If you are going to be there, drop me a note robertcpease at gmail dot com or find me on Twitter – @ReplytoAll.
Should be an interesting gathering and look forward to sharing how we are using Twitter as part of our core customer/user outreach efforts and learning a few new things from some smart people.
Winding down a seriously busy week that included the public beta launch of Gist. This project has been in the works for some time and Tuesday marked the public debut. If you have not tried it out yet, please do.
I have done many product and company launches with varying results over the years. Launch something no one cares about and the sound of the crickets is deafening. Launch something people want and the ride is exhilarating. The Gist launch was the latter and here is a sampling of the coverage we generated:
Most amazing was watching Twitter come to life with people talking about what we built and their thoughts about it…in real time. Trust me, Twitter has a purpose and is one of the more revolutionary sales/marketing/support platforms to come around in a long time.
There are still many things to figure out and no shortage of work to be done but we are off to a strong start and it only gets better from here.
Happy Labor Day everyone. I thought a post on "positioning" was timely because not only is it something we are continuing to focus on and evolve at Gist but it also came up last week in one of my mentoring sessions as a NWEN Advisor. Also, it is no small effort to get right so thought it appropriate to discuss on Labor Day.
What is positioning and why is it important (according to me)?
The positioning strategy is a competitively focused statement of what makes a company different and better than the competition. It is a description of how prospective customers, partners, etc. should think of the company relative to the competition. A fundamental of good positioning strategy is creating perceived differentiation in an area that is important and relevant to those audiences. Since positions are “relative to the competition,” it is important to understand how competitors are currently perceived and how they are trying to position themselves.
How do I come up with it (not sure where I got this from originally, so apologies for no source reference)?
[Company Name] provides [product or service category]
For [your beachhead target customer]
So they can [product’s primary benefit].
Unlike [the product alternative]
We [key differentiator]
This is definitely an exercise about picking the right words but in order to pick the right ones you must understand the broader landscape and how companies operate within it. In an early stage company this is not a one time effort that you complete and move on. It is a constant and iterative process as you learn more about your customers and market and the difference between how you want to be perceived and are perceived becomes clear.
Arguably, we have been perfectly vague publicly about what Gist is, what it is used for, and how it fits into your daily life. This is due in large part to being in a limited release where we continue to add features, refine the product, and incorporate feedback from a phenomenal set of beta users.
So the question remains, what is Gist? Is it a contact manager, better contact management system, new way to think about CRM software, a new type of sales or business intelligence software? I guess the answer is that it embraces a bit of all of these things focusing on blending how your contacts, connections, and all the associated content you share and they generate comes together for your use. Kind of a whole new approach to personal relationship management that combines elements of all of the above.
I use it daily because a) I work there and b) because it fits with what I do – contact people, respond to people, follow up with people, look for a reason to reach out, etc. Ultimately, Gist takes the broad set of people that you communicate with or desire to communicate with, aggregates information about them, and serves it up to you in rank order with you having to do pretty much nothing. Oh, and it really shines when you use it inside MS Outlook or Salesforce.com (supported in our most recent beta release).
Sound cool? Watch this video for a more detailed product tour by yours truly and drop a comment or email to me – robertcpease at gmail dot com if you want to try the beta.
After one of the worst flying experiences I have ever had on Delta Air Lines, I have decided to declare my frequent flyer free agency. I won't bore you with the details but the experience which included my entire family demonstrates the indifference and what seemed like outright disdain for its passengers by this airline giant. I use to live in Atlanta, my wife use to work in Delta's flight operations group, and my brand loyalty was always to Delta above all others. That has now changed and the only reason I will even think about flying them again is due to the efforts of a single flight attendant on our flight back to Seattle from Atlanta.
So, I am up for grabs and interested in looking at new teams to join. Here are my stats:
I have spent trial periods with United, Alaska Airlines, US Airways, and American but have never signed on due to bad experience, lack of status, or routing. Current favorite is Virgin America but they do not meet all my destination criteria. I have also spent some time with ANA, British Airways, Southwest and Frontier (although the latter two may be the same team here shortly) over the years and have had generally good experiences.
Interested in having me try out for your team? Leave a comment or shoot me an email.
Over the past year plus, I have been working with a whole new set of tools to understand and reach customers/prospects/users. This includes Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, blogs, blog comments and the associated technology to access and analyze what is being said and who is saying it.
Unlike mainstream marketing thinking, what I have been doing has cost very little money and utilizes new tools to reach people in the new places they are spending their time. More importantly, the leverage in selling resides disproportionately with the buyer these days. They have instant access to information about you, your competitors, and even the ability to connect with your current and former customers all without your help or involvement. Understand this is reality and embrace it.
So, what should you do if you are trying to sell something, launch something new, or just expand market share within existing target market? Set up and make use of a Listening & Engagement Framework. Check out my previous posts on it to understand what the heck I am talking about.
I have been making extensive use of this type of framework at Gist and put together the presentation embedded here to highlight both what we have been doing as well as the thinking and assumptions behind it all. Check it out and let me know thoughts and feedback. One thing I have learned is that the rules are still being written and best practices emerge daily on the best way to use all this stuff as a business.
As I look back at the various start ups I have been a part of, none of them has had an easy time getting their first big enterprise customer. The minefield of meetings, requirements, obstacles, outright "no" & "no way" responses is enough to kill the spirit of even the most optimistic and entrepreneurial among us.
Now on-demand software that can be accessed via a browser without consultation or authorization by corporate IT departments often meets a similar fate once unauthorized downloads are detected or the volume of data exchange with an unauthorized website appears on the radar screen. This sometimes occurs regardless of the passion, need, or protest of the business end-user.
So, why is this? Are corporate CIOs and their teams enemies of innovation?
Not at all. They are, however, risk managers and anything new, untried, and early stage is met with suspicion and concern.
If you are building something for the enterprise, you will at some point meet the risk mitigation wave…even if all the business folks are using what you sell and loving it dearly. It must meet certain requirements related to management, oversight, audit, compliance, and governance. You don't have to have it nailed out of the gate, but be aware that it will come…with your success.
So, companies like Gist that are innovating in areas like contact management, sales software, CRM software, etc. and experiencing success in the marketplace will soon come face to face with the risk mitigation wave. We know this, are prepared for it, and can't wait to have that discussion.
Just remember, your IT department doesn't want to deprive you of the best tools and newest technologies. They just want to make sure the shop runs smoothly and that those new tools, programs, and technologies don't compromise the network, raid the financial system, or otherwise wreak havoc on the company.
Apologies again for the slow posting recently. Life and work got in the way a bit…
As promised some time ago, here is the second post about building a listening and engagement framework. In my previous post on the listening framework, I detailed out my approach and several of the tools and applications I use to get pretty good coverage. But, listening is only part of the equation. When and how you engage based on what you hear is more important but also more complex. I place these activities into the "Four Zones of Engagement" which are primarily defined by how much time it takes you to act on what you have heard.
How do you stay in the Zones of Amazement & Affection? Apply dedicated resources and make use of tools like TweetDeck, BackType, CoTweet, Gist, Twitter, & Google Reader.
Want to languish in the Zone of Indifference? Set up a few Google Alerts and you'll be sure to stay there.
Does the Zone of Disdain sound appealing? If so, do nothing and watch your competitors and new entrants eat your lunch by engaging your customers and prospects in a direct and meaningful way.
Apologies for the slow posting the past couple weeks. Will be back shortly…
The word "friend" has evolved significantly in our newly connected, social media-oriented world and I think its overuse may be diluting its real meaning. It has now become a verb and by "friending" someone on Facebook (for example) and you are now BFFs. Hardly…
I have been thinking about friendships off and on for a while and a couple things happened during our trip to Sun Valley that pushed my thinking further…and one did actually involve Facebook.
New Friend
Thank you Blake Slater. Blake and his family stopped shortly after we discovered we had a flat tire as we headed out of Seattle on I-90. Car packed tight, two kids, a dog, and enough gear to last us two months for our one week vacation and there we sat just outside Cle Elum, WA. As I got my bearings and began to think through getting the tire changed, Blake stopped to help….he even had his own equipment and his wife was timing him.
As the story unfolded, we learned that they had had two flat tires a long time ago on their car at night and no one stopped to help them. From that point on, they always stopped to help someone in need.
Blake didn't want anything other than to help and I have to admit that I was a bit in awe of his generosity and genuineness (although I think I may have ruined the record time attempt as I tried to get the spare out). When we were done, he gave me his card which revealed that he is a Detective Sergeant with the Nampa, ID (just outside Boise) Police Department. Thank you again Blake. We can all learn from your example.
Old Friend
This is where Facebook comes into the story. I have reconnected with many I had lost touch with through Facebook which includes lots of folks I went to high school with back in Georgia. One such person was Todd. He was a couple years younger but we played soccer together and managed to drag him with us on various adventures including a few concerts in Atlanta. We found each other on Facebook and I found out that he is living just outside Boise, ID. As we were planning a trip to Sun Valley, I pinged him to see if we might connect as we passed through. Turned out that he was headed there as well with his family and on a beautiful sunny afternoon two people who hadn't seen in each other in 20 years reconnected in front of the ice cream stand across the street from Atkinsons' Market.
Friendships are about more than profile pictures and status updates. These new technologies help us connect and reconnect in ways we never thought possible but be sure to find the time to connect in person and remind yourself to do selfless things every once in a while.
Venture Vice 