Category Archives: Consulting

August 20, 2008 · 7:39 am

There are bad deals

“Tell me about the last bad deal you didn’t make,” I asked.  My friend looked back at me blankly.  “Well”, I said, “you’ve just spent the last 15 minutes telling me about a few bad ones you did make.  What about the ones you didn’t make?”  That’s pretty much when he decided we’d chatted enough about business and the conversation turned back to golf.

Awhile back, Seth Godin, whom I admire, wrote a piece on making bad deals.  His article was more directed at the deals made between individuals as they start new ventures, but I’ve taken some of what he had to say to heart as I look at any business deal.

Not all deals are worth doing.  One has to know the point at which NOT making a deal is a better option and overcoming the very human desire to make something happen, to get something, to WIN!  But in so doing, you LOSE.  Get rid of those deals – set them free!  Very much like the Buddha I am, I know.  But the Buddha’s teaching is not so much of divesting one’s material possessions, but of not being overly crazy with our desires.  Sometimes the desire for a deal outweighs its true value.  The ones where the value of what you’re offering is disproportionately less than what you’re receiving are the ones I mean.  The ones where someone will take your product (grudgingly, it seems) and almost want you to pay them or demand you give up any chance of making back your investment in supporting them, the client.

So what’s the last bad deal you didn’t do?

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August 18, 2008 · 7:57 am

Feedback

One of the virtues of the interactive web is the amazing amount of feedback it generates.  I’m not talking about the Jimi Hendrix-style, blow your ears off stuff.  I mean the back and forth of conversation that is so critical to any business.  It’s inconceivable to me that a business would shut itself off to that information flow but many do.  Think about trying to reach a human at many of the companies with which you do business.  Websites such as this would not have to exist if it weren’t for the wall-building in which many companies engages.

Part of why I cook and play golf is the feedback.  If something tastes right, you know it, although what is right to me may not be right to my consumers (the other folks at the table).  Hopefully you get that feedback too (they’re not bashful around here about shredding the cook).  The lesson from golf isn’t that one gets feedback on how good or bad the last swing was – that’s pretty obvious based on where the ball goes.  The point is that one has to pay attention to it or you’re going to lose a number of balls.

Hey!  That may be the business point too!  If you don’t want to lose your balls, you need to listen to feedback and react.  Is you company paying attention?  Are you actively soliciting consumer opinions or are you making those email links hard to find?  Does a person answer your phone or is it an endless phone loop to nowhere?

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August 11, 2008 · 10:52 am

Clarity

In the process of an all-day planning session with some clients on Friday, we visited one of their web sites and found, in the main box, a promotion for an event that had taken place a week earlier.  All of us, including the president of the company, were a little surprised that it was still up, particularly since it was in a prominent place.  The person who has been overseeing the sites (they have a bunch) said that he had asked that it be changed a few days back but apparently his request had gone unfulfilled.

As we discussed the situation, it was pretty obvious that there were multiple failures.  The first one was by the person who is in charge of the site in failing to keep the site up to date and relevant.  That shows a huge disrespect for your audience and yourself, in my opinion.  Most content management systems have some sort of start and end date for every piece of content – it’s not all that difficult to be sure that time-sensitive materials change at an appropriate time.  More importantly, why would you make yourself and the company you represent look stupid, insensitive, out of touch – you can pick any of a hundred words.

The second failure was by the person overseeing all of the sites.  He neglected to set standards and see that they were met.  He also neglected to step in to correct the situation as best he could (more about that in a second) by explaining to the site manager that out of date materials turn off readers and might cause them to go elsewhere for more timely information.  He also didn’t go to her direct management for help (she reports locally, he is a divisional person).  Lastly, he didn’t turn to his management and alert them to a problem.

The third failure was by the top management.  They never empowered the fellow overseeing the sites properly.  The gave him responsibility without authority, which I believe is a recipe for failure.  They also didn’t make his mission 100% clear to him either – he thought his role was more advisory than supervisory (hey – what are you – a consultant?!?!).

It’s good this happened before we make a major upgrade in their sites and do quite a bit to grow their traffic.  The lines of authority (and responsibility – equally as important) are clear now.  Materials will change on time and people understand the standards.  And we all had good weekends!

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