Improving the response to feedback

I’m a big one for measurements and metrics. You know the saying – ‘If you can’t measure it then you probably shouldn’t be doing it’. This statement however probably neglects the most important aspect of metrics, that being adjustment. Once you measure something you need to use the results to improve what you are measuring. In many ways that means creating a constant feedback loop as changes are made and then their results are compared, changes made and then measurements taken again. Sometimes, an adjustment may make things a little worse or with any luck, a little better. In the big picture, the result should show a continual improvement.

One of the areas where I have been making measurements but failing to make adjustments has been with my web site www.ciaops.com. I have watched as the metrics have continued to fall and for various reasons failed to lift a finger to make any changes. From January 1 that is going to change as I have migrated my main web site to a new platform and am committing myself to much closer monitoring and adjustment going forward. The main reason for this is that I am coming to appreciate how critical a web site now is when selling your business. It is the number one place where potential customer will come to check out who you are and what you have to offer. If you fail to measure up here, guess what? They’ll be gone.

Probably the major reason that I failed to make adjustments to my web site was simply the fact that the platform I was on with my previous ISP was simply so ancient now. I was working with old fashion tools trying to keep up with the modern advances of the web. Having identified previously that I did need to do something I soon came to appreciate that the platform I was on was not going to be suitable. That has driven me on an extensive search of what is available and I am now very confident of the platform I am adopting. Yet that is still not good enough. As ‘good’ as I ‘think’ this platform is, a ‘nice’ as I think my remodelled web site will be it makes no difference now unless I see improvements in my metrics. This means I need to focus more fully on what visitors use my site for. This means I need to spend more time looking in depth the analytics of my web site. It means making changes to my site that may not seem to make sense to me but in the end I need to focus on what I deliver to people who visit my site because it is going to the central to my business in the future.

My initial attempt at migrating my site is clearly going to be far from the most effective result possible however, the important thing will be my enhanced focus on examining the site metrics and make adjustments. With 2010 fast approaching let me ask you firstly whether you have adequate metrics in place for the critical aspects of your business? Secondly, I’d ask that if you do have these metrics in place what are you doing with them? For it is silly to simply collect the results without converting them into action.

When my new site goes live around January 1 have a look and let me know what you think because now I have the tools and desire to make the site what it should truly be – the central location of my business going forward and I can use all the feedback I can get.

Dear web hoster

Haven’t I been a good customer? Haven’t I always paid my bills and never asked any really demanding questions? Haven’t I been using your service for over 10 years now as well as bringing all my clients along as well? But guess what? I’ve finally realized that I’ve been stupid. I’ve allowed you to take me for granted, take my money and provide nothing above the basics in return. Now that I’ve finally woken up to this fact guess what? I’m outta here.

If you look at any business, it probably makes 80% of its money from 20% of its customers. Typically these 20% simply pay their accounts every month and continue to buy product from you, but what do you do for them? In all the years I’ve been with my ISP I think they have contacted me once about upgrading the plans that I was on and that was because they wanted me to shift to a new server. Was that better for me? Nope, it was better for them. What was in it for me? Nothing except extra expense. Now I maybe dumb but I ain’t stupid. Why should I pay more and get nothing additional? Give me a break. Is this how you treat me after all these of good patronage?

How many relationships in business (and life) do we take for granted? Too many I’ll bet. We simply assume they’ll always be there and thus, we never need to do anything to maintain them. Problem is that overtime, left unattended like a garden, the weeds start to grow. The relationship starts to decay as the parties drift apart. Now the bonds that maintain that relationship become weaker and weaker until even the smallest change the landscape causes them to break. The smallest enticement is enough for the customer to switch.

Clearly my current web hoster really doesn’t care if I’m a customer, even after all these years. Even though I maybe small fry I feel totally taken for granted. Even as I scaled back my investment with the web hoster I have still not received any queries as to whether there were any problems or something additional that could be done to retain my business. So rather than be continually ignored I’m taking all my business elsewhere. Worse still, I’m going to tell everyone that I’ve done that. That can’t be good for the web hoster’s business now can it?

It doesn’t take much to maintain a strong relationship but like a garden it still needs to be tended. It needs to have the occasional weed removed. If not, then that lack of focus soon becomes obvious and it’s generally down hill from there.

If you don’t know which customers in you business contribute the most to your profitability then you should. Once you do look after them and fire the 80% who continually cause you grief. The impact of losing a good customer is going to far higher and typically you won’t realize it until it is too late. Even if your car is running well you take in for service don’t you? If you aren’t doing that with your best customers now, like me, it is only a matter of time before they are someone else’s clients.

Free CD sampler

If you interested in IT resources then I’d suggest you head over to SMB Books to have a look at what they have to offer. You may even find that last minute Christmas gift for that geek who is near and dear to you. One thing you will find is a free CD Sampler that SMB Books have put together showcasing a range of products that are available on the site.

A full listing of the products that are showcase on the CD Sampler can be found here. Low and behold you’ll find that one of the products showcased is my Windows SharePoint Operations Guide. As part of the offering for the CD I have made available a number of my documents as well as well as interviews that I have conducted recently. However, you’ll also plenty of really handy stuff on there and best of all it is free to you. Simply complete the details on the request page and lickity split you’ll have a CD before you can say Merry Christmas!

Help others

As Christmas draws near and the season for purchasing gifts draws to an end (just before the sales of the New Year start) I’d urge you to stop and have a think about those who may not be going to have such a merry Christmas this year.

Sure we can all sit here and dwell on the issues at hand but that achieves very little in the end. I reckon that taking action is the best method of actually making things better. As I have mentioned before, one of my favourite ways of making a difference is Kiva.org. It is a system where you can contribute small amounts together with others that is lent out to small business people all over the world.

I like this system for a number of reasons. Firstly the money that you give is an investment rather than an donation. The recipients of the funds use it as loans for their business. They are obliged to pay the amount back (and to date everyone I have lent to has done just that – see my donor page). This means that once the money has been repaid it can be withdrawn or re-lent. If you choose to re-loan the money it means that same amount is working over and over again. The other reason I like Kiva is that a business operator I feel a close association with those working in a business and trying to get a leg up. Finally, I think Kiva is a really great example of the power of the Internet for good. It shows you how technology can be utilized to provide benefit to many of the most disadvantaged on our planet.

If you haven’t see Kiva then I’d ask that you at least have a look at the site and see what it is all about. I’d also encourage you to take the opportunity to look around your community and see what assistance you maybe able to offer someone in need this Christmas. Even if it is just a friendly ear because there are more people in need out there that we realize.

Sick of giving feedback

A while ago I must have agreed to be on this Microsoft Partner Research Panel. Basically it means I have to fill out a web based survey once a month about my relationship with Microsoft. Well no more, I’m sick of doing these things. Why? Because I’m self centred and I see no benefits for ME.

Now mind you I have no problems doing the occasional survey but this once a month thing is becoming a real drag. I can’t see that I’m receiving any benefit personally or for my business. If I am, I wish Microsoft would tell me because I certainly can’t see it. I never see any results from these surveys, I never get contact by Microsoft about what information I enter in these surveys and like I said I can’t see ANY benefit to me or my business of spending the amount of time I do on these things.

It’s like when Microsoft (and any other vendor) ask for customer case studies. What’s the benefit to end customer? No much really. They get to see their name on some anonymous white paper buried in some obscure web site. How does that help their business? How does it improve their revenue or decrease their expenditure? It doesn’t. So why should they do it? It is simply distracting and only really benefits the vendor.

Now I appreciate that people like Microsoft need feedback and this maybe the most efficient way for them to receive it but I’m getting the feeling that this feedback thing is becoming a one way street. What’s in for me? If there is something, then I sure as hell have no idea what it is!

You can’t just keep going along and sucking information out of people without giving something tangible back I’m sorry to say. If you want my opinion then there has to be something in for me, I’m sorry. I have a business to run. I’m know I’m a greedy, self centred and pompous but hey you’ve had your chance. I’ve done you lots of favours and the now your relationship bank account with me has been overdrawn and I’m bouncing all your cheques until you start putting something back into it. As The Donald says – It’s no personal, it’s business.

Looking for topics

I’m in the process of developing the next of my webinars and thought it would be good to offer a SharePoint questions and answers session. Now I could come up with what I believe are the most relevant questions around SharePoint but I think it would better if people out there let me know what they’d like to know about when it comes to SharePoint.

For that reason I’m asking for people to submit any SharePoint questions to me directly (director@ciaops.com). They can be on the installation, implementation. migration and even how to sell SharePoint solutions. As an added incentive, if you provide a question that I use in the webinar I’ll give you free access to both the live presentation as well as any recording of the event made.

So please have a think about what you would like to know about SharePoint and send it to me (director@ciaops.com). I’m sure that you won’t be the only one who wants to know the answer and if you come up with a good one you’ll get free access to the webinar!

The importance of fitness

I’ve been talking a lot about ‘cop outs’ of late and this post is not going to break that mould. I recently overheard a number of IT people saying that the profession doesn’t lend itself to keeping in shape. What a crock I gotta say. If a doctor said to them that they needed to eat better, get more sleep and start exercising because they would die or catch some terminal disease I’m pretty sure they make an abrupt change. So the issue isn’t ‘can’t’ it’s ‘won’t’.

It is not just the IT profession in which this happens mind you but it is certainly the place that I hear the most excuses about how the ‘special’ requirements of the job require the need to sacrifice other parts of one’s life. This is simply rubbish, it is a decision made by the individual of their own free will to leave things as they are. In many cases it is just that they are too lazy, afraid and undisciplined to make a change that they know they need to make.

I will put up my hand and freely admit that for far too many years I did exactly the same thing. I avoided making decisions about change that needed to be made to regain some semblance of ‘a life’. Many today use their job to hide from ‘a life’ and in the process not only affect themselves but also those around them. They believe that ‘soldiering’ on the same old way is ‘just what has to be done’. Again, what a crock I say. These people shouldn’t fool themselves that they don’t have choices. They should also not fool themselves that their indecisions, as much as any decision they make, directly affect more than just the lives they lead.

The old saying goes that your body is a temple but perhaps an even simpler consideration is that if you don’t respect your own body how are you expected to respect anything else? People aren’t fools you know. No matter how much you tell them one thing, if it isn’t backed up by reality they simply won’t buy it.

There are so many reasons to maintain a decent level of physical fitness: it generally allows you to live longer, makes you more resistant to aliments, improves your stamina and not least of all makes you feel good about yourself. If you don’t feel good about yourself then you really aren’t going to feel good about anything else are you? Honestly, no you’re not.

I believe in karma and none more so when it comes to looking after yourself. You can continue to abuse your body for many years, but when it has had enough you are going to find how different life is without it. People maintain their homes, their cars, their knowledge but yet they let their physical condition slip. The reality is that without physical fitness you may not be able to do any of these other things may you?

We all know there are a million reasons why you should take better care of your physical fitness but I’ll give you just one. What would your life be like without it? Because if you continue on making excuses and ignoring the warning signs then you’ll certainly have no one else to blame but most likely you won’t be the only one affected by your own indecision. At the very least this is grossly unfair to them. So consider that as you let your girth continue to expand with inaction.