Fix The Incongruency - Consider Blogging for Your Company for Fun & Profit

Today I was perusing a marketing book by Chris Baggott et al. (that I haven't actually read yet in full)...and I came across the below passage in the first chapter. I thought it summed up pretty well one of strong arguments for considering having someone within your organization blogging (among other means of connecting with your customers and other constituents such as newsletters, etc.). Give it a whirl around your brain and send me your comments -- if you have any:

What's really funny to me is the fact that when you talk to organizations about what makes them different (worthy, if you will), this answers always lands somewhere in the top three: our people.

So why do you hide your people behind the facade of a brand or an institution? At the end of the day, people associate themselves with other people that they like. Your constituents want to like you and have a relationship with you.

-jr

Focusing In Tight Times....and in Good

Barry VanderKelen, who heads up the San Luis Obispo County Community Foundation, has a column entitled Nonprofit Strategies that appears from time to time in the SLO Tribune. I often catch it on-line when it appears. Today's is entitled Stay Focused in tight times. In it he asks Israel Dominguez, who became the new director of Cuesta College's Small Business Development Center in November, "how does a nonprofit organization navigate tough economic times?"

What I liked was the advice given by Mr. Dominguez is good for non-profit....and for profit enterprises alike. And not only in bad times -- but good ones too.

You may want to read the article yourself (link again) then come back here. Anyhow, I'm not known for lacking in opinions so I had a bit to add which is below:

For directors (and business owners), it shouldn't be a matter of thinking in terms of good times versus bad times but a matter of thinking: Who really are my customers? What do they truly want right now? How might I give it to them? And, critically, how do I communicate to them in a compelling way that is compatible with their current mindset?

Good times just means we get to be a bit more lazy in our planning and implementation of all of the above while still drifting by. :-) True success -- the kind that is sustainable anyway -- takes deliberate analysis of the marketplace. Once you're in that position you stop worrying about the ups and downs of the economy other than as variables to incorporate into your analysis about what needs and desires you should be meeting for your customers and making sure your marketing is appealing to them in the new context.

Ironically, with a bit of creativity and persistence, economic downturns can actually be incorporated into ones product/service development and marketing messages. All changes and cycles present opportunities for the astute director/manager/owner.

"You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out." -- Warren Buffet

Food For Thought: What Do You Think of My Idea?

Chris Lyman, the CEO/Janitor of Fonality, made an insightful post on his blog regarding entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs here. I don't have much to add -- I thought it was good food for thought and wanted to file it somewhere so what better place then on my blog.

I think it's a good idea to fill your thoughts constantly with lots of inputs from all over. Just don't take any one of them too seriously. Consider everything and then decide where you want to go, on your own.

Here's an excerpt from Chris's post:

For 10 years now people have approached me with business ideas, and asked: "What do you think of my idea?"
[...]

And I have always taken their "What do you think of my idea?" very seriously. After all, asking for an opinion on something that you have labored over is difficult - it's a moment of vulnerability as you open yourself up to a potential battery of cerebral criticism and intellectual pugilism. It's not easy ...and I know this.

Thus, I listen to their pitches, I read their business plans, and opine. I try to give thoughtful advice on the "what-ifs" and the "how-tos" and I introspectively incant my "lessons learned."

But, it never sits right with me. And, slowly I have come to hate this question. And, finally I know why.

The entire act of questioning before leaping is fundamentally opposed to the true spirit of entrepreneurialism. Being an entrepreneur is about doing something NEW that has NEVER been done before, or doing something old in a totally NEW way. You just don't build a bad-ass business by being a me-too. In short, you gotta bring the NEW to outdo the OLD and the NEW can never be known because it hasn't happened yet and therefore ANY attempt to discuss the new as if you know what the hell you are talking about is an ego-trip and I don't want a ticket to that ride.

Let me illustrate my own idiocy at predicting the future:

In my last company, I had a Director of Sales named Jon Venverloh. One day, in late 1998, he showed up to work and said he was moving up north to take a sales job at Google. I laughed at him and asked him why the heck he would go to a company with no revenue and no revenue model. Remember this is 1998. He said: "I like Northern California better and I can ride my bike." Believing he was making a lousy career move, I wished him luck. Well, I just googled (hehe) Jon and he is currently listed as an Executive in charge of Federal Sales for Google, Inc.

Go figure. Nobody knows who is going to be the next Google. Least of all me. And the mere fact that you are asking means that you are doubting yourself and doubt is what you CANNOT have as you strive to create the NEW. Don't let the opining and the opinionated slow you down.

-jr

Relationship Management for Non-Profits (Software)

This software package, CiviCRM, looks promising. It is an implementation of a "Customer Relationship Management" solution, but for organizations that don't really have customers in a commercial sense but still have plenty of relationships to manage. It's a bit like SugarCRM or Salesforce.com but designed for not-for-profit type entities.

If you are involved in a non-profit agency that takes donations or has volunteers, this software may help you optimize your relationships, boost your effectiveness, and provide some dashboard like functionality for managing your organization. Well, that's the theory anyhow. :-)

It appears to have an active community and developers. And a good amount of documentation, a FAQ, a blog, and user forums. All signs that bode well for a sustainable open source project, since many applications die off without achieving critical mass.

I have not used it. I ran across it while researching some other software. Since I know folks involved in managing several non-profits, I wanted give them a heads up to explore further. If anyone takes a closer look please let me know how it goes!

http://civicrm.org/aboutcivicrm

CiviCRM: A Free and Open Source eCRM Solution

CiviCRM is the first open source and freely downloadable constituent relationship management solution. CiviCRM is web-based, open source, internationalized, and designed specifically to meet the needs of advocacy, non-profit and non-governmental groups.

CiviCRM is a powerful contact, fundraising and eCRM system that allows you to record and manage information about your various constituents including volunteers, activists, donors, employees, clients, vendors, etc. Track and execute donations, transactions, conversations, events or any type of correspondence with each constituent and store it all in one, easily accessible and manageable source.

CiviCRM is created by an open source community coordinated by CiviCRM LLC, and the 501c3 non-profit Social Source Foundation.

There is a (amateur but it'll give you an idea) Introduction to CiviCRM video and some others here.

Local company, Shopatron, gets $6m in Additional Funding

Congratulations to the folks over at Shopatron, a nifty San Luis Obispo (California) based company. Until relatively recently, they were called Firepoppy while Shopatron was the name of their primary product. They have picked up some additional capital and continue to be working hard on solving problems in their niche.

Shopatron solves problems for manufacturers that don't or cannot sell their products directly, namely connecting their customers (say, visiting their web site) with their retailer/distributor network. They do it in a way that is conducive to the customers desire to "buy now", with less hops to jump through, and make it a win-win all around (win-win-win, uh, win, really) .

It's one of those niches that makes a lot of sense once you hear about it and they've been working hard at perfecting it for a number of years now. And, since they are so focused on solving one particular problem space (and it's a real one at that, as best as I can tell), rather then solve every interesting opportunity that they run across haphazardly, they are sure to be successful.

Congrats Ed, Sean, Dave, and the rest of the crew over there.

Further Related: Links:

• Shopatron takes $6M funding to capture in-store pickup crowd
• Shopatron closes $6 Million in Series B Funding
  

Who Surveys the Surveyors?

(Questions That Every Survey Should Ask)

Four out five times I'll just toss out those surveys that get printed on the receipts from retailers, restaurants, coffeehouses, etc. If I'm looking for a distraction (or remember that I stashed one in my wallet the next time I'm there while I'm standing around in line anyhow) and the freebie I get for doing it entices me, I'll do one.

It's pretty frustrating to be willing to provide feedback only to discover the survey is your main gripe about the establishment. Based on my survey experiences, one of the following queries should be appended to every survey any company ever does. They basically all boil down to: "Did this survey suck?"

Q: On a scale of 1 to 5, how would you rate the friendliness of this survey?

Q: On a scale of 1 to 5, how would you rate the length of this survey?

Q: On a scale of 1 to 5, how would you rate the clarity of this survey?

Q: On a scale of 1 to 5, would you be likely to take a survey like this every again under the same pretenses?

If it's a written, online, or in-person survey (difficult to do with an automated phone survey) they might even ask something like: Do you have any ideas about how we might make this survey better?

If I had a great experience otherwise, well, we can all spell i-r-o-n-y, right?

-jr

Take the Time to Be Specific

One of my fairly serious hobbies is seeking out, analyzing, and (rarely) investing in under appreciated excellent companies. And I'm a ferocious reader, consuming a growing list of business, success, finance, investing, entrepreneurship, and related books, blogs, papers, articles, and similar texts. I've also had hands-on involvement in several start-up and more mature businesses in various capacities of responsibility.

It is interesting that a common problematic theme I come across is that of the business strategy being too fast and loose. This happens in large public companies just as often as it happens in small one-person businesses. Sometimes you hear about "needing more focus", "defining your market", "defining your niche", etc.

While this can manifest itself regardless of the stage of the business, it often becomes more dire (or at least externally apparent) as more people become involved in the business and more customers/clients are taken on. Scaling is tough due to the lack of clarity across the organization. Things get dropped. Micro-managing ensues. Mismatched product and service lines and extensions are rolled out. Resources are chaotically allocated. Turf wars can occur. Otherwise preferred and ideal customers/clients leave and similar prospects drag the sales cycle on longer. People quit in frustration -- no longer having the energy to see things through. Seemingly dumb decisions are made by otherwise highly intelligent and competent people throughout the organization.

This is all about and so often can be addressed by the same thing: Be as specific as you possibly can about your market, your niche within that market, and the characteristics of your customers. Once you do, everything else (i.e. next actions, tactical moves, where to allocate limited resources, who to hire, which investments to make, which investments to cut loose on and re-evaluate) becomes quite suddenly far far easier.

Your risk is immediately reduced and communicating your value proposition becomes a day at the beach. Lest you think this is just a business problem not applicable to our personal lives, consider how being more specific with your goals usually makes it more likely you'll achieve them. Don't shortchange yourself or your business. Draw a specific line in the sand and say there is where I'm/we're headed (don't be afraid to do it because you suspect it may change down the road, that's just fine and shows you're thinking about it).

But that's not the entire story either. An ancillary theme -- and perhaps one causation of the prior problem -- I've noticed takes the form of over eagerness used as an excuse to keep the market/niche/customer defined so loosely. By this I mean not just that the entrepreneur (or equivalent within an existing company pursuing a new product/service concept) is eager to get started with development or selling but that their ambition is so large that they fail to realize that the way to most effectively attack a broader market is often to start by attacking a segment of it first not the entire thing (and then chip away until the entire thing is yours).

Most supposedly "large markets" are really groups of smaller micro-markets. Each of those micro-markets has slightly different needs and other characteristics which make them unique. You are making your job tougher by trying to attack the "whole thing" at the start. It's a question with differing answers -- not because the question is complex but because the question isn't specific enough.

This is a constant problem all over the place. Just this morning I was reading an article posted on GonzoBanking entitled Understanding the Decline and Fall of the Banking Industry (it happens to be told in a satire-like way which makes more sense if you end up reading the entire article but the excerpt is applicable regardless):

Excerpts from strategic plans in this period, however, indicate that bank management was still trying to target all customer segments, all product lines and all delivery approaches. Quotes from this period in business are somewhat comical as bankers write that they aspire to be “best in class,” “high performance” and “customer driven,” but none of the historical strategic plans seem to include what any of these terms actually meant.

My background is not in marketing. I'm actually stereotypically pre-disposed to think that "most marketing folks are fools and liars" since I'm generally thought of as a technology/IT geek (most of "us" tend to be cynics about all forms of marketing and advertising in seems). But that's an unfortunate, naive, and misguided reactionary opinion. After all, what geek wants to build stuff nobody wants to buy/use?

No business should be in business if it doesn't know exactly, and specifically:

1. who it's target customer's/client's are
2. why they are (or should be) doing business with you (from their perspective only, not yours),
3. how they find you and acquire your products/services
   

This is not just another of one of those "it'd be nice if we did this" To Do items to be filed away that you can limp along without. One (or more) of the following will happen, in time:

1. You're current (or not yet in existence but looming future) competition will consume your customer base and eat you alive
   
2. You will spend money on the wrong things and go out of business (or be forced to merge with a stronger competitor, more on their terms than your own)
3. You will be relegated, unbeknownst to you, to the least profitable and most difficult customers/clients in your loosely defined market to serve
4. You will spend incredible and blackhole-ish increasing amounts of money acquiring (marketing to) new customers without adequate return on your investment
5. You will burn out (and, if you have other staff and management, they too, which has it's own direct and indirect costs which will manifest themselves even if you keep plowing ahead oblivious) sooner rather than later and, along the way, probably burn bridges, alienate clients and partners, grow frustrated with seemingly piling up problems that lack a framework to prioritize them objectively within, inability to successfully delegate, freezing up and putting off critical major difficult decisions that only you can make, and otherwise eventually "giving up" (perhaps not even entirely consciously).
   

If you are in this boat, don't fret. You're also probably quite smart, analytical, and adaptive. You just took an early misstep. It's correctable though. Take a few moments and complete the following challenges. Go from there. The future should get clearer as you go along.

CHALLENGE #1: As specifically as possible (and if you think you are already to that point, challenge yourself to see how much more specific you can get) write down your initial gut feeling of:

1. who your target customer's/client's are
2. why they are (or should be) doing business with you (from their perspective only, not yours),
3. how they find you and acquire your products/services
   

CHALLENGE #2: Concisely whittle down the text from Challenge #1 to its essence. This should be a quick sentence or two that clearly articles what you REALLY do as a business from your customer's/client's perspective and who your "sweet spot" customer's/client's are.

Doing Less is More

There is a great irony in marketing any product or service. One goes to great lengths to uniquely position their product or service. Then we are careful to convey all the wonderful benefits our product/service will offer the potential buyer if only they'd become an actual buyer.

The counter-intuitive thing is that this entire process is a whole lot easier if we promise less to the potential customer. Not only will we have to work less hard to actually implement all those things we are promising but then:

1. it will be easier to convey the benefits to a potential buyer -- it'll be easier to hit them over the head, albeit politely hopefully, with a much simpler value proposition that stands out from the crowd
   
2. there's less risk that we'll fail to deliver
3. there will be less disagreement as to what we promised to deliver
   
4. it'll be easier to up sell them later upgrades, accessories, add-ons, etc. when we develop those
   
5. it'll be easier to over deliver, if we so chose, to gain the loyalty of our customer for a much longer period
   
6. our execution steps and decision making will be clearer
   
7. it'll be easier realize and to change direction if we discover we're offtrack
   
8. we will have to work less for, at worst, equivalent net gain and even, due to less resistance and energy loss from stress and indecision, quite possibly for a greater net gain.

If you want repeat business from the same client/customer....
If you want to reduce your marketing expenses by relying more on word of mouth....
If you want happier employees....
If you want less stressed management....
If you want your potential customers to really understand why you're better....
If you want more satisfied customers/clients....
If you want less employee burnout....
If you want a better sales close ratio....
If you want to shorten the sales cycle....
If you want to simplify your strategic planning...
If you want to lower your customer service support costs....
If you want to improve your execution....
If you want to increase your profits....

Do less. Simplify. Strip things down to the bare essentials.

Promising less really does mean more -- for the customers, for staff, for management, for the business owner. Everyone gives up a bit less and gets a bit more.

Doing less is more. Really.

Some ideas:

Focus on a very specific need within a very specific target market (e.g. tourists visiting Philadelphia who are seeking to learn more about early American history).

Do not try to be all things to all people -- even if you ultimately intend to serve a larger market with a broader set of offerings. You are much more likely to succeed -- including serving that larger market -- if you focus first and expand later. Select a more specific niche within your long-term target market until you are able to nail it down to a very simple set of features/functionality and clearly stated value proposition. Nail it and move on to an adjacent niche.

If you are having problems keeping a project on deadline, don't change the date -- change the scope.

Avoid making promises where there's a decent chance you won't be able to deliver.

Under promise always and, at times, over deliver.

QUESTION : How simple can you make your business, your products, your services, and still make the same amount of profit while working less? If in doubt, what is the basis -- other than fear -- for your current belief?

CHALLENGE: Do more with less.