Official Blog of GTM360 Marketing Solutions
This is a slightly edited version of my answer to the following question on Quora. Short Answer: Verification techniques range from “do nothing” and heuristics through to rigorous matching of returns filed by buyer and seller. Long Answer: I’ll first answer the question that’s asked by taking the stated use case where Party A (Individual) … Read more
Nine years after I wrote Changing Face of DIY Markets, it’s still not so easy to get carpenters, electricians and plumbers for doing small household repair and home improvement jobs in India. At the time, the matching of demand from consumers with supply of of handymen was quite inefficient, with most online portals offering only listing services. … Read more
Over the years I’ve bought a wide range of products and services from banks, insurers, etailers, colleges, publishers, brick-and-mortar stores, hardware and software companies, TELCOs, airlines and travel agencies. My experience as a customer ranges from delight (Ecommerce and Travel) through to exasperation (Higher Education, Media, and Retail) and indifference (BFSI, Technology and Telecom). Poor … Read more
When my employer posted me to Germany in the early 2000s to open its subsidiary for the so-called D-A-CH (German speaking) market of Europe, we had no reference customer in Germany. When prospects asked who we worked with, I’d rattle off the names of several American customers. Prospects would shake their head and ask for … Read more
Like many countries, India has a withholding tax regime. Called “Tax Deducted At Source”, the withholding tax is applicable on salaries paid to employees, commissions paid to agents, rents paid to landlords, professional fees paid to service providers, and many other types of B2B and B2C payments. In this blog post, I’ll dive deeply into … Read more
Many people complain that cashiers decline Apple Pay even though their stores have advertised support for Apple’s payment service. I’ve come across the same experience with HDFC Bank’s PayZapp mobile wallet. The cashier at a restaurant in my neighborhood told me they hadn’t started accepting PayZapp although there was a “PayZapp Accepted” sticker on his … Read more
This is a slightly edited version of my answer to the following Quora question: Usually, there are many apps in the market, the developer remains blissfully unaware of them, develops a similar app without being cognizant of the other apps, and then wonders what went wrong. Yours is the right question. It’s a pleasure answering … Read more
When an offshore IT services provider enters a new market, it’s (relatively) unknown in that geography. Many companies in this situation eschew end users and try to drive their go to market strategy by partnering with local IT companies. Ideal partner candidates are boutique shops and systems integrators that are well known in the target … Read more
In Part 1 of this blog post, we’d seen three best practices for converting Freemium to Premium viz. Ask For Money, Create Pinch Points, and Drive Enhanced Usage. In this second part, I’ll cover three more best practices for SAAS vendors to upgrade their freemium users to paying customers. #4. INTRODUCE VALUE ADDED FEATURES You … Read more
To generate rapid traction for their products, many SAAS providers offer a Freemium plan, which is free access to a truncated version of their full blown software. By doing so, they expect users to sign up for their software without any risk, play around with it for a month or two, and upgrade to the … Read more