Is Your Business Community Listening?
Is your business community listening? I ask the question in all seriousness, I’ve discovered the business community in my area is very much asleep on social networks. It’s not only sad, but alarming at the same time. The problem is more about marketing, or how they acquire customers, after all, everyone wants more customers right?
It doesn’t matter what market sector you belong to, most still use social networks no different than they use newspaper, radio & television, they sell till their blue in the face. Yelling their heads off and hoping you will pay attention, you will be convinced to come to their businesses and buy what they were yelling about.
I’m going to share a very small case study with you, and I am the case study. You see, I have made it known on social networks, primarily Twitter, that I am shopping for a new fridge, hardwood flooring, and that I am painting two rooms called the Kitchen & Family room. I’ve been sharing that home upgrade project to all who follow me, and of course the many in the town and area where I live. Something interesting happened, nothing!
I’m surprised for a few reasons, for one, I have one of the largest followings in my area. Two, I hold workshops and teach business owners and entrepreneurs how the future of business has changed, and will continue to change. I even teach them how to listen in social networks. Three, I do a considerable amount of public speaking, to Chamber of Commerce groups and the like, on the very topic, and the future of business. Four, I was certain business owners in my area were actually listening and paying attention. I was wrong.
I even went so far as to Tweet this:
I was, I am that customer, I’m doing household improvements, I’ve been sharing, I truly believed that a business in my area would have been listening, paying attention, and would have connected with me, but nothing. I am not only disappointed, but actually surprised. The fact that no one contacted me to do business, this had me wondering, how many others like me on Twitter (put your favorite social network here)had money to spend but businesses aren’t around to get it. Why do local businesses ignore this apparently untapped market?
I’m even more surprised when I see these social networks getting so much air play on TV, Radio and to a lessor extent newspaper. It’s like saying you don’t know Jesus, but everyone has heard about him. Yes, he is still ignored by the masses too : )
So how is it that a city of 150,000 have missed this opportunity, they are leaving money on the NET (table), they are not listening here on social networks. I am just one of many that I know who are doing home improvements, we’re blogging, Tweeting about our projects, and yet not one business has contacted us.
Imagine, if one person (me) has 20k to spend on paint, hardwood flooring, and appliances and you had been listening on Twitter, your business could of had that business. But what if there are a 100 people like me with that kind of money to drop on goods and services. And as I mentioned, I’m not alone, there is potentially 100k up for grabs with the few friends I know in the same position.
There’s much to be said about marketing and advertising on social networks, but more needs to be done about teaching business owners how to listen and find customers like me.
That’s it, a short case study of me, a 20k bill waiting to be collected, and no one was paying attention. Imagine that. Many of the big name social media marketers preach to listen, to grow bigger ears, and yet, like common sense, there appears to be a huge shortage. When are you going to catch up, the tidal wave is coming, don’t be looking the other way, because your business will lose people like me.
So how would you fix this listening problem in your business community?
One might consider this a business opportunity, educating business owners. Oh and by the way, it’s too late, I spent the money already.
Is your business community listening?
The Future Of Business – Hardwood Floors
The Future Of Business – Hardwood Floors. An odd title but there’s a story behind it, and a story always makes it interesting. My wife & I put our home up for sale last year in May, we thought it was a good time to down-size, after all, we were only using a third of our 3,000 Square Foot home. The exercise proved to be educational, you see the market went flat right at the time we listed, we had 6 showings and no offers. The house showed well, according to the 6 different agents that showed the home. We thought for sure it would sell in a heart beat, we live in a very desirable area of town, we even made an offer on another home, that’s how sure we were about it. But nothing happened.
At the same time this was happening, we made a trip to Alberta with my Father-In-Law, it was a great trip. Also the last trip we would ever take with him again. When we arrived back home, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. It wasn’t long before Dad had to come live with us, as he was unable to look after himself. Then another interesting thing happened, we were contacted to have a young man from Brazil come live with us, suddenly our house was full again….with kids!
As it would turn out, my wife’s Father passed away Nov 3rd, 2011, and it was then we decided not to pursue selling the house, we were going to stay put. And this is where the journey and the story of the hardwood floors takes shape.
Since we weren’t going to sell, we decided to upgrade the home, make our last home so to speak. The first project would be the Kitchen and Nook area, and the family room. We thought it would be great to paint and lay new flooring down, this should be fun we thought. The painting went well, we got it done in a just a few days, it looks great. The next part of the project is the flooring, what should we do with it was the question once the painting was all but done.
At this point, we really had no clue what we were getting into…I’m not kidding, it seemed simple enough. Next thing we knew, we were talking hardwood flooring, what a great idea, it will look awesome and we will be increasing the value of the home at the same time. We got excited and started shopping for hardwood flooring. I thought it would be easy to pick out something, but it’s not, I found myself fussing back and forth on different kinds of finishes. Finally we picked one, and had a flooring company come to our home and measure things up, so they could quote on the job. We also contact two other companies to quote on doing the floors, I sure wasn’t going to do it, I am not a handy man…I hire them : )
As it turns out, most companies that install hardwood flooring all charge about the same to install it, $3 per sq. ft. – the product we chose was just under $7 per sq. ft., but for the sake of numbers we’ll keep them round. To install the floor, $3 per sq. ft., and the product was $7 per sq. ft., doing simple math, that’s $10.00 per sq. ft. right? It turns out we need to cover 400 sq. ft. in total…$4,000 plus taxes. I thought, awesome, that’s way under what I thought it was going to cost. But then the sales guy(s) said, your probably looking at around $6,000 for the job to be completed. I’m thinking their calculator is broken, how did they jump two grand with no explanation. Then it came, well you see, you have a sub-floor that has to be taken out because the nails won’t hold in that big chunk particle board. OK, that made sense, but 2k to lift that out? Hell I’ll do it to save the money. As it turns out, the family room has carpet, and the kitchen and nook area have linoleum on a sub-floor…they aren’t even, or level. You can see where this is going. We have yet to have the floor installed because we are waiting for two other quotes, and I am learning about the sub-floor quickly : )
BUYING HARDWOOD FLOORING IN THE FUTURE
Now this adventure has me thinking about my work as a futurist and how will we go through this process say in the next 10 to 15 years. Could you imagine this whole process being automated through something as simple as a home automation system that turns on the heat & lights when you walk in the door. Everything in your home will have a chip of some sort in it, that communicates with software to make the examining, measuring and purchasing as simple as saying yes to the question, do you want to replace the flooring in your home? It would know exactly what the right color should be, and what kind of surface, and what kind wood…it will just know by the colors and type of home you have.
The long process I’m going through today would all be done by computers, and robotics! The robots will rip out the old flooring, then put the new flooring in….done! It would all be done in an afternoon, maybe even just a couple hours, and that’s only because it’s physical, not a screen saver you change at the click of a mouse, but that’s coming too.
UNTIL THEN
Much of what we do today will be change by technology, robotics, and nanotechnology, we will wonder how we ever got along with out it. We think that today with computers, we couldn’t go back to a day when computers were just an idea if we wanted to. Our businesses would come to a screeching halt, economies would collapse (they’re going to anyway) and what would we do for entertainment and social interaction?
So until technology can do these things, we will continue to rely on our own knowledge and muscle power, we will still have to figure things out. I might be 80 years old when I witness the turn of robotics replacing my flooring and installing it, but it will be interesting. Just imagine.
Will you run one of those businesses of the future that replace floor coverings, and installs them through technology? Would you let software and robotics do what you can do, will you let it replace your flooring?
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The Future Of Business – Self-Employment, The New JOB!
The Future Of Business – Self-Employment, The New JOB! A couple weeks ago I started a conversation on Twitter & FaceBook, I made the statement; There will not be enough jobs to fill the need of a growing population, how will we work?
A blog post from world renown Futurist Thomas Frey touched on the loss of 2 Billion jobs by 2030. His logic is sound and he does admit to not having time enough to provide solutions to his prophecy, but his argument has merit. Thomas provides lists of changes and which jobs they will effect, unfortunately he mostly talking about we will lose over how to solve the problem. Some jobs will be created through the dismantling of existing infrastructure, but they will be short-term free lance type contratcs. Not a bad thing just a perspective.
We are in for a world of hurt in so many areas, I’m not sure there are enough Futurists in the world to provide input on solutions. Given the fact we have a growing population, 7 Billion in 2011, it is predicted we will hit close to 9 Billion by 2025, depending on your source. Take your current unemployment rate and do the math out to 2025, it doesn’t really matter what the number is. The fact there is an unemployment rate or problem tells you we will never really achieve employment for all. The population growth is evidence enough we will have more unemployment. Why? I think we focus on the wrong business system, we are fighting hand over fist to keep and maintain our old Industrial age model. That way of doing business limits employment, everything has a cap, including salaries.
Our educational systems are changing, but ever so slowly, making course ware freely available is a baby step in the right direction though. I expect the school system to morph into a global virtual learning centre, where accreditation transfers well from country to country. This should open many doors for all, a doctor from India is still a doctor, no need for upgrading or telling respectful people they’re credentials don’t measure up. An Open & Free model with equal standards no matter where you are from. It sounds naive but smarter minds than myself have looked at this before and have done nothing to make it work (that’s speculation on my part).
So what is solution? If the numbers are true, world population is out growing the number of available jobs, teaching people to be useful self-employed members of any society seems plausible. That would make self-employment the new job. This should be the primary focus of educators to ensure the masses will be able to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads. Continuing to force people to rely on a failing system, or systems, is not forward thinking, or acting in the best interest of mankind. Governments are still acting like King Richard, forcing the poor to pay more for something that wasn’t working. The Robin Hoods of the world, us here on the Internet are sharing our knowledge, we are even offering to help one another.
The numbers don’t lie, we need to embrace self-employment as a way of life. Waiting for an ailing business model to recover, repair itself, or be re-invented, is not good use of time and resources. It will be too late. But Self-employment alone won’t solve all our problems. If you are thinking of going down the self-employemnt track, there are some resources available in your communities. If you are not sure what type or kind of business to start, simply drive down main street and ask yourself what’s missing. Start there and expand on it, write a list of 40 ideas, but do something.
I know self-employment isn’t easy, it wasn’t meant to be, but it gives many a new way of providing for their families. Education and the likes of you & I helping each other, will make the world a better place.
The Future Of Business Is Self-employment.
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Whatever Happened To The Internet As A Destination?
Today I have been hanging out on Google+, Twitter, FaceBook and a few other Social Networks. All this hanging was bothersome, why?
It got me to thinking back when the Internet was new, there was very few places that dominated your time on the Internet, at least not since AOL. Today we are sucked into big sites like FaceBook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn and so on. Think about how uch time you spend there, think about what you did before these sites came to be.
Can you even remember what the first thing you did back before these Social Networks? I used to spend a lot of time using Gopher, remember that one?
Today we are immediately, automatically taken to FaceBook or Twitter, we don’t even flinch or think twice about it. It’s like the Internet has lost it’s glitter and has taken a back seat to Social Networks.
The Internet has far more to offer than just Social Media Networks, it does doesn’t it? I hope so, if not, we will wonder aimlessly through the desert once again.
So whatever happened to the Internet as a destination?
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Brands Built Without Advertising
Brands built without advertising, it sounds impossible right? I can’t imagine anyone saying you should never advertise, and when is not a good time to advertise? It’s a mystery for sure, but there are some huge brands out there that indeed did not advertise, and you know them very well. What a concept, that’s like saying, let’s give everything away and we will make money. Well, that is true also, competing with major companies by giving away core product and services is hard to walk away from, it’s even harder to compete against FREE.
But I’m not interested in talking about free, I want to talk about free from advertising, as in not advertising and still making billions. Imagine that, no advertising and creating a huge cash machine at the same time. How you ask, that’s the 64 million dollar question isn’t it? I mean, if you knew the answer, if we all knew the answer, we would have these mass fortunes ourselves. It’s not as simple as not advertising, but it’s close, it’s called Word Of Mouth, sound familiar? We practice it everyday on Social Networks.
Have you heard of Wayne Gould? He is the creator of Sudoku, the secret of Sudoku’s success was this, he offered the Times an endless supply of puzzles at no cost, there’s that FREE again. He offered the free puzzles with one request, that the times put a tiny credit on each puzzle, his website URL. Mr. Gould never purchased any advertising, it was a barter of sorts. The rest as you know it, is history.
Imagine this, you can’t just walk in a buy this car, you are selected. That’s right, no matter how much money you have or the position you hold will get you in the door. This brand has yet to purchase advertising, not one dime. Why? Because their customers are their marketing. They rely on word of mouth, special events and Social Media. The car? Ferrari.
With over 90 Billion in sales, this company has yet to purchase advertising, and you most likely are a card holder. COSTCO. Imagine gaining 66 million members that pay $55 or more for the privilege to shop, access to the COSTCO buying power is at your finger tips too.
This next one surprised me, The Body Shop. You’ve seen these stores everywhere, in every mall, and they don’t buy advertising. With no marketing department, they relied on one thing, a clearly stated purpose that the public could align their values to, not too mention word of mouth. With over 2,500 stores in over 60 markets worldwide, the business model seems to be working. I love this quote, I grabbed it off the Body Shop website:
“The business of business should not just be about money, it should be about responsibility. It should be about public good, not private greed.”
-Dame Anita Roddick. Human Rights Activist. Founder of The Body Shop.
As crazy as it sounds, using FREE and Word Of Mouth can build a massive brand, maybe even an incredible way of life for you and the many being served by your business. It’s all possible, it also comes with a price tag called work, lot’s of it. In building anything there is always some level of risk, but these are examples of how a simple idea can lead to something far bigger than you ever dreamed of.
You don’t have to build a business of this magnitude, but you can build a legacy that provides a modest living. What’s your dream dynasty, what does it stand for and against?
