Technology can increase productivity and foster creativity. Explore some ideas that can help you take maximum advantage of the Internet and IT to improve your business.
Not another PowerPoint presentation! Why do kind and intelligent business people create these?
Chances are, if you have been to any PowerPoint slide presentation lately, you have been to a boring slide presentation. The majority of business presentations seem to be a torture of eye charts droning on about themselves trying to sell you something instead of addressing your issues.
What might a good presentation look like? Guy Kawasaki makes sense with his 10/20/30 Rule. 10 slides, 20 minutes, 30pt minimum font size.
There is some good news. Compelling presentations exist. We know when a presentation is done well.
SlideShare.net has just announced the contest results for the Best Presentations of 2006. The winner "Shift Happens" is based on a viral video about our changing civilized world. You can click through it here.
Even without the presenter moving the story along, it is compelling.
I have taken those slides and added the sound from the original video plus some animation for a no-need-for-you-to-click version. View the result.
“You may very well already have Google Analytics installed. It’s free, it’s accurate and it’s cool. Google lets anyone with a website measure their traffic and dozens of other metrics.” This is the opening thought posted on a blog I subscribe to, Seth Godin’s Blog.
I reused his article title because it invited a look and I couldn’t think of a way to say it better. Further down the page, came this mind wedgie: “…the quest for traffic causes you to make bad decisions.”
As a service provider, EasyStreet provides “enabling technology” for companies to connect to potential clients and prospects. As an equal opportunity enabler, we enable both good decisions and poor decisions. Too often we see website solutions that have little or no connection to the business goals supposedly being addressed.
Seth Godin has proven to be a good bellwether on marketing issues for years. If you are spending money for some marketing benefit, consider listening to Seth’s advice.
Who are your important customers? That’s a recurring question for all businesses. Doing business by the numbers doesn’t always produce the correct priorities. The 80-20 rule often rules. We pay short-term consultants to tell us that “80% of revenue comes from 20% of your customers, so take very good care of that 20%.”
I made a call this morning on a new small business prospect and took one of our customer service staff with me. The new COO of the company asked for the face-to-face meeting to discuss ordering 10 email accounts from us. Here is what reminded me that every customer deserves our best.
This COO initially used EasyStreet as a residential access customer (one of our 80% group). When he has called us for his personal account issues over the past few years, he always received 100% attention.
Based on his experience, he recommended EasyStreet to his company. That was 3 companies ago. Each of those previous companies are now customers who are purchasing substantial services from us.
Now he is directly influencing his 4th company to do business with EasyStreet. And he still enjoys business-class service from home too. So when your support line rings, know that it is somebody important who deserves 100% of your best efforts.
This week, EasyStreet began purchasing renewable power for our data center from wind-generated sources under the PGE Clean Wind Program. Quality business data centers like ours require substantial amounts of electrical power (well into the 5-figure range each month).
Also, we now purchase 100% renewable power for the EasyStreet offices (including the computer I am using now - seems to work just the same). The sticker with the above windmill image was put on our entrance door today.
Now our Colocation customers can request our “100% renewable power option” for their servers and promote their sustainable commitment to their customers and community.
You can review our current practices as well as sustainable initiatives we are exploring to further reduce our carbon footprint. Please share your ideas and suggestions to help us and other businesses become more environmentally responsible.
Too often, smart progressive businesses miss the obvious opportunity to empower a prospecting salesperson already employed at your company. I refer to the mandatory-shingle-company-website every business hangs on the Internet.
At the March SEMpdx SearchFest 07 event in Portland, a number of excellent presentations were made. Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a hot topic. The presentation by Tom Bennett, Client Strategist with The New Group, on How To Build A Conversion From A Website Visitor was the best for me.
When seeking information using Google, visitors may enter a website on any page. Rarely do they come in the front door. In preparation for the visit, Tom defines the conversation with something he calls a “message map.” Vertical categories such as:
What is the need?
What is the solution?
Why would I choose you?
Discrete messaging units fall under these columns and messages are inserted into what Tom calls “conversion points” where additional information is offered to move the visitor toward “engagement”. Engagement is the holy grail of website success.
Does your website developer understand your business enough to think like a prospecting salesperson? If so, you too may get an intelligent website design.
Shift Happens [6:04m]: 
This week, EasyStreet began purchasing renewable power for our data center from wind-generated sources under the PGE 