CEO Selling Doesn’t Scale

March 4th, 2010 by Greg Head | No Comments

What’s the biggest difference I see between a $1 million technology company and a $10 million technology company?  You might think it’s something like the quality of their products or the size of their management team, but it’s not.

The key difference is that the $10 million company is completely committed to being known as being the best at something important in their market.

Yes, you actually have to deliver on your promise of being the best, but that’s not enough to grow past the wall most tech startups hit at about $2 million in revenues.

In the early days, the CEO and the executive team can sell all the customers personally. The sales relationship and trust developed by the founders are required to sell the first customers and create revenue as startup. But at some point as you grow, the CEO can’t be involved in the sales relationship with new customers.

Frontline CEO selling is important, but it doesn’t scale.

As you grow, the next customer won’t be buying from the trusted CEO – they are buying the best known solution available in the market.

Being known as the leader of your category is the only way to grow big.

A Few Predictions for Year Ahead

January 8th, 2010 by Greg Head | 1 Comment

This week, the folks at Vertical Measures posted a short video of me offering a few predictions for the new year.  Vertical Measures is an Internet marketing company that provides SEO and link building services that drive qualified traffic to their clients’ websites.

Click here to see the video on the Vertical Measures website.

In the video, I share some answers to these questions:

  1. What are your predictions for the internet marketing in general for the year ahead?
  2. How about investments and startups — where do you see that heading?
  3. What one critical issue should those in the Internet entrepreneurial space be concerned about or focused on in 2010?

Hope you enjoy it.

Improve Your Website Using Google Analytics

December 11th, 2009 by Greg Head | No Comments

Do you know what visitors are doing on your website each week? Where did these visitors come from? Which pages did they think were most important? Which search terms brought them to you?

Using Google Analytics, the popular and free website traffic analysis tool, you can learn what’s really happening on your website in just 10 minutes each week.

Google AnalyticsIf you aren’t tracking any visitor stats on your website, or if your current website reporting tool is too complicated, you’re missing an opportunity to see what’s really happening on your website.

Google Analytics is the easiest and cheapest way to learn what’s working and not working. No technical expertise is needed.

Once a week I quickly check the traffic statistics for the websites I manage. Here’s my simple checklist using Google Analytics:

Visits
The Visitors Overview page shows total visits, unique visitors and more. I see visitor traffic trends at a glance. Big traffic day on Tuesday? Fewer visitors overall this week? Do more visitors view one page and then leave? After a few weeks, it’s easy to understand typical traffic patterns and what merits further investigation.

Visitor Map
The Visitor Map shows where in the world those visitors are located. Browsing this map gives me some perspective on overall visitor numbers. My site may have had 500 visitors last week, but many of those are from visitors outside my region. How many visitors are my customers or prospects versus interested readers?

Traffic Sources – Search Engines
Web search engines drive traffic to every website, but most traffic comes from Google. Which keywords drove the most traffic to my website? I type those top terms into Google and see where the site ranks in the list of search results. Why did Google suggest that web page when this term was searched? When I change page content get better search results, I’m doing basic search engine optimization, or SEO.

Referring Sites
Which sites have hyperlinks that direct visitors to my site? Try to find more who promote your site too. When someone clicks on a Web link in Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn to go to my website, I see it here. Are Social Media sites driving a lot of traffic? Not as much traffic as Google.

Top Content
Which pages on the website are being visited most? The  homepage will be the most visited page, but every other page is ranked, too. Is the best content on the most popular pages? Maybe the site navigation is leading visitors down the wrong path. Pages that are most useful to visitors have the longest “time on page” number.

The first time you view visitor statistics for your website, you might spend an hour exploring all the data. After a few weeks, you’ll just want to check these few things quickly, and then dig in to find answers to the questions you uncover.

For example, I saw traffic jump in the last month for one page on my website — my review of Malcolm Gladwell’s book “Outliers.” Google recently started ranking this page higher and higher. Now its the second most visited page on my website. Keyword searches like “malcolm gladwell outliers book summary” drove hundreds of visitors last month — and they average time these visitors spent on this page is an astonishing 7:49. They stick around to read the entire post!

So, what did I do?

I changed the post title from “book review” to “book summary” to match what people typed into Google search. Traffic from Google doubled within a week to this page. I had known there was a need for useful marketing book summaries, but now I’ve confirmed it. Look for more book summaries next year.

There is no magic to this.

If your Website developer says, “It’s too complicated for me to set up Google Analytics on the website” or “You wouldn’t understand the data,” he’s lying.

If you care about your market presence on the Web, get Google Analytics and start improving your website a little each week. You will be shocked by how simple and useful it is. Start with the basics. The data is all there.

Take the Google Analytic product tour to learn more.

How did you improve your website this week?

Be a Fanatic to Scale Your Service Business

December 4th, 2009 by Greg Head | No Comments

Where do CEOs of small service companies struggle most when trying to create a “scalable” service business that can grow to be a large company?

They underestimate the amount of refinement and development of their service offerings, marketing execution, internal processes and company culture. By a factor of 10. At least.

I have worked with dozens of successful CEOs of project-based service businesses on their new scalable business enterprises. All but one of these leaders drastically underestimated what it takes to create a growing business that doesn’t rely on the principal’s involvement to attract and serve new customers.

  • What it takes to make a great customer experience happen every time — without the founder in the room
  • What it takes to have their story sell in Peoria without a face to face meeting with the owner
  • What it takes to build a brand that people know about and trust
  • What it takes to grow steadily and predictably

Think about the services we buy from national brands — like coffee from Starbucks, car service from Sears, our gym membership, online travel booking, buying books from Amazon. All of these used to be local services, but now they are large services businesses that (on the whole) work way better than our local providers.

When McDonald’s was getting started, there is no question that the founder, Ray Kroc, put at least 10x more effort into product definition, marketing execution, internal processes and company culture than the local hamburger shop. Truth is, Ray Kroc put at least 100x more energy into the things that would scale his business to change the world. He was a fanatic. And he created one of the world’s largest companies.

Amazon puts at least 100 times more energy into their customer experience and marketing than your local bookstore does. Think Geek Squad compared to your great local computer handyman. It’s a completely different game when the owner isn’t the frontline salesperson to their customers and is no longer the chief service provider.

Is it a simple incremental step for an expert consultant to write a book, build a national brand and create a growing training business? Nope. It takes 100 times more refinement and energy to build all that — compared to the effort of their next client engagement.

CEOs creating scalable service business need to think more like they are creating a consumer product business than running their old project-based custom service business. Like creating a software product or a national retail chain or a writing a book.

Make great pies on holidays that your family raves about?  Building a national pie business brand takes a lot more effort and energy.

Is 10 times the effort enough? 15.5 times? 55 times? 100 times?  There is no minimum number. Sorry.

You simply need to be an unstoppable fanatic about your customer experience, your processes, your company culture, your sales pitch. Steve Jobs? Fanatic. Debbi Fields of Mrs. Fields Cookies? Fanatic. Amazon website designers? Fanatics.

If you aren’t making people crazy about attention to detail and fanatical refinement of the things that scale your business, you probably aren’t doing enough to achieve the success you dream about.

Are you the chief fanatic?

Phoenix Groups & Events for Marketers

October 23rd, 2009 by Greg Head | 1 Comment

If you’re a marketing professional or technology entrepreneur in Phoenix, you should check out some of the popular organizations and events for marketers in town. Each group has a different focus, but they all can help you find useful new techniques, learn from experts, and network with like-minded people.

Here are the most active, useful and popular events and groups for marketers in Phoenix.

AZIMA

The Arizona Internet Marketing Association (AZIMA) is new this year, but it has already gained quite a following among local marketers and entrepreneurs. The main dinner event each month features a nationally known speaker, with plenty of time for networking before and after. Monthly webinars for members provide detailed how-to’s of new Internet marketing tools. www.joinazima.org

SEMPO

The Arizona chapter of the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) brings together Web search marketing experts and interactive marketers to network and learn from experts on new technologies and approaches. www.sempoaz.org

Social Media Club

The Phoenix chapter of the Social Media Club meets monthly to share knowledge about the latest social media tools and techniques. This is an energetic and casual event where local experts share information with people at all skill levels. www.smcphoenix.com

Podcamp AZ

Podcamp AZ is an annual “unconference” weekend event that teaches hands-on techniques to communicate on the Web using a variety of new technology tools. Local and national speakers lead topical  discussions at this free and informal event. Everyone is encouraged to attend, participate and contribute. podcampaz.org

Ignite Phoenix

Ignite is fast-paced evening presentation event for local creative folks, not just marketers. Each Ignite meeting features 18 offbeat and interesting presentations that educate and entertain across a wide variety of topics. Always fun and provocative, you should be prepared to fight the crowds for tickets and parking. www.ignite-phoenix.org

Agencyside

Agencyside provides seminars and events for agency owners that educates about business and marketing topics to be a more successful agency. The annual BOLO event brings agency professionals from around the country for a 3-day event with speakers, education and networking. www.agencyside.net

American Marketing Association (AMA)

The Phoenix chapter of the national American Marketing Association, AMA Phoenix holds monthly educational and networking events for local marketing professionals. AMA is oriented for senior marketing folks in all industries – it doesn’t just focus on Internet marketing. www.amaphoenix.org

Business Marketing Association

The local Phoenix chapter of the Business Marketing Association provides monthly educational events and other resources for business-to-business marketing professionals. www.bmaphoenix.org

Valley PR Blog

While not technically an event or organization, local PR professionals share their opinions and discuss great topics online. www.valleyprblog.com

Marketing tactics are changing rapidly.  It’s easy to hear from nationally known speakers and meet local experts to learn what’s happening at the leading edge.

Sometimes meeting in person is the best way to learn and connect.  It doesn’t all happen on the social Web.

Is Your Focus Narrow Enough?

October 13th, 2009 by Greg Head | 3 Comments

You’ve been working hard to build your new product or launch your service. You’re excited because your first potential customers are still interested in buying from you, despite several delays. Now it’s time to start chasing more customers by growing your sales team and launching your website.

So where do you aim your tiny sales team? To whom are you speaking on your website?

If you’re like most entrepreneurs, you’re probably aiming at a target market that’s too broad when you start. There are two typical reasons for this:

  • You’ve told yourself, your team and your investors about the HUGE potential out there for what you sell. Hey, there are MILLIONS of people who could use your widget. You’ve been trained to THINK BIG, so why give up hope now?
  • It’s still early and you haven’t proved that the outer edges of your target won’t buy your product. Why rule anyone out if you don’t know for sure yet?

In the early growth stages of new companies, it’s easy to overestimate demand for your product or service, especially if you have investors in the mix. (Have you ever seen a startup sales projection chart that wasn’t a hockey stick?)

The reality is that the only people who will actually buy from you are those who are in desperate need of what you offer. Or, at least, those for whom what you offer is critically important to them or their businesses. For everyone else, what you offer is a “nice to have,” which today is the same as “that’s interesting, but I wouldn’t pay for it.”

And there’s another reason to narrow your target audience even more — web search.

People who desperately need things are typing very specific words into web search engines like Google. They’re not typing that cool new category name you made up last week (“online financial optimization solutions”). They’re typing concrete and common words that they think will guide them to a quick answer (“reduce bank fees”). If you aren’t in the game on several important keywords in your market, you face a much tougher sales and marketing battle.

Sound scary? Don’t worry. Narrowing your focus helps your salespeople to zero in to real business faster — and win. You can also spend marketing resources more efficiently and create a more credible brand story.

Your hockey stick sales chart may have to wait until the competition dies down and everyone starts spending frivolously again.

No, I wouldn’t wait for that either.

Is it time to narrow your focus?

Phoenix Events & Groups For Entrepreneurs

September 25th, 2009 by Greg Head | 1 Comment

In the last two years, there have been a growing number of new organizations and events that provide education, ideas and connections to Phoenix entrepreneurs. If you haven’t visited these groups lately, you’ll be surprised how many local leaders, nationally-known experts and talented specialists show up to these events to network and share ideas.

Whether you are a seasoned technology leader or a startup newbie, there are a variety of well-run groups that have plenty to offer. Here’s a list of the best local organizations and events that support Phoenix tech entrepreneurs.

TiE Arizona

TiE Arizona is the local chapter of TiE, the largest global association of technology entrepreneurs. Useful monthly meetings with networking and interactive sessions on venture funding, growth issues and CEO success stories. Local TiE Charter members  (experienced, successful leaders) also help with mentoring and connections for budding entrepreneurs. www.az.tie.org

AZ Tech Council

The Arizona Technology Council is Arizona’s largest technology trade association that connects local technology executives, provides monthly educational forums and represents Arizona tech companies in public policy initiatives. www.aztechcouncil.org

MIT Enterprise Forum

The MIT Enterprise Forum Phoenix is a chapter within MIT Enterprise Forum, a global organization that promotes entrepreneurial networking, inspiration and education. They bring local, national and even global leaders together throughout the year to discuss real issues and hear success stories. www.mitefphoenix.org

Arizona International Growth Group (AZIGG)

AZIGG hosts monthly events with local experts who provide information and resources to Arizona-based business owners as they look to grow internationally.  These are effective discussions that appeal to local leaders in medium or large companies in many industries.  www.azigg.com

Invest Southwest

Invest Southwest is a popular annual capital conference in Scottsdale that connects local Arizona ventures with knowledgeable angel and VC investors. The annual event each December features investor presentations by 8-10 entrepreneurs, networking, and nationally-known keynote speakers. www.investsouthwest.org

AZ Entrepreneurship Conference

The AZ Entrepreneurship Conference is an annual event for the Phoenix entrepreneurial community, hosted by Valley startup maven Francine Hardaway. The full-day event is held every November and includes nationally known speakers and local expert panelists. Great networking, too. www.azentrepreneurship.com

Gangplank

For the younger, web-savvy tech entrepreneur, Gangplank in Chandler is a great place to get work done, network with other startup junkies, learn from tech and social media experts, and get connected to people who can help market or build out your idea. www.gangplankhq.com

FastTrack

FastTrack is a practical education program that provides existing and aspiring entrepreneurs with the knowledge and skills they need to grow their businesses. Delivered by experienced entrepreneurs, FastTrack is sponsored by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation supporting business enterprise. www.fasttrac.org

Enterprise Network

Local business executive networking group that meets monthly to hear from speakers on funding, growth and other business issues. www.enterprisenetworkaz.ning.com

ASU Technopolis

ASU Technopolis offers several intensive entrepreneurship programs including one-one coaching, an eight week “Launch Pad” course, workshops, and mentoring programs. The program operates within the Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Affairs at Arizona State University. www.asutechnopolis.org

Women in Technology International (WITI)

Phoenix WITI is the local chapter of the global WITI networking and career advancement group for women in leadership roles in science and technology businesses. Local events cover career development, networking and technical topics. www.witi.com/phoenix

Association for Corporate Growth (ACG)

ACG is global association for the professional financial community. Monthly meetings and events include topics on corporate growth, corporate development, and mergers and acquisitions. www.chapters.acg.org/arizona

Score

The Phoenix chapter of SCORE is a group of experienced businesspeople who advise small business owners on all aspects of running and growing a small business. SCORE counselors volunteer their experience and knowledge to help small business owners in a variety of industries. www.scorephoenix.org

Vistage

For CEOs, owners and C-level executives, Vistage (formerly called “TEC”) is a peer group and coaching organization that allows leaders to share and learn from other entrepreneurs in a confidential group setting an and experienced facilitator.  www.vistage.com

Angel Investor Groups in Arizona

There are several angel investor groups that hold regular meetings to hear pitches from selected Arizona entrepreneurs, including ATIF and Arizona Angels. Learn more here.

Ironically, I believe the recent growth in events and organizations is fueled by the explosion of social media conversations and information on the Web. At some point, people just need to have face to face conversations and hear the stories firsthand.

Converting to the iPhone

August 17th, 2009 by Greg Head | 5 Comments

Last month I took the plunge and got an Apple iPhone 3GS. Since then, my personal and business friends have been asking me about my iPhone experience to see how I like it. Many Blackberry users that I know are openly considering the iPhone.

“How will a Blackberry user like it?” “How is the AT&T service?” “How is the typing?”

I upgraded from my trusty Palm Treo 700 to the iconic iPhone in one step. Apparently this is newsworthy, like my Buick-driving Dad showing up in a hot red convertible Corvette. Maybe my buddies are asking me how I like the iPhone because I’m not one of those trendy cool people that buys every new product from Apple. (I have never personally owned an iPod or ever had white earphones dangling from my head.)

So, how does an older, less trendy, business user like the iPhone? Here’s my experience to help you make the right smartphone choice.

How is the AT&T service?
AT&T’s legendary inconsistent cell coverage was the main reason I didn’t consider the iPhone earlier. We have all heard complaints from angry AT&T customers about poor coverage and dropped calls. But in the last few months I began hearing more “it’s better now” comments from more iPhone users. Could this be true?

I can say that the coverage around the metro Phoenix area (and visits to Long Island and New York City) has been just fine so far. I actually get better coverage at my house than I did with Verizon. I live in Scottsdale, Arizona, in a flat-ish suburban area, not on the side of a mountain or far out in the boonies, so I can’t speak for the coverage in fringe areas of Phoenix or in your particular city.

How is typing on an iPhone?
For ten years I have used smartphones with QWERTY keypads that have individual physical keys. I was skeptical of my ability to type well on the iPhone touchscreen keyboard.

Surprisingly, I actually found typing on the iPhone to be easy and reasonably accurate. I use the pop-up letters to confirm that my finger has found the right letter. After one day, I was typing as fast as I did on my Treo or Blackberry. Soon enough I’ll be typing faster.  I didn’t expect that.

Are the “apps” really that cool?

Yes, iPhone applications are elegant, functional, fast – and connected to the Internet. That’s the point of the iPhone — it’s a great Web device with a phone in it. There are thousands of useful apps, and we’re still at the beginning of the iPhone application groundswell.

I set up my iPhone with two email accounts and ten additional apps in two hours without reading the manual. I was doing those slick finger-swooshing demos of my iPhone apps (like you see on TV) after one week. Like other Apple products, it feels great and is fun to use.

Why shouldn’t you get an iPhone?

No device is perfect for everyone. Here are a few reasons to stay with your current phone.

  • If you are a corporate warrior who lives and dies by email, you should stick with fastest and most secure email device on the planet – the RIM Blackberry. The iPhone just isn’t as fast and powerful for ripping through email as the Blackberry. (This is partly because you are so used to your Blackberry. I just don’t want to hear you complain as you relearn your speed-freak mail habits on a new device.)
  • If you are a power phone user and efficient text typist, you should probably stick with a phone optimized for just that. I don’t think the iPhone is the best phone ever, but it is the best phone/mail/apps/web device on the planet.
  • If you live in an area that doesn’t have acceptable AT&T coverage, you’ll have to wait until another phone carrier partners with Apple. I didn’t see that happening in the next 6 months, so I switched from Verizon.
  • If you don’t care that “there’s an app for that,” then you can probably live with the phone you have that is just a phone.
  • If you don’t want to use what everyone else is using, get a Palm Pre. Nobody appears to be using that. (Sorry, Palm.)

What do I like about the iPhone?
OK, the fun part.  Here’s what the iPhone does for me:

For the first time, I have a slick, useful version of all my most-used applications, news sites, and browser bookmarks in my pocket that I can use anytime and (almost) anywhere. I can do about 50% of what I do on my laptop on my iPhone. That’s a big deal. (My Treo was around 20% of my laptop function.)

I can now envision traveling without my laptop. If I don’t need to launch Microsoft Office applications, write a lot, or spend a lot of time in a browser, I can do most everything else pretty well on the iPhone. Most of my applications are Web-based or Web-connected anyway, so it’s just another way of accessing my stuff that’s “in the cloud.”

I actually enjoy reading on the iPhone, too. I can see a day when all newspapers, magazines, and books will be available on this type of device. The iPhone Web browser is fast enough and easy to navigate, but it’s not a true full-screen browser.  The maps, iPod music, games and other fun stuff are very cool.

Some Quirks

  • The iPhone doesn’t support multiple email signatures, even if you have several email accounts.
  • Switching between email accounts to check multiple inboxes is a lot of “clicks” and gets pretty tedious. This is a one button action on most email-enabled phones, but the iPhone interface consistently brings you back to the screen you last viewed. There is just more maneuvering to get mail.
  • It’s really expensive if you drop it.  This is not your old phone – it costs $400-600 to replace it if you break the screen. This explains why you see most iPhones protected by an ugly plastic cover.

Sorry, there is nothing new in this review for all you iPhone early adopters, but this is still an important time in the life of the device in the big picture. Most Apple fans already have iPhones, but the really big market is all the rest who don’t. Those people are on the other side asking, “Is it OK to move from my Blackberry or other phone?” For me, it was.

What this review really describes is how the iPhone is successfully “crossing the chasm” to the mainstream market. I think this will be an even bigger phenomenon next year.

Even if you don’t buy an iPhone, it might just be a good time to buy Apple stock.

iPhone users – What do you like and dislike most about the device?

A Tale of Two Companies

July 21st, 2009 by Greg Head | Comments Off

two_rabbitsThe other day I met with two CEOs whom I know, each leaders of emerging technology companies. They are both exciting entrepreneurs, but they each had different stories to tell about their businesses.

One company was growing profitably, even against the headwinds of the economy; the other was struggling, despite extensive sales and marketing activity.

Why the difference? The growing company has a narrow focus.

The successful company has figured out their strategic focus and is clearly trying to be one thing for one customer segment, after many years of trying to be all things to all customers in their changing market. They have already made the hard choices and are laser focused on telling one compelling story to their narrow target market. This CEO can explain their strategy clearly in one sentence. Now they are growing again.

The floundering company is still trying to create various products for multiple customer groups – and not winning in any segment. This little company has separate solutions for business professionals, small businesses and very large businesses. They spend a lot of time and money to reach these different customers because their story isn’t clear and they have to promote in different ways for each market. This CEO can’t clearly explain why his product is different than the competition and what their mission is as a company. Their employees are confused and their investors are frustrated.

Why doesn’t the struggling company simply redefine its strategy to focus on the battles which they can win?

It’s because they don’t want to give up any potential business that they might sell now or hope to sell in the future.

Of course, it’s hard to decide to narrow your focus as a company: hard on the ego, hard on short-term sales, hard on the customers you leave behind. But it quickly makes your business easier to run: easier to communicate to the market, easier to execute, easier to please your customers, and easier to grow in the long run.

“Narrow your focus to create growth” seems unintuitive to aggressive, sales-oriented entrepreneurs. But for small, cash-starved companies, you don’t really have a choice – you have to focus on only fighting the battles you can win.

“Man who chases two rabbits catches none.” (Confucius)

Are you chasing multiple rabbits in your business?

———

Want an example of lack of focus?  See what happened when Dell chased too many rabbits.

The Two Most Important Questions

June 27th, 2009 by Greg Head | 1 Comment

Peter DruckerThink about it:  Who is your customer?  What does this customer value?

These are two of Peter Drucker’s “Five Most Important Questions” for your organization. I often find myself returning to Drucker’s questions  in strategic discussions about a business or business idea.

Having clear answers to Drucker’s five questions doesn’t guarantee your success, but you can’t run a successful organization without answering them:

  1. What is our mission as an enterprise?
  2. Who exactly is our customer?
  3. What does this customer value?
  4. What is our plan?
  5. What are our results?

I have not found a better way to describe the core management responsibilities of leaders and entrepreneurs.

Three of the elements  — your mission, your plan and your results — are required to lead and manage any organization. But your mission, plan and results depend on who your customers are and what unique value you bring to them. As Drucker says, the customer is the most important thing in a business: without customers, you have no business.

“Who are your customers?” and “What unique value to you bring them?” are the two most important questions for leaders and entrepreneurs to answer.

Drucker wisely differentiates between primary and secondary customers. Yes, there are many groups your business serves, but your primary customers are those “whose lives are changed by your product.” Everyone else your organization serves is a secondary customer. Your top priority should be delivering value to your primary customers.

For example, a school serves students, teachers, communities, school districts, and others — but only students’ lives are changed by the product of the school. A business serves investors, employees, partners, suppliers and others, but their customers pay them because they expect their lives to be positively changed in some way by the business’ product.

So when you see a struggling organization, of any size, it’s likely the problem can be traced back to Drucker’s two questions about the customer. Sometimes the company has lost focus and tried to serve too many customers, serving no one well enough. A startup organization with big dreams of creating a large market may need to focus on one target segment in the short term to survive.

Which of Drucker’s five questions presents the biggest challenge for your business? When you know the answer, you have defined your top priority as its leader.