One of the things I have learned about business development in a course I have taken concerns lifetime value of customers. Initially an emerging technology business tries to gain traction with a certain niche which serves as an anchor to a wider segment. Initially focus is key, then as things diversify generalization takes over and share is maximized with low margins. Lastly, a revaluation of customers is done as a business reaches maturity. At this point, it is key to determine where your revenues are derived from. Roughly 80% of revenue is made from 20% of customers (or something like that). The lowest quartile (most price sensitive customers) should be cleared from the reams they actually cost money to carry. At this point it is also key to differentiate you product or service along dimensions other than price. Thus my take, if I was MM I would not be drawn into a price war with PHP and open source and instead highlight the aspects of CF which diversify it from the open source offerings. I would be interested to know the breakdown of hosting by cost. Also would be very interested in the margins associated with these classes of customers. If the ease of use and rapid development et.al doesn't command a premium then by association there is no 'added value'. And having used the produce for a couple years would assert it certainly demands a premium - I find it's function very compelling. You want a 'superior good' it will cost more. I could go on but this is probably getting way off topic. John
________________________________ From: Calvin Ward [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wed 2/9/2005 1:42 PM To: CF-Talk Subject: RE: CFMX 7 feature breakdown Adam, Did you check the list I posted earlier? There were several ColdFusion hosts under 10 dollars listed on it. - Calvin -----Original Message----- From: Adam Haskell [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2005 4:18 PM To: CF-Talk Subject: Re: CFMX 7 feature breakdown Yes 3 dollars big deal I agree but some would not. Alternatively what if I said CF has 30% premium to host..sounds a bit different. You can dimish the value of anything, the opposite applies too. My point is the price of hosting is more expensive for Coldfusion and that does make a difference to people, maybe not you or me, but we know the extra benifits CF has and $3 is nothing...to the Graphic artist or new to the web type of guy that goes to findawebhost.com (or some host comparison place) and sees a PHP host for 3 bucks or a CF host for $7 or $10 then where do you think he is going to go? My main point is that you can't say that it costs the same for a CF site as it does for a PHP site in a shared hosting enviroment. Adam H On Wed, 9 Feb 2005 12:38:08 -0500, dave <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > oh geez! thats getting a little bit nit picky dont you think? > lets see my clients host at hostmysite.com > its $133.55 a yr that = $11.13 a month with free domain name (smarter power plan) > and you cant argue that they are not a good host! > > I can already see the php crowd drooling over this > "BUT ITS $3 CHEAPER A MONTH TO HOST IT!!" > > OMG!!! i can switch to php and retire at the end of the year!! hurrayyyyyyy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Find out how CFTicket can increase your company's customer support efficiency by 100% http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=49 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:4:193979 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:4 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.4 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
