Author: Robert Pease

Seth Godin in Seattle

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  Seth_Godin_Seattle_stage

[cross posted from the Gist blog]

We were very fortunate to have Seth Godin visit Seattle on Friday and share his thinking with an intimate crowd downtown.  The tickets went fast and, if you were lucky enough to get one, the gathering definitely did not disappoint.  Starting with the song at the beginning (not Seth) to the quick and witty answers to questions from the crowd, Seth provided perspective and insight into how our connected world is changing how we work, think, and communicate.

While he didn’t come right out and say it, much of what he was talking about fit the new workstyle theme that we believe is defining the future of work.  From thinking about the difference between a job and work to knowing that whatever it is you are working on will get “blown up” due to innovation and ease of connection.  Jobs come and go but work combining both skills and passion transfers from project to project as you go through life.

I definitely recommend adding Seth’s blog to your daily reading (if it is not already there). Also, he posted pictures from the event here.  Be sure to check them out!

7 Ways to Spread the Word About Your Awesome Customer Case Study

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A good friend's company just completed their first customer case study and he pinged me on what to do now that it is published.  Content creation is definitely important (and challenging) but how you distribute it these days makes all the difference in the world.  I shared the following with him via email and thought it good content to share with everyone on this question:

Congratulations, you have a customer saying how awesome your product or service is.  Now what?

  1. Send an email blast showcasing it – you do have a house email list, right? Use a product like MailChimp to get the word out via email.
  2. Put it on your website and then add it to the signature block in all of your emails as a hyperlink so that every email you send is an opportunity to showcase the customer as well as drive traffic to your site.
  3. Put it into a few Powerpoint slides then upload it to Slideshare.  Send that link instead of an attachment next time.  Put your standard pitch presentation on the same branded account so that your content is easily consumed and shared.
  4. Create a summary of video of the situation/challenge/solution including ROI metrics. Upload it to your company's Youtube page.  You can also add this to the email blast and signature block as noted above.  Keep it to about a minute and half as we live in an increasingly short attention span society.  Use this video (and others) to help people understand what you do and the value you deliver.
  5. Pitch it to press/bloggers that cover your space to demonstrate how much you rock (you do have a press/influencer list, don't you?).  If you don't have one, create it.  Anybody can publish these days so there is no excuse to not get coverage…regardless of the publication.
  6. Push it through your own personal social channels (Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, etc) in addition to any work ones.  We all have social graphs that we can spread our good news to – just don't over do it as people will tune you out.  A little good news every now and then about your work life is worth sharing…and reading.
  7. Get the profiled customer to push it through their communication channels like any upcoming executive presentations where the data or innovative approach would be relevant and/or differentiating.  If you are a small company and they are a large one, they will have many more opportunities to pitch the success.  Target being part of their standard pitch…or at least ones related to the solution area you play in.

There are definitely additional ways to get the word out but this list is my quick thoughts on it. What would you add?

I am not a sales lead

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Saleslead

I have been doing considerable thinking about the current state of B2B sales and marketing and what is possible given new levels of social interaction, widespread publishing (blogs, Twitter, etc.), and connectedness.  One thing I continue to come back to deals with "demand signaling."  I have seen this referred to as a "personal RFP" or "broadcast shopping" as I have done more reading on the the topic but see very little being done to capture or consider it in any company's day to day operations.  I even wrote a post a while ago about how "we" are the missing piece of social selling.

B2B lead generation is all about getting contact information of prospective buyers that signal some kind of intent then dropping them into a process of nurture and follow up with an eye on converting them to a paying customer at some point.  The problem with this approach is that the "intent" is usually related to downloading a whitepaper, attending a webinar, or merely visiting a website – all of which demonstrate some type of interest but only in rare situations someone ready to make a purchase (see "leads are weak" clip from Glengarry GlenRoss).  People that want to buy from you contact you directly.

So why are millions of dollars, countless hours, and a significant chunk of a marketing team's energy devoted to putting up huge numbers of "leads" that salespeople often struggle with to move through the sales process because they weren't really qualified in the first place?  Good question.

Here's a two step framework to begin to put this into practice for all of us that sell (we all sell something):

Qualify yourself in (or out) – just do a little bit of research before you send that next email and see if the person on the other end is really in need of your product or service.  The bar is not high here and I am continually amazed at how most people will not even do a simple web search on me or my company before sending a pitch. That is one of the key values of a product like Gist.  It does this for you, just use it! At a minimum, visit the company's home page and read the most recent news.

Qualify me in (or out) – Am I asking for what you sell?  Did I blog about it, tweet about it, etc.?  These are really easy indicators to see for anyone who has a public social profile and will make the timing and appeal of your pitch so much better. 

I even decided to set up a Facebook Page to rally around this topic and share examples of doing this poorly.  Check out the "I Am Not A Sales Lead" page, post your stories, and help me spread the word!

Awesome time today at TechStars for a Day – Seattle [Slides]

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I had a great time speaking today at a TechStars event here in Seattle.  Big thanks to Andy Sack and Kayla Roark for organizing and to Perkins Coie for the 48th floor conference room on a (finally) sunny day here.  I met lots of smart and energetic entrepreneurs, heard lots of pitches, and tried to add a bit of value along the way.  My presentation was about "getting started" which is arguably the hardest part of starting a company – just starting.

I am really looking forward to being a TechStars mentor to this year's class and seeing these great people be successful.  Here are my slides (also big thanks to the Slideshare folks for featuring this deck today on their site!):


 

TechStars for a Day – Seattle; Getting Started

Funnel Dynamics – Towards the $1 Cost of Acquisition [Slides]

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I have been working to summarize and consolidate the experiences I had building the user acquisition funnel at Gist with a specific focus on programs, tactics, and actual costs. My goal (not reached) was to drive the cost of acquisition down to $1 per user – something unheard of in traditional lead/demand generation circles and aggressive even in a web-application world.

The deck below is sort of a version one and not necessarily optimized for visual appeal so apologies for being a bit text heavy.  It is pretty meaty and I have shared it with a few folks in one-on-one sessions so wanted to share this version broadly.  Enjoy!

Funnel Dynamics – Towards the $1 Cost of Acquisition

4 Reasons Why the New Workstyle is Mobile

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I just posted this on the Gist blog and thought I'd share here as well:

We put forth the concept of the New Workstyle at the beginning of the year and theten characteristics we described created quite a bit of debate and discussion.  We fundamentally believe that the way we work is transforming and that high performance organizations will embrace these changes to further empower employees, realize the benefits of new innovation, and outpace their competition.

The first characteristic we included was being “mobile” and that this meant “always on and aware.”  This does not mean being a workaholic and failing at balance in your life as some of the comments reflected.  It’s quite the contrary actually.  Being mobile and being enabled with tools to share, communicate, and collaborate regardless of location unlocks new approaches to work and life.

We see four things driving this mobile workstyle:

1.  App marketplaces – where people can search, download, and run applications on their own without the need for IT support or training.  The applications available span work related tasks like time reporting, sales pipelines, and project management to non-work ones like games and photo sharing.  The line between these two categories continues to blur as apps thought of for fun translate into new and innovative ways to market, sell and support.  Most importantly, the technical aptitude of anyone who uses a smartphone and makes app choices goes up with each new app and each new experience.

2.  ”Screening” – interacting with information through various devices be that a phone, tablet, or laptop connected to a wireless network and accessing a multitude of cloud-based applications and content regardless of location or device. You can easily create a document with Google Apps on one device, share it with others, and then access and edit it on any device connected to the Internet all with proper versioning and access controls built in.

3.  Multiple communication channels – seamlessly switching between an email, a phone call, a text message, and a Facebook wall post creates a new dynamic in communication and the ability to share and reach people in your network.  The choice between both synchronous and asynchronous channels depending on the need and urgency opens up a new and more efficient approach to communication.

4.  A true on/off switch – while it may seem counter-intuitive and requires an explicit choice on the part of the individual, being mobile and fully enabled creates more freedom to work when and where you need to most.  News, information, updates, and content are always there and available so having the discipline to structure when and how you use them is essential.

What do you think?  Are there other drivers of the mobile workstyle?  How has your work evolved as you have become more mobile?

[Cross posted from the Gist blog]

Why don’t app marketplaces allow vendor responses to the reviews?

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This seems so simple yet I have not seen it after launching products on the Google Apps Marketplace, Chrome Web Store, iTunes App Store, Android Market, and BlackBerry App World over the past couple years.

Travel review site TripAdvisor does a nice job of allowing the property to comment back when a review is given (positive or negative) with additional details, an explanation, or just an update that an issue was resolved.

There is no such capability in these app marketplaces and it would be a really nice both for marketing efforts and, more importantly, customer support.  In fact, in several cases we've commented back to a review by creating a review.  This is all very clumsy and doesn't really solve the problem.

Anybody working on this or adding this capability soon?  If you have an app marketplace, you should be. 

Get outside your bubble

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Bubblegirl

I was (mostly) off line for the past week while visiting my Dad and brother in Franklin, TN (just south of Nashville where I grew up). I did not totally unplug as I kept an eye on personal email and the news feed that comes to me via my varied updates from those who I follow on Twitter.  However, I did stop on-line engagement and focused on my family, people around me, and real experiences.

I took several long runs through historic downtown Franklin, ate a bit of BBQ, had a great startup brainstorming breakfast at Noshville with friend Darren Crawford, cooked, laughed, and even played a suprisingly good round of golf with my Dad and brother (last round was 3 years ago).

I was originally going to title this post "Offline and in the Real World" but I think that is too harsh.  We can (and must) balance the deluge of information, ease of access via mobile devices, and what appear to be pressing needs to engage on-line with off-line and real life engagement and interactions. 

I have created a vast network of people that I am truly grateful to have through various on-line connections but I find it increasingly diluted based on its size.  The race to accumulate friends, fans, followers, and influence that I have been part of over the past few years seems a bit ridiculous when you spend time with extremely successful business owners who simply make their customers their priority and run their businesses with integrity.

These on-line and off-line worlds are not incompatible and can definitely benefit each other.  I firmly believe that successfully integrating the two can lead to a more successful business and more personal impact on the world.

So, please take a moment to look around (not at your phone), get together in person for coffee or a beer with a friend, and remember that technology can enable your pursuits in amazing and innovative ways but is no substitute for real life.

In2Lex Startup Advantage Conference & why you can build a company anywhere

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In2Lex

I had the opportunity to attend and speak at the Startup Advantage Conference last week in Lexington, KY.

My good friend Jim Clifton was involved in organizing the event and asked me to speak along with some really amazing people like Micah Baldwin of Graphic.ly, Deal Architect Vinnie Mirchandani, Tim Schigel of ShareThis, Brian Wong of Kiip, and Rolf Skyberg of eBay among others.

I always enjoy my time in Lexington and am of the belief that you can start a company anywhere.  The ecosystem around you can definitely hurt or hinder your progress but in a world of high speed connections, web collaboration, and reduced distribution friction for software applications, location is not a disqualifier.

I met some great people and cool companies like Pheeva & Keepio including attending a pre-conference reception with Lexington Mayor Jim Gray.  We also had an amazing breakfast overlooking the Keeneland horse track as thoroughbreds had their morning workouts (a top 10 experience for me for sure).

Keeneland

The energy level was high and it was clear there was a focused effort to nurture and encourage entrepreneurship in this community.  I even capped off my visit with dinner at Le Deauville with the founder of Fark Drew Curtis and Rolf.

My presentation was later in the day so everyone was a bit tired (including me) but I focused on building a conversion funnel, ramping it up, and then what happens upon exit for a startup – "The End of the Beginning"

Big thanks to Randall Stevens and the rest of the crew in Lexington for including me and being leaders in their community focused on driving entrepreneurship and innovation.  I can't wait to return…

In2Lex 2011: Traction and Exit (The End of the Beginning)