OT: Evaluating an Application

[Laura Brody]

  I think that all of us have had to deal with writing marketing copy at
one point or another. Our big problem is that we are nerds. Nerds don't
think like the rest of the population. We are more logical, detail oriented
and usually less in touch with our feelings. Like everything, this can be a
plus or a minus, depending on the situation. When it comes to writing
marketing copy, it is a big minus. My first attempts at marketing were a
total failure. My error was that I talked about product features. I later
learned that the public wants to know how my product or service will make
them happy. Big difference. This breakthrough came from reading books by
Dan Kennedy.

  In the case of my local computer repair business, I realized that my
customers were very concerned about losing their data. The policy of Best
Buy is to wipe and reinstall Windows almost all of the time. My customers
regularly brought me infected computers. I could remove the infections
without losing their photos, emails, speadsheets, music collections, etc. I
decided to put on my business cards " Computer Repair\nVirus
Removal\nWithout data loss!" big and bold. I got customers and many
referrals because I addressed a fear that they had. I tell the customer
that I can't guarantee their data, but I will make every effort to
safeguard it. That is what they wanted to hear.

  For your business application, I would try to imagine yourself as the
business owner. What does he want? He wants his business to run smoothly.
His retail customers should be able to check out quickly and be able to pay
him several different ways. He wants to know what is in inventory and to be
able to reorder more products with just a few keystrokes. He wants
shipments to the warehouse checked in quickly (the solution is to use a
barcode scanner which is faster and has less errors than a person typing it
in). How you accomplish "faster, cheaper, easier" are details that most
owners don't care about. Just deliver "faster, cheaper, easier" and you
will get the business owner's attention. The owner doesn't really care if
filePro is under the hood making all of the magic happen. He just wants the
magic.

Laura Brody

On Sun, Dec 15, 2019 at 1:37 PM Jose Lerebours via Filepro-list <
filepro-list at lists.celestial.com> wrote:

> On 12/15/19 11:11 AM, Fairlight via Filepro-list wrote:
> > When evaluating an application -in what state-, for what purpose/to what
> > end?
> >
> > It's incredibly hard to give an intelligent answer to a question as vague
> > as the one you posted.
>
> Fair enough!
>
> I left it open intentionally hoping that each would possibly offer
> points based on their own perspective/experience and/or particular
> business of interest.
>
> To be more specific,
>
> 1) a retail business that does both, store front and back office.
> 2) single or multiple warehouses (with ability to manage inventory
> movement & location)
> 3) single or multiple stores (with ability to restrict sale based on
> warehouse designated to a given store)
> 4) mixed product types with need to sale in multiple units of measure
> (dynamically converted by system)
> 5) need to track samples sent to prospective customers, designers and
> other retailers
> 6) ability to have a built in shopping cart or integrate with existing
> via API
> 7) ability to process credit card payment
> 8) ability to process Factoring
> 9) track/manage short and long term projects
> 10) ability to do partial shipping/billing
> 11) track job cost
> 12) track expenses associated to any given project (expense not same as
> cost of goods sold)
> 13) automatically draw commission for up to three sale persons per job
> 14) unlimited inventory
> 15) unlimited users
> 16) cloud based
> 17) Account Payable
> 18) Account Receivable
> 19) General Ledger
> 20) Financial Reports (P&L, Balance Sheet, Trial Balance, GL Audit ...)
> 21) Purchase order
> 22) Repacking
> 23) Pick & Pack
> 24) Freight Tracking / Quoting
> 25) PO Will Call
> 26) Sample Management
> 27) Claim Management
> 28) Help Desk
> 29) ... much more ...
>
> You can imagine that these are more of a list of "features" in the
> application not the "need" of a particular business but, given these as
> true features, how valuable are they?  How meaningful can they be when
> evaluating the application if you had a retail/wholesale/distribution
> outfit?
>
> Whatever your business needs, could these be of any use to you? If so,
> how can this be presented or how would you expect it to be presented to
> you (not even sure how to phrase this) ???
>
> If not, how are these overkill or not necessary to a retail, wholesale,
> distribution outfit?
>
> As a side: I am asking this simply because I am in the process of
> preparing marketing material in hope to release an application I have
> been developing for a while now.  I am no sales person and I am known
> for "saying too much"  (lol) and really want to limit the out pour of
> information so that instead of encouraging interest, too much
> information often kills it.
>
>
>
> > m->
> >
> >
> > On Sun, Dec 15, 2019 at 10:28:16AM -0500, Jose Lerebours via
> Filepro-list thus spoke:
> >> When evaluating an application, what are the top 10 questions you ask?
> >>
> >> If not questions, prerequisites in the form of features or
> >> properties that you figure are "must have"!?!
> >>
> >>
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