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Working Backwards
Lately I keep running into instances where different worlds coincide with a common theme. The theme I’m running into lately is flipping the funnel. Sometimes when you hit a stumbling block, it helps to flip the funnel and work the problem backwards.
For example, consider these three topics:
1. Improving e-commerce sales.
2. Reducing manufacturing cost and lead time.
3. Bringing a software product to market.
Focus on Checkout
In the first case - selling products online - it’s a common mistake to work the process from the front end. The standard logic goes: get more traffic, which will result in more downloads, which will get customers to the purchase page, which will result in more sales.
When you start out, this makes sense. But once you have a steady level of traffic, driving more traffic is expensive. Then you must put more effort into optimizing the landing page to drive downloads. Then, you continually improve the product to drive visits to your checkout process. Then you get the improved revenues, right?
But if you look at it in reverse, you would start with your checkout process. According to Closed Loop Marketing, the average drop-out rate during the checkout process is nearly 60%. What if, instead of driving 10% more traffic to your site, you fine-tuned your checkout process to convert 10% more customers?
If you put advertising money into driving 10% more traffic, you will need to pay that every month. And not all the leads would be well qualified. But putting the effort toward improving your checkout process provides a bigger payoff. The visitors are pre-qualified (after all, they already were interested enough to click your buy button), plus the rewards will be felt long after the improvements are made.
Fishing in the Value Stream
In the second case, I’ve been re-reading Learning to See, a book about Value Stream Mapping. Value Stream Mapping is a tool to analyze manufacturing processes (and recently service-based processes) in order to reduce cost and lead time. The process steps are laid out from start to finish, but the analysis works in reverse order. This is an over-simplified description, but essentially you start with customer demand and work your way back upstream to determine what you need from the preceding process and identify areas to reduce waste.
Write the Press Release First
The third case has to do with my own efforts to develop a new product. I wrote the spec, then started developing to it. It’s hard to describe, but there was something missing. It just felt like bits and pieces of related functionality without any glue.
Then I came across an old blog post by Werner Vogels, CTO of Amazon.com. In it, he lays out 4 steps to the product definition process:
Step 1 - Write the press release. He says, “Writing a press release up front clarifies how the world will see the product - not just how we think about it internally.”
Step 2 - Write the FAQ.
Step 3 - Define the customer experience.
Step 4 - Write the user manual.
Normally, I’m like many developers who market there own products. The press release is practically an afterthought. After coding and testing is done, you want to say, “Phew! That’s a relief. I’m done.” But you’re not. There’s a lot of work left to do, and having to write the press release afterward hits you when you’re running out of steam.
So I took Werner’s advice and did steps 1-3. (OK, so I skipped #4. So sue me.) Honestly, I wasn’t expecting it to have a dramatic impact, but surprisingly it did. I was able to refine what my marketing message would be. In doing so, I was able to refine what the user experience would be in a way that was much more logical and congealed.
I was less impressed with writing the FAQ, because those questions are always contrived until you actually get asked real questions by real customers. But overall, I would definitely recommend steps 1 and 3. It’s one of those things that people read about then forget, but if you actually try it, you’ll be glad you did.
You Might Have Guessed This Was Coming
Yes, I’m currently revamping the BreezeTree checkout process. Not only do I want to improve conversions, but I also need a system that works better for multiple product offerings because I’m working on the product that I pre-wrote the press release for. And, of course, it just happens to be a Value Stream Mapping edition of FlowBreeze.
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Flowcharting Software at a Deep Discount
FlowBreeze is was featured on Bits du Jour today. The sale is now over.
Product DescriptionsFlowBreeze Basic is a simplified flowcharting tool that allows you to create flowcharts just by typing. It produces business document friendly black and white flowcharts in Excel. It integrates well into all Office documents and is perfect for training materials and process documentation.
FlowBreeze Standard extends the capabilities of the Basic edition. It features 124 symbols with 84 preset styles and 21 preset connector styles. It has an image exporter for publishing flowcharts to the web, help files, and any other document that could use a splash of color. It also features the Text-To-Flowchart Wizard, which allow you to pre-layout the flowchart in plain text on an Excel spreadsheet then import into the wizard to set the symbol types, style, connector routings, and decision branch labels. Then it auto-generates the flowchart for you.
A complete feature comparison can be found by clicking here.
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There’s a basic concept in Six Sigma called Voice of the Customer. When you’re defining a project, you need to identify the critical-to-quality (CTQ) elements in your process that matter to the customer. Too often though, the voice of the customer isn’t heard until _after_ they become a customer. What about potential customers?
Taking a step back for a second, here’s a worthwhile quote from Jack Welch…
“One thing we have discovered with certainty is that anything we do that makes the customer more successful inevitably results in a financial return for us.”
Products and services sell because they solve people’s problems. They make customers more successful. And the only way you can solve their problems in the first place is if they become aware of your product, understand your product, and see the benefits. So the voice of the customer needs to start with marketing.
In his recent post on MicroISV.com, Dave Collins touches on this. He makes the point that software vendors should sell the benefits, not the features:
“Customers get freaked out by features. We don’t like them, they sound intimidating, and they do nothing to make us smile. But we love benefits. Save time, save money, use more for less. Lovely. Music to our ears.”
Stepping back into the voice of the customer mode, want do customers really want to know when they visit a site? It’s simple really, they want to know:
- What the product is.
- How it will benefit them.
- How much it will cost.
- How credible the offer is.
Notice that I wrote “How it will benefit them”, not just “the benefits”. It’s a fine distinction, but an important one.
When you get into the business of running an online company, “sell the benefits” is one of the mantras that get chimed over and over again. Emotion sells more than logic is the copywriter’s motto. Dave’s a smart guy and runs a successful software marketing firm, so I’m sure he knows what he’s talking about. But the problem is it’s a concept that gets misconstrued and taken to the extreme.
I’ve seen too many software sites that get so focused on the benefits that it’s hard to tell what the product actually does. Microsoft’s Silverlight page is a perfect example of this. Most enterprise software websites are even worse.
In any product genre, you can find numerous product sites all claiming to “save time, save money, use more for less.” But that’s not enough. What you really need to do is connect the dots between the benefits and the features in order to be credible.
Do customers really get “freaked out by features”? Not me. In fact, they’re typically the first thing I look for. When I’m buying a product to solve a problem, I need to know whether the product has the capability to do so.
Sure, I’m an engineer, so that may seem like a quirk. But the majority of my support time is spent on pre-sales inquiries. Are these people emailing me about the benefits? No, they are asking if the software supports one feature or another. That’s real data that proves to me that customers don’t get freaked out by features.
So the next time you work on your company’s marketing, put on your Jack Welch hat and think about how your product will make your customers more successful. Drill it down to how each of the features in your product will benefit your customers. The end result should strike a nice balance between “sell the benefits” and “sell the features.”
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Thanks to Matt Inglot for writing my belated New Year’s resolution for me. (Yeah, I’m running a little behind on that one.) The recent tax season has convinced me his 5 Tips for Staying on Top of Your Books for Small Business Owners is just the sort of advice that I should be implementing. Especially the automation. If there’s one thing I hate doing as a small business owner, it’s keeping my books straight.
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Tom Peters wants you to believe that he is selling great insight. When he burst on the scene after publishing In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies (Collins Business Essentials)
, he instantly became the darling of the TQM movemnent. And he deserved it too. He was an engaging speaker, made great videos, and his first book hit a raw nerve when it came to the quality of American manufacturing.
I hadn’t heard the name or thought about Tom Peters in a long time. By life’s funny coincidences, right after reading a book review on Sham: How the Self-Help Movement Made America Helpless
, I stumbled upon www.tompeters.com. Sham is a book about the self-improvement industry (Tony Robbins, Dr. Phil, Dr. Laura, et al.), written by a guy who used to work in it. The most interesting thing was that their sales cycle was 18 months.
Wait a minute… if the products are there for self improvement, why would you need to buy them again? As I’m sure you’ve guessed, it’s because they never actually help anyone. And, after 18 months, they’ve forgotten about their last bad purchase and are ready to spend more on seminars, tapes, books - you name it.
Tom Peters is a little slicker than that. He’s managed to fool a lot of people into believing that he’s not in the same class as the Tony Robbins of the world. But really he’s no different. What he’s selling is inspiration. If you ever attend one of his seminars with some co-workers, look around and see who’s there with you. It sure isn’t any C-level employees (at least not at the places I’ve worked).
Tom Peters is selling the notion that you, me, anybody can change your company from the bottom up. I attended a seminar he gave at the time he published The Brand You 50 : Or : Fifty Ways to Transform Yourself from an ‘Employee’ into a Brand That Shouts Distinction, Commitment, and Passion!
. It was one of the best speeches I’ve ever heard. It wasn’t even a speech. It was a performance. By the time he’s done, you’re all pumped up, ready to change the world, and he’s all drenched in sweat, ready to change his shirt.
A little time goes by, and while Tom certainly got around to changing his shirt, you never did get around to changing the world. But 18 months later, man, let’s go see Peter Senge…
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Why would I want to make flowcharts?
This is a surprisingly common question I get asked ever since I started BreezeTree Software. To me it’s a no-brainer. I spent most of my career working on process improvement, and flowcharts and Pareto charts did most of the heavy lifting. There’s nothing like visualizing a process to help undercover the potential problems and waste within it. But they’re not limited to problem solving…
What about process documentation?
Even if you’re a small business (especially if you’re a small business!), documenting your processes can save you time and effort in the long run. If you find yourself asking, “how did I do this last time?” then you know it’s time to standardize your processes.
What about small business growth?
Do you ever plan on hiring more people for your business? Having a nice set of flowcharts clearly communicating your procedures will let you hand over the reigns with confidence. Your business is your baby, and flowcharts will help ensure that new hires do things “your way’.
What about programming?
“Dude, I haven’t done Fortran in ages.” I can hear you say. Actually, me neither, but flowcharts aren’t just used for procedural programming. They’re useful for mapping out the user interaction with your program. Flowcharting a user stepping through your UI to perform a specific task can be an eye opener for usability improvement.
But wait! There’s more. That’s why I wrote a little piece called The Top 5 Reasons to Use Flowcharts. As always… Enjoy!
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When I read The E-Myth Revisited, I have to admit my first impression was “What a load of crap!” After all, it takes 200 pages to say what could be said in less than 10. I’m busy. I don’t have time for that.
Through analogies to the world of McDonald’s franchises and small bakeries alike, author Michael Gerber treads old ground about standardizing and optimizing your business processes. I’m no snobby process wonk, but the smell of old-school TQM Duh-ness, re-branded for entrepreneurs lingered in the air.
In the year since I read it, I’ve launched my first product and gone through the kind of metamorphosis that can only occur once you’ve become a business owner. You get deeply entrenched in what you’re doing, and it’s really hard at times to step back and look at the big picture.
That’s where the appreciation for The E-Myth Revisited comes in.
The E-Myth Revisited is like a piece of string tied around your finger to remind you to document your business processes. Once you have them documented, you can start to analyze them and see where they can be improved.
Little issues keep on popping up because I’m forgetting where I stored this file or that. I forget how I performed a certain task the time before and have to re-figure it out. And worst of all, last month I forgot to do one manual step in the release process that ended up costing me a lot of time and money.
Obviously, I needed to start E-Myth-ing my own dog food.
Now, I document practically everything I do. I just open up Excel and knock out a quick flowchart. I save the file to a designated directory then print out the flowchart. The flowchart goes into a 3-ring binder that contains all my business process information.
My goal? To be able to tell my wife, “If I die, everything you need to know to run BreezeTree Software is in that binder.”