I cannot remember where I first hear about KISS.  But it was probably somewhere between my 1st kiss and now… As wikipedia explains “KISS stands for ‘Keep it Short and Simple,’ or the more recent and disparaging ‘Keep it Simple, Stupid.’” For our purposes here, it can mean both…

My 2 recent experiences…

Analysts try and figure out where the Big 3 went wrong.  There are of course many factors, but one huge one has to be that they did not follow KISS.  Each company has so many brands, each brand so many cars, each car, so many options…  You see where I am going with this?  Too many products – NOT SIMPLE! Confusing and expensive.  Why make the same basic car across 3-4 brands with slight modifications?  Why have 4 versions of that car with 20 different optional packages? NOT SIMPLE! Easy to understand why many give up and buy a Honda or Toyota.

Next example…  after my dilemma about PC/Mac and deciding since Adobe made it NOT SIMPLE for me to switch to Mac (because I cannot move my older versions from PC to Mac), that I would get a Dell desktop, I have used countless hours trying to navigate Dell’s site.  As I build each computer in the business division, I get more confused by the second.  Vostro, Inspiron, Optiplex, XPS…  Desktop, workstation, this model number and that…  Each line has at least 4 models and each model maybe 100+ choices to make.  It is overwelming. 

I need to go back to college for a computer science degree to be able to order my Dell.  I have consulted with 3 “computer knowledgeable” people who volunteered to help and 2 Dell sales people.  And I am a loss. More confused than ever on which model, how much Ram, 64bit or 32bit.  Which monitor, how big a video card, and this list goes on and on and on….  Hmmm – maybe there is something to buying a Mac after all. It is super simple – a few choices and done…  If only Adobe would move my licenses for the older Photoshop versions… This would surely drive me there.  I am getting so frustrated with how hard it is to buy a Dell that I may cave and get a Mac Book Pro – and having two laptops (one for old Photoshop versions on my PC) and then buy a new Photoshop CS4 lisense and a Mac…  

So why tell all of you this? Think…. Apply KISS to your business so you are not Dell and so you are not GM.  Make your pricing simple, make your packages simple, keep your website simple.  Make it easy for people to buy from you. If you are hard to buy from because you make things harder than they need to be, guess what, they will go elsewhere or not buy as much!

Remember your 1st KISS and remember to use KISS in your business for better results!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 17th, 2009 at 9:00 am and is filed under Business Tips, MCP Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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