That’s the response you want from every email, but in particular if you are trying to use email to turn a prospect into a lead.  The challenges facing the modern business at getting in contact with decision makers far exceed old school sales challenges of twenty years ago.  People are insular; they have their voice mail, and spam filters and assistants filtering all but the most important calls.

Cold calling, still a necessity of the sales process has a close cousin that is often overlooked. The “Cold Call” email. It has its own challenges.

Unsolicited email is illegal in many countries. Is a “Cold Call” email in this category, or is it something else?

The general consensus is that if you are in Business to Business sales, that you have researched your prospects, and that your offer is relevant to their business, then no, it is not “Spam”. It is no different than calling them, sending a Direct Marketing piece, or even turning up at their office.

There is one caveat, if they ask you not to email them again; the professional thing is to do is do as they wish. However, you now have several opportunities for further contact.

Those contacts are:

1. Confirmation that they have asked to be removed.
2. Confirmation that they have been removed.
3. A follow up call to say you have personally ensured they have been removed from the database you use.
4. A direct mail confirming they have been removed, but inviting them to sign up for a special report via the web.
5. A follow up to see if they have received the direct mail, and finding out if they have any questions.

After (5) you have now got them into your normal sales pipeline, and although you can’t email, you can use all other forms of contact. And eventually they will ask you to email something through, which gives you permission to email them again.

“Cold Call” emailing is not Spam, as long as it is well targeted.

Use it, test the waters, and remember the five further opportunities to contact your prospects, even if they asked to be removed from your email list.

But every start-up, whether it is your first, or your fiftieth runs the risk of the same problem, cash burn.

Something that is always astonishing is the cash burn these companies have. The money sack is literally being shovelled into the proverbial furnace at an amazing rate. It seems that the costs just creep up and without cash flow, the result can turn ugly very quickly.

Bootstrapping everything is generally the way to go, unfortunately most people who head down the start-up path have never even heard of it. They want everything just right. Everything perfect.

Unfortunately that is a recipe for failure, or has been in anecdotal evidence from a range of start-ups studied. All the numerous case studies about successful and not so successful start-ups seem to concur.

Bootstrapping is critical, but over time certain other factors seem to be critical as well. Culture is one.

The following is a list compiled from experience, other blogs, white papers and just chewing the fat with people who have been there, done that. It is focused on technology start-ups on a New Zealand scale, but can be applied to many others.

1. Supply snacks, soft drink and fruit. Saving one trip a day across five staff is an hour per day of extra productive time. It also makes the staff feel appreciated. Happy staff are productive staff.

2. Build a culture of teamwork by bringing in lunch at least once a week. Make it a meeting. Even better, do it four days a week and have a no meeting policy. Saving two hours per staff member per week if you have regular meetings. All other meetings should be short and done standing up with no more than three to five agenda items. Use an alarm clock/timer.

3. Got extra space? Sublease it month by month. It can slow the cash burn substantially, and if you bring in a complementary company, there is opportunity for contra work being undertaken.

4. All developers should have two monitors. No ifs, no buts. It will save at least 30 minutes a day. That’s an extra two and a half hours from every developer per week. You do the sums!

5. Comfortable ergonomic chairs are a must. Cheap desks will suffice, but a developer who is uncomfortable is unproductive.

6. Payroll (contract or permanent) and all professional services like Accounting should be outsourced. Keep it simple and streamlined. Let contractors invoice rather than use expense claim processes.

7. Use OpenOffice or GoogleDocs – why give Microsoft your money when you can get the tools for free.

8. Put contractors on daily rates so they can be treated more like salaried staff. Provide bonus incentives for on target delivery, not penalties for being late and they will deliver.

9. Ensure good coffee is available in-house. See (1) above. It will save another hour per day easily.

10. Allow people to work off hours. Commuting is a waste of time for everyone. Let folks start at 6am or 11am and you’ll cut their commute in half. It can save one to two hours a day by having very flexible time.

11. Don’t waste money on strategic PR companies or web design companies, set up Wordpress, turn it into a CMS and save yourself tens of thousands of dollars a month. Pay a student to do market research and undertake any advertising work.

12. Pay for a good time and billing tool. The habits started now will see the company through to success. Accuracy of time allocation is critical, and all decision makers need to have it readily visible, not just the CEO. The management should also track their time, not just the underlings.

13. Downtime through video games, a quiet area or a stereo with headphones is essential for the well being of the staff. Make the space. It will improve productivity and that’s always a good thing.

That’s the list. Most of it just takes a little bit of cash each week and can reap the benefits very quickly. You save at least two hours a day per developer by applying the above. That’s like having another developer if you have a team of four or five.

If you are running a start-up and want to chat directly about how to organize some of the above, feel free to drop me a note. I am happy to help.

Network and multi-level marketing people have always promoted word-of-mouth marketing, because they understand its power. Every contact with a prospect, lead or customer has an element of word-of-mouth marketing. The question they always ask is “Who do you know?”

This simple question, often asked innocently, has an amazing impact on keeping your pipeline full of prospects.

But how does this work with the de-personalization of modern business through the use of technology. Decision makers hide behind the fortress of their inbox and voice mail. For many, they never speak to a soul outside their inner circle. Is word-of-mouth marketing still relevant?

The answer is not black and white, and is more complex than many would think. There will always be those decision makers who are surrounded, and it can take literally years to get to them. But their armor is not perfect, there is a way in.

Social media and viral marketing now have an incredibly important part to play. Viral marketing being an extension through technology of traditional word-of-mouth marketing. But you must avoid the old pitfalls of product/service orientated content, and focus on education based marketing.

The power of using social media and the modern form of word-of-mouth marketing is it can move far more quickly than before technology was so prevalent. The key is to become the expert, offer free information, engage in debate and spread the word that you and your company are indeed the experts in a particular aspect of your industry.

And learn from the MLM and Network Marketers. Always ask “Who do you know?” for modern word-of-mouth marketing.

The new phrases are:

Please…

Retweet * Share * Digg * Stumble
… the list goes on.

Word-of-mouth: Is it still relevant in a technology world? Absolutely.

James sighed, feeling rather good.

Now you have praise from a client, what do you do with it?

Having a client who has praised your work is often a rare occurrence for many businesses, and when it happens, it is important to make the most of the opportunity. Good feedback that you can use is very powerful.

The ideal method of using good feedback from a client is a case study. Essentially a story, it works through the problems the client was facing, but more importantly how your solution solved that client’s problem. It instills a personal feel to the situation described through interviews with client’s staff, and key players within your own organization. The great thing is it has no real need to be sales orientated, and written well, can target common objections your sales staff encounter.

There are five key benefits from using case studies:

• They tell a story that prospects can understand
  Case studies can provide a tangible picture of other successes which can remove many objections around trust with your leads.
• They have a long effectiveness life
  Unlike some marketing collateral, case studies have a long effectiveness life. They can continue to be used year after year for the product or service being offered.
• Cost effective
  Compared to most other forms of collateral, case studies are very cost effective and can be used online, in trade magazine or even as information packs sent out with clients
• High conversion effectiveness
  Second only to White Papers, case studies are one of the most effective methods of converting a lead into a client.
• Quick to produce
  Compared to many forms of marketing collateral, case studies are relatively quick to get put together, the biggest issue being interviews with busy people.

For many companies, getting case studies put together can make a real difference to long sales cycles and closing deal. Case studies can assist in shortening the usual sale cycle by addressing prospects concerns more effectively than a sales person could do. Providing easy access to your case studies via your web site can have a positive effect on the quality of the leads.

Case studies are best done by professionals who have interview skills, and can also tell a great story. They also do take around 20 hours to put together, although non-professional writers can take up to 50 hours to put a case study together. From a cost perspective, most companies cannot afford to take key staff out of production for 50 hours, so outsourcing does make better sense.

By using a professional, you can also ensure the case study remains neutral from an emotional perspective. Staff talking to clients about how great they did can often come across as a little overbearing for the client, where as having someone independent ensure the client relationship has minimal undue pressure put on it.

Next time you have a happy client, remember, get a case study put together, you will benefit from increased sales for years to come.

The darkness changed to a grey shadow world, as her eyes became accustomed to the lack of light. She could see Aaron, Marcus’ business partner next to her. Judging from the angle of his left arm and right leg, he had not fared so well from their jump into the darkness. His breath was ragged; he was alive.

They had landed at the end of an alley, and in the far distance she could see the odd car drive past. There were rubbish bags and other refuse littered about, and the ground was damp with small pools of water. The alley obviously saw little sunlight during the day.

Katie rolled to one side, pain slowing her as she tried to get to her feet. The glitter of Aaron’s gun the focus of her attention. She moved slowly towards the discarded weapon. She knew their hunters would find them. With Aaron out of action, she would need something to even the odds.

Gun in hand, Katie moved towards Aaron’s broken body. Blood seeped through his jeans near the odd angle of his leg. Fresh blood flowed from his nose and mouth. He needed help, and badly. Reaching into Aaron’s jacket, she found the remains of his mobile phone. It fared worse from the descent that it’s owner.

In the blackness above, Katie heard raised voices. Looking up she could see torchlight from the balcony that she and Aaron had jumped from. Had it not been for the trees slowing their descent, they would certainly be dead. As it was, Aaron was not looking too good.

As the blood cleared from Katie’s nose and mouth, the metallic tang was replaced with dampness and garbage. Looking about, Katie discovered some old cardboard boxes, a few plastic bags and what looked to be Hessian sacks.

Pulling them carefully over Aaron, she was able to at least hide him from anyone casually looking into the alley. With Aaron as covered, and hopefully undetected as possible, Katie began moving up the alley towards the main street.

Jesus, what a mess! Aaron was supposed to be protecting me! Not the other way around. Where was her knight in shining armour?

Explanation
This extract is set about half way through the middle of the story. Katie had just discovered that she has become entangled into something much bigger than just returning a notebook. She is also beginning to realize the stakes are very high indeed. Essentially she is also becoming quite determined to extract herself from the situation, and is finding strength she did not know she possessed. I expect great things from Katie, and I am sure many people will be able to relate to her character at some level.

Copyright © 2005 Karl Rohde

The young woman next to me sighed, and lent back against the lift wall. A look of total disinterest made it very clear she had no idea what was happening just a few feet away from her.

I looked at one corner of the small box as we started to be hurtled upward towards our destination. It gave no indication it understood or cared about my plight. A quick glance at the young woman, then at another corner showed me they to did not have a clue about what was happening.

My hands felt hot, the shirt and tie felt constricting, but what could I do? I was stuck, being taken somewhere without any control of the movement. The small metallic box running through its chimney like shaft inside this towering building on thin cables, controlled by massive motors and subtle electronics.

The lift slowed and came to a stop. The door opened. My chance had come. A quick look told me I was not at my destination. Perhaps I should leave now. I gasped, startling the young woman from her zombie like state. I could see a look of wariness on her face, as the sweat ran down my nose. Was she now aware of the issue? Was she becoming as concerned as I?

Why had the lift stopped? This was not my floor. Nor did it seem the young woman had any intention of departing. A tortuous prank played by some child or other deviant? Or was it simply that another lift had arrived before ours, or the person who called it had more sense and took the stairs.

The metallic voice rang out again. My chance was gone. The journey in the small capsule of metal continued.

I looked up at the numbers ticking by above the lift doors. More than half way, but it was so far to go. Sweat began to poor down my back as I felt my body tremble with anxiety. My mind raced, thinking of all the possible outcomes.

A metallic voice rang out twelfth floor. I was there. I was free. I exited the lift, walking on rubber legs. Looking over my shoulder I saw the doors close, and with that I released the pent up gas in my bowels, the flatulence erupting like thunder.

I had survived another trip without embarrassment.

Copyright © 2005 Karl Rohde

Security. It’s a common component of marketing material coming from companies that sell web based solutions.

That is the perception that most technology companies like to present to their prospects and existing clients. However, this perception may not be entirely valid. Is your company misleading your prospects and clients?

It is estimated that there are close to 500,000 sites with currently undetected source code vulnerabilities. Many of these vulnerabilities are potentially devastating for the business owner. That spells potential liability for you, the service provider.

Do you remember the first time your development team had released code that was not quite up to standard? What was the client’s reaction? Did they even know? Worse still, did it involve your attorney?

You’re not alone, most web development firms, be they SaaS based products or bespoke development, will release insecure code at some stage. Compared to general logical or functional bugs, the issues around web application security are far more subtle. The repercussions can be more far reaching as well.

At a high level, you may have any of the following to audit:

• Authorization and Authentication
• Command Execution
• Cross Site Scripting
• File Access
• SQL Injection
• Stored Cross Site Scripting

Can your development team really cover off all of these manually?

Putting in place a strict regime of testing, which includes a degree of automated testing will mitigate your risk of releasing insecure code. The best option is a third party tool.

It is pretty critical that you introduce this form of testing into your quality assurance program. As web based applications become more complex, and your source code base grows in size, manually auditing the code base becomes prohibitively resource intensive.

The big question is what happens when your manual audit fails. Note, that is when, not if. An automated software tool is your best bet for consistent results.It never gets tired, never has a hangover, and is not having a bad day.

Can you afford to not have a tool scanning for source code vulnerabilities in your quality assurance process?

Considering an average Case Study costs $500, but can convert 10-20 prospects to clients, they are an exceptionally cost affective tool in your marketing arsenal.

Unfortunately, for many technology businesses, the Case Study is the lone sheep lost in the back paddock. They are done when the opportunity of a happy client comes about, and sent out to a few prospects, then added to the web site archive, and forgotten.

In my nearly twenty years of consulting with information technology businesses, it’s pretty much the standard method of using Case Studies.

But they can be leveraged so much more with a little planning and some extra effort.

Consider this. You have a mailing list, you have a happy client, a service or product that worked really well for a given situation. Obviously you decided a Case Study was worth while, but what about the other relatively cheap marketing opportunities you have.

This is my suggested approach when you have a client happy enough to go to the effort of interviews for a Case Study.

Firstly, before distributing the Case Study, look at the very specific problem your solution solved. Have a White Paper written with this specific problem as it’s focus, and your solution to that problem. In the White Paper, reference the Case Study as a specific success story. Remember, a White Paper is part article, part brochure, so having this sort of self reference is perfectly legitimate.

The next step is to write a Press Release. This should be on the client’s success story, and refer to the Case Study, and note that for further information, read the White Paper.

You now have the pieces in place to have all three formats work together, exceeding what each could do on their own.

Send out the Press Release online and offline, simultaneously writing a blog entry about your client’s success story, and a second piece scheduled a few days later on the White Paper, make sure the Press Release, White Paper and Case Study are promoted on social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Digg.

Your lonely Case Study is no longer in the dark, relegated to the back paddock, but reaching a breadth of audience it could never reach on it’s own. The slightly higher spend on the combined Case Study, White Paper and Press Release will more than pay for itself, as the number of warm prospects brought in will exceed anything one of those initiatives could have done on their own.

Give it some thought, and I would be really interested in hearing from others who have tried this approach, and also those who tried one of these method of delivery in isolation.

Here’s the scenario:

You are the marketing strategist of a start-up selling niche software to IT professionals.

Your marketing plan already has all the basics. It has the web site, direct e-mail marketing, auto-responders and even free trials.

In this common start-up situation, there are two additional tools you can use to promote your product.

However, cost, time and results are king, and you are restricted to only one.

The choice is either publish a series of white papers or us a technical blog.

Which would you opt for? Why?

My wife and I seldom go out for dinner any more, so when we do, we like to make it a bit special. Our latest childless excursion was to take us to Matakana for dinner and a movie at the Matakana Cinema (may review that experience later).

Entry into Tapiano was a little confusing, as it looked a little bit clinical, and having staff moving large containers through the main doors was a little off-putting.

However, this initial dampener was soon changed as once we entered staff were very friendly and quick to respond to our arrival. To one side of the bar two staff were chatting and laughing. Having happy, cheerful staff is a good sign in my books.

Our booking was found quickly, and we were taken to a table near the fire, which was very romantic. Or it would have been had the lighting not been a little too bright and clinical. It was a little bit too harsh to feel cosy. The tables and their layout were immaculate, with plenty of space between and no feeling of being cramped or too close to other patrons. Outside was lovely blue fairy lights in vines and trees, which added a wonderful element to the overall atmosphere.

We were given plenty of time to decide on our food, and were asked ahead of time for our initial drinks order. Drinks arrived while still deciding on our menu choices, which makes a very pleasant surprise. The menu was easy to read, well laid out, and not physically huge; needing another table to open. Prices were clear, and one could flick between entrée, mains and wine menu easily.

Something really nice was fresh bread and herb butter was provided while we waited for our entrée and main. This was a very nice touch that really helped build up the feeling of being pampered.

The wine selection was excellent, although we would have preferred more options for “by the glass”.  Our entrée and mains suited slightly different wines, however I settled for two glasses of the excellent Ti Point Sav Blanc, and my wife started with one, and had a Finca Luzon Monastrel, which although I did not taste, had the aroma of a wonder drop of wine indeed!

Our order was taken quickly, and without fuss, although the person who took our order was confused when my wife could not remember the wine’s specific name. She quickly recovered from this, but staff should know all the wines off by heart and by their description not just their full name.

Our entrées arrived promptly. And their presentation was excellent. Portions were quite large, but better too much than too little. I am not a big eater, but I imagine some would have felt deprived if the portions were smaller.

Our mains arrived with a nice gap so we did not feel rushed.

Service at all time was excellent, with water being refilled without request, and polite enquires as to how we were enjoying our meals. At no time was our conversation interrupted, which is a sign of well trained professional staff who pay attention to patrons rather than provide rote service.

We did not have desert as we were seeing a movie, although in hindsight we could easily have fitted it in with the prompt service we received.

Entrée 1:
Parfait of Chicken Livers and Foie Gras mini brioche and port-wine cherries

Entrée 2:
Seared Tagarashi Game fish (Blue Eye Tuna), fresh sashimi grade seared, saffron and citrus dressing, prawn spring roll and herb salad.

Main 1:
Tarragon Chicken

Main 2:
Roast Venison with Quince roasted pear and rosemary chutney and potato gratin

In conclusion

All in all an excellent dining experience.  Something not mentioned above was the live Piano in the background, which really set off the whole place. Staff being friendly, efficient and professional makes a pleasant change.  Prices are very affordable, and based on what we had, I would love to come back and try the deserts. Staying local would be a bonus so we could try more of the wines.

The only negative was the lighting, which needs to be toned down a lot. It was just too clinical.

I highly recommend Tapiano Bar & Bistro and can happily give them 4.5 stars out of 5.