business advice | Paul Wallbank - Communications Professional

Small Business Internet Marketing Secrets

Join three of Australia’s top experts to improve how your business is seen online.

An effective web presence that makes the most of traditional marketing, the Internet and social media is essential to for any growing business.

The Small Business Internet Marketing Secrets workshop brings together three of Australia’s leading Internet and marketing experts; Paul Wallbank, Michelle Gamble and Lara Solomon to reveal the secrets of finding and keeping customers online.

We’ll be covering how the Internet fits into your marketing plan, setting up an effective web presence and using social media to spread the word about your business.

Thanks to our corporate supporters, Sensis, we’ll have an iPad to give away to one of our lucky attendees.

Small Business Internet Marketing Secrets will be held in Sydney on September 28 where Lara, Michelle and Paul will show you how to get a cost effective presence online.

Registrations are open now for a discounted early bird rate at the Marketing Angels website. Move fast as spaces are limited

the failure imperative

To succeed, we need to risk failure

Reading an Inc Magazine profile of TechCrunch founder Mike Arrington, one of the quotes that leapt out of the story was Arrington’s view on entrepreneurs and failure;

Our main competitive advantage is that my team and I truly love entrepreneurs. They’re my rock stars. I’ve always been fascinated by entrepreneurs. I had four businesses that did not work out. TechCrunch is my first real success, and it happened by accident. If I were to write a book, it would be about what drives entrepreneurs. I meet the winners, and the losers, too. Most of them could go out and get a perfectly reasonable job as an accountant or a lawyer. Instead, they risk everything for almost certain failure. The losers are actually more interesting sometimes. You learn a ton from failure.

“You learn a ton from failure”

We have a habit of celebrating the winners and ignoring the ventures that didn’t work out, if we don’t outright scorn them.

The thing is we learn from the failures — the misjudgements, bad luck and downright stupid ideas that we all have when running a business teach us about ourselves, our partners and the world around us.

We need to be valuing those lessons as they prepare us for when we do have a success.

The world is becoming increasingly risk adverse and the paradox there is that by avoiding failure, we ultimately reduce our chances of success.

Dealing with a telco dispute

ten ways to resolve a phone company or Internet problem

Once again, Australian telcos find themselves being criticised by regulators and consumer groups for their poor performance. This time over poor service, complexity of bills and overcharging on “freecall” numbers.

The frustrating thing with all of these complaint is they are nothing new, as shown by an earlier version of this article in 2007.

So the problems with phone and Internet companies remain and many customers, both consumers and businesses, are forced to go through the time wasting dance of dealing with call centres, complex contracts and often finishing with consumer protection organisations like the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman or other state and Federal authorities.

However there are ways of reducing the problems and improving your chances of resolving issues quickly and on your terms;

Call them

The first step when you realise you have a problem is to call them. This is the quickest and easiest way to resolve things. If you can solve the problem at this point, you will save a lot of time, money and frustration.

When dealing with any call centre, there are a few important things to remember. You must remain polite, you must never make threats and you should note everything. A lot of this can be easier said than done.

Take notes

From the first call, you must take notes. Every time you speak to the call centre you must note the date and time you have made the call, the time they answered, the name of the person you spoke to, what you discussed, what was agreed (if anything) and the time the call ended. Any important discussions should be confirmed in writing.

Be Calm and Polite

At every stage of the process you must stay cool and polite. Do not lose your temper and do not abuse people. If you find the person you are dealing with is rude or provocative, or if find your blood pressure rising, then politely finish the conversation and call back later later.

Don’t Make Threats

Making threats will hurt your argument and draw the process out. Threatening people only makes their attitude harder or locks them into a position where they cannot negotiate with you.

Suing the ISP, complaining to the TIO, going to the media or calling consumer affairs are all options you have available should everything else fail but the aim is to settle the matter quickly and amicably without going to the time and expense of complaining to other authorities.

Do it in writing

It is important to confirm everything in writing. All too often people believe a matter has been settled only to find it is still a problem months or years later. Follow up any important conversations with a letter confirming the details including the time, date and person you discussed the issue with.

This is very important if you have reached an agreement settling a billing dispute. Confirm the details and the agreement in a letter sent by registered post to the organisation, any faxes or emails should be followed up by a letter.

Any emails about the matter should be printed out. Despite the claims of a paperless world, the only thing that really matters in disputes is what is written on paper.

Make sure you keep the full story in writing and this includes printing out emails and web pages.

Follow the ISPs complaint procedure

You may need to start a formal complaint within the organisation’s internal complaints or appeals procedures, the ISP or telco support line should be able to tell you how to do this. For smaller ISPs there may not be any formal procedures. A letter to the senior management may be necessary to get the right person to respond.

Contact the ISPs management

If the ISP doesn’t have a formal dispute procedure, or if it doesn’t respond, forward your complaints with copies of all the supporting documentation to the directors and Managing Director or CEO of the company concerned.

Generally directors and senior managers hate this and will make their displeasure known to the people responsible within their organisation. Again, be polite and respectful, make no threats and express your desire to settle the matter quickly and amicably.

Pay the bill

Some ISPs have a habit of calling in the debt collectors at an early stage. This complicates the matter and can also affect your credit record. Generally, it’s a good idea to pay any disputed amounts and then continue arguing about the facts of the dispute.

If you have direct debits with the ISP it may be necessary to stop these to avoid further disputed debits to your account. Do this in writing to the both the ISP and your bank with a cover letter informing them the direct debit has stopped. If you do this, make sure you are within your contract and you have a backup Internet service as the ISP will almost certainly stop your service immediately.

Complain to the TIO

If you are still unhappy, complain to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman. They like you fill in their web complaint form but they will accept phone calls and written complaints.

Keep in mind they will not help you unless you’ve already tried to resolve the problem with the provider, they also won’t assist if you’ve complained to other organisations which is another reason not to make threats earlier in the process.

Further complaints

Despite all of the above, it’s still possible not to have resolved the problem with an ISP. The next step is to complain to your state consumer affairs department or the ACCC. You can also seek advice from your solicitor or local community legal centre.

The aim with any dispute is to settle it quickly and amicably. The important thing is to contact your provider quickly if you have a problem. Internet providers can be difficult to deal with but with a combination of patience, persistence, good record keeping and a cool temper, you can resolve most problems on your terms.

ABC Newcastle and Upper Hunter: Dealing with a telco dispute

Dealing with a dispute over an Internet or phone bill can be a frustrating experience. But there are ways to deal with the problem and get the result you want.

Join Carol Duncan and Paul Wallbank from 2.40pm on Monday, September 20 to look the best ways to reduce stress when dealing with call centres and billing departments.

We have further information on this topic at Dealing with an ISP dispute.

Tune into ABC 1233 Newcastle or ABC Upper Hunter from 2.40pm or listen online through the ABC Newcastle webpage. We love to hear from listeners so feel free call in with your questions or comments on 1300 233 222 or text on 19922702. If you’re on Twitter you can tweet paul at @paulwallbank and 1233 Newcastle on @1233newcastle.

Five rules to protect your online reputation

Stephanie Rice’s Twitter faux pas shows how fragile your reputation can be in an online world. Here’s five rules for avoiding problems.

Last week’s tearful apology by Australian swimmer Stephanie Rice for an inappropriate comment about a Rugby score on Twitter is reminder to all of us that nothing on the web is a private conversation.

Over the years we’ve learned email can be a dangerous medium as messages can be endlessly copied and forwarded. The infamous Claire Swire email where a group of young London lawyers trashed a girls, and their own, reputations was lesson we all learned from.

Today, we have far more opportunities than just email to make idiots of ourselves online and damage our own reputations, so here’s a few ideas on protecting yourself online;

Everything is in writing

Internet communication is largely written. If you wouldn’t an off colour joke or disparaging comment about a colleague in a letter, then you shouldn’t put it online.

The Internet is permanent

The little electronic bits and bytes might be transient, but what you write will be stored in numerous places. Even if you delete an inappropriate comment from your inbox or Facebook page, someone will be able to recover it.

Online privacy doesn’t exist

Given private conversations can be copied and forwarded, you need to assume that nothing online is private. If you’d have trouble explaining something to your mum, boss, minister or your investors then you shouldn’t write it.

The real world rules apply online

There’s a touching naivety about the online world with a belief that the Internet is immune from the rules of the “real” world. The truth is that the net is part of the real world and the rules and laws that govern our daily lives apply online as well — securities law, defamation and just plain good manners are as valid in cyberspace just as they are in the pub or boardroom.

Apologise quickly

We all make mistakes, and when we do it online news spreads fast. So a prompt admission and apologies to anyone concerned is the best way to defuse embarrassment.

The best thing though is to ask “would my mum be happy reading this” before pressing the send button. If you don’t think she would, then you might want to think about things before letting a comment off into the wide world of the web.

While the Internet is the most powerful tool available to businesses big and small, we need to always remember that powerful tools have to be used with care. Thinking before you post should be the first rule for online communication.

What makes a market?

Does demand for a product mean there’s a market for it?

There’s a difference between there being a demand and a market — just because there’s a need for your service or product it doesn’t translate to there being a market for it.

A market exists when someone is prepared to pay for the product or service. Which is the challenge where the idea of giving away things for free has become the currency of the Internet.

So even if you have a good idea, if you’re looking a building a business around that idea you’ll need to ask who is prepared to pay for it?

Another question of course is how much they are prepared to pay but that’s a different thought for another time.

the need for a digital footprint

every business person needs an online profile

The need for a digital footprint
Everyone needs a personal description on the Internet

Once upon a time business reputations were spread through local taverns, guilds and market squares.

There was only one thing worse for a local merchant than having a bad reputation and that was having no community profile at all, if the townsfolk didn’t know who a merchant or professional was, their business would simply have no customers.

In modern times, the Internet is the town square and our customers and colleagues expect they can find our backgrounds and profiles on the web. All business people — individual staff members, managers, owners or founders — need something on the web to establish their credibility.

So an online presence, a digital footprint if you will, ranging from a basic profile in your company’s website through to an elaborate personal website, is now essential for all business people.

A good online start for most people is LinkedIn, which at its most basic is like a ready made online CV listing your work history, achievements and qualifications.

Enhancing LinkedIn’s value is the recommendation function where you can publicly thank colleagues for their good work and they can do likewise to you. These become instant professional references on view to the world.

The most powerful part of LinkedIn though lies in the social networking aspect. When you look at someone’s profile the service lists everyone connected to them and, most importantly, what connections they have in common with you. This is a great way of establishing an individual’s bona fides in an industry.

Social networks tend to reward frequent updates, while most business people don’t have time to update them, it is worthwhile keeping recent appointments and qualifications up to date so people checking you out have the latest details.

There are downsides with our digital footprint, we have to be careful about what we say online as inappropriate comments do get noticed and we are held accountable.

Privacy issues are always an issue for what you post online so don’t post family details on the public Internet or add anything you wouldn’t want broadcast next to your photo on the six o’clock news.

Just as we’ve previously said that web pages are today’s shopfront, the net is also becoming our business card. Just as we need business cards, we also need that digital footprint.

Even if you don’t want to put your details on a service like LinkedIn, make sure you at least have an up to date personal profile on your company website.

The new accountability

What business can learn from the Australian election

The distrust and disengagement of voters in last weekend’s election holds valuable lessons for business.

As the politicians have found, the days of empty slogans are over. If you say “people are your most important asset”, “service with a smile” or “no question refunds” then you have to be sure you value those smiling employees as they cheerfully refund money. Otherwise your disgruntled staff and customers will be letting the world know the truth quickly.

We’re in an era of accountability. The connected society means all of us — in our professional, political and personal lives are more accountable than we have been for several generations. This is even more true of our businesses.

A good example of this is restaurants; where twenty years ago few eating places were reviewed by newspapers or magazines while most scored a paragraph in an annual guide, which could have been up to two years out of date by the time it was in the bookstores.

Today dozens of rating sites give customers the opportunity to report their experiences and customers are reading those reviews before they choose where to dine.

The same process is happening in all industries, your business is being reviewed and discussed online in forums, blogs and various social media channels. You have to deliver on your promises and you will be caught out if you don’t.

For society, the Internet and the new communications tools that run on it are changing how we deal with our peers, customers, employers and staff. We have more power and we have more responsibility.

It’s interesting this point was missed by the political parties that ran campaigns that relied almost exclusively on TV, radio and print. Although it isn’t surprising seeing that both parties’ 2010 campaigns seem to operate in a 1960s time warp where cheap fuel, plentiful credit and unlimited mineral exports were the nation’s boundless future.

This sort of complacency is understandable when you have a duopoly. As we know in the business world, a comfortable duopoly breeds cosy, risk adverse managers who spend more time squabbling over who should have the keys to the executive toilets than worrying about minor things like staff, new products or customer satisfaction.

Which is what’s happened to our political parties; winning the privileges of power is all that matters to the factional warlords and their supporting ranks of scheming apparatchiks; just like second rate managers in a cosy, protected industry.

The underlying beliefs of the major parties — free enterprise, a strong regional Australia or a fair go for the Australian worker have all became empty slogans and their markets, the voters, are now holding them to account.

In many ways the three or four independents who will hold the balance of power are like upstart business that disrupt cosy markets, they are reminding the incumbents of the business they have chosen to be in.

That’s the biggest business lesson from last weekend’s election; that in the new global economy the barriers to entry have fallen and new businesses are waiting to grab the customers you’re neglecting. Markets are moving quicker than ever and you need the tools and the teams to take advantage of the opportunities.

Unlike the political world, today’s business environment has no place for the safe, comfortable incumbent. It’s a great time to be a genuinely smart company.

Head in the clouds: ABC Nightlife

What does cloud computing mean to businesses and households

What is cloud computing and why does it matter to most homes and businesses?

Join Tony Delroy and Paul Wallbank to discuss cloud computing and what it means to the ordinary business and household on ABC Local Radio across Australia from 10pm on August 19.

Tune in on your local ABC radio station or listen online at www.abc.net.au/nightlife.

If you’d like to join the conversation with your questions or comments phone 1300 800 222 within Australia or +61 2 8333 1000 from outside Australia.

You can SMS Nightlife’s talkback on 19922702 or twitter @paulwallbank using the #abcnightlife hashtag

Failing Fast: Google Wave’s real business lesson

The fail fast philosophy is changing how businesses in all industries are operating.

A key philosophy underlying much of Silicon Valley’s successful companies is the “fail fast” concept where a business releases a rough version of a new idea and asks the world what it thinks. Should people like the idea, it gets developed and if they don’t, it gets dropped and everybody moves on to the next brainwave.

The “fail fast” philosophy was behind Google Wave’s dropping last week, as CEO Eric Schmidt said at the Techonomy Conference on the day it was announced; “….we release it and see what happens. It works, you announce product, you ship it…”

Until recently, “failing fast” was restricted to hot shot Internet businesses but as the cost of product development falls due to better collaboration tools, testing methods and global outsourcing, it’s become easier for all businesses to experiment without risking an organisation’s future.

This is very different from the old style of doing business, a good example of how things used to work was Boeing’s development of the 747 Jumbo Jet which was a $2 billion dollar bet, $14bn in 2010 dollars, on a big lumbering subsonic jet in the mid 1960s when the future of aviation seemed to be with sleek supersonic aircraft like the Concorde.

While Boeing’s bet paid off, it took 15 years and nearly sent the company broke.

Most of today’s businesses aren’t locked into 14 billion dollar and 15 year investment cycles as we can test products with simulation tools, computer aided design programs, fast prototyping and oursourcing services like o-desk for labour and alibaba.com for manufacturing without risking the farm.

For most businesses, it’s not even a matter of spending time and money actually developing ideas, usually it’s something as simple as testing a new idea by buying a domain name and setting up a low cost website on a cheap hosting service for under $200. If the idea flies then you start looking at spending real money on making the product ready for the broader market.

Failing fast presents a great challenge to the traditional organisation where the slightest failure is a stigma. In the new economy, a risk adverse culture is going to be punished by competitors who accept that not every idea is right for its time and learn lessons rather than punish those associated with the unsuccessful project.

While this is bad news for large organisations run by risk adverse managers it is one of the great opportunities for nimble and smart companies. If your business is prepared to take small risks, learn from the misses and celebrate the wins then your business could well be on the way to being the next Google.

Asking the tough questions

Being well informed is the key to getting real results from a technology investment

Last week saw three challenging questions cross my desk — “What on earth is cloud computing?” “Can you explain the National Broadband Network?” and “Why does the Internet matter?”

All the questions ended up being rolled into an article that was picked up by radio and television. Which in itself is an interesting study on how Twitter and blogs drive other media channels.

That these three questions had to be asked shows how poor those of us in the technology sector have been in explaining the great opportunities the digital era offers businesses and communities

For too long we technologists have been locked into talking about gigabytes and megabits, HTML and XML while not explaining what these tools deliver

In most of the tech industries, it’s assumed that if something is shinier and has more features then it’s better for the customers.

This is best seen in the social media circles, where most experts are blinded by the fun of using Twitter or Facebook and struggle to explain what they can deliver to business.

Bizarrely this has resulted in a whole tribe of social media experts who claim there is no way we can apply business measures to their blind recommendations that your organisation should be tweeting out status updates every hour.

A blind acceptance that newer or cheaper is better has locked many big and small customers into at best dysfunctional deals. Worse still, is the “we’ll save a fortune with this new widget” mentality we discussed in last week’s column that is nothing but a trap for people who should know better.

Promising cheap, new and shiny has allowed many technology vendors to lock ill informed buyers into upgrade cycles that have delivered increased costs for little benefit. Internet providers, telephone companies and outsourcing multinationals have exploited customer ignorance to deliver massive profits over the years.

This isn’t to say there aren’t cost savings to be had by adopting new methods and technology, there clearly are. But it relies on the customer, in this case your business, to understand how the new ideas will benefit their workplace.

It comes down to the user to ask the tough questions, if you don’t understand what the computer tech, web designer or social media expert is talking about, stop them and ask.

Tough questions are good for the experts and gurus. It forces the good ones to think about the solutions they recommend and gives the poor ones the hint that other industries might offer better prospects for selling snake oil.

Most importantly, it’s about allowing you to understand what’s going on without jargon and verbiage. Having a clear, concise view allows you to make better, informed choices.

With a changing business environment, it’s too important to be bluffed or ignorant about what these tools mean for you and your industry. Ask the hard questions so you can make the right decisions.