

Putting new products in your store could bring a deluge of orders, far more than you expected. You may have enough to fulfill those sales, but what if you run out before they have all been dispatched. Have you got company policies in place to deal with situations such as this? Can the customer have a refund if they do not want to wait? Do you have a returns policy if the new product is not as good as the consumer thought? If they have queries about the new products, how quickly does your company policy say they should receive a reply?

Having the right things included in your company policy can help to build trust in your brand, and the more trust consumers have the more sales you will make.

Get The Timing Right

The timing of launching your new products is crucial to their success. Seasons need to be accounted for, as do things like Christmas, holidays, back to school and many other events that take place annually. Trying to sell Christmas decorations in January, for instance, is doomed to failure, as would attempting to sell raincoats at the peak of summer. On the contrary, selling Ray ban Sunglasses during summer might have more chances of success!

The time of year should dictate the timing of introducing the new products to your range, or they may just sit there without any sales for a very long time.

Announce Them On Social Media

If everything is in place for your new products to go on sale, why not announce their introduction into your range on social media. You will reach more people on the many platforms that millions of people log into every day than you would with any other marketing ploy.

Even businesses that ignored the likes of Facebook, Twitter, and all the others for many years, now have business pages and utilize them to the fullest extent they are allowed.

Make the most of announcing your new products to let your brand be seen. Some images or videos are the best way to grab users attention, and then a link to your full website to finish the post off.

Launching new products will hopefully bring you new customers and more sales. That is the point of enlarging your range and done correctly it will work.

Contributed content

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post Getting Ready to Launch New Products? appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

 “Everyone has a story to tell, a lesson to teach, and wisdom to share. Life is a beautiful masterpiece bound together by your experiences. Open up and share your story; become an inspiration to others. You can make a difference because you matter.” –Melanie Moushigian Koulouris

Everyone has a story. The talented artisans who sell on Marketplace Africa are no exception. The noteworthy site, founded by Mall for Africa and DHL, has a mission to help bring African-made products to the US and global market.  Shoppers can purchase gorgeous products directly from the source. The site offers items from the continent’s most talented designers and artisans from a variety of categories including fashion, body care, handbags, jewelry and home décor.

Until recently, African craftspeople were isolated from global customers due to distance, the risk of not receiving overseas payments, and complex shipping requirements.  Customers who wished to purchase products directly from African artisans faced obstacles regarding, accessibility of items, authenticity and validation of the product, uncertainty of delivery, high delivery costs, and secure payments.

Here is just one story from the hundreds of talented artisans on Marketplace Africa. Her name is Chinwe Ezenwa and she makes beautiful handbags.

Chinwe Ezenwa –Le Look

Every handmade bag is a work of art. Each print tells a story, a struggle, a personal journey.

Thirty-five years ago, Chinwe Ezenwa started a company she named “Le Look.” Born out of the purpose to help the needy, especially those disabled, it was built out of compassion for those disabled close to her because she saw that even though someone cannot hear or speak, that person can see and can still use his or her creative mind.

Le Look has evolved from a salon into a style house. Famous for its eclectic African print handbags, Le Look is a brand that celebrates and honors African tradition through a lens that is distinctive, modern and qualitative. Every handmade bag is a work of art. Each print tells a story, a struggle, a personal journey. Chinwe is very passionate about informing the world of the stories and beauty of Nigeria and she does just that with her collection of exquisite handmade handbags, worn on the arms of women all over the world, as she puts Africa’s great creative energy to use!

As Chief Mrs. Chinwe says, “I always insist on putting a Made in Nigeria label on my products because that is how it is done in China.” Le Look bags are beautiful because they are a work of art. Although Le Look has grown as a brand, using state-of-the-art technology with the capacity to make tens of thousands of bags, we have not lost sight of the purpose from which we started. We remain passionate about giving back to our community because we believe the world we live in should be a safe and joyful place for all of us.

Le Look bags are 100% handmade in Nigeria masterpieces that are leaving their prints on fashion – pun intended.

Today, Le Look is a brand.  Le Look is a culture. Le Look is a voice.

This is an article provided by our partners’ network. It might not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of our editorial team and management.

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post Marketplace Africa : More Than Just An African Artisan Shopping Site appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.