What Peter Says

Here at iabc phoenix copper quills after peter shankman's keynote so forgive the lowercase etc. It was hard to hear but what I took from the talk was:
1. It's a conversation. Freakin listen. It's not just spouting off . . . And talking About irrelevant stuff.
2. The average person has an attention span of 2.7 seconds. Ouch!
3. We don't even talk to people in our network on a personal level (guilty). Seriously, reach out!
4. Social media=the chance to screw up on a larger scale
That's all I got now. Was it longer than 2.7 seconds?

Join me at the WVCCC Kids at Heart Luncheon

On March 25 from 12-1 p.m. at the Renaissance Hotel & Spa in Glendale, West Valley Child Crisis Center (WVCCC) is hosting its annual Kids at Heart Luncheon to benefit abused, neglected children. WVCCC provides a temporary shelter for these kids in a safe, nuturing, home-like environment staffed by professional caregivers.

The luncheon is free and the presentation will hopefully inspire contributions from us all.

I am hosting a table of 10 and 5 spots available as of today. Please email me if you'd like to attend and I will add you to my group.

For more information or if you cannot attend but would like to contribute, you may download an invite and form here: http://wvccc.org/documents/KidsAtHeartRSVPPacket_000.pdf

Quick Plug for Central Arizona Shelter Services

I received an event invitation for one of my favorite non-profits--CASS. They are hosting a Mardi Gras Night on Feb. 21 in Scottsdale. Please consider attending or simply sending a donation (that's what I did) to aid Arizona's homeless men, women, and children with shelter and services that empower them. Details at http://www.cass-az.org/

Worth a Look: Process Development & Improvement

Many small business owners are much too busy running their businesses to look at how they're doing it. With all the clamoring for marketing and social media, you'd be surprised to learn how effective process development or process improvement can be instead. All you need is a little time to invest, a place to start, a little direction, and a reason to do it. (For a quick intro, view the presentation "Process Development for Small Business & Microbusiness")

1. The Reason. BPTrends has an excellent summary of why companies might look at their processes . . . “In good times, . . . to create new processes and expand organizational capabilities. In bad times, . . . . [to] focus on eliminating unnecessary activities and on saving money." (Wolf & Harmon, Volume 7. No. 2 of BPTrends' email newsletter)

2. The Starting Place. What keeps you awake at night? What's your company's biggest barrier to success? What's your customers' biggest complaint? What's the hardest thing for you to achieve right now? What do they have that you don't?

3. Time. Carve out time to explore the questions and choose one area of focus. Promise yourself that you will schedule time over the next month to resolve this issue.

4. Direction. Beginning with your question, ask what you do and why and continue to ask what and why until you determine (at each stage) whether you are doing something because it is: (a) required by law, (b) needed by management for the daily operation and oversight of the company, (c) needed for product quality and/or production, (d) needed by distribution channels and/or customers. Everything except (a) is negotiable so look for areas of elasticity and potential change that would result in streamlined processes or cost savings. Define desired outcomes. If you need more direction, call in reinforcements.


(NOTE: BPM is a huge field; this post only attempts to make certain aspects of it accessible to small business owners and microbusiness owners. Expert posts are welcome in order to achieve this goal.)

A Thought on Twitter, The New Blog

Twitter may be the new frontier, but after it's been leveled, tilled, and farmed, you still have to sort the wheat from the shaff.

Nevertheless, I am there, sowing some seeds: http://twitter.com/tracydiziere

(Oops, the link on my comment didn't work; for a good intro to twitter, check out david pogue's article from the NYT: http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/twittering-tips-for-beginners/)

Measuring Your Online Marketing Efforts

Web analytics, we all know, are key to measuring the success of online marketing efforts. And there certainly is plenty to look at! Metrics can be overwhelming, so many small business marketers or micro-business owners turn to outside help. I read a very astute recommendation for those looking to hire a web analytics person from Larry Chase's Web Digest for Marketers. It's a comment from Eric Peterson, founder and CEO of Web Analytics Demystified, Inc.; he says:

"The essential thing is that you need someone who is analytically minded and curious, who will define and follow a process and will keep digging for answers, even beyond the first set of numbers," he said.

Thanks, Larry, for the informative e-mail newsletters (I love getting them!) and for the timely and pertinent interview with Eric T. Peterson.

Price Comparison Power to the People

If you're a retail operation selling barcoded goods, there's a new tool in town that can make or break a sale. It's a phone application that allows consumers to get more information about a product by scanning its barcode on-site--and shows if it's available cheaper elsewhere. (See NPR's coverage for more information.)

For those who buy purely on price--and those who aim to be the low-cost leader--this is a match made in heaven, er, airwaves. For the rest of the retailers out there, your 2009 marketing strategy should clearly address a response for the value-based buyers--those who are not as concerned with finding the best price. What does your store offer that means something to consumers and would be worth paying more for? What can you do to increase value? To be competitive, this is the kind of thinking you'll need to do . . . unless you want to offer price-matching (risky) or are structured such that you can afford (and want!) to compete on price alone.