When you catch a cold, you sneeze. You unintentionally spreads the flu virus to those around. Not a pleasant thing no matter which side you are in. Yet, those around you hears, holds their breath or cover their mouths. The fact is, they are all affected, however minute. At the very least, a total stranger 5 meters away knows you blown air out at up to 40km/h.

Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter have their sneezers. Seth Godin talked about idea viruses and how those ideas that spread-wins. Yes, ideas need to be remarkable and worth the time to talk about first. That is a qualifier. Yet, we are so hung up on the ideas and neglect who is the one that is spreading it. The same people who make up the ‘social’ before the ‘network’. Yes, people! I would like to call the influential ones-Sneezers.

Sneezers are the central nodes to any social network. They are the ones who seemingly link themselves to lots of people who are willing to listen to them. That is a powerful tool. Think about the person whom you think is an opinion leader in gadgets and how much this person has influence in you. He or she is what I call a sneezer in the social network. Most wall posts, tweets, ‘Likes’ or comments made by this person will be taken notice by you and a lot others. The velocity which ideas are spread by these sneezers are alot higher than coming from brands themselves.

Can you identify a sneezer in your social network? Are you one?

It is true for customer service as it is for market research. Empathy.

For the longest time, I have been grappling with what makes a good researcher? What separates the good from the remarkable ones. A recent article from Fast Company on the importance of empathy with innovation clarifies this immediately!

In the industry of market research, researchers need to be keen observers and interviewers. The remarkable ones are not those who sit behind the desk all day and analyzes result to form some kind of hypothesis or recommendations. I am not saying data analytic is unimportant but, the remarkable ones do something different.

Remarkable market researchers care about people and their problems. They observe what is going on in the environment and do their little research before the project starts. All this extras can only stem from wanting to understand the consumers and how they react, feel, think and do given the present circumstance. I can only relate how this researcher can do this well is to put themselves into the shoes of the study subject. In short, to have empathy!

For example, if a researcher is to embark on a study on how Brand X of LED TV can improve certain features of their TV range. The normal way is to observe and ask questions on their likes and dislikes from research interviews or focus groups. However, if a remarkable researcher is to approach this, he or she would start observing how people use and watch TV first. What are their concerns and challenges, seemingly through observation only. Later on, try to step into consumer shoes and see from their eyes. Relate and engage the respondent to accurately pin point the needs and wants. That to me is exactly what I look for anyone who wants to join INGENS.

The one with empathetic listening skills paired with an open mind!

The one that will also ultimately capture the essence of the research challenge and bring insights from beyond the immediate environment. It will be the same one that clients will clamor for attention and be remarkably successful in the long run.

What if there is no ‘Stop’ button? I am talking about the controls on an iPOD where it does away with it completely, eliminating the need to have one. There is simply a ‘Pause’ and ‘Play’ to get you going. Whats the rationale behind this?

I) Stop button adds another button. II) Pause is a ‘temporary stop’ anyway!  III) Make things easier when user only uses one button to make a standstill.

Thinking about consumer choices, do we allow them to say ‘stop, I do not want this’ or ‘hang on a minute, let me come back to you again’. We all know the latter is a better choice of closing a sale. Giving more legs to a product proposition is an important part in closing the gap between product offerings and consumer needs.

Oftentimes, when brands take on product development, they try to fill in lots of features in order to give it more legs or reasons for purchase. Yes, it might work some time but another brand next door will simply keep adding on till they get the sale. Many electronic brands follow this ‘feature-packed’ rules. Don’t get me wrong, features are important but benefits give the real mileage. The reason is simple, why have more legs when all you want is mileage or value. It’s like having 100 apps on your phone but only 10 gives you the real value and application to your lives. Makes you wonder why the calculator app is always there in every phone.

Brands need to think about the pause button more often. Think about the benefits of features first above all else. By the way, simplicity of usage and design is a requirement now. Long gone are the days of cluttered interface and cumbersome menus.

China is facing a series of food scares which range from tainted milk powder to fake eggs. Mainland Chinese are losing faith in their food safety checks and locally made brands. This is a both a problem and an opportunity.

Food labels are like brands. They say something about the food products. A range of them can be found like  Organic and Fair trade ones. These food labels are issued by external organization or bodies which ensures that the food manufacturers meet certain requirements. These organizations are rare in China and has little credibility.

Let’s take a look at how it usually happened. Victims of tainted food are either seriously ill or even dead before the case is uncovered. The seriousness calls for drastic food checks on quality and contents before they reach the shelves and not after.

An external food quality or safety body can come in to certify these food products. Consumers who see this label will be assured of it’s quality and safety when consumed. This organization should be a foreign owned entity which has a reputation for high quality and no nonsense tests. I can think of Singapore or Switzerland companies to carry this honor. Lastly, the label should be kept obvious with a web link for the Chinese consumer to find out more about what they are consuming and what is in it.

A lot of folks dread Mondays. It’s a ‘wicked day’ that opens to 4 more days at work. Even for someone like me who is working for ourselves, it’s sometimes hard to jump start the week. How do we get into the draft for 4 more days of productive work?

Well, I would like to use the theory of the first ten-seconds. That is, our sub conscious minds which already ‘decided’ in the first ten seconds of meeting someone new whether its good or not so good stranger.

Let me explain how we do this.

We apply the highs on a Monday and let it roll as long as it can for the rest of the week. No meetings, no updates, no brainstorms, no teleconference and no reports on that first day of work. So what do we do? We inspire and create spin offs. We will start Mondays by getting inspired. How? Watch TED videos with debriefs, share motivational insights, have lunch together, get busy with our hands, build something together and end the work day on time. But what about the work? The work is really getting the subconscious mind to start breathing in the positives for that first day of the week.

Here’s what might potentially happen! Staff look forward to Mondays and you get more productive work from Tuesday to Friday. I bet you the returns are higher than the current. Tuesday to Thursday are work that needs to get things shipped and delivered. Leave the planning and brainstorms to Friday instead where people are relaxed and happier to chip in ideas. Even better if it coincides with pay day!

INGENS is implementing Spin Off Mondays from 2011. We start with half-days Spin Offs officially today.

It is a year since INGENS formally started operations. I would like to take this chance to wish everyone Merry Christmas and an awesome new 2011 ahead. Happy Birthday INGENS!

This post is dedicated to the people who made setting up INGENS possible such as my dearest friends and family. You are worried about this company because you cared about me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

In the last few days leading up, I have already made new plans and road map for INGENS 2011. New exciting projects that I have not attempted before are in the pipeline with new partners and relations being fostered. I am very happy and grateful for what we have achieved, though small in our own ways. It is not without mighty blessing from HIM. Thank you Lord.

INGENS is my biggest project so far both from career and life perspectives. I halved my income as a paid employee to become a skipper of this ship. I sailed through unknown waters, not knowing what it might bring. Some plans fell through, some did not and I had my fair share of down moments, a lot in fact. Entrepreneurship is a series of lessons which no books or testimonials can clearly describe. Interestingly, 2010 is also the year I have given the most time and money to charitable causes through monetary donations, micro financing, fund raising and community hours. Success to me is measured by what you can give rather than what you can get.

‘Being remarkable’ is our philosophy in every bit of work we take on, big or small. As without it, we will be unable to innovate and achieve anything remarkable at all. I wish you all a remarkable 2011!

-Lim Leong, INGENS Skipper

You have a brand and products that you plan to penetrate into new markets. You have a hunch it will work and is all geared up for it. You have set goals and sales targets. So you contacted your local contact with ready distribution channels and paper work. Wait a minute, what about who is buying and what will they think about your brand or products? Oh yes, you have some ideas of your potential customers with some walks done on the ground. Talked to some people and probably did some reading up.

Oftentimes, our hunch or intuition guides our business decisions to enter new markets. Brand owners have their fair share of stories to tell of new market penetrations. Less than a third of new products launched ever made real success. The reason is not that the product is not strong but due to a lack of consumer understanding and ‘right positioning’.

Lets take the bubble tea phenomenal in Singapore and bringing it to India for launch. India is a huge tea drinking nation. Ice tea with bubbles in it?

One way to tackle this is to launch and learn.Take a leap of faith and see what happens.

The other is to take effort in learning more about the market and consumers before going in full gear. Do a series of consumer tests on the brand and products first. Develop a market insight plan and brand strategy before going full swing. Know more about who you are targeting and develop a communication plan so that customers know about you and your brand in way you want to tell them. This is not as complex as you thought. There are processes and models that we used to help you achieve this.

Contact INGENS on how you can do that with the help of consumer insights and brand strategy plan.

Last week, I completed a series of user experience tests for one of the major consumer electronics brand. The device I tested is a home appliance for release in 2011. I had some users specially screened for this project which entails task execution to overall attitudinal assessment. One thing I gathered from this study is the amount of emphasis on the mechanics of task outcome over emotional assessment. Simply said, we measured how well they are able to complete tasks which are the functions of the device as the top priority. I am not saying that functional performance is not important but emotional value should not be ignored as well.

Today, increasingly, we are talking about how usable things should be but that is only part of the reason why someone buys it. Consumers are increasingly demanding brands to sell them products which are easy to use and emotionally engaging at the same time. So should we measure them as separate entities or do we merge them as one? In essence, can we measure user experience both in usability, aesthetics and emotions simultaneously? I believe this is possible but not easy.

It takes someone who is sensitive to the dynamics of consumer interactions with products and services to achieve this. Someone who is also trained in the assessment of measuring design interactions and the emotions that arose from using it. I believe it might even involve probing the subconscious mind too.

Good day! Last week has been eventful for me both in personal and professional development. I conducted my inaugural 2-day corporate training on ‘Handling Difficult Customers’ and I even get to apply them during Saturday’s volunteer session. Later that day, my DNF Ironman Switzerland story was featured in CHC City News Weekly titled ‘Going the Distance’. You can read the article by clicking on it and zooming. City News Weekly is a free weekly publication for CHC.

The interview topic is focused on running but I added perspectives on volunteerism and lessons on ‘business endurance’. How ‘failing forward’ through sports can be applied to work and running a business.

I would encourage you write your own story. How does it begin and what happens next? What are you looking forward to that you have not put into action? How do you want your story to conclude.

The real exciting stuff happens in the journey towards an unwritten future that you define for yourself and spending time everyday working towards it. I wish you all the best in building your own story and enjoying the success of it.

Source: City News Weekly 13-14 November 2010

One of the most amazing things about the internet is the diffusion and convergence of ideas. Platforms like Wikipedia is one of the best examples. The ability to allow individuals with internet connection to add, edit and contribute knowledge that any internet users (language might be an issue) can benefit from.

Innovation can come from many just about anyone but how can brands tap into this movement. A movement made up of collective individuals who are not obligated to do just that. Strangely, random acts of what I call ‘human kindness’ are getting more prevalent online. From giving money to contributing knowledge for the greater good.

Brands can make use of this movement to get their products ‘right’. What I meant is to roll out products which are not completely finished and test it out in the market at a reduced price. A process which I called Innovation Distillation. A process like distilling crude oil into many usable materials and chemicals which is essentially a form of filtering process. Each stage of filter outputs a usable component.

Imagine a major brand like P&G’s Downy detergent which has a new variant planned for full production few months down the road. In the meantime, P&G wishes to test consumer reaction to it. Typically, it might involve some form of home tests and surveys on a small sample of mothers.

An alternative is to launch the product (safe to use) in the market but under a ‘testing label’ with clear instructions on how to give feedback for it. Wait for consumers to tell you how they felt about it and make improvements, distilling the unpopular aspects based on the feedback. At the same time giving permission for closer consumer interaction with the brand.

A bold move for the brand? Sure. Remarkable? Definitely.