Small Business Technology Tour 2012 - http://www.smallbiztechtour.com (sponsored by Intel)

1. 11 RULES FOR TECH IN
BUSINESS SUCCESS
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2. Infusionsoft, Regional
Development Director
(NY/NJ)
Smallbiztechnology.com,
Editor & Technology
Evangelist
Author, “Facebook Guide to
Small Business Marketing”
(Amazon.com best seller),
Event producer, speaker,
journalist, piano player, FBI
Citizens Academy graduate
and some more
Ramon Ray - @ramonray

3. TECH AND YOUR BUSINESS
Dematerialization
Freemium
Gamification
On Demand Workforce
Crowd Creation
Crowd Funding
Data Mining and Business Intelligence
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4. 11 RULES OF TECH SUCCESS…
1. Invest
2. Outsource
3. Educate
4. Don’t Technologize a Bad Business Process
5. Customer & Prospect Systematic Marketing (CRM)
6. Cloud (online) Computing
7. Security
8. Mobility
9. Web Site
10.Email Marketing
11.and Social Media
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5. RULE # 1 - INVEST IN
TECHNOLOGY
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6. INVEST IN TECHNOLOGY
takes time
not get rich quick
look at options
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7. INVEST IN TECHNOLOGY
Stop thinking of
technology as a pain
Stop thinking of
technology as
something dreary
Stop thinking of
technology as an
expense
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8. 7 TECH INVESTMENT QUESTIONS
1. Can the tech I’m buying today grow with my
business
2. Can the tech connect with other technologies
3. Does the vendor provide great technology support
4. Who else is using the technology I’m buying
5. What are my future business plans – does the tech
I’m buying match
6. Is there an ecosystem of for the tech I’m buying
7. Am I the first one investing in this tech
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9. RULE #2 - OUTSOURCE
TECHNOLOGY
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10. TECH RULE # 2 – OUTSOURCE TECH
 Your time is valuable
and limited
 Your tech expertise is
limited
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11. TECH RULE #2 – OUTSOURCE TECH





Your results will be crappy
Other things will suf fer
You won’t look professional
You’ll lose sales
The earth will open up and swallow you
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12. 7 OUTSOURCE TECH QUESTIONS
1. Has the person I’m hiring helped other businesses in
my industry
2. What are the referrals of the vendor I’m working with
3. Does the vendor have a track record of success
4. Are they a startup and hungry for my business (or new)
5. Are they a big company with maturity (or where I might
not be important to them)
6. Does the vendor work well with businesses of my size
7. Do I need to know the owner
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13. RULE #3 - EDUCATE
YOURSELF
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14. TECH RULE #3 – EDUCATE YOURSELF
 Don’t be a nerd or
geek
 Be an educated
business owner
 Ignorance is not bliss.
It’s stupidity and slow
death
 Technology is scary to
those who don’t know
 Everything is hard and
confusing if you aren’t
trained or informed
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15. TECH RULE #3 – EDUCATE YOURSELF
Read magazines
with IT columns
Attend technology
events (like today)
Take online courses
(email
marketing, etc)
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16. TECH EDUCATION RESOURCES
Grovo.com
Free resources from your vendor
Google Help
Support.microsoft.com
SCORE, Chambers and other give many free
(and fee based) events
Hire a consultant to train you
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17. RULE #4 - DON’T
TECHNOLOGIZE A BAD
BUSINESS PROCESS
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18. RULE #4 – DON’T TECH A BAD BIZ PROCESS
 Tech NOT the answer
for poor hiring
 Tech NOT the answer
for a bad biz process
 Tech NOT the answer
for poor customer
service
 Tech is NOT the
answer for low
employee moral
 Tech NOT the answer
for an idot boss
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19. TECHNOLOGY WILL ONLY
HELP A “BAD” PROBLEM
GET BAD FASTER
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20. 5 TECH & BAD BUSINESS THOUGHTS
1. Are you speaking to someone with gray hair
(a mature business owner)
2. How would your business operate without
tech
3. Map out your businesses processes – then
layer technology
4. Hire for aptitude, character and attitude –
you can train good people to do great things
5. Appreciate the technical aptitude of your
team
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21. RULE #5 - TREAT
CUSTOMERS SPECIAL
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22. RULE #5 – TREAT CUSTOMERS SPECIAL
“CRM”
Amazon.com – king of personalization
All customers are
not the same
Segment your
customers
Sell to the right
customer
Sell them at the
right time
Sell them the right
thing
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23. “CRM”
Treat all customers
as if they were the
only one
Know what
customers want and
giving it to them
Implement Lifecycle
Marketing
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24. LIFECYCLE MARKETING
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Target Audience
Attract Traffic with Lead Magnets
Capture Leads
Nurture Leads (Prospects)
Convert to Sales
Deliver and Delight
Upsell
Referrals
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25. Give Ramon
your business
card. He’ll email
you a copy of
Lifecycle
Marketing
principles
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26. RULE #6 - LEVERAGE
ONLINE SOFTWARE
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27. RULE #6 – LEVERAGE ONLINE SOFTWARE
Faster
implementation
Grows with your
business
Easier on cash flow
Automatically
backed up
Great for virtual /
distributed teams
Automatic updates
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28. ON PREMISE SERVERS
ARE NICE. MOST
BUSINESSES CAN BE
ONLY “IN THE CLOUD”.
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29. ONLINE SERVICES
Google Apps – Microsoft Office 365
(communication and collaboration)
Asana – (Task management)
Dropbox – file sharing and synchronization
Evernote – life management (notes, etc)
Web browser add-ons
Email add-ons
Youtube
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30. RULE #7 - SECURE
COMPUTING IS SMART
COMPUTING
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31. RULE #7 – SECURE COMPUTING
 Hackers love you love
your data
 Be cautious online
 Educate your staff
 Have secure passwords
 Backup your
information
 Be wary of internal
security breaches ie
“rogue employees”
 Wireless computing –
be nervous
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32. SECURE COMPUTING RESOURCES
AVG.com
Symantec.com
Microsoft.com/security
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33. RULE #8 – LEVERAGE THE
POWER OF MOBILITY
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34. RULE #8 – MOBILE PRODUCTIVIT Y
As productive
OUT of your
office as IN your
office
Office services
should be “out
of office
accessible”:
fax, telephone, v
oice
mail, email, file
s
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35. MOBILE TIPS
 Learn to use mobile
tools
 Have the right apps on
your phone
 Test a variety of mobile
devices
 Have redundancy
 Test before you use in
the field
Don’t be
cheap!
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36. MOBILE 101
 Right phone
 Right network
(AT&T, Verizon
Wireless, Tmobile, etc
)
 Right apps
 Right accessories
 Right mobile devices
(tablet, notebook)
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37. A Tour of Ramon’s
Backpack
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38. RULE #9 - UPGRADE
YOUR WEB SITE
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39. RULE #9 – UPGRADE YOUR WEB SITE
 Your web site is YOU
 Old web sites scream “Don’t buy from me”’
 Your web site should sell for you 24/7
 Great design matters (ie Steve Jobs)
 Superfluous design sucks, wastes time and is
distracting
 Build in social features
 RESOURCE: www.10websitemusts.com
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40. DIY VS WEB DESIGNER
Low cost
Quick
“Easy”
Good enough for
most
Larger investment
Takes time
Custom made
Your time can be on
something else
Expertly done
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41. DIY WEB DESIGN SERVICES
Wix
Squarespace
OnePager
Jimdo
Intuit web sites
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42. RULE #10 - EMAIL
MARKETING IS NOT
DEAD
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43. RULE #10 – EMAIL MARKETING NOT DEAD
Nurtures
Relationships
Loyal customers
Everyone is not a
Social Media addict
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44. EMAIL MARKETING
Great subject lines
Great content
Measure analytics
Not too often. Not
too infrequent.
Be informative.
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45. RULE #11 - SOCIAL
MEDIA IS NO JOKE
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46. FOUR SIMPLE SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS
1.
2.
3.
4.
Frequent
Relevant
Engaging
Analytics
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47. RULE #11 – SOCIAL MEDIA IS NO JOKE
 Your customers and
your customer’s
mothers are social
 Create a simple
strategy
 Educate employees
(The wrong Tweet
could get someone
fired or worse)
 Each social media
network is unique
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48. SOCIAL MEDIA IS NOT EVERY THING
Social media is not
everything.
“Old fashioned”
marketing works
Be wary of social
media consultants
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49. 11 RULES OF TECH SUCCESS…
1. Invest
2. Outsource
3. Educate
4. Don’t Technologize a Bad Business Process
5. Customer Marketing
6. Cloud (online) Computing
7. Security
8. Mobility
9. Web Site
10. Email Marketing
11. Social Media
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50. Give Ramon
your business
card and he’ll
email you a
copy of
Lifecycle
Marketing
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51. THANK YOU
ramon.ray@infusionsoft.com
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