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The
Edge You Need to Pull Ahead of the Investment Pack
Money
Insight is making
a habit of beating the herd to the punch. And if
you'll take just five minutes a week to read it,
you will automatically gain the edge you need to
pull ahead and stay ahead of the pack.
Every
week Money Insight digs deep into little known investment
trends that are changing the investment landscape as
we know it. Silver... gold... alternative energy... emerging
technology...income investments... boring old blue chips.
It doesn't matter what it is. We do the dissecting. All
you have to do is read our conclusions and related advice.
And it only takes a few minutes.
Money
Insight shows you how to invest safely and securely,
to enjoy profits and protection... week after week, month
after month, and year after year. To find out how you
can profit from the next key trend, subscribe
to Money Insight today.
Good
investing,
-Will
Bonner
The
Gold Bull Still Has Horns
By
Charles Delvalle
Two
months ago, we told our Money
Insight readers that gold had gone up too far, too
fast and was awaiting a correction. After climbing to over
$750 an ounce, that correction arrived.
Now,
at around $570 an ounce (significantly below its peak price),
this precious metal is ready to buy. It's found its bottom
and is poised to rise again due to three factors:
1.
Russia's recent announcement to double its gold reserves
to 10 percent.
2.
China's stated intention to diversify its $875 billion
in reserves. (Hey, if China follows Russia's lead and puts
10 percent into gold, $87.5 billion worth of gold will
vanish from the market. And let me tell you, $87.5 billion
in purchases is enough to elevate this market DRASTICALLY.)
3.
South Africa's announcement of a 10 percent decline in
production this past year. (A steep drop for the world's
biggest gold supplier.)
If
you have no precious metals in your portfolio, go ahead and
allocate three to four percent of your money to buying gold.
[Ed.
Note: Charles Delvalle is the Managing Editor of ETR's Money
Insight newsletter.]
""The
greatness of art is not to find what is common but what
is unique.".
-
Isaac Bashevis Singer
Keeping
the U in USP
By
David Cross
My
eldest son, Daniel, is caring, intuitive, and sensitive to
others' thoughts and feelings. Daniel seems to know how to
make people feel good just by being there, being himself.
It's part of what makes him unique.
In
marketing, we call the unique aspect of a product's (or service's) personality its
Unique Selling Proposition or USP. It's what makes it stand
out from the competition and give consumers a reason to buy
it. And the more unique (better differentiated) it is, the
more others may want to emulate it.
If
you expect that your USP will stay unique for the long haul,
you're sadly mistaken. Because your USP is vulnerable to
imitation, you have to be ready to make constant improvements
to your product so it will remain special and desirable.
Updating
the "U"
Your
product's biggest strength could wind up being its Achilles'
heel. It could lull you into a sense of security and complacency,
which could slowly but surely eat away at your product's
uniqueness ... and the power of your USP.
In Message
#1717, Michael Masterson refers to the gradual disintegration
of a product or service's quality as "incremental
degradation."
Incremental
degradation can happen because of something you do ... or
because of something you don't do ... or simply because
of market forces that you can't control. That's why you always
have to innovate - combining top-notch service with new features.
Without continual innovation, your product risks losing its
USP ... and becoming bland, ordinary, and unoriginal.
You
could try to maintain the status quo, but the natural tendency
of a market is for constant change, growth, and evolution.
Aside from that, there is one overriding reason why you must
constantly strive to improve your product and make sure your
USP stays unique: competition. If you leave things as they
are, you can bet your competitors will either "creatively
swipe" your ideas (as management guru Tom Peters, author
of In
Search of Excellence, puts it) or they will create
ideas and products that improve upon what you already offer
... and which may be more attractive to customers.
Netflix,
for example, developed a unique way of doing business - allowing
subscribers to pay a monthly fee to rent unlimited DVDs via
its website. But though this business model is protected
by two patents, Blockbuster is now doing the same thing.
A reminder of how easily "unique" products and
services can be adopted by another company.
Fix
It Yourself Before Someone Else Does
If
you have a great product, service, or business model, now
is the time to look at ways to improve your USP ... before
someone else copies it and you have to. One way to
stay ahead of the hungry pack is to target your own weaknesses.
Let's
return to our friends at Netflix.
I
love Netflix. Its USP is very appealing: no more trips to
the video store ... no more late fees ... and no cost to
return the DVDs. (Return postage is prepaid.) But this business
model is not difficult to copy. In addition to Blockbuster,
there are more than 10 companies in the United Kingdom alone
that offer similar services.
So
what could Netflix do now to differentiate itself from the
competition?
Well,
one problem with the Netflix service is the time it takes
to mail the DVDs. You don't get your next movie until the
company receives the one you sent back. But they could ameliorate
the time-delay problem by offering a new feature. Subscribers
could note on their online accounts that they've just mailed
back a DVD ... and Netflix could immediately send out the
next DVD in the queue.
The
benefit to a subscriber is obvious: You get your next movie
faster. The benefit to Netflix is better stock management,
as the subscriber tells them when they can expect a DVD.
Netflix also strengthens its USP. The risk to Netflix? The
DVD may get lost in the mail or an unscrupulous subscriber
could keep it - but the company already has procedures to
handle those situations.
The
point is, if Netflix can lessen the time delay, they have
a chance to leap ahead of other DVD-by-mail services ...
and regain their "unique" position in the market.
For a while.
Too
Much of a Good Thing
Here's
another example.
One
of the strengths of Amazon.com is its extensive range. This
is also one of its greatest weaknesses, because it can overload
people with a bewildering array of choices.
My
wife and I are currently researching infant car seats. Like
all parents, the main feature we're looking for is safety.
But Amazon.com allows me to browse hundreds of seats by many
features ... except by independent safety rating.
Adding such a feature would be enormously helpful.
By
studying the core reasons people buy certain products, Amazon.com
could improve its search tool - and possibly its sales -
by categorizing products according to those core buying reasons.
Helping people actually find what they want - one
relevant needle in the huge haystack of choice - will significantly
strengthen Amazon.com's USP.
IKEA
Got It Right!
Founded
in 1943 in a small Swedish town, IKEA now has more than 230
furniture stores in 35 countries ... and it continues to
grow.
IKEA's
website introduced a cool search feature recently - "Ask
Anna" - which is one of the best search engines I've
ever used in my 13 years on the Internet.
Try
it. Visit IKEA.com and type in a search term. I clicked Ask
Anna and typed in "baby furniture." I was immediately
directed to a page with everything I needed. Simple, quick,
and effective. "Office desks." Done. "Bookshelves." Found.
IKEA
saw clearly how confusing its vast array of products can
be - and this new search feature allows for a nearly painless
Web experience. (Now, if only I could put their flat-pack
furniture together!)
IKEA
has made a very successful business out of providing people
and businesses with affordable, well-designed furniture.
Helping customers find what they are looking for online is
just one way the company has stayed on its toes and out of
reach of competitors.
When
working to improve, enhance, and innovate your company's
USP, keep the following in mind:
1.
Change is good. Whether you drive the change or are at
the mercy of change that you didn't initiate, it must happen
for progress to be made. All nature - including the nature
of the marketplace - abhors stagnation.
2.
The best changes are based on your customer's needs.
So, when brainstorming for ideas, focus on changes that
will best serve your customers and fit well with your core
business model.
[Ed.
Note: David Cross is Senior Internet Consultant to Agora
Publishing in Baltimore.]
Today's
Action Plan
Maintain
your competitive edge by constantly asking yourself these
questions:
- What
makes our company's USP strong?
- How
can its strengths reveal its potential Achilles' heel?
- Who
does - or could do - it better?
- How
can we improve our USP - and keep our business successful
- by offering our customers more/better services and
product features?
- What
can we do to make sure we deliver the promise our USP
makes?
- How
can we make it simpler for our customers to buy from
us?
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You
Deserve Answers...And Now You're Going to Get Them
If you haven't gained the wealth you crave,
you need to do something differently.
Why? Because all change, all progress begins with a single
decision, a single action.
Are you ready to seize the final piece of the puzzle? The
missing ingredient to coast you all the way to financial
freedom? You deserve answers and now you?re going to get
them.
In just 30 days from today your life could be in an entirely
different place.
Don't
delay.
- Charlie Byrne
The
Cholesterol-Lowering Power of Nuts
By
Jon Herring
During
the low-fat/no-fat madness of the past few decades, nuts
got a bad rap because of their high fat content. But as you
know from reading Early to Rise, eating fat does not
make you fat. And, as long as you're eating healthy fats,
it doesn't contribute to heart disease either. In fact, you
can reduce your risk of heart disease by consuming healthy
fats - and nuts are full of them.
Some
nuts have also been shown to have a powerful, positive effect
on cholesterol levels. According to a recent review of studies
performed by researchers in South Africa, eating 1.5 ounces
of nuts per day for four weeks resulted in the following
reductions in LDL cholesterol:
Peanuts:
6.4 percent
Walnuts: 7.5 percent
Almonds: 7.8 percent
Pecans: 13.4 percent
Nuts
are also slow to digest, so they satisfy your appetite longer
than most foods. So grab a couple of bags the next time you're
at the store, and snack on a few handfuls every day.
Notes
From Asia: The Trouble With E-mail Conversations
By
Michael Masterson
I'm
writing this at four a.m. in Shanghai, after having spent
an hour catching up on my e-mail. Yes, I am against doing
e-mail first thing in the morning. But if I don't get to
it now, I'll never get to it later, once we begin our daily
cross-cultural marches. Besides, morning here is nighttime
in the U.S.
Of
the 64 e-mails I answered today, one illustrates a major
problem with these electronic "conversations."
It's
actually a series of four e-mails from the investment committee
of one of my clients. We have been discussing the possibility
of increasing the company's stake in one of its affiliates,
and the issue is complicated for several reasons. The investment
committee is very much undecided about whether or not to
take up the opportunity, so we've been e-mailing about it
for more than a week now.
I'm
not sure we'll be able to come to a conclusion by e-mail
- and if we do, I'm not convinced it will be the best decision
we can make. The problem is that e-mail is a static communication
medium. It does not give you the chance to have a discussion
with a lot of quick back and forth between parties.
When
you can speak fluidly, allowing for interruptions and conversational
restarts, you can give your main idea a good test. You can
challenge and defend it quickly. You can come up with new
ideas on the spot.
When
you are communicating by e-mail, the conversation can't get
itself into a rapid flow. Each piece of the conversation
is composed and read separately. This fragmentation slows
down the thinking process and makes it more likely that participants
will lock into positions they might abandon in a more fluent
conversational arena.
The
bottom line is this: If you need to have a group of people
involved in a complex discussion, use e-mail to allow each
one to articulate his initial ideas and/or opinions. But
then switch to a teleconference or a face-to-face meeting
to work through the complexities and arrive at a decision.
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Word
to the Wise: Ameliorate
To "ameliorate" (uh-MEEL-yuh-rate)
is to improve or make better.
Example
(as used by David Cross today): "[Netflix] could ameliorate
the time-delay problem by offering a new feature."
