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Killer e-Commerce Strategy - Blaine Mathieu
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by Blaine Mathieu
MBA, B.Comm.
Home
About Me
TimeFind.com:
Introduction
Background - A
The Concept - B
Marketing Plan - C
The Future - D
Amazon.com:
Introduction
Strategy 1
Strategy 2
A Balanced Scorecard
Other:
Killer Links
About Me
Home by Blaine Mathieu, MBA
"The best way to predict the future is to invent it."
Alan Kay
Welcome to the home of Killer e-Commerce Strategy. On these pages, you will find a
wealth of ideas regarding killer strategy and marketing development for the Internet Economy.
Feel free to consider how these ideas could help your own organization prosper on the Web.
TimeFind.com - New Business Model, describes a new business concept for the Internet
Economy. Although this business has yet to be implemented, the report included here provides
some background on the Internet Economy, develops the TimeFind.com concept, and then
outlines a proposed marketing plan. Those interested in the marketing of services (both on and
off the Internet) should find this report quite interesting.
Amazon.com - Strategies for Success, details proposed strategies for one of the recognized
world leaders in e-commerce strategy development and implementation. Even though
Amazon.com is the "sample" company used in these reports, almost any company engaged in
business-to-consumer e-commerce will be able to draw value from these recommendations.
Navigate KillerStrategy.com using the menu on the left (if available) or the list at the bottom of
this page. To find out more about who I am, choose About Me. To get in touch with me, please
click here to send me an e-mail and I will get back to you - usually within 12 hours.
Blaine Mathieu, MBA, B.Comm.
blaine@KillerStrategy.com
What's New:
04/20/99: Added TimeFind.com report.
04/11/99: Complete site update including adding Killer Links section.
Options:
TimeFind.com - New Business Model
Amazon.com - Strategies for Success
Killer Links
About Me
Copyright (c) 1998/1999 Blaine Mathieu - all rights reserved.
Last updated - June 08, 1999
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Killer e-Commerce Strategy - Blaine Mathieu
visits since 04/09/99
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Killer e-Commerce Strategy - Home
Home by Blaine Mathieu, MBA
"The best way to predict the future is to invent it."
Alan Kay
Welcome to the home of Killer e-Commerce Strategy. On these pages, you will find a
wealth of ideas regarding killer strategy and marketing development for the Internet Economy.
Feel free to consider how these ideas could help your own organization prosper on the Web.
TimeFind.com - New Business Model, describes a new business concept for the Internet
Economy. Although this business has yet to be implemented, the report included here provides
some background on the Internet Economy, develops the TimeFind.com concept, and then
outlines a proposed marketing plan. Those interested in the marketing of services (both on and
off the Internet) should find this report quite interesting.
Amazon.com - Strategies for Success, details proposed strategies for one of the recognized
world leaders in e-commerce strategy development and implementation. Even though
Amazon.com is the "sample" company used in these reports, almost any company engaged in
business-to-consumer e-commerce will be able to draw value from these recommendations.
Navigate KillerStrategy.com using the menu on the left (if available) or the list at the bottom of
this page. To find out more about who I am, choose About Me. To get in touch with me, please
click here to send me an e-mail and I will get back to you - usually within 12 hours.
Blaine Mathieu, MBA, B.Comm.
blaine@KillerStrategy.com
What's New:
04/20/99: Added TimeFind.com report.
04/11/99: Complete site update including adding Killer Links section.
http://www.killerstrategy.com/Home.htm (1 of 2) [10/16/2001 2:53:04 PM]

Killer e-Commerce Strategy - Home
Options:
Amazon.com - Strategies for Success
Killer Links
About Me
Last updated - June 08, 1999
visits since 04/09/99
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"A digital strategy is at its core a dynamic plan,
one that requires not just regular but constant rethinking."
Unleashing the Killer App, 1998.
What follows is based on my MBA thesis: "New Internet Business: Concept Development
and Marketing Plan." It outlines a business concept for the Internet Economy that, to my
knowledge, has not yet been implemented. If you are involved in the marketing of services via
the Internet - or the marketing of Internet services - you should find this report interesting.
You might be wondering why I am publishing this document on the Web where anyone can
access it. Why not keep it a secret and start TimeFind.com myself? Two reasons:
1. Ideas, plans, and strategies are one thing - implementation is something entirely different.
Jeff Bezos, of Amazon.com, is fond of proclaiming that nothing Amazon.com does is very
original - it just executes better than anyone else. In other words, strategy is nothing
without implementation.
2. I feel that publicizing this concept will maximize the chance that it will actually be
implemented.
Immediately below this note is the Executive Summary of the document. Following this are links
to the four major sections of the report:
A. Background Contains the preface to the report (Chapter 1) and a review of the
technological and business principles of the Internet Economy
(Chapter 2).
B. The Concept Includes Chapter 3 of the report, outlining the "market problem" that
exists and the solution that TimeFind.com will provide.
C. Marketing Plan The TimeFind.com marketing plan (Chapter 4) is contained in this
page.
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D. The Future Finally, "The Future" includes some concluding remarks on the
concept (Chapter 5) and a complete list of sources (Chapter 6).
Appendix A is also found in this section.
Executive Summary
... to bring the revolutionary power of the Internet to the everyday lives of ordinary people by creating
the de-facto, Internet-based, appointment scheduling standard. - From the TimeFind.com Vision
Statement
The Internet Economy is being driven by a convergence of technological forces and factors that
have never before been experienced in quite the same way. Moore's Law (the power of
technology) and Metcalfe's Law (the power of the network) have enabled a new set of business
principles that are driving geometric growth and market success in the Internet Economy. Any
business that hopes to succeed in this new era of rapid change must pay close attention to
these principles.
The burgeoning services sector of the world's economy has had difficulty finding a coherent
way to create digital value - particularly when the service, itself, is not convertible to a digital
format. After all, "How can you sell a meal, a haircut, a tee-time, or a dentist visit over the
Internet?" Yield management is a crucial aspect of such service organizations, yet current
systems of appointment scheduling are woefully inadequate for the purposes of yield or
marketing management.
The solution will be called "TimeFind.com." TimeFind.com will be an Internet-based
appointment scheduling system through which clients can locate and book times with a
community of service organizations. These organizations will include practically any business
or other enterprise (including doctors, restaurants, beauty salons, golf courses, and a host of
others) that normally requires clients to phone to schedule appointments. The key to
TimeFind.com's success will be its development and promotion of the de-facto standard for
Internet-based appointment scheduling.
The basic business model of TimeFind.com is outlined in the figure, below:

Through a single TimeFind.com ID, or through existing Web calendaring services, a client will
be able to make appointments with multiple service organizations. Organizations will access
and update the TimeFind.com schedule database either though an application supplied by
TimeFind.com, or through other solutions supplied by third-party software companies.
TimeFind.com will generate revenue through the following methods:
A small, "micro-fee" for scheduled appointments.
An enhanced, "plus" version of the organization application.
Vendor advertising to organizations and clients.
Affiliate programs and other intermediary relationships.
Marketing programs for the TimeFind.com concept will address the three groups that are key to
the rapid market adoption of the solution: clients, organizations, and strategic partners (such as
online calendar providers, software companies, and Web portals). Paid advertising will only be
a small part of the TimeFind.com marketing mix since the development of partnerships will
enable TimeFind.com to capitalize upon the existing client bases and marketing programs of
strategic allies.
The action plan for the implementation of TimeFind.com is divided into three phases: initial
system development, beta-test period, and full implementation - with each phase lasting
approximately four months. By the end of phase 3, marketing and development costs will total
$1.3 million. A 24-month profit and loss projection highlights the following key figures:

Maximum negative cumulative cash position of $2.1 million (month 16).
First net profit of $52,000 in month 17.
First cumulative positive cash position of $1.1 million in month 22.
Net positive cumulative cash position of $6.4 million by month 24.
Although it is difficult to predict future developments in the Internet Economy, this document
demonstrates that there still exists untapped opportunities in digital markets that can create
significant wealth. The TimeFind.com business model will address one of these opportunities -
but only if it is actually implemented.
Options:
TimeFind.com - Introduction
A. Background
B. The Concept
C. Marketing Plan
D. The Future

TimeFind.com: Background
TimeFind.com Background
In this Section:
1. Preface
2. Understanding the Internet Economy
2.1 Technological Change
2.2 Business Principles
Footnotes
1. Preface
The velocity of change in Internet technology is more rapid than a human being can digest. - Walid
Mougayar1
Rapid change - and the resulting value migration away from current business models towards
new ones - is a constant factor in today's business world,2 but nowhere is this more evident
than in the so-called "Internet Economy." The purpose of this report is to outline and develop a
marketing plan for a new business concept that will take advantage of these changes, and
revolutionize the way service organizations interact with clients.
It is important to note that this report is not a complete business plan, nor is it meant to be used
directly for raising startup funds, in developing partnerships, or to otherwise promote the
concept in any way. Having said this, such efforts would likely draw heavily from the work
contained in this report.
The body of this report is divided into four main sections (the first one being this introduction).
The second section, "Understanding the Internet Economy," reviews the technological basis for
the Internet Economy and the resulting business and economic impacts of these technologies.
Readers who are already well versed in this field may choose to merely skim this section.
"The TimeFind.com Concept," the third section, outlines a specific problem facing marketers of
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certain types of services and then describes a proposed solution. Finally, in section four, a
marketing plan is developed that addresses key aspects of implementing the TimeFind.com
solution.
A Note About Numbers
This report, like most studies of new business models and markets, contains many references
to numbers and statistics. Unfortunately, due to the tremendous geometric growth of the Web,
accurate statistics are difficult to come by since they are significantly outdated as soon as they
are produced. This difficulty is further compounded by the different methodologies and
definitions used by the various research companies. As the editor-in-chief of the Internet
industry publication Business 2.0 recently commented, "The language of business is numbers,
and right now, we have a tremendous Tower of Babel in the making at the top research
houses."3
Fortunately, the tremendous growth of the Internet and the opportunities that are resulting imply
that users of such data should be willing to live with such uncertainties. Does it really matter
whether there were 57.1 million or 65.8 million Internet users in North America last year -
especially considering that the number will be rising by 40% (or is it 60%) over the next twelve
months? In such an environment, marketing planners must concern themselves with the
significant trends and avoid becoming trapped in a sea of conflicting numbers. This report will
endeavor to follow this advice.
Unless otherwise stated, all dollar amounts in this document are reported in U.S. dollars.
2. Understanding the Internet Economy
Today there is enough technology for electronic commerce to prosper on the Internet. What is lacking
are more applications of the technology infrastructure.... - Walid Mougayar4
The Internet Economy (also variously described as the "New Economy" or the "Digital
Economy") is being driven by the linking of individuals and organizations through technology.
This section outlines the technical underpinnings of the "digital decade" and describes the
economic impact of these links.
2.1 Technological Change

Starting with access to the Web in 1994, North America entered the Digital Decade - a 10 year period
during which 50% of consumers will adopt a digital lifestyle. - Forrester Research, Inc.5
The adoption of a digital lifestyle has only recently been made possible by the advent of
ubiquitous technology, along with the technical infrastructure to link this technology. As
Business 2.0 magazine proclaimed in its premiere issue, "The Web is well on its way to
becoming the dominant medium in our society and economy."6
Two basic principles have been working together to create the foundation for such
technological change. These are:
Moore's Law: Every eighteen months, processing power (and, hence, the power of computers)
doubles while cost holds constant. This observation has been continually borne out over the
last two decades notwithstanding the numerous predictions by industry analysts that such a
rate of increase was unsustainable.7 This trend has resulted in two different PC hardware
segments: 1) high-end PCs ($2500 to $4000) that are amazingly powerful, and 2) low-end to
mid-range PCs ($500 to $1000) that are more than powerful enough for all but the most
intensive applications.
Metcalfe's Law: The usefulness, or utility, of any network increases with the square of the
number of its users. In other words, "once a standard has achieved critical mass, its value to
everyone multiplies exponentially."8 This law gives rise to what is known as the "network
effect." A simple example of the network effect was seen with the rise of fax machines. When
only a few fax machines existed, they were not very valuable because their usefulness was
limited. But as the number of machines increased, the value of this network grew considerably
to all existing members.
It is only through the combined power of these two laws that the digital decade has been
enabled. As technology becomes more powerful it becomes easier for non-experts to use, as
well as affordable to a wider range of society. This, in turn, enables people and businesses to
join the network - increasing its value with every new member. "Finally, as consumers become
increasingly wired and aware of the implied convenience of electronic interactions with sellers
of products and services, they will begin to demand more and more services on-line."9 The
result is a new set of business principles for the Internet Economy.
2.2 Business Principles
World Trade Organization economists estimate that there will be more than 300 million Internet users
worldwide by 2000, and ecommerce will amount to roughly $300 billion a year. - Business 2.010

Many industry analysts have attempted to pin down the core characteristics and strategies that
will create success in the Internet Economy. One of the best efforts at encapsulating these
characteristics was developed by Business 2.0 magazine in its "10 Driving Principles of the
New Economy."11 The following list is derived from these principles.
MATTER. It matters less.
Processing information is more powerful and cost-effective than moving physical products.
Moving "bits" is likely to have a much higher margin than moving "atoms" since bits have no
physical form and can be duplicated with ease. Intangible assets are key: including people,
ideas, and information-driven assets. Mougayar supports this principle with his statement, "The
cost of doing business with traditional paper-based and human-intensive processes continues
to grow, whereas the electronic processing of transactions can be done at a fraction of the
original cost."12
SPACE. Distance has vanished.
Businesses can connect with customers around the world. Competition that was once local is
now national. National markets are now international in scope.
TIME. It's collapsing.
Constant change is a must. Instant interactivity is highly valued. The marketplace is real-time
and people expect service providers to be available for basic interactions 24x7 (24 hours per
day, 7 days per week).
PEOPLE. The crown jewels.
People don't appear on the balance sheet but they truly are a company's most valuable assets.
Smart ideas leverage into huge value more quickly than ever before.
GROWTH. It's accelerated by the network.
Instant communication means that good ideas spread quickly. Critical mass leads to explosive
growth (the network effect). First-mover advantages are more important than ever since a small
initial lead can quickly bloom due to the power of geometric growth. In their book, Unleashing
the Killer App, Downes and Mui assert, "Moore's Law and Metcalfe's Law are working to create
a new marketplace where transaction costs are reduced not incrementally (as they are in
today's firms with reengineering and similar cost-cutting activities) but exponentially."13

VALUE. It rises exponentially with market share.
The network effect indicates that the more members a network has, the more valuable the
network becomes (the opposite of the general economic principle that value comes from
scarcity). "New software products and standards can be released into the Internet and
distributed so cheaply that developers gladly give their products away in order to reach critical
mass quickly. This small investment, as Metcalfe predicts, means future users will adopt
products with increased enthusiasm (and therefore potential marginal revenue),"state Downes
and Mui.14
"Following the free" is a key theme of the Internet Economy and worth an extended discussion.
In his 1998 book, New Rules for the New Economy, Kevin Kelly explains, "Because prices
move inexorably toward the free, the best move in the network economy is to anticipate this
cheapness."15 This is particularly valid when offering services or information-based products
whose marginal cost is near zero because, in this case, there will always be another company
willing to undercut the current price until the price equals the cost (i.e., zero).
Kelly continues, "But now, giving away a product is a tested, level-headed strategy that banks
on the network's new rules." Because the network effect indicates that the value of a product or
service increases with the number of users - and the more valuable it is, the more desirable it
becomes - "it makes a weird kind of economic sense to give [the products or services] away at
first. Once the product's worth and indispensability is established, the company sells auxiliary
services or upgrades, continuing its generosity to involve more customers in a virtuous
circle."16
Giving away an information-based product or service (whose marginal cost of production is
near zero) allows the rapid creation of what is called a "value engine." In a recent article entitled
"Ubiquity Breeds Wealth," industry analyst Patricia Seybold remarked, "Once you've created a
network of interdependent players, each of whom benefits every time another player is added
to the network, you've created a value engine."17 In the Internet Economy, once a value engine
is started, it can produce additional revenues at a very low additional cost.
EFFICIENCY. Infomediaries replace intermediaries.
Middle steps (inefficiencies) in the value chain are being rapidly disintermediated. At the same
time, the exponential growth in information requires "infomediaries" to sort through the clutter
and allow individual users of the network to derive value from their interactions.
MARKETS. Buyers gain new power, sellers new opportunity.
A competitor is only a mouse-click away. Intelligent agents can find and negotiate the best
price. Businesses that rely on relationships, unique services and/or lower costs will win.

Mougayar remarks, "Since the electronic channel is destined to become the primary vehicle to
conduct business in the future, companies must learn how to attract and engage customers in
it, take orders and payments, distribute products and services and support their customers in
this new business environment."18
TRANSACTIONS. A one-to-one game.
Personalization and customization are in increasing demand. Since information is easier to
customize than hard goods, service becomes a larger part of the total value of a transaction.
"Customer relationship" and "one-to-one" marketing are now both feasible and necessary. The
best strategies are those that lock clients in to a particular solution and then leverage this
relationship to maximize its value.19 As Seybold alleges, "Once a customer has spent time
entering information about her relationship with each of her payees, she's not going to want to
switch her accounts to another institution. The customer's time investment is the best lock-in of
all."20
IMPULSE. Reduced gap between desire and purchase.
Artificial constraints to commerce disappear. The impulse to buy and the purchase itself are
much closer together than ever before, if not instantaneous. Particularly with services, the time
lag between the recognition of a problem and the provision of the solution causes demand to
leak from the system. The Internet Economy acts to minimize this leakage.
Generic Strategies
These core principles indicate a specific set of generic strategies that most businesses
engaged in e-commerce are now following.21 The strategies include:
Focus on market share now, profitability later.
If at all possible, be first into a marketspace.
Build a network of customers and partners as quickly as possible.
Use community and affinity programs to lock customers in to your e-commerce solution.
Customize and personalize all interactions with customers.
Price hard goods as a commodity. Give the core product/service away.
Add value (and generate revenues) through superior service and other intangible
factors.
Consider all sources of potential competition, no matter how indirect they may seem.
Consider all potential markets, no matter how indirect they may seem.
Minimize costs - virtualize everything possible.

Attract and retain only the highest quality people.
By obeying these principles, and following the resulting strategies, companies involved with the
Internet Economy are attempting to maximize future returns - although often at the expense of
immediate profitability. In fact, the majority of pure-play Internet companies have yet to show
any positive income and most are not predicting that this situation will change within the next
year.22 Although some marketers feel that these poor short-term profit results are indicative of
strategies that are basically flawed, it is difficult to argue with the tremendous market growth of
such business models and their affects on pre-Internet Economy businesses.23
Footnotes:
1. Walid Mougayar, Opening Digital Markets (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1998), p. 229.
2. Adrian Slywotzky, Value Migration (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1996), p. 3.
3. James Daly, Editor-in-Chief, Business 2.0, February 1999, p. 1.
4. Mougayar, Opening, p. 43.
5. Shelley Morrissette, Forrester Research, Inc., "The Digital Decade: Where Are Consumers Going?" online:
http://www.forrester.com/ER/Press/Talking/0,1377,0,FF.html, viewed: 2/28/99.
6. Robert H. Reid, "The Impulse Economy," in Business 2.0, Premiere Issue, p. 95.
7. Don Tapscott, The Digital Economy (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1995), p. 98.
8. Larry Downes and Chunka Mui, Unleashing the Killer App (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1998),
p. 5.
10. Business 2.0, November 1998, p. 52.
11. Business 2.0, Premiere Issue, insert.
13. Downes and Mui, p. 41.

15. Kevin Kelly, New Rules for the New Economy (New York: Viking, 1998), p. 53.
16. Kelly, p. 58.
17. Patricia Seybold, "Ubiquity Breeds Wealth," in Business 2.0, December 1998, p. 97.
19. Carl Shapiro and Hal R. Varian, Information Rules (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1999), p. 142.
20. Seybold, p. 100.
21. Such strategies are being primarily used by so-called "pure-play" Internet companies. Unlike "bricks and
mortar" businesses which are attempting to slowly develop Internet strategies, pure-play companies are not
hobbled by existing cost infrastructures and value chains.
22. "The Internet’s Top 50 Companies," in Internet World, September 14, 1998.
23. A more in-depth analysis of the critical success factors of Internet/e-commerce companies can be found in
the article "A Balanced Scorecard" at this Website.
Options:
A. Background
B. The Concept
C. Marketing Plan
D. The Future

TimeFind.com: The Concept
TimeFind.com The Concept
In this Section:
3. The TimeFind.com Concept
3.1 The Problem
3.1.1 Scenarios
3.1.2 Issues
3.1.3 Principles of Services Marketing
3.1.4 Models
3.2 The Solution
3.2.1 Solution Elements - In Depth
3.2.2 Features and Benefits
3.2.3 Revenue Generation
3.2.4 Models Revisited
3.2.5 Rate of Adoption
3.2.6 Vision of TimeFind.com
3. The TimeFind.com Concept
It would be a godsend in my life, believe me.... - Anonymous concept reviewer
In consideration of the previous analysis regarding the principles and strategies of the Internet
Economy, the following section outlines a market problem and then describes - in detail - the
proposed solution to this problem.
3.1 The Problem
There is no direct link between demand created in the traditional offline media and the fulfillment of that
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demand. This structural disconnect has huge ramifications. - Robert H. Reid24
The burgeoning services sector of the world's economy has had difficulty finding a coherent
way to create digital value - particularly when the service, itself, is not convertible to a digital
format (i.e., it is not knowledge-based). The result of this disconnect is a serious issue for many
service providers. The following sample scenarios depict the difficulties that such service
providers (and their clients) face.
(In all subsequent discussions, the term "organization" is used to denote the service provider -
usually a company that charges to provide a service. The people who pay for the services that
these organizations provide are denoted by the term "client".)
3.1.1 Scenarios
Hairdresser
It's Sunday night at 8:00pm. Cindy realizes that she needs to make a hair appointment. Of
course, the salon is closed. By the time Cindy remembers (or has the time) to call during
working hours, four more days have gone by and now Cindy can't get in until the following
Monday.
Dentist
John phones the dentist's office during business hours to book an appointment for a regular
checkup. Unfortunately, finding a time that fits both the dentist's and John's schedules is difficult
since John is usually working when the dentist is. After spending five minutes on the phone with
an office assistant who is becoming more and more impatient, John begins to think that he will
never find a time that fits his schedule and finally agrees to an appointment that he will likely not
be able to make. He ends up missing the appointment.
Golf Course
Melissa sets her alarm for 5:00am so that she is sure to be up in time to book her golf game on
Friday. The course only accepts bookings three days in advance and it is very popular. After
hearing the first busy signal, she sets her phone on auto-redial and waits until the line finally
clears at 5:45am. By that time, the tee-times she wanted are already filled and she hangs up in
disgust.
Restaurant
By 6:00pm on Friday, Matt knows that "Smokin Joe's Grill" will likely have a long lineup. Rather
than wait in line, Matt and his friends choose a different establishment. Unfortunately for

Smokin' Joe's, many others obviously made the same choice and there are numerous empty
tables by 8:00.
3.1.2 Issues
Customer sacrifice is the difference between what a customer settled for and what the customer would
have wanted in the best of all possible worlds. - Larry Downes and Chunka Mui25
These brief scenarios should be immediately recognizable to almost anyone in Western society.
In the first three cases, the normal telephone-based appointment scheduling system appears
inadequate. In the final case, the service provider has chosen not to use any scheduling system
at all. The issues that are apparent are detailed below.
Client Issues
Inconvenience: Either the service cannot be booked when the client is ready to book it, or
there is no way to schedule the service at all.
Sub-optimal selection: Even if a client is able to access an appointment scheduling system,
the nature of this system often results in an appointment selection that is less than optimal. This
is only to be expected since, with a telephone-based system, it is impossible for the client to be
aware of all potential choices - just as it is impossible for an organization to have full knowledge
of a client's personal schedule. Given this, it is unlikely that the best solution will be reached.
Rather, both parties will merely try to arrive at a minimally satisfactory solution.
Organizational Issues
Lost or delayed revenue: In a best-case scenario, where the client has a strong relationship
with the service provider (i.e., the hairdresser and the dentist), the result of an inadequate
scheduling system will be a delay in the utilization of the service. This will lead to deferred
revenues (from that particular client) and potential lost revenues from unused capacity. In a
worst-case scenario, where the client has no strong relationship with the service provider (i.e.,
the restaurant), the revenues from the client, on that evening, are permanently lost.
Reduced goodwill: The scenarios outlined above truly depict "customer sacrifice." In all cases,
customers are not receiving the maximum level of customer service. Particularly when selling
services (as opposed to products) where it is more difficult for clients to evaluate the service's
qualities, starting the service transaction on a less than optimal note is not likely to produce the
best outcome for the services marketer.26 If - as Levitt claimed in his Harvard Business Review
article on "Marketing Intangible Products"27 - people involved in purchasing services are truly
"buying promises", then service providers are seemingly not promising their clients very much.

3.1.3 Principles of Services Marketing
The previous analysis highlights some key principles of services marketing that organizations
embracing the Internet Economy must face. Principles relevant to this discussion include the
following:
Services are temporary in nature:
Services cannot be inventoried and must be utilized at the time they are available or
revenue is forever lost.
Current telephone-based scheduling systems are not efficient at optimizing services
usage.
Revenue will be maximized for such organizations with the most efficient appointment
scheduling (yield management) systems.
The "human factor" and quality control:
"No matter how well trained or motivated they might be, people make mistakes, forget,
commit indiscretions, and at times are uncongenial..." comments Levitt.28
The result is an uneven level of quality control. This is particularly evident since many
service providers are small businesses in which the owner is too busy to constantly deal
with clients. (Or conversely, if the owner is dealing with clients at the front-end of the
service process, she may be more productively spending her time elsewhere.) At the
same time such owners perceive (correctly) that low-paid front-line employees are not
delivering the care and attention to clients that the owner would provide.
The negative experience of appointment scheduling:
Scheduling appointments for services is time consuming, annoying, and inefficient.
Clients are very busy and only have limited times available for scheduling appointments.
Staff at organizations are harried and are constantly being interrupted from more
productive (i.e., revenue generating) work by phone calls for scheduling appointments.
The scheduling game that takes place between clients and organizations is annoying
and often results in a sub-optimal selection of appointment times because both parties
"just want to get off the phone."
Clients are only able to book appointments when the organization is open for business
and a person is available to speak on the phone. These times are often not when the
client originally thinks about booking an appointment. The time lag between considering
the booking and actually making the booking results in reduced booking frequency and
lost bookings.

Current system usage:
Most service organizations have some kind of existing appointment scheduling system.
Therefore, there will exist a certain level of resistance to adopting a new system.
Generally speaking, current appointment scheduling systems are low-tech (pencil and
paper) and are inexpensive to initially implement, but they require a high ongoing
investment of time and staffing resources.
Any alternative system must complement existing systems until full replacement is
deemed attractive.
3.1.4 Models
Creating new market space requires a different pattern of strategic thinking. - W. Chan Kim and Renée
Mauborgne29
Before creating a solution to an existing market problem, it is important to understand all
aspects of this problem as completely as possible. Two models are described below that will aid
in understanding the marketspace of services that require or could benefit from client
scheduling.
Value Curve
The value curve tool, introduced by Kim and Mauborgne, provides "a graphic description of the
way a company or an industry configures its offering to customers."30 A value curve charts and
compares the relative level of performance of an offering along a number of key success factors
or elements. Drawing from the previous scenario analyses, the key critical success factors for
the appointment scheduling systems of service providers are outlined in Table 1, below:
Table 1 - Initial Value Curve Analysis
Critical Success Factor Analysis
Availability: How available is the system to
the client? From where, and at what
times/days can the system be accessed?
Current appointment scheduling systems are
usually available less than half of the hours in
a day. Furthermore, they are only convenient
to access from the local trading area (i.e., few
people will telephone long-distance in order to
book an appointment). Rating 4/1031.

Optimal Results Level: How optimal are the
results achieved by the system, i.e., how
good is the system at finding the best
possible match between a client's needs and
a service provider's availability?
Human-based systems are somewhat flexible,
but the poor information available to the
people using such systems significantly affects
the optimality of results. Rating 6/10.
Utilization Rate: How good is the system at
maximizing the utilization of the service
provider's capacity?
Current systems do a poor job of yield
management since they do not maximize
potential service utilization rates, as per the
examples previously outlined. Rating 4/10.
Consistency and Quality: How consistent is
the level of service received by clients while
booking appointments and is this service of
high quality?
While the personal touch is well utilized by
some service providers, many more suffer
from an inconsistent level and quality of
service. Rating 6/10.
Marketing Potential: How well does the
existing reservation system contribute to, or
integrate with, marketing efforts of any kind?
Current appointment scheduling systems are
able to contribute practically nothing to the
marketing efforts of an organization. Rating
0/10.
Cost: How expensive is the current
reservation system to maintain and operate?
Although normally staffed by low-paid
employees, current systems consume
significant manpower resources that could
potentially be put to more productive use.
Rating 5/10.
In consideration of this analysis, Chart 1, below, depicts the value curve for current reservation
systems:
Chart 1 - Value Curve for Current Reservation System

Later in this report, this value curve will be contrasted with the value curve of the proposed
solution.
One-to-One Matrix
Previously in this report, customer relationship or one-to-one marketing was listed as a major
element of the Internet Economy and service providers are not an exception to this rule. In fact,
service providers - such as the hairdressers, restaurants, and doctors already discussed - have
always been considered leaders in one-to-one marketing as larger businesses have tried to
emulate the close relationships that these service providers often (theoretically) have with their
clients.
While this may be true, it has also been shown that the appointment scheduling system of
service providers has not been the most effective tool for one-to-one marketing. In order to
maximize revenues by creating individualized and customized relationships, organizations must
understand and take the best advantage of the differences between clients. To do this,
organizations require a certain level of flexibility of communication and production.

A useful tool for analyzing these differences was developed by Peppers and Rogers and has
been adapted for Figure 1 below:32
Figure 1 - One-to-One Matrix: Current System
This matrix divides the generic marketspace for services requiring appointment scheduling into
two dimensions: organizational capabilities and client differentiation. The term "Organizational
Capabilities" considers the types of capabilities a service provider will need in order to meet the
requirements of a particular client. Table 2 examines these factors for service providers utilizing
the current systems of appointment scheduling.
Table 2 - Organizational Capabilities: Current System Only
Current Scheduling System
Production Flexibility
(This is how flexible an organization must be
in producing made-to-order services for
individual clients.)
Organizations are quite flexible in their
production capabilities but the current system
of appointment scheduling is not optimizing
the utilization of this capability.

Communication Flexibility
(Describes the capabilities of an organization
to communicate with clients on an individual
basis.)
Communications, particularly before and after
the service experience, are minimal. Although
personal human contact is quite flexible, there
are often no systems in place to adequately
handle the flexibility that is available.
The term "Client differentiation" considers how diverse the needs and valuations (to a service
provider) of individual clients are. Table 3 examines these factors for service providers utilizing
the current system of appointment scheduling.
Table 3 - Client Differentiation: Current System Only
Current Scheduling System
Client Needs
(How different are the needs of individual
clients.)
Clients of such service providers have fairly
standardized needs. Haircuts, restaurant
meals, and medical appointments - while
containing many small, individual differences -
are quite similar from transaction to
transaction.33
Client Valuations
(How different clients are in terms of their
potential revenue value to the service
provider.)
Client valuations are relatively uniform since
the service provided is fairly uniform and
services are required on a regular basis (i.e.,
monthly hairdresser visits, bi-annual physical
checkups, etc.).
Client differentiation and organizational capabilities feed into each other, with one pushing the
other to ever-higher levels. Increasing the capabilities of the service provider to engage in one-
to-one marketing promotes client differentiation. At the same time, as clients become more
differentiated, they demand more individualized services from the service provider. For this
reason, one-to-one marketing solutions tend to move organizations both up and to the right of
the matrix. Later in this report, this matrix analysis will be contrasted with a matrix analysis of
organizations utilizing the proposed solution.
Given this analysis of the issues, a more optimal solution is obviously needed. Fortunately, the
power of new networks and technologies has now enabled such a solution.
3.2 The Solution

The ultimate goal of any Web business is to afford irresistible services that are simply not available in
physical markets. ... In order to achieve that lofty goal, however, you must begin by duplicating services
that are already available in the physical world. - Walid Mougayar34
The proposed solution will be called "TimeFind.com." In short, TimeFind.com will be an Internet-
based appointment scheduling system through which clients can locate and book times with a
community of service organizations located practically anywhere in the world. These
organizations will include practically any business or other enterprise (including doctors,
dentists, restaurants, beauty salons, and a host of others) that normally requires clients to
phone to schedule and make appointments.
The key to TimeFind.com's success will be its development of the de-facto35 standard for
Internet-based appointment scheduling. Through a single TimeFind.com ID, or through existing
Web calendaring services, a client will be able to make appointments with multiple service
organizations. The TimeFind.com home base will be located at www.TimeFind.com.
TimeFind.com's business model is summarized in Figure 2, below.
Figure 2 - The TimeFind.com Business Model
This model depicts, in their most simple form, the interactions between the client and the
organization. Only one-way interactions are shown in order to simplify the following explanation,
but information flows will actually originate with, and move, both down from the client and up
from the organization. First, a short explanation of this model will be presented, followed by a

more in-depth consideration of each of the elements of the solution model.
In brief, clients will be able to schedule appointments with participating organizations, either
directly through TimeFind.com's Website or through one of the many popular online calendaring
applications. In either case, organizations will be able to interact with the TimeFind.com system
by placing their own schedules online. They will do this either through TimeFind.com's
organization application (OrgApp) or through an independent software company's proprietary
application that contains links to the online TimeFind.com database. It is by becoming an
infomediary, in either one or both of the stages presented above, that TimeFind.com will create
a valuable network (for clients and organizations) and generate revenue (for itself).
3.2.1 Solution Elements - In Depth
The following discussion breaks the TimeFind.com business model into its component parts to
enable a more precise understanding of their interactions.
Clients
As previously described, clients are the individuals who need to schedule appointments with
various service providers. A more complete description of the characteristics of a range of these
potential clients can be found later in section 4.1.1 Potential Markets.
Clients may access the TimeFind.com system directly by using the TimeFind.com Website. In
this case, TimeFind.com will recognize repeat visits to various different organizations by
individual clients through "cookies" that are placed on their computers. Alternatively, clients may
choose to access TimeFind.com through their own personal online calendaring applications,
with the added advantage that any appointments that are scheduled will be automatically added
to their personal calendars.
Calendars
Online calendaring applications are becoming an increasingly important application on the
World Wide Web. Personal online calendars allow users to organize activities, make
appointments, and purchase event tickets, among a long list of other features. In his recent
article describing a new online calendar provider, Michael Fitzgerald noted, "Calendaring, which
brings standard appointment managing to individual Web users, is a hot button for many Web
companies, which think it will bring users to their sites every day in order to check their
calendars."36
Just as free e-mail services have attracted millions of Web users with the offer of a free service
that can easily be accessed from anywhere in the world, so have online calendar applications.
As an example of their growing popularity, Web calendar provider When.com recently

announced that over 100,000 people signed up for its free service in the first month it was
offered.37 Although most private companies do not release client numbers, it is estimated that
millions of people are now signed up with online calendars and this number appears to be
growing just as quickly as many other free Net-based applications have grown.
Leading Web calendar providers include When.com (www.when.com), PlanetAll
(www.planetall.com) and WebCal (www.webcal.com) - although many other companies are now
entering the field. This will soon be further supplemented by calendaring outsourcers who will
create, implement and operate a custom calendaring application for almost any organization
with a Website. Online calendars are known as "sticky applications" since a user signing up with
a calendar service is stuck with the task of returning to the hosting Website on a regular basis in
order to continually check and update the calendar.
Signing up with a calendaring service will not be required to utilize the TimeFind.com system.
However, by accessing TimeFind.com through a personal Web calendar, clients will be able to
automatically compare and update their personal schedules with the schedules of service
providers. A client schedule tracked directly by the TimeFind.com client application, itself, will
be more rudimentary and limited (at least initially) only to appointments scheduled through the
TimeFind.com system.
Software Companies
Service providers are being literally inundated with offerings from software companies designed
to address the needs of specific, vertical markets. As an example, a quick search of the Web
will produce a list of hundreds of companies vying to automate the front and back-end
operations of a doctor's office. The opportunity inherent in this overabundance is that no single
company has the market power or flexibility to create and implement a standard for online
appointment scheduling. It is unreasonable to expect clients to learn how to interact with many
different online scheduling systems in order to deal with the variety of doctors, dentists, lawyers,
hairdressers and other service providers that must be dealt with on a regular basis.
At the same time, it is also unreasonable to expect that TimeFind.com will be able to replace (or
disintermediate) these software companies with respect to their important link between clients
and organizations. In fact, as is discussed further in section 4.3 Marketing Strategy, it would not
be in the best interest of TimeFind.com to harm the prospects of these companies - at least in
the short to medium-term. Such companies have devoted massive resources to creating what
are sometimes complex solutions that meet the very specific needs of particular service
organizations. What TimeFind.com will provide is a standardized, online link between the
products of these companies and the client-base. TimeFind.com will make available the
protocols, at no charge, to companies that wish to enable this link between their proprietary
software and the TimeFind.com database.

Many organizations, however, have still not embraced any type of computerized solution to their
scheduling needs. This may be because the record keeping is less substantial for some types
of service providers (i.e., doctors have a tremendous amount of client data to track relative to
hairdressers). Alternatively, it may simply be because the particular service provider has not yet
seen the value to themselves or their clients of a computerized system. In any case,
TimeFind.com will also make available, for free, a set of Internet-based applications for
organizations (OrgApps) which organizations may use to handle their scheduling needs. (The
features of this system are discussed in more detail in the next section.)
Organizations
Finally, "organizations" are the many different types of service providers that could benefit from
online appointment scheduling. A more complete analysis of these potential organizations can
be found later in section 4.1.1 Potential Markets.
3.2.2 Features and Benefits
At its core, a Web calendar taps into the two most important topics of the Digital Age: time and
communications. - P.J. Huffstutter38
This section describes the basic feature-set of the TimeFind.com system along with the
resulting benefits to clients and organizations. On the Internet, where technical standards
evolve so quickly, it would be fruitless to attempt a discussion of the technical infrastructure of a
system the development of which might be a number of months away. For this reason, the
following analysis is kept at a relatively high level and is broken down into the two process
elements depicted in the business model in Figure 2.
1. TimeFind.com Client Application and Database
Cost
TimeFind.com will be totally free to clients. There will never be a charge for clients to utilize the
system in any way.
Interface
TimeFind.com will interface with clients through an Internet standard application. Initially this will
be limited to common Web browsers but, eventually, almost any Web-enabled device (such as
future cell phones, televisions, personal digital assistants, etc.) will be able to access the
system. TimeFind.com will also eventually enable voice activation through the emerging VXML
standard for voice navigation and utilization of the Web.39 This would allow complete access to
the system through a normal telephone (ironically, returning full-circle to combine the power of

the TimeFind.com system with the ubiquity of the telephone system).
Miscellaneous Features
Availability: Real-time, 24x7 availability. Clients will be able to schedule appointments from
anywhere at anytime.
Notification: Clients will be able to enable or disable a wide array of notification features via e-
mail, including:
automated appointment reminders;
availability of last-minute appointment openings (due to cancellations by other clients);
reminders to schedule appointments; and
notice of new TimeFind.com-enabled organizations that become available near the
client's location.
(Some of these features may already be available to clients who access TimeFind.com through
an online calendaring system.)
Database: TimeFind.com will enable clients to view an organized list of prior interactions with
service providers, thus providing clients with a compete record for their reference.
Intelligence: Over time, TimeFind.com will learn the preferences of clients and will be able to
automatically scan the schedules of service providers and suggest appointment alternatives,
even before being requested to do so. Another element of this service (that is easier to
implement) will enable clients to specify which time and type of organization they would like to
utilize (i.e., restaurant, 8:00pm). Then, the system will locate all service providers in the
specified area that are able to meet this need.
TimeFind.com will also enable clients to rate the final appointment time that has been
scheduled. In this way, organizations will be able to analyze the satisfaction that its clients have
with the scheduling options that are available. Also, through this rating system, the
TimeFind.com database will gain more knowledge about the specific preferences of the client.
The technology is quickly approaching that will allow TimeFind.com clients to simply say "make
an appointment with Sally" and TimeFind.com will automatically understand who Sally is, when
an appointment is likely to be most convenient for the client, and then actually make the
appointment. TimeFind.com will be at the forefront of enabling and implementing such a
solution.
Expansiveness: By being able to view the complete schedules of organizations (or as much of

the schedule as the organization allows) clients will have a much better chance of locating an
optimal fit between the client's schedule and the organization's schedule. The result will be
reduced "time-tag" with a receptionist and significantly increased satisfaction levels.
2. TimeFind.com Organization Application
Cost
The basic TimeFind.com OrgApp will be distributed free of charge as will be upgrades and
enhancements. The only direct charge to organizations will be a five-cent micro-fee for each
appointment that is successfully scheduled. A more complete examination of revenue
generation for the TimeFind.com concept can be found in the next section: 3.2.3 Revenue
Generation.
Besides the revenue generated for TimeFind.com, there will be other potential costs to the
organization for implementing the system. These are primarily technology costs, which include
the purchase of a computer and ongoing Internet access. Fortunately, the level of technology
required to implement the solution is quite minimal as all the significant computation and data
warehousing would be done on TimeFind.com's computers. Currently, a complete computer
system with the necessary power for an organization to implement the solution can be
purchased for as little as $500 and a full-time low-speed Internet connection now costs a
business approximately $75 per month.
However, this situation is changing rapidly as the industry continues to obey the axiom: "follow
the free." Recently, a number of companies have begun giving away computers in exchange for
subscribing to Internet access or other services.40 This is similar to the model used successfully
for some time by the cell phone industry. Internet access, itself, has become less and less
expensive as technology improves and infrastructure and available bandwidth increases. It is
even possible that TimeFind.com, itself, could become involved with providing free computers
to organizations - in partnership with hardware companies or Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
As the concept develops, TimeFind.com will give this option close consideration.
Interface
The TimeFind.com OrgApps will be simple applications that can be run on any PC connected to
the Internet. Initially, two different versions of the OrgApp will be produced: one for service
providers who schedule appointments (i.e., hairdressers, doctors, etc.) and one for those who
take reservations (i.e., restaurants). This reflects the different operational needs of these two
communities of service providers. Once a base of user organizations is established,
TimeFind.com will introduce advanced or "plus" versions of these applications which will
encapsulate features not found in the free version and will approach, more closely, the
advanced offerings of vertical industry software companies.

Community
For marketers, the challenge is to engage the customer. The more information companies provide, the
better their chances of doing this. The stronger the community marketers build around a product or
service, the more likely the customer will participate in adding value. - Nicholas Negroponte41
Creating and fostering a virtual community of service organizations is particularly crucial to the
long-term success of TimeFind.com. By enabling service providers to interact with and learn
from each other through the TimeFind.com Website, TimeFind.com will increase the level of
lock-in between these organizations and the TimeFind.com solution. The reason for this is
simple: while it may be possible for a competitor to attempt to duplicate the TimeFind.com
system, it is essentially impossible to duplicate a community that is generated and supported by
its members. Once an organization is engaged in a community, the costs to switch to a different
community (in time and effort) are very high.
This is also particularly important given how difficult it can be to "cross the chasm" between the
Innovators/Early Adopters of a technological solution and the Early Majority market segment.42
As technology marketing guru Geoffrey Moore explains in his book, Crossing the Chasm, the
Early Majority is made up of pragmatists who are "highly reference oriented and highly support
oriented."43 By enabling communities of interest around its solution, TimeFind.com will be
providing the reference source that is crucial to this important market segment.
In their book, Net Gain, Hagel and Armstrong provide a useful model of the dynamic of virtual
communities. This model is reproduced in Figure 3, below:
Figure 3 - Dynamics of Virtual Communities44

In brief, this model depicts four main dynamics of virtual communities that interact to create
increasing returns. These are:
Content Attractiveness: Content placed on the community system by TimeFind.com (i.e.,
articles on services marketing) as well as user-generated content (discussion groups) combine
to increase the level of content attractiveness, drawing more members to the community and
improving its referent value.
Member Loyalty: As member to member interaction increases, members become more loyal to
the community since it provides something that is not duplicable by any other service.
Member Profiles: Building a system of community will allow TimeFind.com to gather valuable
information regarding the efficacy of the TimeFind.com system and the desire for future
enhancements. While many users of a service are reluctant to approach the service provider (in
this case, TimeFind.com) with complaints or suggestions, monitoring community interaction will
provide a wealth of such information. In addition, profiles of organizations will be developed and
used for selling targeted advertising opportunities to external vendors. (See section 3.2.3
Revenue Generation for more on this topic.)
Transaction Offerings: Service organizations, through the power of online community, can
also become a powerful force for purchasing other goods and services individually, and as a
group. For example, a group of hairdressers in the TimeFind.com community could band
together to create a large order from a hair-care products supplier at a significant discount to

the rates that these small businesses normally pay. As the facilitator of this community,
TimeFind.com could retain a certain remuneration for this service. In addition, third-party
vendors will be attracted to advertise and sell to community members. "It's all about e-
commerce. If you can hit a person interested in making a purchase with an ad supporting that
purchase, you could really make a strong impact," commented Larry Barber president of an e-
commerce marketing company.45
As Nicholas Negroponte stated in his ground-breaking 1996 book, Being Digital, "The true value
of a network is less about information and more about community."46 TimeFind.com must
ensure that community creation is a central part of the service it provides to organizations - as
well as an important aspect of its revenue generation model.
Miscellaneous Features
In the following list, a dollar sign ($$$) indicates that the particular feature would only be found
in the advanced or "plus" version of the OrgApp.
Availability: The TimeFind.com database will be active and accepting client appointments even
when the organization is closed for business and its computer is not running. Upon the start of
business the following day, the organization will simply activate the application and the
complete updated schedule will be displayed on the organization's computer.
This technology will also allow the organization to manage its schedule remotely. For example,
a doctor on holidays could view and change her schedule from any location in the world that
has Internet access.
Notification: The organization will be able to enable or disable an assortment of notification
features that will alert various members of the organization to upcoming appointments or other
scheduled events - either directly through the OrgApp software or via e-mail. An additional
feature will enable the organization to automatically notify clients with far-off appointments if a
new opening in the schedule occurs. This will allow organizations to maximize their utilization
rates by filling all available appointment slots.
Database: The TimeFind.com database is the core of the system and there are many
possibilities for how organizations could use this information to benefit their operations. Some
ideas include:

Scope of Availability: Organizations will have the choice as to how much of their
schedules to make available. For example, an organization could choose to not allow
appointments more than one month ahead or within one day of when the appointment
would actually be completed. Furthermore, organizations would be able to limit the
number of appointments any particular client could make.
ID Enabling: By default, some organizations might choose to have access to their
schedules limited to qualified TimeFind.com IDs. As an example, an exclusive
hairdresser or restaurant might allow access only to qualifying TimeFind.com IDs. On
the other hand, the system could be set up so that access is granted to all clients using
the TimeFind.com system. In either case, an organization could decide to block certain
TimeFind.com clients from accessing their schedule, at any time.
Classes of IDs ($$$): A further extension of the above concept involves assigning
"classes" to different TimeFind.com client IDs. Using this technique, a service provider
could differentiate between clients on the basis of the following characteristics: how far
out they are able to book; how close-in they are able to book; the number of
appointments that can be booked at one time; or access to special appointment times
or limited availability times. The possible uses and benefits of this feature are almost
endless.
Incentive Programs ($$$): Using some type of value-based currency (i.e.,
TimeFind.com Dollars), organizations could provide incentives to clients for engaging
in certain behaviors - for example, to promote booking appointments at non-peak
times.
Points System Tracking ($$$): Affinity programs (points systems) have become a very
popular tool for marketers in recent years. The TimeFind.com system is the perfect tool
for enabling service providers to track points earned by clients since the database will
contain a complete record of all scheduled interactions.
Demographic and Psychographic Analyses ($$$): TimeFind.com will be able to use its
database of client/organization interactions to create reports very useful to the
marketing programs of organizations. In its simplest form, this might include maps
depicting the postal/area code concentrations of clients. In its more advanced forms,
this could include links to psychographic database services that will provide the
organization with an in-depth picture of the characteristics of its clients. These
analyses would be developed in partnership with existing Web-based companies
providing similar services.

Enabling of Marketing (free/$$$): The TimeFind.com database will enable
organizations to implement marketing programs far more effectively than many of them
have been able to do in the past. Organizations will have free access to a list of e-mail
addresses of clients who have booked appointments either currently or in the past. In
addition, organizations will be given the opportunity to engage in Web-based marketing
programs ($$$) through the TimeFind.com Website when a client is booking an
appointment with that service provider. For example, a client booking an appointment
at a salon could be presented with an online coupon from that salon towards the
purchase of a certain hair-care product.
Reporting: Finally, the TimeFind.com OrgApp will provide a complete reporting
capability on all aspects of the organization's interactions with clients. This capability
will be considerably superior to the reports available from a paper-based scheduling
system.
In the final analysis, the key to the TimeFind.com system is the database of client and
organizational transactions that is created over time. The potential uses of such information are
essentially unlimited. Therefore, it is difficult to envision precisely how the TimeFind.com
concept will evolve but the foregoing list of features provides an adequate starting point for
initial implementation.
Privacy and Data Usage
And last but not least, the customers' contribution must have a pay-off. Consumers are learning that if
they're going to give away valuable information, they can rightly expect something in return. The
transaction is a two-way street with surprising results - and the potential to completely transform
marketing as we know it. - Nicholas Negroponte47
In the Internet Economy, the privacy of information that is contained in databases such as
TimeFind.com's is an important issue. Fortunately, people and companies are willing to
exchange information about themselves for something of greater value - i.e., the benefits of the
system that TimeFind.com will provide. At the same time, it is crucial that both clients and
organizations understand precisely how TimeFind.com will use the information that is provided,
and agree to this use. To this end, TimeFind.com will prominently display its privacy and
information policies on the TimeFind.com Website.
In general, TimeFind.com will attempt to promote one-to-one marketing opportunities without
divulging information relating to specific clients or organizations. For example, TimeFind.com
will enable organizations to target advertisements at clients who are interested in a specific
service without making the organization aware of the specific identity of that client. However, it
will be necessary for clients to agree to divulge their identities to organizations when making
appointments. Few organizations would be willing to accept reservations from clients without at
least knowing the name and phone number (and now, e-mail address) of the client in question.

With the permission of clients, postal/zip code information will also be tracked in order to
provide organizations with generic data for their marketing efforts.
3.2.3 Revenue Generation
Scott Cook, chairman of Intuit: "We're asking people to change their habits. And we've got to convince
them that it's not hard." So, it is the responsibility of organizations to lower the barriers of entry by
using various approaches such as offering something for free or lowering the price of a service. - Walid
Mougayar48
Electronic vendors will lose money on their core products. You read that right. This is one of the
fundamental new rules of the Internet Economy, the rule of fusion. According to this rule, vendors
sacrifice profitability on core products in order to stimulate web traffic and promote profitable sidelines,
such as advertising impressions or accessory products. In this new environment, core products may be
the main draw, but it's the collateral offerings that bring in the profits. It's the whole package that
matters, not just individual products. - J. Neil Weintraut49
This report has previously hinted at some of the methods that TimeFind.com will use to
generate revenues. It is particularly important to get such methods right since the basic service
is free to clients and nearly free to organizations - in keeping with the new demands of the
Internet Economy and in an attempt to maximize the rate of trial and adoption.
So how can TimeFind.com make money when it gives away its core product/service for free?
The following list contains some initial methods of revenue generation.
Micro-fee for scheduled appointments: TimeFind.com will charge organizations a micro-
fee50 of five cents for each appointment that is successfully scheduled using the TimeFind.com
system. TimeFind.com will be very conservative in its approach to charging this fee: i.e.,
cancelled appointments will not be charged for. The purpose of this policy is to demonstrate
that TimeFind.com will only charge a fee for an appointment when the organization is also able
to generate revenues from that appointment.
"Plus" version of OrgApp: The model of "versioning", giving away a basic version of an
application and charging for a more advanced version, is well established on the Internet.51
Successful examples of this strategy include McAfee Associates (the makers of VirusScan(r)
software) and RealNetworks (the makers of RealPlayer(r) multimedia player software). Once an
organization becomes locked-in to the low-cost solution that TimeFind.com provides, the
challenge then is to provide outstanding features in a version of the OrgApp that organizations
would be willing to pay for. Some concepts for the features of this "plus" version have previously
been outlined.
Enabling vendor advertising to organizations: As previously described, the organizations
that will belong to the TimeFind.com community encompass a valuable market to many vendors

of products and services. TimeFind.com will enable such vendors to access this targeted
market through such methods as banner Web advertisements, sponsorships, and mailing list
advertisements. Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle, recently made a relevant comment on his
assessment of the feasibility of such a strategy: "'Some Web-based business applications could
even be free, ad-supported sites,' Ellison said, using the example of an accounting service for
small doctors' offices. 'Imagine what a pharmaceutical company would pay to be able to
advertise to your docs,' he said."52
Enabling vendor and organization advertising to clients: As clients make use of the
TimeFind.com system, TimeFind.com will be gathering a tremendous amount of information on
these clients. Such information can be used to allow vendors and organizations to target
advertisements to specific clients (without actually divulging a client's identity). Once again,
Web banner advertisements and Web page sponsorships will be used to generate revenues in
this way.
Affiliate program partnerships: Affiliate programs, in which vendors pay affiliates for referrals
that lead to online purchases at e-commerce Websites, have become a burgeoning part of the
Internet Economy.53 TimeFind.com will take advantage of these opportunities whenever
possible. For example, TimeFind.com could link to Amazon.com's affiliate program.54
Whenever a client prepares to make an appointment with a veterinarian, TimeFind.com could
display the list of top ten pet books to the client and earn a referral fee from Amazon.com from
any books that were subsequently purchased. The possibilities for other relationships, that will
make use of TimeFind.com's interactions with and knowledge of clients, are practically endless.
Aggregator/intermediary/introductory relationships: TimeFind.com will attempt to derive
revenue from what will be its powerful position as an inter/infomediary between service
organizations and the power of the Internet Economy. For many (smaller) service providers,
TimeFind.com will be their first usage of the Internet for business purposes. Although
organizations using the system will not require a stand-alone Internet presence, there will likely
be a large number of organizations that will eventually want to expand their ventures into e-
commerce. TimeFind.com will be well positioned as an intermediary between these
organizations and those businesses that are attempting to provide these services. IBM, Yahoo,
Amazon.com and others are now preparing extensive forays into this field.55 It is through
partnering with these organizations that TimeFind.com will generate further revenues.
As the TimeFind.com concept develops further, there is no doubt that other methods of revenue
generation will be developed. With U.S. business-to-business e-commerce predicted to reach
$1.331 trillion by 2003 there will be many opportunities for TimeFind.com to use the
relationships it will develop with thousands of service organizations to the mutual advantage of
all.56 Few companies that were involved in the Internet Economy a year ago are presently
generating revenues in precisely the way they originally envisioned. But by creating a
technology, a database, and a community, TimeFind.com will have a wealth of opportunities to

capitalize upon, and achieve financial success.
3.2.4 Models Revisited
Earlier in this report, two models were developed in order to help understand the services
scheduling marketspace. Now, these tools are revisited in light of the TimeFind.com solution.
Value Curve
Chart 2, below, contains the value curve for both current reservation systems as well as the
TimeFind.com solution:
Chart 2 - Comparison Value Curve
This chart depicts a scenario much improved from the current system of appointment
scheduling. To break it down into its key elements:
Availability: TimeFind.com is available 24x7 no matter if a business is opened or closed. Thus,

the solution is far superior to the current system that may be available, at best, 50% of the time.
Rating 10/10.
Optimal Results Level: Because TimeFind.com enables clients to view a range of scheduling
choices, it is much more likely that an optimal selection will be made. Rating 9/10.
Utilization Rate: While no system can achieve a perfect level of service utilization,
TimeFind.com comes significantly closer to this ideal than the current system. Rating 7/10.
Consistency and Quality: As opposed to the current system, TimeFind.com provides perfectly
consistent, high quality service every time. Rating 10/10.
Marketing Potential: Current scheduling systems, particularly those based on paper, are able
to make almost no contribution to the marketing efforts of an organization. By comparison, the
TimeFind.com solution is specifically designed to be an integrated part of one-to-one marketing
efforts. Rating 9/10.
Cost: A cost comparison between the current system and the TimeFind.com system appears in
Table 4, below. It depicts a very simple example of an organization with one attendant handling
scheduling duties and four other people servicing clients. Although there are numerous
variables that can be adjusted for different organizations, the basic conclusion of this analysis is
that implementing the TimeFind.com solution will save service providers money - the higher the
percentage of appointments handled by TimeFind.com, the greater the savings. Rating 4/10.
Table 4 - Cost Comparison

These results are even more impressive when one considers that this analysis only factored in
straight cost savings to organizations and did not attempt to account for the extra revenues that
could be derived from such sources as:
freeing the attendant to perform more value-added tasks, and
increased one-to-one marketing opportunities between organizations and clients.
One-to-One Matrix
The Client Differentiation and Organizational Capabilities Matrix is now revisited in light of the
improvements afforded by implementing the TimeFind.com system.
Figure 4 - Comparison One-to-One Matrix

TimeFind.com will enable organizations to engage in more effective one-to-one marketing
strategies. Organizations utilizing the solution will be able to take advantage of more highly
differentiated client needs and respond more effectively to the varying values of clients.
Specifically, Table 5 takes another look at two key aspects of organizational capabilities, and
how the adoption of the TimeFind.com solution will affect these capabilities.
Table 5 - Organizational Capabilities Comparison
Current Scheduling System TimeFind.com Solution
Production Flexibility
(This is how flexible an
organization must be in
producing made-to-order
services for individual clients.)
Organizations are quite
flexible in their production
capabilities but the current
system of appointment
scheduling is not optimizing
the utilization of this
capability.
TimeFind.com will increase
flexibility by allowing
organizations to set and
change schedules in real-time,
at any time and from any
place. In addition, the process
of moving clients to new times
and filling vacant time-slots will
be greatly facilitated.

Communication Flexibility
(Describes the capabilities of
an organization to
communicate with clients on
an individual basis.)
Communications, particularly
before and after the service
experience, are minimal.
Although personal human
contact is quite flexible, there
are often no systems in place
to adequately handle the
flexibility that is available.
TimeFind.com significantly
enhances communication
flexibility. Organizations will be
able to make contact with
clients much more frequently -
even before an appointment is
actually booked. Many other
contacts, such as appointment
reminders, will be automated
and will require no effort on the
part of the organization.
By improving its one-to-one marketing capabilities (both production and communication),
TimeFind.com will enable an organization to further differentiate its client base. Table 6
analyses this outcome:
Table 6 - Client Differentiation Comparison
Current Scheduling System TimeFind.com Solution
Client Needs
(How different are the needs
of clients.)
Clients of such service
providers have fairly
standardized needs. Haircuts,
restaurant meals, and medical
appointments - while
containing many small
individual differences - are
quite similar from transaction
to transaction.57
By improving the interactions
with clients - particularly prior
to the performance of the
service - organizations will be
able to assess and attend to
even the smallest individual
needs of clients much more
fully. Examples include finding
the most optimal appointment
times and dealing with
rescheduling.
Client Valuations
(How different clients are in
terms of their potential
revenue value to the service
provider.)
Client valuations are relatively
uniform since the service
provided is fairly uniform and
services are required on a
regular basis (i.e., monthly
hairdresser visits, bi-annual
physical checkups, etc.).
TimeFind.com allows
organizations to maximize the
value of individual clients. As
an example, the ability to use
different classes of
TimeFind.com ID will enable
organizations to reserve peak
periods for the highest value
clients.
Taken together, the features of TimeFind.com (as previously described) will enable

organizations to engage in one-to-one marketing much more completely than is currently
possible. And as the first step down the road to full integration into the Internet Economy,
TimeFind.com will be a valuable ally to organizations as they continue to move up-and-to-the-
right of the one-to-one matrix.
3.2.5 Rate of Adoption
For TimeFind.com to gain maximum benefit from the first-mover advantages in its market area,
it must ensure that the system and its marketing are designed to maximize its rate of adoption
by organizations and clients. Kotler has identified five characteristics that are "especially
important in influencing the rate of adoption of an innovation."58 The list below considers these
characteristics and their potential meaning to the TimeFind.com concept:
Relative Advantage: This factor considers the degree to which an innovation appears to be
superior to existing solutions. It has already been demonstrated that the TimeFind.com solution
is, in fact, far superior to the current methods of appointment scheduling in general use.
Compatibility: The degree to which the solution matches the values, experiences, and current
systems of the market is called its compatibility. Online calendar providers have already keyed
into this fact by making their offerings as similar to paper-based calendars as possible (right
down to the look and feel of the systems). Particularly in the basic version of its OrgApp,
TimeFind.com must also ensure that organizations used to tracking schedules on paper will feel
immediately comfortable with the new system. The strive towards compatibility is also the major
focus behind allowing vertical industry software companies to access the TimeFind.com
database with their own applications - thereby relieving organizations of having to abandon
existing systems and learn a new one.
Complexity: The more difficult a solution is to understand or use, the more complex it is. As a
design goal for TimeFind.com: if an organization needs to read a manual then, by definition, the
solution is too complex. Both the TimeFind.com Website and its OrgApps should be so simple
that a new user must be able to immediately utilize the system with virtually no training.
(Training might involve understanding the organization's scheduling system, but not in actually
using the TimeFind.com application.)
Divisibility: Divisibility is the degree to which an innovation can be tried on a trial or limited
basis. TimeFind.com's divisibility is high due to the fact that the application will be free to both
clients and organizations and will be available for automatic installation from the Web. However,
to make full use of the system, some organizations will be required to make small investments
in technology and Internet access. Marketing programs, described later in this document, will be
designed to further maximize the divisibility of the solution.
Communicability: This final characteristic considers the degree to which the results of an

innovation's use are observable and describable to others. Although there is little doubt that the
TimeFind.com solution is, in fact, superior to current methods of appointment scheduling, the
marketing challenge is to communicate this appearance to the target markets. While the
millions of Web-enabled clients in the market appear to be quite eager to embrace new Internet-
based products and solutions, the greater test of marketing effectiveness will be demonstrating
the advantage of the system to organizational users with entrenched methods of operating.
TimeFind.com marketing programs, through the power of the Internet, will ensure that the
system can be demonstrated easily and instantly.
By focusing on high levels of relative advantage, compatibility, divisibility, and communicability
while reducing complexity, TimeFind.com (through its system and marketing programs) will
ensure that its solution is adopted by a significant portion of the market - before any direct
competition is mounted.
3.2.6 Vision of TimeFind.com
Where there is no vision, the people perish. - Proverbs 29:18
All projects need a vision in order to drive them towards success and provide a yardstick by
which to measure that success. What follows is the vision of TimeFind.com.
Purpose - What do we want to achieve?
The purpose of TimeFind.com is to bring the revolutionary power of the Internet to the everyday
lives of ordinary people.
Mission - How will we achieve it?
The mission of TimeFind.com is to be the de-facto, Internet-based, appointment-scheduling
standard.
Vivid Description - What will it be like when we get there?
Millions of people will make appointments using the TimeFind.com system every day. People
will be able to effortlessly book appointment times that are convenient for them. Service
organizations around the world will use the system as the basis of their client interactions.
Advertisers will be able to target marketing campaigns to meet the specific needs of buyers.
Intelligent agents will use the system to anticipate and satisfy the demands of their users. When
someone wants to book an appointment, they will no longer think of reaching for the phone....
Core Values & Beliefs - What is our philosophy?

People
We think, feel, and act as a team.
Our people are partners in the vision - success is shared by all.
Continually learning and developing new skills is crucial to achieving success.
Clients
Our clients are regular people and the everyday organizations that serve them.
They allow us to thrive only because of the outstanding and innovative value we deliver.
Our clients are our teachers and partners - they are co-developers of the product.
Products
The key to our innovation lies in the ease of use of our system.
We will have developed the perfect system when no one knows they are using it.
Business & Management
We not only respond to clients' needs - we transform them.
We are entrepreneurial at heart.
Footnotes:
24. Reid, p. 96.
26. Christopher H. Lovelock, Services Marketing, 3rd ed., (New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1996), p. 17.
27. T. Levitt, "Marketing Intangible Products and Product Intangibles," in Harvard Business Review, May/June
1981.
28. Levitt.
29. W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, "Creating New Market Space," in Harvard Business Review,
January/February 1999, p. 83.

30. Kim and Mauborgne, "Creating", p. 84.
31. It is important to note that the x/10 rating is the subjective judgement of the author, based on his study of the
different appointment scheduling solutions. No empirical study has been carried out to arrive at these ratios,
therefore readers should use their own judgement in assessing the appropriateness of these ratings.
32. Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, Enterprise One to One (New York: Doubleday, 1997), p. 55-78.
33. Evidence to support this assertion is described later in this report in section 4.1.1 Potential Markets.
34. Walid Mougayar, "Turning the Unthinkable into the Irresistible," in Business 2.0, November 1998, p. 116.
35. De-facto: exercising power as if formally agreed upon by a standards-setting body.
36. Michael Fitzgerald, "Deja News will add calendaring feature," on ZDNET, available online:
http://www5.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2230069,000.html, viewed 3/22/99.
37. When.com Website, available online: http://www.when.com/corporate/aboutwhen/press_020899.html,
viewed 3/22/99.
38. P.J. Huffstutter, "Calendar Boy," in Business 2.0, February 1999, p. 18.
39. VXML Forum, "Voice eXtensible Markup Language (VXML) – Technical Background," available online:
http://www.vxmlforum.org/tech_bkgrnd.html, viewed: 3/20/99.
40. Robert Lemos, "Internet providers to give away PCs to new customers?" on ZDNN, available online:
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2157431,00.html, viewed: 10/29/98.
41. Nicholas P. Negroponte, Being Digital (New York: Vintage Books, 1996), p. 69.
42. Geoffrey A. Moore, Crossing the Chasm – Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream
Customers (New York, HarperBusiness, 1991), p. 20.
43. Moore, p. 23.
44. John Hagel III and Arthur G. Armstrong, net gain – expanding markets through virtual communities (Boston:
Harvard Business School Press, 1997), p. 49.
45. Jim Kertstetter, "More bang for (Web) ad bucks," in PC Week, March 15 1999, p. 27.
46. Negroponte, p. 183.
47. Negroponte, p. 69.

49. J. Neil Weintraut, "The Fusion Factor," in Business 2.0, September 1998, p. 35.
50. Micro-fee: a payment for a product or service that, until the advent of Internet technology, was too small to
be collected at a profit (i.e., the cost of collecting the fee is higher than the fee, itself).
51. Shapiro and Varian, p. 91.
52. David F.Carr, "Outsourcing Revisited: Will Net Replace IT at Small Firms?" in Internet World, October 26
1998, pp. 1 & 9.
53. Bob Tedeschi, "Affiliate Referrals Generate Big Profits," in The New York Times on the Web, available
online: http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/03/cyber/commerce/22commerce.html, viewed: 3/23/99.
54. Amazon.com, "Open Your Own Online Store Today," available online:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/subst/partners/associates/associates.html, viewed: 04/03/99.
55. Jonathan Weber, "Mysteries of Springfield Project Revealed," in The Industry Standard, available online:
http://www.thestandard.com/articles/display/0,1449,3934,00.html?02, viewed 3/23/99.
56. Forrester Research, November 1998, available online: http://www.forrester.com.
57. Evidence to support this assertion is described later in this report in section 4.1.1 Potential Markets.
58. Philip Kotler, Marketing Management, 8th ed. (New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1994), p. 350.
Options:
A. Background
B. The Concept
C. Marketing Plan
D. The Future

TimeFind.com: Marketing Plan
TimeFind.com Marketing Plan
In this Section:
4. TimeFind.com Marketing Plan
4.1 Current Market Situation
4.1.1 Potential Markets
4.1.2 Potential Competitors
4.2 Objectives
4.3 Marketing Strategy
4.3.1 Product
4.3.2 Price
4.3.3 Distribution
4.3.4 Promotion
4.4 Action Plan
4.5 Projected Profit and Loss
4. TimeFind.com Marketing Plan
Plans are less important than planning. - Dale McConkey
This section outlines a marketing plan for TimeFind.com. It is important to note that this is a
marketing plan and not a full business plan - certain aspects of starting and operating
TimeFind.com, as a company, are not addressed by this report.
The quote that begins this section is particularly relevant to the Internet Economy in general,
and to TimeFind.com in particular. In this industry, events take place and situations change so
quickly that it is very likely that this plan - and the TimeFind.com concept itself - will undergo
many changes between the time that this document was produced and when the concept is
actually implemented. Therefore, this plan should be looked upon as a starting point for initial
consideration and development, rather than as a set of prescribed actions.
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TimeFind.com: Marketing Plan
4.1 Current Market Situation
Since the Internet Economy, in general, has already been discussed at length, such analysis
will not be repeated. Instead, this section includes specific information on potential client and
organizational markets as well as on potential competitors to TimeFind.com.
4.1.1 Potential Markets
There are precious few paradigms for how to proceed when you cannot examine market share data,
indeed cannot even conduct an informed interview with an existing customer of the type you are now
seeking to win over. In short, you are on your own. - Geoffrey A. Moore59
When considering a market analysis for the TimeFind.com concept, the expression "lies,
damned lies, and statistics" likely does not even touch the surface of the difficulty. Although the
basic concept of TimeFind.com is simple, there is practically no existing market data upon
which to base statistical conclusions regarding adoption rates, market size, and other factors.
This is further compounded by the amazing rate of change in the Internet Economy. Who could
have calculated that a free Web e-mail product (HotMail) would have 10 million users within the
first fifteen months of its offering?60 For these reasons, the analysis of potential markets will be
kept to a general level.
Two Main Markets
The ultimate success of TimeFind.com depends on the solution being adopted by two different
market entities: clients and organizations. Obviously, TimeFind.com will not be successful if it is
very well liked by clients but few organizations place their schedules online with it. Conversely,
gathering a large base of organizational subscribers will not result in significant revenues for
TimeFind.com if clients of those organizations are not actually using the solution to book
appointments.
Having said this, it seems likely that market success with either entity will go a long way
towards securing adoption of the solution by the other. For example, if many potential clients
realize the usefulness of the solution they are liable to put pressure on the organizations that
serve them to adopt the system. Likewise, organizations that use the system will have an
important role in encouraging clients to use the system to book appointments. From that point
on, the network effect will take hold and make TimeFind.com increasingly valuable to both
organizations and clients.
The result is that TimeFind.com must understand and target both organizational users and
http://www.killerstrategy.com/timefind/tfplan.htm (2 of 21) [10/16/2001 2:53:22 PM]

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