I was at a Michelin Star Restaurant in Manhattan yesterday with my family. We wanted to go to this place since one year, something or the other prevented us from making it happen. Lots of expectations were built up.

For me, I just found the food mediocre. My expectations were not met. It is not the first time this has happened. I’ve gone to places with great expectation, simply to be let down.

Big Promises – Unmet Expectations

Sometimes, Big promises can lead to mediocre, if not poor experiences. Big promises by who? The restaurant did not make that promise to me explicitly, but it was my mind that made the promise to myself.

This Expectation was a culmination of it’s ‘rating’ by a respected body (Michelin, in this case), my friends, peer, online reviews etc. built up that expectation. This expectation changes the way we experience a product and/or service.

So, Big expected promises...

Consultants and experts will tell you one of the ways to compete with Free is to make and offer something better; a better product, better services, better everything. They say, make a product or service that is perceived as higher value for your clients and they don’t mind paying for it.

Easier said than done. I’m not saying it is easy to compete with free. You need to tackle it head-on.

But before talking about what you can and should do, here is what you should not do.

Don’t do ‘gimmick’s. Don’t throw money at hard marketing. Don’t just try to 'push’ the same thing with a twist.

You have two alternatives:

1. Fight on price - but then you can’t fight Free.
2. Offer tremendous value that Free just can’t offer.

It is obvious the second alternative is better, but how do you build value?

The first step is to start from scratch. Re-think your target market. You cannot be all things to...

People love Free Stuff. There is nothing not to like about it, of course, barring some catches, strings and so on. We like the idea of Free but remain skeptical – ‘Why is it free; what is the catch?’

• Why is it Free?
• What’s in it for them?
• Is there a hidden catch?
• Is it really Free at all?
• What’s in it for me?
• That last question is really important. Let me repeat – What’s in it for ME?

Forget Marketers – let’s look at Buyers. What is the main difference between people that say -

• I want EMR Free and
• I will Pay for EMR, perhaps even a bit more

Payers: Value their time more than their money.

Non-Payers: Often don’t think of their time as something of value.

As Doctors, Physicians and Providers consider EMR, each of them will base a decision on their fundamental value of time. I don’t need tell you what your time is worth, you will make your own determination. The value of time is...

Microsoft just unveiled the next iteration in its Surface Pro lineup of tablet computers called Surface 2.

The tech buffs know about this, but I am sure majority of doctors and providers did not know Microsoft has a Tablet. But it is time the Healthcare IT world takes notice. For the first time, this fantastic device will allow you to do everything you wanted to do with an iPad, i.e. be a great data consumption device (view movies, read emails, catch up on facebook and post an occasional status update), and create content just like a laptop without the added bulk.

I think Microsoft is actually pushing the future. Who wants to carry a phone, a tablet and a laptop only to use a desktop or other laptop at work and then have another computer at home? It looks to me like they are trying to kill off the laptop and possibly replace your home computer as well. It could be all wrong, I’m no...

The world of healthcare is changing if you have noticed - Obamacare is just one extremely visible element. But from a technological perspective, it is one industry that I consider stone-age.

EMR (Electronic Medical Records) has received considerable press recently and holds tremendous promise and potential as a game changer, but change is taking such a long time that Obama had to literally put money in doctors’ pockets to make them use technology. Yet the internet is flush with negative comments about EMR.

There are just too many moving parts, each has its own ‘agenda’ pulling in opposite directions.

I try to help Doctors navigate waters and implement EMR technology and educate them in the process, this article is address to Physicians, Doctors and Clinicians trying to struggle with EMR.

How to Search for and Implement EMR?

Marketers analyze internet activity with respect to how you...