Cameo Blog
ICV
Sometimes it is quite frustrating to work with small businesses. Unfortunately many are plagued by a common affliction. It’s the infamous “In control virus”. This virus causes symptoms of Decision Impairment, Circular Forward Motion, Team Frustration , and Fruitless Expenses. There is only one known cure and the afflicted are often left wondering why their business just won’t move forward. They know there product is good and they have all the answers, and yet they don’t.
This is my satirical look into a problem I have seen far too many times while working with small business owners. The problem? “Knowing everything, Except what you don’t know”. Let me introduce you to a fictional character named “Pete” who runs a software company based on his previous experience. Pete started his life as a handyman at housing complex and through hard work was recognized and promoted. As he spent more and more time around the rental office he realized he could also rent apartments, so he ventured out and purchased a two-family home, renovated and rented it. Soon after, he bought another house, fixed it up and rented it again. This was getting too easy. In no time he bought an apartment complex and was running it himself. Pete had hit the big time; he was now an entrepreneur and making more money than ever.
Then came the Internet boom. Pete heard about all the money people were making and decided he should try his hand at technology. And this too seemed easy. He paid a programmer who designed a piece of software that would automate what they did in the rental office. And through the contacts he had made through the years, Pete picked up a couple clients. It wasn’t long before Pete’s software caught the attention of a bigger corporation who bought the company, Pete and all. Pete was left in charge of raising this product to the “Next Level”. So Pete did what he had seen done, he went to trade shows and hired sales people. It wasn’t long before Pete started to realize that success in a small business that you own is measured quite different than success in the corporate world.
Now Pete was being told to increase sales, promote, market, advertise, and brand. Brand? Market? Pete had never done these, but was confident that he had all the answers. So he went out and hired employees and vendors that had experience in accomplishing what was expected. With much planning and preparation the employees and vendors, along with Pete started their journey toward success. It was then Pete started showing signs of “In Control Virus” or ICV.
Employees who had experience in software design were trying to tell Pete the proper way to gather requirements, version control and more. His marketing team was telling him that his image wasn’t speaking to his audience, while the online team was telling him the website wasn’t structured properly. Each had prepared a plan to help and Pete had approved these plans. The first symptom of ICV was becoming evident, “Decision Impairment”.
Decision Impairment is often brought on during times of a heavy and diverse workload. It causes the business owners to step in to control a situation that, in reality, is already under control, by others. However, the business owner starts to feel that they are losing control of their business. And, in order to regain control, the effects of “Decision Impairment” are felt. The owner changes well-researched and solid plans to accommodate his or her own understanding. Pete, being afflicted with ICV, could no longer see the benefits of the plans so many hours were poured into. In his mind, he knew how to run a business; he had proven it to himself and others. What Pete could not see due to the effects of ICV, was that each business requires something a little different. Principals don’t change, but strategies do. Soon, others associated with the business were feeling the effects of ICV.
Onset “Team Frustration”. Employee morale was down. Very competent and engaged team members found themselves considering employment elsewhere. They wanted to shine, they wanted to be challenged beyond their capabilities and were quickly becoming frustrated. They felt like the were fighting for what they knew, based on experience, would be best against what seemed to lack any real sense. Money was being spent on vendors who were equally frustrated. Unable to bring the value they knew they could. They resigned themselves to becoming order takers. Often spending money in ways they knew was not good for the business and would eventually lead to the end of their relationship with Pete. The employees and vendors were disheartened because what could be a great success story was quickly becoming another fatality of ICV.
Try as they could, it seemed there was nothing that could rid Pete of his ICV. He was determined he knew the best way to program software. After all, his way was quicker and cost less money and still got the job done. It wasn’t until his programmers started leaving and he replaced them did Pete start to feel the long-term effects of ICV. The new employees were asking for things like “Requirements” and “Version Control”. They wanted to see the documentation so they could understand what the previous programmers were doing. There was nothing Pete could offer. So he told them to do the best they could. And after months of trying to fix bugs, only to find it caused problems elsewhere, the new programming team was getting nowhere. Pete became frustrated with his new programmers. Convinced they couldn’t do the job, he replaced them and started new.
Adding to his frustration, sales were down and, in his way of thinking, there weren’t enough leads coming from the website to help the sales team. Pete directed his knowledge to the marketing department, where yet another symptom showed, “Fruitless Expenses”. Though a valiant attempt, the vendors who supported Pete online couldn’t get him to understand the necessary changes. Pete would shut them down and provided his solution. At this point the ICV was great, Pete had forgot he had never even had a website with his rental properties, let alone even heard about things like Pay Per Click and SEO. Did not matter to Pete. The proposals he had from the new vendors he was considering, (who knew little to nothing about his business), told him that if he just spent more money he would have better results. It wouldn’t be long before the new vendors were equally ineffective.
And now we have “Circular Forward Motion” the ultimate symptom of ICV. Circular Forward Motion is best defined when it feels like there is significant energy being put into a business without any noticeable forward progress, in fact, it seems the same problems keep returning. And this continues to this day. Sales remain stagnant; frustration is at an all time. Pete has replaced each vendor and each vendor has told what Pete what he needed to hear, until they realized the only thing he heard was what he wanted to hear. It won’t be long until ICV claims it next victim and Pete returns to his humble beginnings wondering why people just wouldn’t see things his way.
There is a well-known cure for ICV. In fact it is free, just not necessarily easy. To protect a business from ICV a business owner must be willing to be part of something bigger. They must recognize that the business cannot grow beyond them when they feel the need to control each facet of the business. In Pete’s case, he would have been well served to be the sounding board for the programmers. Let them know what its like in the real world, then get out of their way. The marketing hits to the heart of the cause of ICV; Trust. Pete needed to trust people to handle areas of the business he had little to no knowledge of. Allow his vendors and employees to create goals and hold them to the goals. Pete should never have been directing something he didn’t know how to drive. And it is not until the small business owner can trust that their business will grow and ICV will be eradicated.
I'd Like to Buy a Noun Please....
I was having a fun the other day trying to decipher why one word was dramatically outperforming another word with the same root, “Carpet” and “Carpeting”. It was one of those times that Internet Marketing was a bit like solving a puzzle and quite frankly I was a little thrown why this high volume word was underperforming. So I did what anybody might do in that situation, I called my Mom. My mother is a bit of a crossword puzzle nut and doesn’t understand anything I do online. So I explained the situation with a few clues and she helped me to see the difference. And the journey began….
My client offers flooring solutions to the commercial market and we were focused on their carpeting solution. The term “Carpeting” had more volume and was priced about the same as similar word likes Carpet and Carpets . However, we noticed that those two terms had 3 and 4 times better results, respectively. First, I had to isolate the variables, in this case the keyword phrases. Then study the variables to understand the differences. And finally, “create” a new strategy to take advantage of the volume without reducing the valuable performance provided by the first two terms.
So let’s look at the differences. First, Carpet and Carpets are effectively the same terms, just singular versus plural. While “Carpeting” is more often used as a verb than “Carpet”. (Thanks Mom!) This may explain the increased volume, more people may have been looking to “install” carpet on top of those actually using “carpeting” as a noun. And this is a very important distinction because we are selling a product (noun) not a service (verb). However, I was fairly confident that a significant portion of the traffic offered by “Carpeting” was still looking for our product, so I created a strategy that allowed us to take advantage of the performance of “Carpet” and “Carpets” by isolating “Carpeting”. In isolating “Carpeting” I could better manage this high volume phrase, reduce it’s cost to us and still appreciate it benefits.
In the short week since I implemented this change we have seen about a 20% reduction in cost and an increased performance in our high volume “carpeting”. Over time, I think “Carpeting” may become one of more valuable phrase, but that is just my theory. And, like any science, theories are tested and tested again until they are proven accurate or not. What I do know, it that while we are continuously testing these theories everything is geared toward improving traffic to the website and ultimately increasing sales and reduced cost.
Creative Science
I was thinking the other day, just why is it I enjoy Internet Marketing and it hit me. It’s “Creative Science”. Now I am not a scientist nor am I an artist. I am a logical thinker, I like to solve riddles and puzzles, I am an analytical. Then again, I prefer working in concept and “inventing” something new. I’m always experimenting while I cook. (You should taste my Clam Chowder). Anyway, I remember reading somewhere that “Entrepreneurs” are always looking for ways to “fix” what isn’t broken. In other words, they are always looking for how things could be done better. And that takes a certain amount creativity.
Do you ever find yourself looking at something that is working and thinking, “Boy, they should have done this way or that”, and had very good reason why it would improve the situation? Just the other day I was at a wine tasting at a popular local vineyard. Yes, I know it’s the middle of winter, but they were ‘tasting’ Ice Wines from the region. And it is the fact that is was 25 degrees and Winter here in Rochester that made me start ‘fixing’ things the moment I walked in. It started off they were taking tickets at the front door, handing you the obligatory marketing material, a couple bags for carrying the purchases we were certain to make and, of course, the wine glasses that were etched with a local realtor hoping to capture the attention of people in their demographic. Once inside, out of the cold, my beautiful wife decided it was time to look for the ladies room, along with the other 20 or so other woman with apparently the same idea. So, she handed me her coat and went off, leaving me with both our winter coats, both sets of marketing material, two wine bags and two wine glasses. I searched for a place to hang our jackets and found an unattended coatroom where men competed for the remaining hangers. Having been limited by design with only two arms I found myself struggling to find temporary storage for our entry spoils in order to hang our coats. So what was meant to be an enjoyable day, started with frustration. And it was this epic “Battle at the Vineyard’ that got me thinking…..
Here is a business that offers events just like this all many times a year times and nobody ever thought of positioning “check-in” AFTER the coat closet? How about reaching out to some local charity and allow them to run the coatroom as a fundraiser? After all, we just spent some decent money for a Saturday afternoon event, surely I would have spent few dollars on a coat room tip. And in doing so, would have started my day feeling more “Pampered” instead of frustrated.
And that to me is a simple, yet good example of what I mean by “Creative Science” and what we are constantly doing in Internet Marketing. We take something that is working in some capacity, Good, Bad or otherwise. And work for continuous improvements. Very often they are the little things, like moving the check in table, other times they are more creative, bring the local charity. And this is exactly the idea of “Fixing What is Not Broken”