Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Virtual
S u c c e ss
Finding
Profitability
in an Online
World
By
Alan Blume
HF5548.32.B598 2010
658.872--dc22
2010008886
Authors Note:
mAcknowledgments
pecial thanks to my wife, Peggy, and my friend and colleague Mike Lauducci, who both reviewed early versions
of this book and offered advice and guidance. My agent,
Wendy Keller, deserves special mention, as she provided significant help and guidance to revamp my book proposal and reorganize my outline. Thanks to Lisa Coleman for her assistance,
suggestions, and editing of a late manuscript draft. Thanks to
my friend Joe Lauducci, who listened patiently to my constant
banter about this subject and offered excellent feedback and
many helpful suggestions. Thanks to my daughter, Amy, who
provided research, suggestions, and edits; my son, Andrew;
my friends and colleagues John Scranton, Tim Butler, George
Balerna, David Scranton, Phil Petrillo, Ann Jacoby, Nate
Defosses (Website), and Michael G. Burke (graphics including PDFs in my appendix). Id also like to thank the Career
Press team, including Adam Schwartz, Michael Pye, Laurie
Kelly-Pye, Kirsten Dalley, Jeff Piasky, Gina Hoogerhyde, and
my editor, Jodi L. Brandon. Thank you to the many who listened, advised, assisted, supported, and believed.
Contents
Introduction
A Tale of Two Nephews
Chapter 1
I Brushed the Sand off My Suit
11
Chapter 2
Would You Hire Yourself for a Virtual
Company?
23
Chapter 3
Business Basics for Your Virtual Company
37
Chapter 4
How to Create a Virtual Business in
72 Hours
59
Chapter 5
A Virtual Boutique: Branding and
Image for Your Virtual Operation
79
Chapter 6
Virtual Selling: Identify and Qualify
97
Chapter 7
Virtual Selling: Present and Close
115
Chapter 8
Virtual Marketing
133
Chapter 9
Virtual Hiring and Virtual People
Management
163
Chapter 10
Expanding Your Virtual Business
183
Chapter 11
A Virtual Conclusion
199
Appendix A
217
Appendix B
225
Notes
227
229
Index
233
239
Introduction
A Tale of Two
Nephews
week, perhaps 25 to 30 hours, though I cannot say for sure because I dont track his hours. He has no commute and creates
his own schedule. He takes a walk, rides a bike, or swims every
day. He rarely gets out of his shorts and t-shirt yet watched his
income double during the past year. He seems very happy and
relaxed, and has enjoyed recent trips to Aruba, Boston, and
Santa Barbara. He is a contractor, not an employee, and each
day he determines his own hours, his own schedule, and the
resource allocation for his own team. He is one relaxed and
happy nephew.
Which nephew would you prefer to be? Its certainly not
the best of times and the worst of times for my nephews, but it
is a great virtual time for one of them and a stressful brick-andmortar time for the other.
Virtual means good, fast, and cheap. It means efficient,
cost effective, profitable, flexible, and eco-friendly. My virtual
model offers an easier path to profits, and, perhaps more importantly, it provides the time to enjoy these profits from a
lifestyle standpoint. It means a better lifestyle and more time
with friends and family. It is a better way for many, and, in one
specific instance, for my nephew, who now reaps the benefits
of my virtual company and the quality of life.
I wrote Your Virtual Success to help all of those whose lives
are consumed by stress, long commutes, difficult bosses, and
debtors at the door, to find a better way and a more efficient
model to yield a better balance in their lives and an improved
quality of life. Your Virtual Success is a guide to illustrate some
of the best practices and preferred approaches, state-of-theart tools, and tricks of the trade to help you navigate the virtual business road. This may be the road less traveled for many
at the moment, but far more of us will be embarking on this
journey in the very near future. Lets delve into the dramatic
business and personal benefits of my virtual model.
10
Chapter 1
I Brushed the
Sand off
My Suit
I do know one thing; I know how to build a highly successful virtual company and how to teach others to do so in
an interesting and exciting way, allowing them to replicate my
results. My own enviable virtual business model has increased
my freedom, obliterated my commute, optimized my flexibility,
increased my income, and drastically improved my life. I can live
anywhere, go on vacation any time I want, and create whatever
level of income I desire. I can clearly show individuals and companies the implementation strategy to quickly set up a viable
and profitable virtual business, in both business-to-business
(B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) environments.
My virtual model has resulted in large, six-figure deals
with people that I never met face to faceand never will
and small sales that would never be profitable in a traditional
business environment. Ive finalized large, six-figure sales in
Europe, Australia, South America, and North America, easily
and efficiently from my small, Massachusetts-based virtual
office. I am sometimes thousands of miles from my clients corporate suites, yet a mere stones throw away in virtual terms.
You will learn how to mirror this process utilizing proven techniques such as virtual presentations, the virtual elevator pitch,
eMarketing, eCollateral, Web seminars, online meetings, virtual Website creation, online social networks, and asynchronous collaboration. I delve into the secrets of securing new
clients for a virtual startup, and offer tips on virtual hiring,
management, and cost-effective methods for the international
expansion of a virtual operation. And of course, I demystify
the cost-effective, leading-edge Internet-based tools that are
available to everyone, as long as you know what to ask for and
where to look for them.
Over the last five years I learned how to apply all of my
best growth practices to a virtual business, leveraging the new
tools and technologies enabling small companies to sell globally, easily, and profitably. I help many of my clients learn and
benefit from my virtual model. My clients, many in seemingly
14
stodgy, traditional markets, have learned to profit from my virtual company techniques, including: outsourcing, insourcing,
Website refinements, remote collaboration, and a virtual style
of management. Using these techniques, you can hire talented
people globally, and coach, manage, and monitor virtually.
Many of these talented individuals were underemployed or
simply not employable in a traditional environment. Yet these
highly qualified individuals have been easy to find on Craigslist
and other online sources, and can usually be found with zero
search costs. The virtual paradigm shift has already happened,
and the good, fast, cheap paradigm has changed as a result
of the Internet-based tools now available. A decade ago you
had to pick any two of those three options (good and fast but
not cheap, or fast, and cheap but not good). Today you can get
all three using my virtual model, and the good, fast and cheap
internet business tools now available. Its not difficult for you
to do this; Your Virtual Success will teach you how to master
this model.
in the Boston area. Though I knew little about these new personal computer devices and had no specifically relevant background, the good news was that neither did anyone else. So I
picked up the phone book and looked up computer stores. I
started with the As, and by the time I got to the letter C I was
hired as a salesperson by a Charlestown, Massachusettsbased
computer store, a modest retail establishment located in an
old brownstone under the shadows of the famous Bunker Hill
Monument.
It was very excitinga hapless political science major getting his foot in the side door of an emerging industry! I would
receive a truly modest salary of $9,000 a year. By anyones
standards, my salary was really, really low at the time. I would,
however, earn commissions, which offered some good upside
opportunity if I ever sold anything substantial. It seemed to
be a great way to learn about this new field from the ground
up while gaining some real world experience, and I might just
make enough to pay the rent.
The results, to be candid, surprised me. It seemed I had
an affinity for bootstrapped sales and marketing, and enough
understanding of PCs to be able to respond to most inquiries,
which, during the dawn of the PC revolution, allowed me to appear as a knowledgeable oasis amid a desert of general incompetence. Within six months I was earning more than $35,000
per year, which doesnt sound like much now, but in 1982 you
could purchase a nice home in Massachusetts for $100,000.
Eighteen months later I landed an outside sales position with
a new computer company and doubled my income. In 1986,
four years after my departure from Northeastern University,
I was hired as a director of sales and marketing for a small
computer company, and my income exceeded $100,000. Not
bad for a local high school punk with lackluster grades and a
spotty track recordand its a safe bet that your high school
transcript looked better than mine.
16
companies transition frequently, too. Virtual companies, however, dont have the onerous brick-and-mortar overhead, outof-touch venture capitalists, and big-company executives with
their associated salaries, perks, and big-company business philosophies found at many small, venture capital-backed companies. It was a happy day when I accepted a position with a
local firm and left this West Coast companys unrealistic expectations behind. Nonetheless, I was still conforming to the
60-hour work week when combined with the requisite 60-to90-minutes-per-day commute. Regardless of the reasons, the
end result was the same: more time on the road and less time
with the family. It was around this time in my life that I asked
myself how I could earn enough to support a great lifestyle
from an economic standpoint, yet spend significantly more
time with my family. Im sure this same thought crosses the
minds of many of you who suffer from the rat race paradox, or
who merely face a long and difficult daily commute.
me and you, to be completely productive whenever and wherever we wish. From the comfort of my lounge chair with 3G
connectivity (or Wi-Fi if I were within proximity), I could set
up a virtual meeting in less than five minutes with 15 participants from all over the globe, presenting, discussing, and collaborating on a project. This technology costs about a dollar
a day. Give me 15 minutes and I could create a web seminar
capable of hosting 1,000 attendees with technology that costs
about two dollars a day. And within the same hour, I could send
out 10,000 e-mail invitations to my clients opt-in e-mail list,
providing each invitee a customized landing page to quickly
capture their registration information, using an eMarketing
solution that costs about $3 dollars a day. These solutions are
referred to as Software as a Service solutions, or in some cases
cloud computing. This is not the wave of the future; these capabilities are here today, whether were working at this warm
sunny beach or back in chilly Boston.
I settle back into my canvas lounge chair, positioning myself in the partial shade made available under the matching
blue umbrella. Even in September, the Pensacola sun can be
very strong. As I survey the sugar-like composition of the white
sand common to the panhandle beaches, I realize with the
slightest sense of remorse that my sun-filled vacation is coming to a close. But the remorse is short lived as I ponder my
next working vacation: In just 90 days I would be working
in Curacao enjoying some scuba diving and beach time with
friends and familynot to mention the occasional e-mail and
lounge chair cell phone call. Where and when would you work
if you had almost unlimited flexibility, extremely low costs,
and high profit margins, and could make your own priorities
your highest priorities? Will most of your time be spent in your
comfortable home office, or will you decide to combine business and pleasure travel and frequent sunny beaches? Your
virtual business options are almost unlimited, and Your Virtual
Success can help get you there.
22
Chapter 2
Would You
Hire Yourself
for a Virtual
Company?
negative economic cycles when other traditional training companies have floundered. His company has a great reputation,
and he can optimize profitability and flexibility while minimizing overhead. So can you.
Your virtual operation can be home-based in the same
way; you will be the owner and control your own destiny. If you
dont have a positive work environment at home or even an
attic or garage to use, you can also use a Starbucks, a local restaurant chain that offers connectivity, a library, or a business
incubator; rent a neighbors living room if they work during
the day; or, if absolutely necessary, find a cost-effective office
sublet near your home. If you work from home and want a
neutral but professional venue to meet a client, prospect, or
contractor, consider a local caf or coffee shop. For example,
Panera Bread offers the following synopsis of their cafs on
their Website, A place to gather with friends or enjoy a quiet
moment alone. Comfortable, friendly, fashionable. A place
to recharge and feel rejuvenated. Slip into one of our seriously comfy chairs and stay awhile. Ive used Panera Bread
and Starbucks for meetings, presentations, e-mail connectivity
(free WiFi), and, of course, the occasional breakfast, lunch,
and dinner. Need a remote office to meet with a prospect?
Do you need a place to catch up on your e-mails? How about
a neutral location for the occasional interview? You can accomplish almost any business meeting requirement in one of
these venues, or even run your business from some of these
locations until another cost-effective alternative materializes.
For most of us, a spare bedroom, basement, garage, or underutilized dining room work just fine for our virtual startup, and
ensures we keep costs to a minimum.
Chapter 3
Business Basics
for Your Virtual
Company
2. No up-front capital.
3. Customer deposits in advance of delivery.
4. Contractor based assistance for delivery.
Your virtual business should incorporate these elements
to optimize profitability and improve your likelihood of success. Keep these elements in mind as we discuss the business
basics for your virtual business.
Just because youre going virtual doesnt mean you can
abandon the important business basics necessary for any
emerging organization. There are two aspects of your virtual
business that need to be immediately addressed: what type
of business will you create, and what the basic structure of
your business will be. Lets tackle the structure first. Most
companies can begin as a DBA (doing business as) entity.
You can file a form at your town or city hall, registering your
DBA. If you are unsure of the name of your new virtual business, use your own name and add the business description.
For example, you might use John J. Smiths Online Antiques,
or AAJones Marketing Services. Regardless of the name you
select, make sure the name is available on the Internet, and
start thinking about a formal name you might use in the future.
Check on the domain name availability for both your current
DBA and your ultimate company name. You can check on this
at GoDaddy.com or NetworkSolutions.com, among many other
domain search sites. If you are thinking of a name, such as
StartUpSelling, for example, search for availability and derivatives right away. Derivatives might include StartUpSales,
StartSellingNow, StartUpMarketing, or even Start-SellingNow. The better and simpler the name, the more likely it is
already taken. For example, when I decided on StartUpSelling.
com, StartSelling and StartMarketing were already taken, thus
I tweaked the name and chose StartUpSelling when I determined I could purchase www.StartUpSelling.com. It costs
about $10 per year to purchase the rights to a domain, so you
38
should buy several that you like if they are available. Start
searching for your name early, reserve it, and get the .com
and .net rights, and/or the applicable domain of choice for
your respective country. Of course you will need a Website
for almost all businesses, but well delve into that a little later.
If you dont have an accountant (CPA), you should find
one, and get some fast, cost-effective advice on your business,
accounting, and tax requirements. Some CPAs will do an initial
visit for free, and others for a modest fee; others will incorporate a retainer based package that might run anywhere from
a few hundred dollars per year to more than a thousand, depending upon your needs. You can also consider incorporating as a Sub Chapter S or perhaps an LLC, and, though these
offer some protections and tax advantages, incorporation can
often wait until your growth and cash flow dictate. You should
line up an attorney to discuss your business structure and to
establish guidelines for future advice and guidance. Check
with your insurance company to ensure you are covered for
the basics of a work-from-home business, which in most cases
constitutes a nominal increase. Make sure these professional
advisors share an understanding of small business and have
fees to match. If you are unsure as to where to find a CPA, attorney, or insurance agent, LinkedIn or other social networks,
online entrepreneurship groups, blogs, a friend or neighbor
who has a small business, or even your local chamber of commerce, should be able to offer some suggestions. Unless you
have very specific needs, such as IP patents for an emerging
technology, most local CPAs and attorneys can help with all
the basics. Remember to consider using Internet-based legal
and accounting firms. These resources are often less expensive
and may be more in tune with your virtual business needs.
40
quickly. There is a tradeoff between what should be accomplished and what can be accomplished quickly. This is a very
important concept for a virtual business. You need to determine what must be done, what can be done, and which things
are feasible to accomplish within your budget and time constraints. For example, you might like to create a robust e-mail
database for your target market, but this could take months.
Conversely you can start telemarketing calls immediately with
an Excel spreadsheet loaded with contact names and a little
practice with your telemarketing pitch. Lets review the business basics needed for my virtual startup and see how these
may be similar for your virtual startup.
My core competencies revolved around sales and marketing expertise for smaller companies. Intuitively it seemed
small companies would be interested in these types of services. This was validated in discussions with friends and colleagues, Google-type/Yahoo-type searches, and research via
business books and articles. Labor could be provided through
contractors; there were plenty of contractors seeking work on
Craigslist and other traditional contractor-for-hire Websites.
I tested this concept by running ads for the skill sets I would
need in Craigslist. The resumes I received were highly qualified and plentiful, and in the price range I would require to
maintain robust profits. All of the Craigslist ads were free, thus
the costs in researching this aspect of my business was solely
personal time expended. In reviewing the likelihood of success
with this business, the basics were:
1. It can work as a home-based business.
2. It did not need a brick-and-mortar infrastructure.
3. It had limited capital expense (nothing to
manufacture).
4. Plenty of labor was available at reasonable rates.
5. Profit margins looked very promising.
m 45
cell phone for incoming calls, and you probably can too. My
initial costs were about $800, with ongoing costs of about $100
per month.
That was it. The business basics for my virtual business
were in place quickly, inexpensively, and with very limited initial or ongoing costs. I didnt create a formal business plan,
had no need to run complex financial projections, and didnt
create PowerPoint presentations for potential investors or
write up a comprehensive marketing plan. As I considered the
differentiators for my business, one of the benefits I could offer my clients would be a high-tech spin on the marketing and
lead generation business. Though technically a contractor, my
plan was to be tightly connected to my clients by both technology and purpose, working in a sense as a virtual employee
and completely aligned with their cause. My company would
be an outsourced sales and marketing organization leveraging
an integrated, Web-centric approach to marketing. With little
overhead, limited expenses, no distractions, and no commute,
I was confident that I could be successful in an abbreviated
but more efficient workweek, and I could work the hours I selected to optimize the benefits of my virtual operation. (Well
discuss the rapid creation of a virtual business in detail in the
next chapter.)
48
Weve spent most of this chapter discussing virtual, digital, and electronic, but what about traditional business-related
items such as letterhead, business cards, collateral literature,
glossy binders, four-color prints, and all of the supplies needed
for an office? The answer to this question is this: For most
virtual businesses, you really dont need these items. If a prospect asks you for these, tell them you can fulfill everything they
need electronicallyits better for them and the environment.
52
Rep
Hours
Dials
LVM
KC
138
999
565
49
29
17.25
MM
43
423
277
27
14
14.33
DD
84
119
68
11
31
11
7.64
ML
85
476
305
42
75
89
12
7.08
Totals
350
2,017
1,215
129
90
163
34
10.29
Emails Callbacks
Pitch
Now that weve covered the business basics for your virtual
business, lets move on to the rapid creation of your virtual
business. How long will it take you to ramp up your virtual
operation? Can it be done in a month, a week, or even a few
days? My virtual business was created in 72 hours. Lets review
how you can accomplish this, too.
m 57
Chapter 4
How to Create
a Virtual
Business in 72
Hours
Labor Day 2004 had come and gone, and I had landed
my first client through personal networking. Lets call them
Software and Services Corporation. They offered me a modest retainer, which would ultimately be replaced by a payfor-performance plan. I was expected to handle essentially all
aspects of their sales and marketing efforts. You might be surprised as to the extent and value of your own personal network,
which can be further leveraged through business networking
sites such as LinkedIn and Plaxo. For many businesses, personal networking can provide a fast and inexpensive way to
find your initial clients, though we will discuss other methods
throughout this book. My overhead was essentially nonexistent, and I was still receiving severance from my former employer. It was a great time to get my virtual business off the
ground. Severance packages offer you an excellent opportunity to start your virtual business or expand your part time existing business without going into debt or increasing cash burn.
rapid and constant basis, and you should focus on the missioncritical tasks that will yield new clients and cash flow. Let me
say this again: Regardless of the number of important tasks
you need to accomplish, you must focus on shorter-term, opportunistic activities that will yield clients and cash flow. And
because you are virtual, this is much easier to accomplish than
in traditional venues.
Though a contractor or outsource organization, my organization was designed to be tightly connected by both technology and purpose, working in a sense as a virtual employee
for my client organizations and completely aligned with their
goals. My company would be an outsourced sales and marketing gun for hire. With little overhead, limited expenses, no
distractions, and no commute, I could be extremely productive
in an abbreviated work week, and I could work the hours I
wanted, optimizing the personal benefits of my virtual operation. When you consider the amount of time wasted in many
traditional jobs, including endless meetings, office gossip,
politics, lunches, breaks and socializing, many experts believe
people are productive less than four hours per day.
Outsourcing offered a highly profitable model for both
my clients and me, and will help keep your costs and overhead low. Outsourced programmers could be found coding at
midnight, or start their day at noon. Talented graphic artists
and Website designers could reside anywhere and work the
hours they wished. Veteran telemarketers could be located
anywhere in the North America as long as they had a phone, a
PC, Internet access, and a skill set to match my needs, and they
needed to be polished, professional, and able to speak English
perfectly. (Of course, if we were calling South America, they
would need to speak Spanish or Portuguese perfectly.) We
used callers indigenous to the area we were calling, not lessexpensive offshore callers, many of whom had strong accents.
Your virtual business will allow you to dictate exactly the skill
sets you seek and find professionals to match your needs. Its
much easier to find people for our virtual business if we can
hire them anywhere in North America (or possibly the world,
if your business requires it). Many of the methods for hiring
contractors are free. Some of the Websites I found include:
Cragislist, Elance, Freelance, Guru, Project4hire, and Sologig,
though there are many others. My team could enjoy the ultimate in flexibility, yet we could all work more productively
66
the biggest reason revolves around efficiency and cost containment. In our brave new virtual world, the goal is to find a
place to work that is comfortable, convenient, and preferably
rent-free. Traditional office space creates an insidious negative effect on profit, which tends to cascade as you consider
rent, insurance, phone lines, a receptionist, office furniture,
and so forth. My business is seven years old and required none
of these traditional brick-and-mortar operations.
Wave 2 Statistics
30 Sent
70 Sent
4 Interested
5 Interested
12 Not interested
20 Not Interested
14 No response
45 No response
m 73
can use these tools to quickly sell and market your products
and services to anyone, from almost anywhere. These virtual
sales and marketing methods are applicable to almost any
product, service, or solution. Ill show you how to leverage
these tools in greater detail in Chapters 6, 7, and 8.
Keep costs down by targeting a narrow and specific prospect profile and minimizing any time on paper-based fulfillment. E-mails take seconds, and your electronic collateral is
always up to date. E-mail has a built-in audit trail so we know
if it arrived, and it costs nothing to create or send. Most people
I deal with review information online. If they are going to hop
on a plane, they will review it on their laptop or, on rare occasion, print what Ive sent. Because youre doing everything
electronically, you have few if any paper files. That means no
archival or retrieval time, no lost documents, and no space for
file cabinets. And if you do things electronically, you can throw
away the paper shredder, too.
Once your virtual business is up and running, you no longer have to kill yourself with a 50- or 60-hour workweek. Not to
say that you wont need to put in a good effort, but you might
find you can accomplish what needs to be done in a productive, 30-hour virtual workweek as opposed to a 50- or 60-hour,
travel-intensive, wasteful workweek. How many hours do you
waste in meetings, conference calls, office politics, office chit
chat, preparing the plethora of executive reports, commuting
time, travel time, cost justifying salaries or costs, and redundant or unproductive efforts? Why does my virtual business
model ensure lower stress, higher profits, and a truly compelling, productivity yield? And why will yours?
1. There is no commuting time and, therefore, no
commuting expense.
76
78
Chapter 5
A Virtual
Boutique:
Branding and
Image for Your
Virtual Operation
m 79
Before continuing with our virtual branding and image review, lets discuss something I call virtual business judo. Judo
is a method of turning an opponents strength into a weakness
and overcoming his or her physical advantage by skill rather
than sheer strength. You should use virtual business judo to
compete against large and established companies by turning
their greatest strengths into clearly defined weaknesses. Dont
try to show greater depth of resources or feign an ability that
is not at your command. Dont try to convince someone that
you have a broader product line than an established, billiondollar competitor if you only employ five people. But you can
80
when competing with a firm that has a large account base and
has been around a long time. Lets say, for example, that they
have 1,000 customers installed on an independent service call
scheduling solution. Their software solution has been in use
for more than a decade, whereas yours has only been in use
two years, and you have 10 clients. You could say:
kk Our system was written from the ground up two
years ago and takes advantage of all the newer
technologies.
kk Because our system is more recently developed,
it is more compatible than the older systems.
kk Our code is newer and more efficient than the
competition.
kk Were more focused than the older traditional
companies because of our size and target client
profile, which is just like you.
kk Were more responsive because were not trying
to service 1,000 clients.
kk Well make you feel like youre our number-one
client.
Of course, you can also use the virtual model to belie your
actual size and look as if youre a larger and more established
player. My organization, StartUpSelling Inc., represents
many smaller companies in the $1 million to $25 million revenue range. In some cases, our clients are only emerging companies and employ a handful of people. But from the outside
looking in, we make these companies look much larger and
more professional. I leverage a cadre of virtual contractors
including telemarketers, expert statisticians, writers, graphic
artists, Website experts, and anyone else we needed. They
were hired as on-demand contractors, all of whom had to sign
m 85
contractor agreements that included comprehensive confidentially clauses, and they were all seasoned veteransexperts
in their respective fields. Some were found through my own
network; others were identified through ads on Craigslist and
other online contractor sources. All of them went through a
rigorous interview process (virtual, of course) and a project
trial or beta test before working with actual clients. Because of
this high-quality contractor rolodex, if my clients (or in many
cases my clients clients) needed anything, I could provide
quality results in fast order. Our client testimonials, Website
presence, ability to respond to almost any type of request for
assistance by our clients, and the ability to respond rapidly
made us look like a substantial organization. Your virtual operation can do this, too. Today, the size of the company is not
the most important factor; its the stability, viability, and capability of delivering quality results at a great value. If someone
is trying to leverage their size against your virtual business, just
remember to mention Enron, General Motors, Washington
Mutual, WorldCom, Conseco, and Lehman Brothers, all monster-sized organizations that filed for bankruptcy. Today, small
is good, and virtual is even better.
Many of my clients are boutique shops delivering superior
solutions at a competitive price point. Some offer a guaranteed
hard dollar ROI on every project. Others offer guaranteed product results. Two of my clients offer leading-edge, guaranteed
ROI solutionsone from an ASP-based (cloud computing)
offering, the other from a consultative services offering. They
both target a very specific niche market. Their branding conveys deep expertise in their target markets. More importantly,
because of their size, any client who calls them is automatically
and almost immediately speaking with an expert. Virtually every
person at these small organizations offers tremendous subject
matter expertise. And its a great differentiator when you can
say, Because of our boutique size, everyone at our company
is overqualified for their job. Youll never speak to a novice,
86
to procure most products. They also share information between agencies, have vehicles and organizations to help share
this information, and frequent certain periodicals for the latest
in technology. The government was also transforming at that
time from Government-off-the-Shelf (GOTS) procurement to
Commercial-off-the-Shelf Procurement (COTS). Simply said,
the U.S. government was attempting to purchase software and
solutions from the private sector rather than developing their
own. Government employees seemed to gravitate toward our
eMarketing and Web seminar efforts, and we had many interested parties attending these Webinars. Lastly, because our solution was high on functionality at an attractive price, we had
an excellent chance of winning competitive bidding. Within a
couple of short years, our new clients profile changed from
approximately 80 percent private to 80 percent government.
Overall revenues were increasing about 50 percent per year
as we outmaneuvered the competition with a value play. Our
virtual business judo revolved around:
kk Works with almost any PC or browser.
kk No PC download required.
kk Simple, fast, and easy workflow included at no
extra charge.
kk Rapid installation and integration on your
network.
kk Outstanding search capabilities.
kk Highly scalable.
kk Superior value, high functionality/low cost, easy to
use, rapid installation.
kk Small business boutique; flexible and responsive
to the needs of your agency.
We achieved strong name recognition in many major agencies, often spreading from one group to another. For example,
we might start with an agency such as the Federal Railroad
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Chapter 6
Virtual Selling:
Identify and
Qualify
m 97
simple way to begin. You can quickly and easily dump company names, contacts, and phone numbers into Excel and
start calling. Add rolling comments on the right side of your
spreadsheet, and you have an ultra-simple suspect database.
You can then import your names and demographic data, along
with your rolling comments into an SFA solution when you are
ready.
So where do you find a fast, cheap, and easy solution to use
as an SFA tool? Having spent the last 20 years running sales
organizations, I had more than a passing familiarity with sales
force automation products. Ive used proprietary, off-the-shelf
solutions, and enterprise solutions. For your virtual company,
Id recommend a simple SFA package or a basic database to
get the job done. It must be fast and simple to use. Bells and
whistles dont matter if its not fast and simple. By the way,
simple is more than easy: Its easy and efficient. Most of your
data should be available on one or two windows. If you need to
move through five windows to note that you left a voice mail
and schedule your next call, it may be easy, but it sure isnt
fast and efficient. You will need a calendar (Outlook or an
SFA calendar or an SFA that integrates with your Outlook
Calendar). The main functions you will need include:
kk Find contact and or company name.
kk Find contacts to call today.
kk Next record.
kk Hot prospect list.
kk Store key data including name, phone number,
e-mail, demographics, notes, company
background, and so forth.
kk Sort by key fields including state, business, phone
number, and so on.
kk Record notes and call back date or next steps.
kk Global search (critical functionality)!
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Once you have determined how you will store your suspect
list, you need to determine who and how you will reach out
to these suspects to identify legitimate prospects. Lets begin
with a review of the direct sales mode for your virtual business.
Do you have strong sales skills? Will you be the rainmaker
for your virtual organization? Or, do you intend to hire a vice
president of sales or killer closer to help your business grow?
Historically, a brick-and-mortar firm would hire a vice president of sales as their revenue driver and key closer. Their job
was to find a way to sell your products, services, and solutions.
With emerging or smaller companies they are often the evangelists, preaching the benefits of your new widget, service, or
solution. Base salaries for this type of person can range from
$75,000 to $150,000 depending upon the industry. In high-tech
for example, a VP of sales with a proven track record can easily
command $250,000 or more if they meet their sales objectives.
When you add expenses, stock options, and benefits, some
companies spend $300,000 or more for this type of individual.
This is much too costly for our bootstrapped virtual business
methodology.
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for a working mom who spends a few scant hours a week working the phones, and helps out with the occasional proposal and
follow-up calls. Both of these hires had small-company experience and a small-company attitude. I always try to hire smallcompany-oriented contractors or contractors who have prior
experience working from home, and you should, too.
Why should your contractors come from a small company?
These contractors will need to accomplish almost everything
on their own. They will not be able to delegate tasks to anyone.
There is no marketing team, sales support specialist, product
manager, or administrative assistant. This can be a huge culture
shock to many people moving from a large company to a small
company. Many times in my career Ive brought aboard salespeople from large companies who experienced difficulty transitioning to a small-company environment. Though we tried to
fully review the constraints in the interview process, they never
fully comprehended the transition. Once aboard, when the
new salespeople were in the trenches, that is when they truly
grasped the limitations of a small company. Then they realized
small companies didnt have refined internal processes, they
didnt spend millions (or even hundreds of thousands of dollars) on marketing, trade shows were often a luxury, prospects
didnt call us to inquire about our solutions, and prospects
didnt necessarily know our company name when we called.
These are just a few of the differences between working for a
small or virtual company and an IBM, Sony, ADP, or Apple.
Some were able to adapt to small-company demands and the
fast-paced culture, but most did not. Because hiring salespeople for small companies is particularly difficult, this made
the odds even more challenging. Ultimately, I hired only those
candidates that had successfully worked in a small-company
environment, and I subscribe to a similar philosophy today.
Give me a small-company background or show me you have
worked from your home officebased company, and then Im
interested. For those of you looking to transition from a large
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it been determined which cost center will cover this procurement? Have you ever purchased anything like this before at
this company? Has your company ever purchased something
like this before? Why have you not purchased one of these
yet? Naturally, you wouldnt ask all of these questions at one
time, but you would ask enough of them in your first few interactions to ensure you were spending your time wisely and
efficiently. After all, there are almost unlimited suspects, but
only a few truly good prospects worthy of your dedicated time.
If you are selling a less-expensive item, it should be even easier
to determine budget, but it is equally important and must be
done quickly, because the profit on each sale is smaller. Qualify
early and determine if the prospective buyer has budget.
Urgency is as critical as budget for larger purchases, or in
some cases more critical, because sufficient urgency can almost always result in someone finding budget. At CTS, we delivered custom training solutions for enterprise rollouts. Most
of the time, we could identify urgency. If there was an impending rollout of an Oracle Financials solution, for example, there
would be clear-cut urgency. Even if budget dollars were not
sufficiently allocated for the training, these companies would
find the money because they had to roll out the new solution
by a certain date, and the users had to understand how to
use this new solution. If a company is trying to comply with
Sarbanes Oxley or other compliance issues, or if someone is
trying to meet their year-end objectives to achieve their bonus,
the urgency will be prevalent and the budget often available
or accessible. If you find urgency, your virtual sales process
will move along rapidly. We would often say, No urgency, no
deal.
Decision Maker refers to the efficacy of your sponsor. Are
you at the VP level or working with a director or manager?
Whats the process for them to get approval? Have they ever
purchased something similar to this before? Is it a decision by
committee? Are they truly a decision maker? Will they sign
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the agreement, and if not, who will, and are they sure they really know who will sign? Do they have to put this through legal
or purchasing, or both? Authority can be challenging to gauge.
Even a COO of a $50 million company may lack the ability to
make a decision to buy a $50,000 solution without consulting
other C-level executives. Conversely, Ive seen managers make
the decision to move forward with large purchases at many organizations. Qualify your sponsor carefully and make sure you
both understand the procurement process as you move forward
in the sales cycle. For smaller B2C sales you must determine if
you are speaking with a shopper (the daughter who would like
a hat) versus the buyer (the parent who is actually buying the
hat). As with all B2C sales, you need to ascertain this quickly
if conversing over the phone, or as a partially or completely
automated qualification process through your Website.
Create your own acronym specific to your qualification
process. Your qualifiers should be somewhat unique to your
business, and your qualifying acronym should be part of your
operation and culture, even if you are a sole proprietor or have
only one salesperson. Your qualifying acronym can help you
spend time with the right prospects, which is half the battle
in for any sales operation. If your model isnt working, dont
try to be all things to all people, reevaluate your profile, and
refine your qualifiers, but, above all, spend time with people
who can buy. Its equally important to target the right profile
for both B2B and B2C virtual businesses. Just change the attributes to fit your business.
Qualify
Present (Demonstrate)
Close
Many salespeople, small business owners, or anyone involved in the sales cycle often encounter difficulty asking the
hard questions. They worry that they will appear too aggressive, turn off the prospect, or cross an invisible comfort level
line with the prospect, or they may just worry that they will
somehow impede their own process if they move their prospect
outside of some imaginary comfort zone. This happens in both
traditional and virtual venues. But an experienced buyer
should be ready for these types of questions and will respect
you for asking. If you are dealing with an inexperienced buyer,
and assuming you approach these questions in the right way,
they will appreciate that you are trying to help them through
a process that is new to them. If it is a simple sales process,
you can still ensure the likelihood of success by determining
the steps and questions in your process to improve your close
ratio.
What are some of these hard questions? Depending
upon your product or service they might include some of the
following:
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In your early discussions or presentations with your prospects, remember to ask the hard questions. The responses will
help guide you through your sales cycle and ensure your presentations are streamlined and effective, and, hopefully, delivered to the people who can buy. In a B2C environment, the
qualification questions are important to determine if the prospect is a shopper or a buyer, and, if they are in fact a buyer, to
best determine how you can optimize the interaction to cross
sell complimentary products or services. The identification
and qualification phases of your sales process, if done effectively, will result in a compelling virtual pipeline of solid, in
profile prospects. In the next chapter, well discuss the final
two phases of virtual selling: the presentation and close.
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Chapter 7
Virtual Selling:
Present and
Close
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12. Ask the prospect about your speed once or twice during
your presentation.
13. Try to make the session interactive (if it is not a Web
seminar), and encourage questions from your prospects
and offer praise for their questions, such as Thanks for
asking that question, I did want to cover that today.
14. Be sure you utilize voice inflection and transfer a
reasonable amount of enthusiasm, not as if you are
selling an infomercial product on TV, but enough that
the prospect realizes you are excited about your product,
service, or solution. If youre not excited, find a different
product, service, or solution to sell.
15. Time your presentation carefully before you give it. If you
have committed to 45 minutes, be sure you keep it to 45
minutes, and leave sufficient time to qualify and determine
next steps. This is a crucial point. You must follow a path
to closure; its better to show a little less and spend more
time addressing questions, concerns, and next steps.
On Broadway
and tested this a dozen times before the curtain went up and
we demonstrated our solution to the committee. Our perfectly
orchestrated custom workflow feature made us look heads and
shoulders above the competition, and the result was a new client and a half-million-dollar pilot project. Ultimately, we
won a multimillion-dollar client.
The presentation phase for a complex sale requires significant planning and rehearsal, but even a simple presentation
can require 10 steps. The presentation is the crucial link in the
chain of events from the qualifying phase to the closing phase.
You may only get an hour or less to present your solution and
differentiate yourself from your competition. Dont fall flat on
your face because of a lack of preparation. Depending upon
your type of virtual business, this one-hour time slot may have
come as a result of 20 hours of phone calls, several follow-up
meetings, a gatekeeper presentation, a dozen e-mails, and a
multitude of scheduling logistics. It might represent a week of
your time. So invest plenty of time to ensure you are ready,
prepared, and essentially over-prepared for the presentation.
When you go to a Broadway play and the curtain goes
up, the theater troupe is ready. They rehearsed their lines,
optimized their timing and voice inflection, practiced blocking, organized their props, built in time for the audience to
respond (audiences laugh, clap, cheer, and jeer), choreographed dance numbers, rehearsed with the orchestra, and
even made sure they had a well-orchestrated curtain call.
There were many rehearsals and even full dress rehearsals.
A quality theater troupe will be completely ready when the
show begins, and will even have fallback plans (like understudies) in the event of a problem, and so should you. Both
you and the theater troupe need to meet or exceed audience
expectations, both of you have a short time to meet or exceed
these expectations, both of you have different types of people
in your audience, and both of you hope for accolades at the
end of the performance.
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A virtual presentation should be educational, insightful, interesting, and compelling. It should be a performance. It doesnt
matter if you are spending five minutes showing custom hat
samples or 55 minutes reviewing a $100,000 software solution.
My virtual meetings always leverage high-quality digital
materials specifically prepared for the target audience, though
I also demonstrate real-time software or systems. There is no
substitute for a virtual live product demonstration. If you have
a physical widget, you can set up a PC video camera or create a
video showing your product in action. If you sell a service you
can create a video of this being done in the field; if you provide
consulting, you can create a client video testimonial; and if you
sell software, you should show it in action in your virtual presentations. In fact, if you create custom hats, you could show
your manufacturing process with a video, or use still photos to
show a progression. Bullets and text on PowerPoint slides are
boring; if possible, give your prospects something exciting to
see. Prepare, organize, rehearse, and deliver a quality presentation performance to advance to the next level in our virtual
sales process: the closing phase.
Almost all of my closing meetings are virtual meetings
using GoToMeeting and a traditional telephone or the VoiP
provided by GoToMeeting. One of my associates uses a headset through his PC and Skype, which seems to work really well
99 percent of the time, but I find a wired (not wireless) handset
best for recording clarity.
While delivering your interesting and exciting presentations, you must be cognizant of your path to close the sale,
which I often refer to as the P2P, determining how and when
you can close the business. Some salespeople also refer to
the ABCs of selling (always be closing). There are many
theories about closing the deal, but regardless of the theories,
let me share some rock-solid virtual tools and techniques Ive
used or created that will work for almost any virtual business.
Lets review a few of these virtual closing tools.
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Order Confirmation
Ive seen companies spend outrageous time and energy attempting to get their prospects to sign 10-page or even 20page verbose legal contracts. When I first arrived at Practice
Management Systems the contract was 11 pages long. At
Document Management Company it was 12 pages long, and
at Silicon Software Company, the granddaddy of them all, it
was more than 20 pages long. When I attended my first contract call at the Silicon Software Company, I left the meeting scratching my head. From their big-company perspectives,
they thought everything was fine, and this was merely the standard way of doing business. I recall marathon contract conference calls where hours of time were wasted arguing legal
technicalities. Ah yes, the venture capitalists and big company
philosophies at work, so concerned that every possible legal
permutation was covered, they tried to make their contracts
look like Fortune 500 firms. Deals can die, clients get upset,
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and salespeople are often frustrated and fed up with the contract process. The salespeople had a name for this process:
deal prevention.
So what did I do, and what should you do at your virtual
firm? It was an easy fix. At Practice Management systems, I
created a simple multipart (carbonless) contract. The back of
the contract had the terms in fine print (as if you were buying
a photocopier or telephone) and the front listed the products
and services they were buying. Typically, clients signed these
without even consulting their attorney; we tore off a copy
of the contract, handed it to the new client, and shook their
hand. What a dramatic change. Contracts often closed the
day of the final presentation. The contract had the basics, the
key protection clauses for intellectual property, indemnification, confidentiality, termination, and, of course, our deposit
requirements. It did a fine job. Why should we worry about
the likelihood a medical practice, dental practice, or hospital
would reverse engineer and steal our solution? At all of the
subsequent organizations at which I worked, I created a new
contract called an order confirmation. This short, two-page
agreement merely confirmed what the client was purchasing,
with legal language that was simple and to the point, and included the deposit requirement. When I went virtual, the order
confirmation was sent as a PDF and signed without changes,
scanned, and e-mailed back. A sample order confirmation is
provided in Appendix A. Take a minimalist approach to contracts, be sure your basic rights are protected, add a binding
arbitration clause, use simple order confirmations and avoid
lengthy agreements, and seek out the advice of attorneys who
specialize in small businesses. If your business has created the
latest and greatest search engine algorithm, and you intend to
sell it to Google, you might need greater IP protections and
require a substantial contract, but in most cases, including the
virtual business examples used in this book, a simple and faster
order confirmation is dramatically better.
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Exploding Deal
If you purchase this month, well offer the following incentives, and if you dont, the offer goes away. I recommend
always having an exploding time element in any deal. Though
you should try to differentiate yourself in ways other than price
incentives, small incentives can sometimes be effective. Your
offer might be an extra month for free, a 5-percent discount,
extra consultation, or a guaranteed price freeze for the next
year. You should always have something that explodes (the offer blows up and disappears once the time frame passes) as
an inducement to take that leap of faith. Frequentlyand Im
talking 50 percent of the timeprospects have come back and
said, Im working on getting a signature. Can we have an extra
two days to get this done? Youll be surprised what a small incentive can do for even the highest-level corporate executives
(or even an owner of a smaller $2 to $20 million firm).
Peer Suggestion
Show buyers other buyers who have purchased your solution, particularly if these buyers have similar attributes to your
prospect, and youll see peer suggestion at work. If these clients
recently procured your solution, name dropping these peers
can be a powerful motivator. Call, e-mail, or leave a voice mail
announcing that Jones Corp, Smith Company, Washington
Corp., and Boston Corp. have all purchased your solution this
quarter. You might say, for example, You can be confident
they also went through significant due diligence. These other
companies purchased last year. Here are some quotes showing
their high level of satisfaction. Peer suggestion can help your
prospects take the leap of faith.
Use It or Lose It
Pilot to Purchase
This is particularly effective if you are evangelizing innovative products or services, though it can be effective for any
company. The key with pilots to purchase is that they must be
paid pilots to purchase. Too often companies offer products for
trial without cost. My attitude is that you get what you pay for;
if its free, it has no value. Many solutions require the prospect
to allocate time and resources to evaluate it. If they have to put
some money on the table, they will take it much more seriously.
One example I can offer is a pilot to purchase for a Web-based
payroll system. The prospect was trying to determine if they
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Assessment Analysis
Innovator
may suffice. If you have done a presentation for the prospective client, you may need to follow up every week. If you are
reviewing contracts, you may be following up daily. The best
follow-up is planned, so dont get off the phone (or leave a
meeting) without a firm appointment for the next steps in the
cycle. Though you cant always accomplish this, you should always try. Create and follow your sales process, monitor your
progress, leverage your advanced closing tools, and make it
easy for your prospects to purchase. Deliver an interesting and
exciting Web presentation or Web experience and a compelling value proposition, and make it easy for your prospects to
buy, and you will be well on your way to creating a successful
virtual sales operation.
Lets conclude our virtual closing phase review by discussing the reasons people buy. I believe people typically buy for
a few fundamental reasons. These core-level emotions reside
deep within all of us. A few of these include fear, greed, ambition, and security. If your solution appeals to your prospect
on a fundamental, emotional level, you stand a much better
chance of selling your product, service, or solution. At the risk
of oversimplifying this important and somewhat-lengthy topic,
lets review a couple of basic examples. Lets say you sell an
antivirus software solution that just stopped an attack on a corporate network similar to that of the prospect with whom you
are trying to close. You could appeal to the fear residing
within your prospect by saying they need to make this decision
or their network could face a debilitating attack. Some salespeople refer to this approach as FUD, or the ability to instill
fear, uncertainty, and doubt in the minds of a prospect.
You should never seek to fool or trick a prospect into purchasing, but you do want to present your information in a way
that appeals to their motivation for buying, their fundamental needs, and their emotional reasons for making a decision.
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Perhaps your prospect is seeking a promotion and your innovative solution can save them and their company a significant
amount of money, which they can leverage in their upcoming
internal review. This might appeal to an ambitious prospect,
or perhaps there is downsizing happening at their organization and they seek a way to show savings to cost justify their
position. Or, your prospect might hope to impress their CEO
with innovative thinking, resulting in a richer stock option plan
and a new ski chalet theyve been thinking about in Aspen. Or
it could simply be someone who needs a new hat because they
are a trendsetter and need to be looking their very best. Listen
to what your prospects are saying, read between the lines, engage in dialogue, and determine their motives. Because you
are always thinking about closing, be sure you identify the fundamental reasons for the possible purchase and focus you P2P
(path to purchase) on those needs.
Several years ago one of my sales representatives had
forecasted a large $500,000 sale, which was scheduled to close
within 10 days. In a pipeline review, I asked him what he
thought our chances were. He said it could go either way, but
the deadline was rapidly approaching. I said, Lets get him on
the phone right now. We called the prospectlets refer to
him as Boband were able to reach him after a few attempts.
I asked him if his deadline to decide was still a week away, and
he said that he needed to decide by Monday (we were speaking with him on Thursday). I asked what he thought about us,
and he said he felt very good about our proposal but also felt
comfortable with the competitors proposal. He also said the
pricing was comparable, and both were within budget. Then
I asked the hard question: If you had to decide today, which
firm would you choose, and why? He gave us an honest answer: I just dont know. I could hear the uncertainty in his
voice. I then asked another question that got to the core issue:
Whats going to change between today and Monday morning
that will allow you to decide? Bob didnt know, and I could
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The call was complete. Just for the record, we did receive a
signed agreement (order confirmation) on Monday afternoon
for a six-figure deal.
We all come to the table our own emotional reasons that
determine what and when we will buy. The emotions might
relate to our ambitions to succeed, fear of being fired, or security and well-being for our families, or to simply keep ourselves
warm in the winter. Your virtual presentations stand a much
better chance of success if you can highlight your strengths in
a manner that addresses your prospects most fundamental,
emotional needs. Great virtual presentations targeted at your
prospects core, emotional needs will result in a much higher
rate of closure and will appeal to one of our core needs: to create and enjoy a successful and thriving virtual business, which
will result in a flexible and enjoyable lifestyle. Now that we
have covered some of the important aspects of selling, lets
move on to the important topic of virtual marketing.
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Chapter 8
Virtual Marketing
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Lets review how these virtual marketing efforts can positively impact your virtual sales activities, beginning with job
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date, next contact date, and rolling notes. This works fine for
most small operations, though formal SFA type solutions offer
greater functionality. Many of these SaaS solutions offer a free
30-day trial, and I strongly recommend you use them for a full
30 days before making a decision. For example, you might find
a cloud computing solution such as BigContacts much faster
and easy to use than Salesforce.com, whose group edition,
though feature-rich, can be complex and challenging to navigate. Take advantage of the trial periods judiciously before
making a decision, and remember: Because you are following
the virtual model, none of these solutions are purchased; they
are merely rented. If youre unhappy with your selection at the
end of you lease, you can export your data to a different
solution.
Once your initial list is built, you can collect e-mail addresses in a variety of ways, which well discuss in just a
moment. The goal of the e-mail collection is to allow you to leverage eMarketing, which is cheap, reusable, and highly effective when used correctly. At the onset of my virtual company,
I quickly reviewed several eMarketing solutions, all of which
were inexpensive and easy to use. There were very reasonably priced, typically in the $30 to $50 per month range. You
can look at SaaS solutions such as iContact, ConstantContact,
Campaigner, and ExactTarget (the latter if youre looking for
greater functionality at a higher price point). There are now
many cloud computing eMarketing options available for truly
modest fees.
eMarketing campaigns, Web seminars, compelling client
quotes, and case studies became the foundation of our marketing efforts. eMarketing is fast, is relatively simple, and can
make your virtual company look a thousand times its size.
These have reasonably sophisticated online measuring and
monitoring reports to gauge your results, click-through tracking, automatic opt-out systems, bounced e-mail tracking, and
basic list segmentation.
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Most companies select one of the standard HTML templates provided by the eMarketing Solution. This is typically a
bad move for virtual companies targeting new prospects. The
HTML templates look awful until the user right-clicks to display graphics and are more likely to be subject to spam issues.
If you are in a B2B market, they look too much like ads and
too little like a business e-mail. And in the B2C world, graphically rich e-mails can be routed to junk folders and often look
terrible if pictures are not correctly displayed. I strongly suggest you create a non-graphical custom template that looks
like a simple HTML e-mail or even a text-only e-mail.
Today, most eMarketing solutions create the HTML code
needed for your e-mailing using a simple user interface. That
means you dont need to know HTML to create an HTML
e-mail. HTML might look a little tricky, but its really pretty
simple to learn enough HTML to do it on your own or to
tweak your own campaigns. For example, to boldface the word
Seminar, the syntax looks like this: <b>Seminar</b>.
The <b> turns on the bold and the </b> turns it off. Simple
HTML commands all work this way. Today, all if not most of
this functionality is done through the user interface, making it
unnecessary for you to learn HTML.
Here are the results of the custom template I used to create a corporate look and feel for my eMarketing-generated
e-mails. I did not want to use graphics or require the recipient
to download pictures to make the e-mail appear professional.
After all, if you receive an e-mail from a partner or associate, it
tends to be relatively simple HTML, or plain text. My e-mails
often include a link to a Web seminar or an e-mail link for
more information, depending upon the call to action for the
e-mail campaign.
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One of your most effective eMarketing activities may revolve around Web seminars. They are very inexpensive, offer
global reach, and are completely virtual. Web seminars allow
remote attendees to view the information presented on your
computer screen, and listen to the presentation over the phone
or through your PC using your speakers or a headset via VoIP.
There are pros and cons to both traditional on-site seminars
and Web seminars, though, for a self-funded virtual company,
the Web seminar is far more attractive. Barry Silverstein in
Business-to-Business Internet Marketing reviews the differences
between Web seminars and on-site seminars.1 Silverstein notes
the first key difference can be found in the cost of attendees.
He offers an example where an on-site seminar attendee might
cost $248 to $403 to place them in their respective seat, as opposed to a Web seminar attendee, which costs only $104 to
$160a substantial savings for those considering marketing
with traditional seminars.
But here is where my virtual model approaches demand
generation from a slightly different perspective. Many Web
seminars target large audience pools focused around a wellknown, highly paid speaker, as did the previous example. These
types of paid speaker Web seminars cost much more than my
virtual Web seminars. This is because I use a SaaS model with
solutions such as GoToWebinar (very inexpensive to use and
highly functional), and because I never use fee-based speakers.
My Web seminars are appropriate for emerging, smaller, and
even mid-sized organizations. Ive done these with companies
from less than $1 million to some approaching $100 million in
sales, with registration and attendance exceeding 200 participants in many of my Web seminars. You can follow the same
methodology for successful and cost-effective results.
Your company can optimize Web seminar opportunities
by leveraging in-house subject matter experts, cost-effective
Web applications, and client speakers. For example, one of
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m Virtual Marketing
Lets move on to another virtual marketing tool: your quotation library. It certainly matters what you say and how you
say it. But it matters even more what other people say about
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Your early clients must be advocates, and better yet, zealots, allowing you to leverage their quotations and references,
which will yield the necessary credibility for your virtual enterprise. Your greatest marketing results often come from
your early clients, and who are often small to medium-sized
businesses. These firms will result in happier clients, client
quotations, client speakers, and client case studies. They will
provide quotations for your Website, advice about your services, references to other firms, and success stories for you to
use for your virtual PR. Conversely, beware of the prospective client who holds his or her hand out asking, Whats in it
for me? I want free support, stock options, and direct access
to engineering in return for the use of my company name and
a reference.
I inherited one of these types during a stint with a hightech company. Lets call this individual Lance, who was a
middle manager for a Fortune 500 company. Huge amounts of
wasted time and energy were spent on this relationship, and no
new business ever resulted. My predecessor coveted Lances
Fortune 500 logo and gave away the store to bring him aboard
and support his unusual demands, but my predecessor missed
the point of a win-win relationship. He brought aboard a winlose, and we all paid the price for this mistake. We all inherit
baggage when we take on positions with established firms.
However, we can make our own decisions for our own virtual
companies and find in-profile clients (as discussed in chapters
6 and 7, clients who meet your preferred client attributes) who
will have a partnership approach to business.
m Virtual Marketing
Can trade shows be used as a marketing tool for your virtual business? Many marketers think trade shows are a dying
breed, a throwback to the old ways of doing things like the
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m Virtual Marketing
$3,500
Airfare (2 people)
$1,000
Cab Fare
$100
$600
$400
$500
$250
Printed collateral
$500
$2,500
Your Time
$$$$?
Total
$9,350
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Some conferences and user group meetings will invite innovative providers free of charge, or for little charge. These
are sometimes referred to as tabletop opportunities, where
the dozen or so vendors invited are each given a tabletop
to display their solution. In return, they benefit their members by exposing them to innovative concepts, new methodologies, and organizational refinements that can sometimes
yield significant benefits for their clients. Associations, user
groups, consulting practices, accounting firms, and industry
groups often provide vendor opportunities including exhibitor
space, Webinars exposure, mailings or e-mailings, and speaking engagements.
A few years ago I was able to secure a speaking slot at
an insurance conference on the West Coast and another
slightly larger conference in the Midwest. The West Coast
speaking slot was provided without chargea 45-minute presentation to 15 qualified prospects, who were all principals
or executives for their respective firms. The larger Midwest
conference had almost 100 firms attending, all of which had
sent their executives and principals. This was a tabletop opportunity, as opposed to a traditional booth-oriented trade
show. Tabletop opportunities are far better than large trade
shows because the playing field is leveled. My tabletop looks
essentially the same as anyone elses. In a major trade show,
a small company tends to look even smaller; your booth is
dwarfed by the $250,000-plus mega displays from companies
such as Microsoft, IBM, Sony, or some other giant. I paid a
modest fee of about $1,000 to attend the Midwest conference, yet appeared to be a major player. Lets see how this
evolved and how the costs compare to the trade show costs
shown previously.
My costs were much lower than the prototypical trade
show, as one would expect from a tabletop conference:
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1 8-x-10 Tabletop
$1,000
Airfare (1 person)
$ 500
Cab Fare
$50
$300
$100
Booth rental*
$0
$250
$100
Total
$2,300
m Virtual Marketing
with one of them purchasing within a few weeks after the conference. I asked a client of ours to speak at each seminar, and
we were the only firm running these seminars. How did we get
the advantage over other vendors attending? I always have a
cadre of creative marketing ideas at the ready, and run it by
the conference coordinators immediately. I mean this literally.
As soon as we are invited I ask if we can run an extra seminar,
offer a conference special, speak at a breakout session, or pass
out some special literature. This is a successful approach for
conferences, users groups, and associations.
Lets review a few of the key trade show rules for virtual
companies:
kk Dont attend large trade shows unless you have a
method to drive traffic to your booth.
kk Make a splash at small shows or conferences.
kk Suggest special arrangements (a mini seminar, a
special handout).
kk Attend boutique or targeted conferences offering
tabletop opportunities.
kk Get a speaking slot if possibleat any
conferenceeven if you dont plan to attend.
Ask for special consideration and leverage your best assets. Offer interesting topics for breakout sessions, ask for special booth placement, arrive early, and get the best tabletop
spots. If you have limited cash for your tabletop display, you
can use screenshots or product photos on foam core. These
look great for just a few dollars. Or you can go to an office supply store (online or otherwise) and order Mylar signs. Again,
a few hundred dollars goes a long way if you are creative. Try
to make the signs generic so they can be reused at other trade
shows or association meetings. Colorful screenshots or product photos mean that you dont have to hire graphic artists or
spend time and money on mockups, proofs, or creative design.
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Keep it simple and get your point across quickly. But remember: Your cost-effective, state-of-the-art virtual company may
opt to never do trade shows, focusing instead on less travelintensive and more cost-effective marketing tools.
Marketing through industry associations can be extremely
effective, and it often costs little, if anything. The key is to
land your first one or two member clients and then leverage their relationship with the association. If you are helping
them overcome a business challenge, it stands to reason you
can help their associated members. Fifteen to 20 years ago, in
the Internet dark ages, we did everything on site. At CTS we
targeted user group meetings like SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft,
or other RUGs (regional user groups). These regional groups
would allow companies to attend dinner or breakfast meetings, discuss your solutions directly with members, and provide
you with member names and phone numbers upon departure.
Sometimes they might ask for a modest fee to help with refreshments, but most of the time they were just trying to acquaint members with innovative products, services, or ideas to
enhance their business. All of these association relationships
ultimately paid dividends, yielding improved exposure, greater
credibility, and new clients.
Some years ago, through the Medical Society State of New
York (MSSNY), I was able to secure an agreement to help us
introduce a solution to medical practices in New York for a
tiny percentage of our medical software sales in the state of
New York and a small incentive for their members. We ran
seminars at their regional locations, used their logo on our
mailings, and attended many of their functions. They helped
their members by negotiating a discount and leveraged a modest royalty to offset their expenses. They helped modernize
medical practices across the state by educating their membership to the benefits of automation. MSSNY provided facilities
to run seminars, member contact information, and the use of
their name and logo on mailings and other communication.
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Getting Social
Traditional, non-virtual networking and social associations like the chamber of commerce, the Rotary Club, BNI
International, and professional associations can still offer a
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important clients with superior service and support, and, because of your virtual model, industry-leading pricing. Youre
not a lumbering cargo freighter like your older and larger competitors; youre a speed boat, able to turn and adjust quickly,
thus responding faster and better to the needs of your clients
than those lethargic brick-and-mortar freighters!
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Chapter 9
Virtual Hiring
and Virtual
People
Management
Jane was interested in our contract sales position opportunity. After a few initial telephone calls, we arranged a quick
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Good hiring starts with a great job (or project) description, particularly in a virtual company. Be specific in identifying your goals. Use metrics whenever possible, including calls
per day or leads per week, or number of hats embroidered, or
Website designs delivered, or pages proofed. Create concrete
objectives such as As a freelance graphics designer, you will
be paid $25 per hour for original graphic designs for our client
testimonials. We look for a 48-hour turnaround on the initial
draft, and it is expected each testimonial design to take a maximum of 2.5 hours, including edits.
Here is a sample job description:
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Compensation:
$25 per hour.
Payable on a project basis via check or PayPal upon
acceptance of final deliverable.
Or consider this type of ad for a contract telesales representative:
(or other solution) and note a recent project where they had to
use it. Also let them know during the process that you always
begin with trial periods for all new contractors.
If you have created the perfect job description, your next
step is selecting the best contractor for the job. As a quick side
note, we found dramatically higher responses rates when we
used capital letters in our Craisglist ad header as opposed to
when we did not. You should continually tweak your ad copy
and the target region for your ad to get the best possible results.
Hiring is challenging on the best of days for a small company. It is much easier to hire a contractor, however, than
an employee. Many contractors already carry a stamp of
approval indicating they are accustomed to working independently. Predicated upon your requirements, you may be
selecting a contractor from a pool of very experienced people.
Furthermore, because you are often paying on deliverables,
your risks are much lower than with traditional hires. For example, in a traditional brick-and-mortar company, lets say that
you wanted to hire a sales executive named Kevin. Perhaps he
appears to have a strong track record and good references.
He is very professional in person and talks a good game. One
of the challenges when hiring salespeople revolves around
their communication skills: They are typically very good. They
are pretty convincing, and its not so easy to determine who
will be a strong performer versus a good interviewer. Lets
say that Kevins base salary will be $80,000, and at a million
dollar quota he would be paid $70,000 in commissions, for a
total compensation package of $150,000. This is a fairly standard package for many industries. His expenses are expected
to be around $5,000 per year, and the company contribution
to his benefits plan, taxes, and other miscellaneous costs are
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worry about cost, time or distance. Share the love and get
your friends to download Skype so you can talk, instant message (IM) or make video calls for nothing. You can also make
calls to phones and mobiles at home and abroad at great rates
too. Skype is an amazing solution and is increasingly popular
with Generation Z, and will change the way we communicate.
Weve used it for telephone and video calls across the globe
for zero cost. Its a great hiring and management tool, and, for
contractors or prospective candidates who dont have Skype,
its an excellent and simple test to determine if they have the
basic abilities to download and utilize this virtual tool. Hiring
is easier because it is far less costly and much easier to terminate a contract and select someone new. After all, were simply
changing contractors; were not firing full-time employees. Yet
our turnover is extremely low at StartUpSelling, Inc., in part
because our contractors and sales agents are essentially selfemployed and running their own business. If we boil down
the ocean, we can conclude that people who are productive,
well compensated, and independent, and who make their own
schedules tend to be very happy with the results.
You need to create a list of interview questions germane
to your virtual business. The best questions elicit longer responses, resulting in a conversation as opposed to a narrow
question-and-answer format. There are thousands of sources,
styles, and theories about interviewing, and I cant say that
I subscribe to any specific, named methodology. I created a
list of 10 questions I ask in almost every virtual interview, and
would suggest you do the same. My top-10 questions revolve
around:
1. Prior experience; ability to work independently.
2. Validation they have worked from home.
3. Flexibility; ability to shift gears with a changing
schedule.
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How about the challenges of managing virtual contractors or employees? Unencumbered by the requirements of a
physical facility and location, I can hire employees anywhere,
allowing me to tap a vast reservoir of seasoned professionals. Because I use very experienced, seasoned businesspeople
who are accustomed to working on their own, I have far less
management and supervision needs. Most of my contractors
work with a quota or a deliverable and a deadline. We get to
test-drive their deliverables on small projects and incrementally expand their work. This is difficult to do in the traditional
brick-and-mortar, full-time employee model. Our contractors
either meet their deadlines or they dont. On the rare occasions when they do not, there are many virtual approaches for
resolution and refinement, or we simply move future projects
to a more competent contractor.
Our appointment setters are expected to work three or
four hours a day and attempt at least 20 calls each hour, and
if they only work two hours on Monday, they can make up the
time later in the week. They are responsible, self-motivated,
and often overqualified for their positions, but seek to do this
because it offers them flexibility. There are many professionals out there who have special circumstances and require a
highly flexible, work-from-home opportunity. As mentioned
earlier, this includes mothers hours and fathers hours, retirees, special circumstances (physical limitation, caring for a
parent at home, and so forth), and moonlighters looking for
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asynchronous and synchronous, and many applications incorporate both. Some of these applications are open source and
cost nothing to download and use (such as Alfresco); others
are simple group-oriented sharing tools provided for free by
Yahoo or Google, and there are low-cost, fee-based SaaS solutions also available. Lastly, there are enterprise solutions that
require a more substantial investment from companies such
as IBM or EMC. Your virtual operation will most likely need
simple collaboration tools to manage and interact with your
virtual contractors and employees. How will collaboration
tools help you with your virtual hiring and management?
kk You will travel less because your interactions will
be online.
kk You will be able to manage remotely as well as
you would manage employees in an office.
kk You can work with small or large groups online,
in real time.
kk You can record these meetings and replay the
information for training purposes.
kk You can work with employees, contractors,
prospects, and clients anywhere, at any time.
kk You can share documents in real time
(synchronously) or any time (asynchronously)
with your contractors and clients.
Collaboration tools are the backbone of your virtual business. One of the most basic forms of these tools could be construed as e-mail and instant messaging. These two applications
are pervasive and cost nothing to deploy. Instant messaging
(IM) can be an effective way to quickly and easily stay in touch
with employees and freelance contractors. At one small firm,
I used Yahoo Instant Messaging, and it worked well for our
distributed company of 30 employees. I think it works even
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better for a virtual startup. You can create a naming convention to ensure consistency between all contractors or employees. However, IM is not an ideal way to communicate if you
need an audit trail. For most written communications, e-mail
is preferred. You can automatically save every incoming and
outgoing e-mail in Microsoft Outlook, or accomplish the same
in Google, though I recommend Outlook for any virtual business that is communicating with other businesses. At any time,
you can locate a proposal that was sent to a prospect, review a
fee-based commitment to a contractor, or check a client communication. The files get large over time, but older e-mails can
be archived or ultimately deleted if no longer applicable.
Instant messaging is a great way to validate that people
are at their virtual desks, if your operation runs that way.
Some people find IM to be intrusive and annoying. Depending
upon your type of business, you may want to use IM sparingly or not at all. Synchronous collaboration solutions such
as GoToMeeting, Webex, or Live Meeting are likely to be
the foundation of your virtual employee or contractor management methodology. These are ideal for brainstorming;
monthly, weekly, or daily meetings; sharing documents or diagrams real time; or quickly meeting each other on a regular
basis. We use GoToMeeting every day for these types of interactions. We also use Skype for quick video calls. Of course,
there is also the traditional telephone call, which is technically
a synchronous communication tool, whether you use VoIP or
a regular, carrier-based line. With all of the cloud computing
tools available today, virtual hiring and management are easier
than hiring in person, and for many virtual companies much
more likely to result in success.
There are many methods to manage your virtual team.
For example, keep a running list of all deliverables and deadlines in a spreadsheet, in Outlook, or even in a formal project
manager. Be sure your contractors religiously adhere to the
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Chapter 10
Expanding Your
Virtual
Business
m 183
If its Monday and you are providing telemarketing services in Connecticut, by Friday you can provide these services
in California. On Tuesday, if you have a virtual business selling
specialized educational items for kindergarten to third grade,
by Thursday you can expand your line to kindergarten through
12th grade (K-12). Remember: Your model will ensure that
you wont have to prepay, stock, or plan inventory for a single
item. This week, if you are selling consulting services across
America, next week you can sell them internationally. Unlike a
restaurant that can take six to 12 months and a million dollars
to open, you can expand your virtual business in a few days or a
few weeks. You can communicate anywhere, present and demonstrate at will, and respond to inquiries or service calls from
any venue, and you can do all of these things virtually and cost
effectively as you expand. Perhaps you will consider expanding
your existing gourmet food delivery service business by adding a mail-order food-related business. Or you might consider
expanding from local gourmet delivery to a larger geography
by leveraging faster and innovative delivery options. You can
offer your own homemade sauces through an outsourced manufacturer or, if you want to go truly virtual, offer a Webinarbased cooking class using your secret sauce recipe. If you are
running an on-line antiques business, you can expand to other
collectables by adding a Website or revised eMarketing campaign and a new target list. If you have a virtual telemarketing services company, you can add eMarketing services or lead
generation consulting services in a few weeks or even a few
days. As you consider your best methods of expansion, make
sure you think of ways you can receive all or part of your order
payments up front, before you deliver your product or service.
If your idea does require significant brick and mortar, and/or
you cannot collect payment up front, start over, and rethink
the expansion plan. Of course, one of the easiest methods to
expand your existing virtual business is to invest in more sales
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inventory, and deliver the dinners later in the week. This restaurant owner obviously sees this as a small virtual step. eMarketing their services and delivery of their gourmet meals is a
path to better profits, and offers a faster and less-expensive
way to virtual expansion than adding a second location. This
method can be used to enhance growth, expand the business,
and improve profitability of many traditional brick-and-mortar
businesses. Of course, if your business is already virtual, youre
a giant step ahead.
Any virtual business can procure a list of new prospects,
expand to a more diverse market, and target these new prospects with existing products or services, or a completely new
offering. If you were providing marketing services, you could
lower your price point and focus on a narrower and less-expensive offering. If you have a lead generation business, you could
add eMarketing services as opposed to cold calling services. If
you were in an economic growth cycle you could attack a growing market segment, perhaps revolving around eco-friendly
products, or if you were in an economic retraction you could
target a different, recession-resistant niche. If you had been
targeting banking, you could move to insurance. If you were
working with insurance carriers, you could sell to insurance
agencies. If you were selling to oil companies, you could market to wind turbine companies. If you were targeting state and
local government, you could add federal government. Or if
you were B2C and targeting middle income, you could target
high-net-worth (HNW) clients. Conversely, if your brick-andmortar restaurant is located in a particular area of town, it is
far more challenging to drive business to that physical location than it is to identify and market to a new online target
market. Imagine the challenges of a brick-and-mortar business
located near General Motors after GM declared bankruptcy
and downsized by thousands of workers. A virtual business can
target any market, anywhere, and sell 24/7, without having to
move the operation, or even move from your chair.
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Expand Internationally
You can sell and market internationally, using such vehicles as eBay, Craigslist, PPC ads, banner ads, affiliate programs
with companies such as Amazon, RSS Feeds, and of course your
own Website and eMarketing campaigns. If you have been selling antiques in North America, you can offer them internationally. If you provide translation services for South America, you
can offer them for European languages, hiring freelance contract translators locally, nationally, or globally. If you are in the
lead generation business, you could add video services, Website
development, Web seminar services, and PowerPoint design
m 187
and coaching, to mention just a few areas of our own expansion. If youre selling in the United States, its very easy to expand to Canada, and, for many types of virtual companies, you
can expand globally by leveraging the Internet tools available.
If you need to do a presentation to London, its a snap to do
it with GoToMeeting. You could also Skype anywhere in the
world for free. (We just completed a free call to India.) If you
need to arrange a training session in Sydney, Australia, once
again, costs are negligible and the technology is simple when
we use GoToWebinar. Your geographic boundaries disappear
once youve gone virtual.
Your virtual expansion can be accomplished in days or
weeks. If your virtual market tests provide lackluster results,
try another product, service, solution, or target market. After
all, its not as if you opened up a store, restaurant, or warehouse. Traditional expansion obstacles are minimized in the
virtual model, readily addressable with a preponderance of resources available to you online. Your virtual model will allow
you to hire qualified resources to help you with your expansion
efforts, anywhere, any place, and at any time.
As you expand, what about the human resource issues, paperwork, and payments for your expanding workforce? Our
virtual model ensures these efforts will be modest in comparison to traditional companies. If you leverage contractors as
you expand and outsource your manufacturing and distribution, you just need a contractor agreement and their tax ID
number. (Its always good to check your specific requirements
with your CPA.) You can pay by check, bank transfer, company credit card, or PayPal. Many of my contractors are now
paid through PayPal. They complete their work, and within 24
hours the cash is in their PayPal account. I can do this from
Boston, Barcelona, or anywhere I have Internet access, and
send payments to wherever they reside, be it in Rome, New
York, or Rome, Italy.
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books to my Kindle, peruse the book store, and surf the Web
to glean ideas and concepts to reach prospective customers. I
recently finished two books. One was called 151 Quick Ideas
for Advertising on a Shoestring by Jean Jaochim,1 which offers
quick and interesting snapshots of cost-effective advertising
options including self-generated PR, blogging, sweepstakes,
contests, PPC, banner ads, and remnant ad space. Another
recent read was The New Rules of Marketing & PR by David
Meerman Scott,2 offering thoughts on the changing world of
marketing and PR, and the many Internet tools now available
to all of us. There is an abundance of supplementary materials
available to help stoke your virtual idea furnace to help expand
your virtual business. Use these to your competitive advantage
for your virtual expansion.
Think Virtually
virtually based business infrastructure. Adam is currently considering a white paper creation service for his sponsors, and
is test-marketing this concept without investing in the solution up-front, through a creative virtual approach. GuidePoint
Media LLC created the prototypical virtual business and is
now expanding profitably through the virtual model. You can
do this, too.
As you expand your business, there are many online opportunities to help you. Take advantage of virtual trade shows,
virtual associations, and virtual work groups. These organizations focus on bringing people together online as opposed
to traditional on-site meetings. They will run Web seminars
and offer bulletin boards, remote mentoring, statistics, advice, and resources. They can help you expand your network
without ever requiring a face-to-face meeting (though you can
always look someone in the eye with real-time video conferencing when needed). Check out the American Marketing
Association Website (www.marketingpower.com), the Small
Business Administration Website (www.sba.gov/), or any local small business association. There are many home office/
telecommuting sites, including the Telework Coalition (www.
telcoa.org). You can review articles, information, and advice
from Inc. (www.inc.com/), or try Internet searches for small
business, SOHO (Small Office Home Office), and virtual business. Join LinkedIn and other business social network sites,
and make sure you join several of the groups offered. These
are a great source for information and advice. Subscribe to
blogs and RSS Feeds, and dont underestimate the value of
Wikipedia when looking for resources or simply a definition of
the latest Internet buzzword.
Expanding your virtual business can be fun and profitable,
and is always easier than expanding a brick-and-mortar operation. Remember to rapidly run your virtual trials, stay true to
your core competencies, operate on the assumption that most
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business ideas can have a virtual twist, and rethink ideas requiring large up-front investments or a long path to sales and
profits. If you follow these rules, you can find a path to expand
your existing virtual business, or to add a virtual profit center
to your existing traditional business.
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Chapter 11
A Virtual
Conclusion
have an answer to our energy crisis. Perhaps a more accurate statement would be there is a relatively easy way for us
to dramatically reduce our current fuel consumption. Consider
the impact if there was a truly significant increase in the percentage of businesses and white-collar workers embracing the
virtual model. If 25 percent of current commuters worked virtually from their home offices, there would be a precipitous
drop in energy consumption, traffic issues, and commuting
expense. I mention white-collar works solely because many
spend their days working on a PC, and communicating via e-mail
and telephone. There are many blue-collar workers who can
also work from home or begin their days working from their
own home office.
Commuting an hour each way to an office is dumb; homebased offices are smart. Working and commuting 11 hours
each day is dumb; a productive seven- or eight-hour virtual
day is smart. Today, office buildings are a dumb idea; virtual
businesses are smart. Dont get me wrong: Towering skyscrapers composed of brick-and-mortar offices and cubicles made
sense at one time, but with the advent of pervasive Internet
connectivity and virtual meeting tools, these office buildings
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m A Virtual Conclusion
m A Virtual Conclusion
Let me illustrate some of the virtual changes that are impacting our behaviors today and are almost taken for granted
by the next generation. Recently, I came home to find my
daughter and her friend Christie sitting next to each other
in front of an HP laptop. There was a voice coming from the
laptop that sounded familiar to me; it was in fact coming from
their good friend Hannah. Hannah was in Sydney, Australia; my
daughter and her friend were in our living room in Boston. They
were engaged in a Skype video call. The connectivity was amazingly fast, and Hannahs real-time video, which consisted of her
head and shoulders and the background of her dorm room,
was impressive. She might as well have been in the town next
to us, never mind a continent more than 10,000 miles away.
Even more impressive, the call was free, and the software to
accomplish this downloaded in a couple of minutes. Welcome
to the next generation of technology: cloud computing.
According to the AT&T Website, AT&T began transatlantic telephone service in 1927 initially between the United
States and London. The initial capacity was one call at a time,
at a cost of $75 for the first three minutes. In 2009, on a free
Skype video call between Boston, Massachusetts, and Sydney,
Australia, that lasted about 30 minutes, one of the three girls
commented about the video looking a little darker than usual,
and said, Whats up with that?! Welcome to the next generation of buyers: Their expectations are high, as is their comfort
level with all things digital. If you want to sell to their generation, you need to understand the virtual world. And if you want
to set up a cost-effective virtual business, these are the types of
tools you can utilize to your advantage.
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m A Virtual Conclusion
the old days when we used to browse record stores and listen
to those vinyl grooved platters. Of course, you could buy an
entire album or just a two-sided single back in the day. More
recently, people purchased a full CD for $10 or $12 or more,
procuring several songs they might like along with many they
might not. Enter the MP3 and iPod, drastically changing the
industry and exploiting a better, cheaper, and virtual delivery
system. With the rise and fall of non-licensed music downloads, which was originally growing exponentially through
Napster and Kazaa, Apple and other online music distribution
services legitimized the new digital music business and offered
inexpensive, high-quality songs for only 99 cents per song.
Consumers could purchase the specific songs they wanted and
listen to them in whatever order they wished on tiny devices in
their homes, in their cars, or while walking, jogging, or simply
relaxing. Videos are soon to follow this model, as will anything
that can be changed to an electronic or digital format, and distributed in a virtual model as opposed to a brick-and-mortar
model. Look out Blockbuster and Netflix: Mailing DVDs to
homes will soon become a thing of the past. Cheaper distribution models inherently change industries, and do so in a permanent way. The virtual office is a much less costly and more
efficient method of work distribution than the traditional
brick-and-mortar method.
Here is an amusing story I like to tell. Once upon a time,
people would cut down thousands of trees, process the wood
into chips, process the chips into pulp, and convert the pulp
into paper. They would create giant rolls of paper and ship
the rolls to printing presses. There on the presses, they would
take thousands of gallons of ink and print stories and other
current informational items onto this paper. The paper would
be cut and folded and loaded onto big trucks. These trucks
would then deliver these packages to local distribution locations, to be once again loaded onto smaller trucks and cars,
which would ultimately fold the papers, stuff them into plastic
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m A Virtual Conclusion
m A Virtual Conclusion
With the imminent disappearance of CDs, DVDs, newspapers, and traditional fax technology, it seems pretty strange
that the U.S. government still delivers mail six days a week.
After all, the postal service has been running at a deficit for
years (in some cases, multibillion-dollar deficits). At the moment, it does seem reasonable to have mail delivery services a
few days a week. After all, we still get some bills and checks in
the mail, though the trend is clearly moving to online banking
and direct deposit. You may receive the occasional important
letter or notification, and a favorite catalog from time to time.
To accomplish this, according the U.S. Postal Service Website
(www.usps.com), these items are delivered by 685,000 career employees and 101,000 non-career staff, making it the
second-largest employer in the United States (behind WalMart). The Postal Service employs more workers on U.S. soil
than General Motors, Ford and Chrysler combined. The site
goes on further to say, The USPS operates the largest fleet
of commercial vehicles in the countrysome 212,000 vans
and trucks. Thats a lot of vehicles, a lot of gas, and a huge
expense! Imagine the energy savings if we stopped sending
junk mail, encouraged opt-in e-mail, cut down on the USPS
delivery days, and encouraged electronic signatures for legal
documents. Imagine the post office needing 100,000 or even
150,000 fewer vehicles! Even this logic is faulty, though. It
wont be long before most traditional catalogs are replaced by
cheaper, faster, better online versions. It wont be long before
people stop writing handwritten letters and notes. When was
the last time your 12-year-old wrote a letter and mailed it to a
friend? The last time my 20-year-old daughter wrote a letter
was six years ago when she was in summer camp and didnt
have access to a computer. My 33-year-old nephew receives all
his bills online and is still using the same book of traditional
bank checks received in his first order. It wont be long before
traditional mail is almost completely supplanted by e-mail,
eBilling, instant messaging, and digital documents. All of these
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m A Virtual Conclusion
m A Virtual Conclusion
with the best shade, to help prevent the Vegas sun from frying my Boston pallor. Yes, well spend some time discussing
our virtual operation, strategic goals, and short-term tactics,
but the majority of the day will simply be sun and fun. During
this five-day work and play respite, well visit Freemont Street,
dine on sushi on the Strip, hit the Stratosphere lounge, and
work out in the Aliante Casino fitness center. This day is sprinkled with the occasional e-mail and client call, readily taken
from our poolside venue, offering advice on e-mail marketing,
arranging a Web conference on behalf of one of our clients,
and tweaking a prospect list for another. Changes are fast and
easy, for there is no paper, no files, no assistants, and no bureaucracy. Well quickly make tweaks and refinements to our
dynamic and constantly changing business plana one-page
series of bullets, not a 20-page textual dinosaur that is out of
date as soon as it is printed. Its really easy to morph our business to changing market conditions, with millions of qualified
contractors available, no employee issues, great cash flow, and
superior profits; we can test new markets and hire resources
on demand, if and when needed. The total work time for this
sunny Las Vegas Tuesday is about two hours; total play time
is six hours and counting. Looks like another ideal eight-hour
day for our virtual business. Both my associate and I love the
virtual lifestyle. It allows us to have much better balance in our
lives, while still offering a highly productive, albeit shortened,
working day.
Those who fail to embrace the virtual model may remain
trapped in the 9-to-5 rat race, which should really be called the
7-to-7 rat race. A friend of mine, an Ivy League grad, has been
running in circles, working 12 hours a day, for often-less-thanappreciative managers who might be found in billion-dollar
monolithic corporations. He actually has little freedom. If a
presentation has to be prepared for Monday, and they find out
on Friday, guess who has to work over the weekend to create
a polished final product? Ive encouraged this friend to think
m 213
m A Virtual Conclusion
216
Appendix A
m 217
218
Company
Retainer Total
City
State
First
Last
Title
Phone
Next Action
Notes
CLOSED
ABC Software
20,000
Las Vegas
NV
Mike
Michaels
CEO
000-123-
x@yz.com
1/11/2009
Closed on
CLOSED
Skunkworks R Us
45,000
Boston
MA
CLOSED
Hedgehog Industries
15,000
Paris
CLOSED
Sawdust Co.
35,000
Chicago
CLOSED
25,000
Montreal
CLOSED
Sawdust Co.
35,000
Hartford
CT
Closed YTD
175,000
9.0
XYZ Software
20,000
Boston
MA
Al
8.0
BBBB Agency
32,000
Fresno
CA
Bob
8.0
18,000
Minneapolis MN Carol
7.0
ABC Co.
22,000
Atlanta
GA
6.0
Galvanized Corp
60,000
Omaha
NE
Ed
6.0
72,000
Rome
Sophia
6.0
FishfinderCo.
24,000
Toledo
OH George
Peters
5.0
Brazil Co.
24,000
Brasilia
5.0
Parker Co.
60,000
Las Vegas
NV Ingrid
Rolf
5.0
AHBCO
82,000
Houston
TX Joshua
Sonnesta
414,000
IL
Ted
Waterhouse
SVP Ops
000-123-
x@yz.com
2/11/2009
Closed on
Carol
Bardot
CEO
000-123-
x@yz.com
3/11/2009
Closed on
Fred
Fidelity
President
000-123-
x@yz.com
4/21/2009
Closed on
June
Juniper
CEO
000-123-
x@yz.com
6/11/2009
Closed on
Fred
Fidelity
President
000-123-
x@yz.com
6/21/2009
Closed on
Jones
Owner
000-123-
x@yz.com
9/3/2009
8/17 had
Keller
President
000-123-
x@yz.com
9/3/2009
8/19 Bob
Landy
VP Sales
000-123-
x@yz.com
9/8/2009
8/24 Ann to
Montana
CFO
000-123-
x@yz.com
9/8/2009
8/30 Mike
Nitro
CEO
000-123-
x@yz.com
9/3/2009
8/18 Very
Mangano
President
000-123-
x@yz.com
9/15/2009
8/24 Mike
President
000-123-
x@yz.com
9/3/2009
8/24 Mike
President
000-123-
x@yz.com
VP Marketing 000-123-
x@yz.com
9/3/2009
8/24 Anne
x@yz.com
9/1/2009
8/24 Josh
Dan
Julio
Media
SVP Ops
000-123-
Rating
Prospect Profile ScorecardBUD (Answer each question below for you current prospect.)
Prospect Scorecard
NAA
Your Prospect
USP
Widget Inc.
SCORE
10
10
10
Result
Win
Win
Win
Loss
Loss
Scores 810 indicate ideal prospect profile; go for itwe will usually win these.
Score 67 indicate potentially good prospect; move forward, but be aware of attributes out of profile and address them early.
Scores under 6 indicate a relatively weak prospect profile; there should be a compelling reason for going after the business.
Bud Qualifier
m 219
Budget
Urgency
Decision Maker
m Appendix A
CBB Agency
m Appendix A
Investment
$2,500 per
month
6-month pilot
$995
m 221
Notes
MM Travel, accommodations, and other reasonable out-of-pocket expenses are
additional though not anticipated for this project. StartUpSelling, Inc. will send
estimated travel costs to XYZ Software for prior approval should XYZ Software
request on-site assistance.
MM StartUpSelling, Inc. will bill monthly at the beginning of the project
engagement. XYZ Software is committing to a 6-month pilot project at $2,500
to consist of an estimated 7.5 hours per week of telesales plus list cleanup,
e-mail collection, lead alerts, eMarketing, Web seminars and weekly reporting
services. StartUpSelling, Inc. will also assist XYZ Software on refinements
of telesales pitches and voice mail pitches. Payment terms are Net 10 upon
receipt of invoice, payment due at the beginning of each month for calls and
services to be rendered for that month.
MM XYZ Software will be provided with a professional and articulate telesales
representative(s). This caller will be trained on the respective products,
services, and value proposition offered by XYZ Software.
MM StartUpSelling, Inc. will work with XYZ Software and make adjustments to the
call geography, timing, frequency, and pitch as requested by XYZ Software.
MM If your dedicated telesales representative is no longer able to perform their
duties, StartUpSelling, Inc. will provide a comparably skilled replacement and
train them at no additional charge to XYZ Software.
MM StartUpSelling, Inc. will work closely with your organization to tailor the
telesales pitch for your target audience. This pitch may be changed or refined
without charge.
MM The services provided by StartUpSelling, Inc. outlined in this contract
may be modified upon the request of XYZ Software and the approval of
StartUpSelling, Inc.
MM This agreement will automaticallly renew for a 6-month project agreement
at the same fee structure, unless a 4-week notice (via e-mail) of intent to
terminate is given by XYZ Software. XYZ Software may opt for a 6- or
12-month renewal and lock in these terms and pricing. Only one renewal is
guaranteed at this pricing level.
222
m Appendix A
Confidentiality & Intellectual Property: The parties agree that they will not, at any time during the
period in which the parties possess information regarding XYZ Software , or information regarding
StartUpSelling, Inc. which the parties acknowledge is confidential, or after the termination of the
relationship, reveal, divulge, or make known to any person, firm, corporation, or other business
organization any information, research process, systems, tools, documents, customer lists, cost figures
and projections, profit figures, confidential information, proprietary technology, business methodologies,
know how or discussions, obtained, shared or exchanged whatsoever while providing services
hereunder. The parties further covenant and agree to retain all such knowledge and information
acquired during and after the term of this agreement as the property of the originating firm, respecting
any such research results, or any secret or confidential information, or to return or destroy any such
information as requested by either party. StartUpSelling, Inc. and XYZ Software agree that their
respective employees and contractors working on this project will be bound by this confidentiality
agreement. StartUpSelling, Inc. will require all StartUpSelling, Inc. employees and contractors working
on this project to execute a confidentiality agreement. All systems, methods and processes used or
developed and their contents and all written design documents will remain the sole property and
copyright of StartUpSelling, Inc. and will not be availed to any party outside of StartUpSelling, Inc.
XYZ Software agrees not to copy or otherwise attempt to circumvent the proprietary methodology, or
copyrighted material utilized by StartUpSelling, Inc. In the event this clause is breached, XYZ Software
shall immediately return all materials StartUpSelling, Inc. and all services will be immediately terminated.
Liability for this project is limited to fees paid for the project. All disputes will be resolved through
binding arbitration. The laws of Massachusetts govern this agreement.
Alan Blume
CEO, StartUpSelling, Inc.
Date
Date
Terms:
Confirmation:
Payment:
Initial payment due within 10 days of execution. Remaining payments are due upon
schedule noted above.
Please sign, scan, and e-mail to alan@StartUpSelling.com
By Check payable to:
StartUpSelling, Inc.
6 Wight Farm Road
Natick, MA 01760
SAMPLE AGREEMENTREADERS SHOULD SEEK LEGAL ADVICE PRIOR TO CREATING AN AGREEMENT FOR
YOUR OWN BUSINESS NEEDS
m 223
Appendix B
m 225
226
Notes
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 5
Chapter 8
m 227
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
228
Resources and
Suggested
Reading
m 231
Index
A
accountant, finding a, 39
agents, literary, 72
analysis, assessment, 126-127
assessment analysis, 126-127
asynchronous
collaboration,14
B
Barnes & Noble, 208
Basics for your virtual
company, business, 37-58
Basics, 133-134
traditional business,
52-57
BatchBlue, 52
BigContacts, 52
BlackBerry, 48
blocks, basic building, 60-61
boutique, virtual, 79-96
branding, what to think
about when, 80
Bread, Panera, 26
BUD, 104-108
budget, 106-107
Business basics for your
virtual company, 37-58
business, creating your
virtual, 48-49
buyers and their
expectations, 204
m 233
C
campaign, a real-world
virtual, 71-76
cell phone message, 67
Close, 109
closing tools, virtual, 112
collaboration,
asynchronous, 14
remote, 15
competencies, core, 42-47
Confidence, say it with, 83-84
confirmation, order, 112-113
Contacts to Target, create a
list of, 134
contractors and managing
them virtually, 178-182
core competencies and your
virtual business, 42-47
Craigslist, 41
customer quotes, 144-150
and how to use them, 146
D
deal, exploding, 124
decision maker, 107-1-8
234
E
Ebay, 41
eCollateral, 14
e-mail, sample marketing, 139
eMarketing, 14
expanding your virtual
business, 183-198
experience, your preferred
virtual, 32
exploding deal, 124
F
fast, what can and cant be
done, 62-64
G
GoDaddy.com,38
GoToMeeting, 33, 49, 52,
61-65, 121
m Index
Icontact, 52
Identify, 109
identify and qualify, 97-114
image, important items to
your branding, 94-95
INC 500 list, 17-18
Innovator, 128
insourcing, 15
internationally expanding,
187-188
interview,
the virtual, 172-175
your virtual, 23-24
iPhone, 48
J
Jet Blue, 25
job descriptions and ads,
167-170
M
Management, practice, 17
managing contractors
virtually, 178-182
market, define and test your
target, 43-44
marketable skills, no specific,
15-16
marketing,
rapid virtual test, 189
virtual, 133-162
m 235
N
nephews, a tale of two, 9-10
networks, online social, 14
NetworkSolutions.com, 38
O
OEM, 35, 40
Onesource, 135
online social networks, 14
Opportunities, transition,
18-20
order confirmation, 112-113
outsource wherever and
whenever possible, 47
outsourcing, 15
P
Panera Bread, 26
peer suggestion, 124
photography business virtual,
taking a, 203-204
pilot to purchase, 125-126
236
Q
Qualify, 109
Questions, the hard, 110-111
quotes and how to use them,
customer, 146
quotes, customer, 144-150
R
remote collaboration, 15
Reporting and forecasting
what your business
might need, 52-57
m Index
S
Sales Force Automation, 61
sales, 4 phases of virtual, 108-110
Seminars, Web, 14, 34
SEO for Virtual business,
Demystifying, 150-151
skills, no specific marketable,
15-16
Skype, 33, 52, 60
Software as a Service, see
SaaS
specific marketable skills, no,
15-16
Starbucks, 26, 68
Sub Chapter S, 39
success, the likelihood of,
45-46
suggestion, peer, 124
T
tale of two nephews, a tale,
9-10
target market, define and test
your, 43-44
U
urgency, 107
V
VAD, 40
VAS, 40
viable virtual models, 39-42
Virtual business and keeping
your own hours, 13
virtual business in 72 hours,
how to create, 59-78
Virtual elevator pitch, 14
virtual interview, the, 172-175
virtual lifestyle, 20-22
Virtual model, 14, 19
m 237
Virtual presentations, 14
Virtual profile, whats your, 26
Virtual Website creation, 14
VoIP, 60
W
Weakness into strength, turn
their, 84-85
Web seminars, 14, 34, 142-144
238
Webex, 64
Webinars, 14, 34, 142-144
Website creation, Website, 14
Website refinements, 15
Websites and Presentations,
69-71
About the
Author
m 239
240