Tayo Solagbade’s
Performance Improvement IDEAS
(PI Squared) Newsletter
Monday 10th April March 2017
NB: This PI Squared newsletter will be published weekly, on Mondays, in place of the Speaking/Web Marketing IDEAS newsletter, starting from today – 15th February 2016. I’m reinventing my Monday newsletter content and theme, to accommodate my vision of serving the growing audience of serious minded individuals and organizations reaching out to me, with information, education. news and research findings designed to help them do what they do better.
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PII 060: 4 Annotated Pictorial Guides You Need for Using Tayo Solagbade’s Popular Livestock Ration Formulator
Over the past 10 years, I have shared true stories of how I’ve used my Web Marketing System to attract and convert buyers for my custom Excel-VB software, from places like Canada, United Kingdom, Philippines (UAE), Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and many states in Nigeria, my country of origin.
Today, many have become good friends and are in my Farm Business Ideas club where we periodically interact with my focus being to help them make better use of my solutions to achieve their goals.
In this week’s issue of my Performance Improvement Ideas newsletter, I offer insights into the thinking that guides me in developing commercial quality custom Excel-VB apps for clients that I sell internationally.
Note that I said this is MY thinking.
The peculiarly difficult circumstances that prevailed in the socio-economic environment I had to operate from when I was a startup over 10 years ago, till today, taught me that these 5 guiding principles were worth abiding by.
I therefore recommend them to you – especially those of you based in my part of the world, and in particular members of my Excel Heaven Visual Basic Automation Club
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Don’t Try to be a Genius
When you’re building custom spreadsheet software, experience has taught me that it pays to keep things simple and not try to reinvent the wheel or overly impress the client.
Pay attention to the things that matter in terms of what the client needs and avoid trying to intimidate the client with what you may consider your skills.
Fail to do this, and you may cause the client to lose patience with you, or worse.
What’s more, you could end up shooting yourself in the foot while trying to dazzle him/her – by getting something wrong and not being able to rectify it without looking bad!
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Don’t Sacrifice Functionality for Bells and Whistles
This is simple and commonsensical. Yet many developers have a tendency to ignore it. And it costs them a lot.
Few users embrace an application that does not offer user friendly and intuitive interfaces for them to work with.
Indeed, in my part of the world, majority of my clients’ users readily requested that I make the app so simple to use that they would NOT need to learn to use MS Excel so much.
When I asked why, most often told me they had no desire to get to know MS Excel itself more than necessary, to get their work done.
This means you must understand the mindset of your client. Not all of them will accept that they need to change – and some will insist you give them what they want. if you can’t, they will walk away from you – and you will make few or no sales, talk less of getting referrals!
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Focus on Making Your Excel-VB Software SOLVE The Client’s Problem
This is the most important.
You custom spreadsheet software can be friendly and intuitive to use. And it can offer useful; features. But if it does NOT address the felt-need of the client, s/he is unlikely to see it at useful!
Some developers make the mistake of thinking what they consider useful or important is what their clients/users will also consider useful/important.
That will not often be so. Indeed, my experiences over the past 10 years developing custom spreadsheet software for use by clients in a wide variety of industries indicate that most clients have radically differing expectations about what their apps should be able to do.
If you want to succeed in selling your product and yourself to them, as a solution provider, you MUST learn to LISTEN to what they say, and ensure what you deliver does what they demand.
Then, if you so desire, put some little icing on the cake, by going the extra mile to do more of what you may consider useful, and explain to them how it can help.
Quite often, the fact that you already met the needs they considered most important, would make them more willing to adopt whatever else you propose.
But if you don’t meet the needs that matter to them, they may balk at adopting anything else you offer.
That’s just the way it is.
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Always Remember That You’re In Business to make Money!
This is self-explanatory – and based on simple common sense!
The problem is not many developers seem to have a firm grasp of how to apply it in doing their work.
You need to avoid getting carried away by the love and passion you have for your work. Otherwise you could end up giving away the entire farm.
Nothing stops you from adopting promotional strategies that require use of discount concessions or free services.
But it is crucial that you KNOW for sure, when to start and where to stop. Be clear in your mind what you will NOT do for free, and what you can do for a discounted price.
Also take time to create a justifiable basis for whatever pricing model you adopt. One that ensures you do not come across as trying to exploit or overcharge the client, but at the same time enables you earn optimal remuneration for the work you do – or for the product you build and offer for sale.
No matter how good you are, if you do not have a sound understanding of how to get paid for what you do as a developer, you are likely to struggle a lot, to make ends meet.
This issue tends to be a problem for a lot of people because adequate (sometimes NO) attention is paid to learning the business side of doing what they do. Especially the aspect that has to do with finding profitable paying clients!
You owe yourself a duty, an obligation even, to make your story different – if you want real success!
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Never Let The Storms In Your Life Stop You From Doing What You Do!
This is a key reason I am successful at what I do today!
Any person who does intellectual work knows that you’re unlikely to do your best work when you are worried or upset. And that is often the state of mind one has when experiencing storms in one’s life!
Countless people fail in life when they try to go after their dreams because they let the storms that erupt in their lives stop them!
I offer ideas to help YOU make your story different, based on what I have done – and continue doing!
Now I had so much to say about this final point that I ended up writing what I felt would be better served to my readers as a separate article. So, click the link below to read it.
Secret You Need to Succeed Despite Facing Storms of Adversity in Life
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Next week, I’ll formally announce the availability of my 2016 Excel Heaven Visual Basic Automation Home Study DVD.
Last Saturday, 8th April 2017, I sent out a formal final notification to club members, shown below:
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My 2016 Excel-VB Home Study DVD is a compilation of ALL the text and video tutorials I’ve sent out to my Excel Heaven Visual Basic Automation Club members over the past year.
Pay ONLY N5k on or before MNT today Sat 8th April 2017, to get it, PLUS 1 year membership of my club, so you can learn more.
Reply YES to claim this offer.
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NB: Today, Monday 10th April 2017, I make the same offer, but at N10k, to my mailing list – including the CEOs of over 30 ICAN Accredited Tuition Centres I connected with over the past year
Excel-VB Driven Ration Formulator
1. Click here to learn more about this app – watch demo videos etc
2. Click here to watch a 4 part video in which I demonstrate how to use this app to formulate rations using real life data sent to me by an Algerian PhD student.
Click here to contact me about purchasing this product.
EXCEL-VB DRIVEN POULTRY LAYER FARM MANAGER SOFTWARE
Click here to download a detailed PDF user guide and watch 15 screen shot user guide tutorials of the Monthly Poultry Farm Manager that I now offer Farm CEOs.
Click here to contact me about purchasing this product.
SDN Blog™
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The FARM CEO (Issue 77): GFIA – Global Forum for Innovations in Agriculture, 5th Commercial Farm Africa