Behind the Scenes at Global-Roam

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This is to follow Adam’s post on the Scott Ginsberg seminar, and specifically to follow Adam’s post with some more specific thoughts about what it means to us.

The post was initially made restricted, but I have now shifted some of the more confidential comments to a “part2” restricted post here….

1)  Be Remarkable

(in the truest sense of the word) – as in, present yourself in such a way that other people want to talk about you.

One of Scott’s most telling points (and he had stolen this from others) is that:
1)  If we talk about ourselves, the listener (naturally) assumes it is marketing, and is inclined to switch off.
2)  However, if other people talk about us, then this provides our name/brand some instant credibility, in the listener’s mind.  The extension of this is that the amount of credibility we gain is proportional to the listener’s view of the person talking about us. read more »

I just came back from a convention by the Australian Institute of Management (AIM) on “making a name for yourself.” The speaker was Scott Ginsberg, who has quite literally been wearing a nametag 24/7 for several years (he even has one tattooed on his chest). He was really quite interesting…

But forget all that. Because I won a prize. I got given all his books. Here’s me with his books with the greatest cheesy smile I could pull:

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No, I’m not talking about corona discharge on HV AC power lines – I’m referring to the more esoteric notion of “Buzz Marketing”.

Hang on a sec … just what is Buzz Marketing?

I asked the very same question, the first time I heard the term – a few years ago now.

The best definition I have come across is that it’s just like “Word of Mouth” Marketing/Advertising (i.e. people talking about you) – with the addition that you make a conscious, structured effort to get and sustain people talking about your product.

”Viral Marketing” is another coin termed for the same process .

Buzz Marketing in the energy industry?

Yeah right!

There are probably not many industries that could conjure up (and carry off with good effect) the  marvellous advertisement revolving around the line:

“We’re excited by electricity, even if you’re not”

I did try to find some video-record of this advert, but was somewhat surprised to find that there was nothing recorded on YouTube or elsewhere (or at least none I could find).

Perhaps the advert itself is symbolic – TRUenergy gets all the industry insiders laughing at the joke, but Mr Joe Public – well, is sleeping on.  Certainly it does seem that no one was sufficiently inspired to put a bootleg copy of the advert onto YouTube.

PS – did find this one, later, but it’s not exactly the one I was thinking of… (at 3,379 views currently, it does seem to have woken slumbering Joe Public  – albeit very slightly)

My main point, here, is that there does not seem to be a lot of space in the energy market for a bit of buzz.  Too geeky, too complicated, not sexy enough, or just damn boring?

Well, all’s not lost yet…

Why this article now?

That’s a good question!
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Why are we interested in internet marketing?

Our business is a little different than the “typical” internet marketer (though I guess they all say that).

Yes, we do deliver “information products” (ours is software) over the web, but our clients are mainly large corporates who operate in a narrow, vertical industry.  Our software is priced well above the typical level of the typical e-book, and it’s for a pretty specific target market.  That said, there’s pretty much noone who’s life (and business) is not touched by electricity in a significant way - hence there is a broad potential market for us to tap into, in the future, as we seek to find other unmet needs for understanding of of the electricity market.

Given our type of client, a degree of one-on-one interaction is still necessary, so we are looking to internet marketing to augment our holistic approach to marketing (online and offline) - as part of a larger project of upgrading (and part-automating) our “Business Management System”, as I like to call it.

Over the past 18 months I have learnt a great deal about marketing, and am continuing to explore other avenues for learning, such that I can help the company meet its ambitious growth targets over the next 10 years.

The System Seminar 2009

In March this year I attended The System Seminar in Chicago. We weren’t sure what I would bring back from the experience, but if it turned out to be a poor investment at the very least we would know not to attend in future years.

The seminar featured presentations on a broad range of areas of Internet marketing. For each presenter, I have highlighted a couple of points that I found most useful or relevant to our company.

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Cheating a bit with the post date on this article, as I read this book quite a while ago now, so want to put it in context. Actually, the book’s very good, so there are a couple of us who have had a look.

Binary Review

Only time for the binary review at this stage:

The Book	What we thought
“Ready Fire Aim” by Michael Masterton	Read it quick!

Full Disclosure – yes, that’s a tracked link to Amazon shown above. We buy quite a large number of books on a wide range of topics, all relevant to our business in some way.  If you did happen to purchase the book from Amazon, they’d throw a few shekels our way, which would help us to buy (and hence publish reviews of) even more books.  Hence, Karma would return the benefits to you…

This is an excellent book, in how it summarises the challenges that most business owners face (at least in the author’s personal experience) at various stages in their journey.  A core part of the value is that it points out where the entrepreneurial owner should be focusing their attention, each step of the way.

Certainly aligned with our experience (though the numbers are a little different).

Main details

This book contains loads of great content, which has been all logically arranged around what the book calls the “4 stages of Business Development”.

I’ve listed these below, but would strongly suggest you read the whole book in order that you can understand the framework, and benefit from the detail tactics suggested for use in all 4 stages.

Stage 1 = Infancy

During this stage, you (as an owner) take your business from an idea to actively running and generating a reasonable cash flow.

Main Problem = you don’t really know what you are doing
Main Challenge = making the first profitable sale
Main Opportunity = obtaining a critical mass of customers

During this idea, the core focus of the founder must be:
1)  Getting things done (whatever it takes)
2)  Sales.

At the end of this stage, you might have saturated the market with your initial product idea.

You may (or may not) be profitable, and your revenues might be something like $1 million.

Stage 2 = Childhood

During this stage, your business should go through a rapid growth spurt, as you conceptualise and implement other product ideas, using the cash flow generated by the initial product as leverage.

Main Problem = you may be break even, or making a loss
Main Challenge = creating additional valuable products quickly, to generate profits
Main Opportunity = increasing cash flow and becoming profitable

During this idea, the core focus of the founder must be in generating (and testing) new product ideas.

At the end of this stage, your team will have grown to the stage where you have new staff working with you who are 2 steps removed from the initial ideas from which the company was founded (in other words, they have no memory of why things are done the way they are).

In the book, it is predicted your revenues will have rapidly grown to something like $10 million (and perhaps 10% profit margin).

Stage 3 = Adolescence

During this stage, you find that you (shudder as you) need to implement systems and processes in order that you can cope with the added complexities your business has presented itself with.

The book notes that this is difficult for most entrepreneurs, who probably started their own business as they were sick of “rules and regulations” in the first place.

Main Problem = your systems are strained, and customers are noticing
Main Challenge = turning the chaos into order
Main Opportunity = learning how to establish useful protocols and manage processes and procedures

During this idea, the core focus of the founder must be on getting the business to run with just 3 or 4 simple management reports.

At the end of this period, the author notes that revenues might be approaching $50 million (again, with a 10% profit margin).

Stage 4 = Maturity

During this stage, it may be that the systems that were put in place during the preceding are strangling the creativity of the business (e,g, you see an opportunity, and your Risk Manager says no)

Main Problem = sales slow down and may even stall
Main Challenge = becoming entrepreneurial again
Main Opportunity = getting the business to run itself

During this idea, the core focus of the founder must be working our where he/she fits.

More details

Might come later, when I have the time (but probably not).

You’re welcome to check back, though!

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This book review was one of 3 book reviews I presented in our first shareholder’s meeting of 2008 (back in 19th January 2008).  Hence, I have used artistic licence with the post date to put this into context.

Binary Review

This book was originally published in 1991 but was revolutionary in explaining how to market (and plan the development of) innovative products (specifically high tech) :

The Book	What we thought
“Crossing the Chasm” by Geoffrey A Moore	An excellent book, that’s well worth reading

Full Disclosure – yes, that’s a tracked link to Amazon shown above. We buy quite a large number of books on a wide range of topics, all relevant to our business in some way.  If you did happen to purchase the book from Amazon, they’d throw a few shekels our way, which would help us to buy (and hence publish reviews of) even more books.  Hence, Karma would return the benefits to you…

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I continue to refer back to this book, despite having read and re-read it.

The underlying premise:

The book starts with the typical bell-shaped curve of customer adoption of any particular product, but argues it is a little different for the high-tech industry – in that there is a chasm between the two distinct parts of the market:

The Early Market (being enthusiasts and visionaries); and

The Mainstream Market (being pragmatists, conservatives and visionaries).

To often, the author notes, tech companies are encouraged by some early successes with the early adopters, and hence scale up too soon, expecting the J-curve to arrive, only to find themselves walking in the wilderness, looking for a beachhead into the pragmatists.

The book presents a whole load of information that’s useful – the following is what I summarised for our management meeting in January 2008:

1)  Seed new technology with enthusiasts (i.e. give it to the geeks, who will test it out for you and find the bugs) so they can help you to educate the visionaries (e.g. who are business people who will risk something that is unproven in order to win big)

2)  Once you have captured the visionaries’ interest, do whatever it takes to delight them, as they will serve as reference customers for the pragmatists.

BEWARE the chasm in between - we need to cross by choosing a targeted beachhead

3)  Gain the bulk of your revenue by serving the pragmatists – by becoming the market leader, and establishing defacto standards.  At this stage, the “whole product” is important.

4)  Leverage success with the pragmatists to generate volume so that the products are reliable/cheap enough to satisfy the conservatives.

5)  Don’t waste your time trying to sell to the sceptics BUT listen to what they say, as they may have valid points!

Even though we operate in a relatively narrow vertical market, this logic aligns with what we have found in the past – and we’re looking to learn from this to make our business expansion easier in future.

Hope this helps you, too!

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Read this book back in 2006 or 2007 (so apologies to those who take offence at my habit of back-dating posts like these to keep them in logical order). 

1) Binary Review

Well worth reading, and a great influence on our strategy, as it continues to unfold!

The Book	What we thought
“The Long Tail – why the future of business is selling less of more” by Chris Anderson	Not perfect, but worth reading

Full Disclosure – yes, that’s a tracked link to Amazon shown above. We buy quite a large number of books on a wide range of topics, all relevant to our business in some way. If you did happen to purchase the book from Amazon, they’d throw a few shekels our way, which would help us to buy (and hence publish reviews of) even more books. Hence, Karma would return the benefits to you…

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We realise that.

The name “ROAM” comes from an anagram of the 3 founders who established the business back in 2000 – Rose, O’Brien and McArdle.   The “global” bit was an obvious reference to our aspirations, even back then.

Unfortunately it has proved to be a very unwise choice of name:

1)  For those involved in the Australian National Electricity Market (NEM), we are sometimes confused with our former sister company, ROAM Consulting – which is understandable;

2)  Everywhere else we are confused with a telecoms company (including by the people in the Telstra helpdesk, who direct to us calls from poor stranded Australians all over the world!).

Both are very understandable points of confusion – which reflect a very unwise choice on our part in the early days of the company.

Hence at the end of 2006 we began the process of renaming the company.  We’ve completed the following steps:

1)  We ran a competition in which we asked clients, and a few others, to suggest a name:

(a)  For as long as we maintain it, the details of the competition, along with some of the suggestions received, are here.

(b)  As implied by Hamish Chadwick, our competition was useful for providing us a view of how clients saw us, but was not useful in actually giving us any suggestions that made the “final cut”.

2)  With the assistance of a consultant (Image Substation) we spoke (in detail) with a select number of valued clients to gain a better understanding of what it is that people value us for.  Clarity, Convenience and Cost Effectiveness were some stand-outs.

3)  As a result of this, we brainstormed a range of different names.

4)  From a long list we picked a number of candidates and proceeded to:

(a)  Register the .com and .com.au domain names

(b)  Register trademarks in Australia (trademarks in a select few foreign countries still to be done at the time of writing).

(c)  Checked that the company name was available.

5)  What’s holding us up, most, is that we want to roll out the new company name at the same time as a new software licensing system, which has been the real roadblock.

(a)  This is one of the reasons we have recently begun to adopt the Agile software development methodology.

(b)  Hence, we hope that we won’t be stuck with our existing name for too much longer!

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PS – yes, I back-dated this post as well, to be sometime around the time we started the process of renaming the company (aaaaaaaaaaaaaaages ago).

You will recognise, by now, that I see ICT as an enabler, not as an end in itself – hence I do apologise to any Blog Conservatives out there who I might have offended by this practice.