Mobility the key

Interesting that now the sales of laptop have surpassed desktops as this article says, isn’t it? And according to this article, 2009 is going to be the year of the smart phone. It seems everyone has taken to these Web 2.0 and social networking sites and want to be able to update them from anywhere. It also seems that it isn’t just the young’ns that are doing it, entire demographics are discovering the benefits of Web 2.0 technology.

To me it shows the trend that people want to be able to access their stuff where ever they are. They don’t want to be tied down to a desk, they want the freedom of being anywhere and still be able to access all their stuff through their mobile or wireless broadband connection. For me this is simply verification that at the back end cloud computing is becoming more and more important.

If you are a reseller then you really want to be taking close note of these trends and making sure that you are able to make revenue from them, because if you don’t then someone else will. Problem is as demand increases prices and margins get driven down so you need to consider your strategy carefully. Yet there is opportunity.

A good example of an innovative Web 2.0 application I recently found is Wesabe. It allows you to manage you accounts and bills but the innovative part of it is you can get advice from other on how to save money, where to buy the cheapest item, what specials are available. The whole idea is that by creating a “community” people can help each other not only achieve their financial goals but also save money. I think this concept is a very powerful part of Web 2.0 in that you are using the collective intelligence of the Internet community, which given the size of the Internet population is pretty powerful.

It is these trends that you can’t ignore. Even if you can’t understand why people are moving that way you have to accept that they are. If you want a piece of the action then you need to put aside your “technology prejudices” and look for the opportunities. As I have said before, if you are a technology reseller, decide whether you want to own a business or enjoy a hobby. If you want to own a business you have to move to where the demand is or you face being marginalized.

IT will suffer as well

Now I’m no economist but I must admit that I’m pretty sceptical when I hear people claim that the IT industry won’t suffer as much as other industries in this downturn. To further disprove that notion consider the following article from the Australian newspaper, which says in part:

THE IT industry suffered a major decline in job advertisements for 2008 recording a 37.17 per cent fall compared to 2007 figures.

The IT industry was the fifth worst affected market for job advertisements…

The tech industry has performed worse than the general economic situation because these jobs tend to be more caught up with global organisations that are taking financial hits in all global markets..

Like I said I’m no economist but times in tech are going to be tough, if not now then real soon. The first half of 2009 is going to see some major changes in the way businesses operate and will operate in the future. If you are an IT reseller then you need to be making adjustments to your business now. You need to be minimizing expenses, watching your cashflow and looking for alternate sources of income to name just a few.

If you fail to this your chances of running into problems is much greater and you’ll have less room to make adjustments then. Sure you love technology and prefer to ignore the “business-stuff” but guess what? If your business goes bust, then you’ll be on the unemployment lines and if you only have IT skills then I’m sorry to report (as the above says) there is over a 35% drop in IT jobs on offer. Good luck finding work.

So do something NOW to ensure your business survival. We all have to do things we don’t like in life but in the long run it may mean you can continue doing what you love.

SharePoint Guide last minute bargain

Well we are not too far away from 2009 folks. Apart from the digit change in the year my Windows SharePoint Operations Guide will also be going up in price from January 1. However, if you are quick you can still get it for the 2008 price of $239.99 from Karl Palachuk’s SMBBooks site.

Karl’s also done a blog post on the product just to let everyone know so there’ll be on excuses.

The January release is all ready to go with numerous updates for subscribers. I believe this what sets the Guide apart from other publications is the fact that it is a 12 month subscription in which you receive:

– Monthly updated documentation with regular additions.

– Over 1,000 pages of documentation covering many hard to find SharePoint topics including migration, database configuration and add-ons.

– Access to a free hosted SharePoint v3 site for testing and demonstration.

– DVD updates that not only includes all the documentation but also all the files you need to install SharePoint.

– Access to free email SharePoint support from myself.

– and more

For just the cost of a few hours work you’ll receive literally hundreds of hours that I’ve invested in this product documenting and testing everything inside. If you are working with, or plan to work with, Windows SharePoint on SBS2008 or SBS2003 then the Windows SharePoint Guide is going to save you hours of work.

So get it now for 2009 benefits at 2008 prices!

Making a good impression

I talked about a client referral system in my last blog post and have since found some things that help reinforce this. The first is not so much about a referral system but about rules for making a good impression. It provides seven practical suggestion on how to improve you chances of being remembered and regarded. One example is to respond to emails and voice mail within 24 hours.

Also linked in that document is an audio entitled Instituting a Client Appreciation Program, which is only about ten minutes long and really worth a listen. I liked the concept about how you may think that you are doing an excellent job but if you are only doing what you are paid for then that’s all you’ll be judged on. In this day and age, where finding another business to service any need is so easy you need to spend time developing a program that ensures you recognize your customers and drive them to refer you to more business.

In my experience with small businesses investments in traditional marketing like print media, email newsletters and so on don’t garner anywhere near the results of referrals. It is still worth pursuing some traditional marketing options but for my money you are much better off developing an effective client referral system as your number one marketing tool.

Poor marketing

I’ve become very aware of good referral systems after attending seminars about the topic at SMBNation. I’ve come across what I believe is a really poorly executed one.

As I have mentioned before, I am a member of a DVD library where DVD’s are sent to you on a regular basis in the mail. I feel it has a lot of benefits and is relatively cheap. Every now and again they send me these “free tickets” with the message:

Give these tickets out to your friends so they can enjoy up to 15 DVDs of their choice from our extensive movie catalogue.

What’s the problem with this you may ask, well my answer is, what’s in it for me? I don’t receive any discount, bonus or recognition for providing this offer to my friends. So the company is asking me to their marketing for them without any tangible benefit for myself.

Am I likely to oblige? I may if someone asked me specifically but I’m not going to be ACTIVELY promoting this product since I receive no benefit. It wouldn’t take much on their behalf to maybe offer me some sort of discount or prize from bringing on board new members. I don’t know if it is just me but honestly, I think most other people would feel the same.

It illustrates that even big companies get their marketing and referral system wrong. Think of all the money they must be wasting on attempt to generate new business and by leaving a simply reward off they are failing to make all the conversions they can. If you are developing a referral system, remember people must have a REASON to refer you and then they should RECEIVE some sort of personal reward. It doesn’t make sense to reward the whole business when only one individual inside a business has provided a referral does it? Why would they continue to refer you? You need to make the reward personal and memorable so it conditions their response to refer you again.

You can drive more business via referrals but to succeed, like everything else, you need to develop a system. You need to test and refine that system constantly if you ever hope for it to provide you business. If you simply hope that people will refer you to others then you chances are very slim indeed. You need to encourage people to ACTIVELY refer you, otherwise any offer is simply wasted.

Merry Christmas

I’d like to wish everyone out there a Merry Christmas and Happy new Year. Stay safe over the holidays and I hope that Santa brings you everything your heart desires.

It has been a topsy-turvey year for many people, myself included, and the future certainly appears bleaker than this time last year. Even in bad times the secret is to keep striving, keep focusing on your goals and importantly keep making the lives of others a joy. If you do then I’m sure you’ll received many more happy returns yourself. Remember, life is journey to be savoured along the way not simply a method of marking time on this earth.

I’m looking forward to Christmas with the family as well as some good reading (I have plenty of books on order from Santa). I’ll still be posting stuff up here but if you want to see what I’m reading or have on my reading list then head over to www.goodreads.com and link up with my email account (director@ciaops.com) to get my additions and reviews. Personally, I find www.goodreads.com so handy in that when I come across I book I want to read I simply add to the list on the site. Highly recommended for those out there who like to read.

To everyone who reads this blog on a regular and semi-regular basis all the best for the festive season and may all your Christmases be merry!

Your business is not you

I received a comment on my previous post about making a business profit. By no means am I implying that you should run a business into the ground sole for a dollar but again I don’t see many people running a business for PROFIT.

Let’s go back a step and again ask what are you in business for? You need to answer this honestly for it to be worth anything. If you tell me you are in it to make money or if you are in it simply to enjoy a reasonable life then they are both admirable goals BUT they not compatible with each other. You can only do one or the other. If you tell me that you are in the business to make money and yet are not focused on improving the efficiency of your business operations then I hate to tell you that you are fooling yourself. If your business is totally dependant on you to run it day to day you are again fooling yourself. If you are simply charging for your time with no leverage and think you are running a business, you are still fooling yourself.

If you tell me that you are running a business to make money then that’s what you need to be doing everyday. You need to set goals and strategies to help you achieve that. Tell me honestly, if your goal is to make money from your business is that written down anywhere? Have you developed a documented plan on how you will achieve this? If you tell me that you have but it is all in your head, I’m sorry that isn’t good enough. Why? Show me a profitable business elsewhere that has its plans “in its head”. I think you’ll struggle to find one.

Many small business mistakenly believe that they can simply earn revenue and allow a business to grow organically over time. Mistakenly they believe that, like compound interest, the value of their business will simply grow year on year. Mistakenly they believe that at some point in the future they can sell their business for a handsome reward. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

There is a major difference between business revenue and business value. Your customers provide revenue but only you can provide value to your business. If you are simply going out every day and charging for you time and not adding value to your business where do you think it is magically going to come from? I strongly believe that there is limit on how much any business can produce selling pure service. The secret to value is product. Now that product can include service components but it has be something tangible that a customer wants to buy. Simply selling maintenance will give you short term revenue but it will not add long term value.

Your business is not you. It should be totally separate from you. It should not need you to operate. If your aim is to make money then you need to be an owner of a business not a manager or a worker in that business. All an owner does it set the business in motion and collect the rewards. If you are not moving towards being an owner everyday then don’t fool yourself that you are running a business. You instead have a very enjoyable, comfortable hobby which is perfectly fine as long as you accept the fact that you are rarely going to get rich from your hobby!

Why start a business?

In these failing economic times many small business owners are probably asking themselves why they started their business. That doesn’t achieve anything because it is examining the past, besides I’ll give you the answer. Actually, I’ll let someone else far more qualified than me give you the answer:

“there is ultimately only one reason to create a business of your own, and that is to sell it!” – E-Myth Revisited, Michael Gerber ,P152

I will admit that for many years I never ran my business like I was going to sell it but I learned that you need to. Even if you choose not to sell your business you STILL HAVE THE OPTION if needed.

In this economic environment plenty of small businesses are going to think about cashing in their chips, but guess what guys? The pile of chips is only a tiny fraction of what you believe it to be. Why? Because the business depends on a single person, you. Unless you have documented and created procedures for the way you business operates and the business can run without you it is not going to be appealing to buyers. Simply reverse the situation and ask yourself whether you would buy your business? If so what would you pay for it as an outsider?

So if you are not making your business more “sellable” everyday what the hell are you doing? I’d say that you simply have a job or at best, a hobby. You need to run it like you’re going to sell it – end of story. The sooner you start seeing a business as something that you continually need to add value to the sooner you’ll start adding value.

Times change and unforeseen situations arise so if you optimize your business to be sold at any time, then you have far more options that most small business people I know.