Morning Folks!!
We all know how it was, but how should it have been? Let's walk with me in the perfect setting. In the setting of goals and not all the petty nonsense we have wasted 20 years with. We did have a dot com crash or two along the way.
Why?
Because the IT guys (techies) were in control of things that they had no business being in control of because the business owner was completely ignorant to anything online. So owners depended on the IT for every decision including sales and marketing. Please!! Not the fault of the IT guy. But it lands on him anyways!
So the IT guy has his blinders on and sees the world in one dimension. Why? Because IT guys are paid to think that way. That does not translate well when you have to interact with others. Some 'Nerds' don't interact well. Big news to ya??
But let's look at the way it should have been and how it will evolve and then you will see what I see. Maybe. Then you can see why standing back for 20 years was REQUIRED. If it were up to me we would have been to this point in about 20 months not 20 years.
Back to the subject.....
Let's have a rectangular table with 8 seats. Let's figure who to put in those 8 seats to make a complete business.
1. You have the domain name at one end of that table. Sorry, all starts there no matter what your IT guy told you 20 years ago. He was wrong and you asked a nerd to make a marketing decision for you. Think that is smart Mr. Business Owner? See you have to take some of the responsibility because it was your decision to listen to him and not learn for yourself.
Guess what....20 years later and you have been FORCED to learn or risk going out of business. So you have a choice, you can keep listening to your IT folks, take control yourself or find out who really has the CORE answers you need.
2. You have the business owner sitting on the other end of that table. This time take your seat and don't give it away to your IT guy because he will be sitting right next to you anyways.
3. Your IT guy. Yes, I want your nerd at the table. He belongs there. He in a very important piece of the seating. But until now Mr. Business Owner, you have allowed him to occupy all 8 seats. Not Good!! But we are going to get past that TODAY! Hold his hand if you must.
4. Sales and Marketing. They need to be on the other side of the Business Owner. They keep the money flowing if they do their job right and you suffer big time if they do not.
5. Content and Graphics. Sometimes the IT guys are good at this too. Usually not. So you need a creative department that us actually creative.
6. SEO....NOW is the time for the SEO guy to come to the table. When everything is setup, THAT is when he becomes important in the equation.
7. This is when Mr. Business Owner steps up to the plate and lets go of the hand of the IT guy and takes back control of his company and his destiny. I don't know who # 7 is, but I can tell you Mr. Business owner will figure out who it will be to help him once he understands his company again.
8. A guy like me that tells you what you don't want to hear cuz it's no skin off my nose. So Mr. Business owner, you have a choice. Leap or keep holding the hand of the guy that can't lead you where you want to go. He may be a great guy and I am sure he is, but he has no business occupying all 8 seats and so it takes a guy like me to grab you by the neck and force you to look at your business and take back control of it. YOU made the business what it is, are you sure you just want to throw that away?
My point is we all wasted so many years getting to the point we are at now. The starting point. Many now armed with knowledge. I wish it did not take this long. But I always knew it would and eventually we would get to this point. The point where something like this post actually makes sense to the end user because it is exactly what they did. I have traveled with them in their shoes and as each reads this they will be blown away by just how spot on it is. They will relate and they will see things much differently than before they read this post.
Or they will just shrug their shoulders and carry on whatever. They used to be excellent, but progress and the lack of will to keep up with their peers made them mediocre and that's just something all sides have to accept. One day some lead gen site will come along and eat their lunch and they'll never know what happened.
Rick Schwartz
BullS
I.T aka Idiot Tech
Bill Roy
I think ‘Seat 6’ should be vacant – SEO should be under Advertising & Marketing, it is part of it anyway, after all do you have separate advertising & marketing representatives for radio, tv, paper press, billboards, etc.? That does not mean that SEo is not important, it is obviously, but it is part of the whole gambit of advertising and marketing (much to the disgust of the ‘millions of so-called SEO experts’ – all claiming they can get every single company, product, and piece of garbish to the top spot on the first page of search engine results – which by the way if they could puts them under the ‘paid for adverts’ anyway). So the Advertising & Marketing needs to know about SEO as well (that’s what s/he is paid for anyway).
So now seats 6 and 7 are free.
In seat 6 I would try and get someone who looks at the wider aspects of the business, whose job it is to keep their finger on the pulse of public and political opinions and reactions, competitor developments, innovations in the business/industry, material supply fluctuations and price instabilities, etc., i.e. someone to bring the external world to the boardroom table.
In seat 7 I would look for a partner organization/company, someone who forging a relationship with would increase my company strength in someway that my company would be unlikely to achieve by itself. This seat obviously would not permanently be filled, there would be certain business discussions whereby that seat should be left vacant. Indeed it could be that maybe 2 or 3 such partner organizations/companies could at different times occupy the seat 7. Of course one would hope that such a situation would be reciprocal, thereby giving greater strength to each individual company by being part of the group but not distilling in any way each companies independance.
Just my initial thoughts for people to hit me over the head with. ;-)
Tarik
Exactly. Business is a team sport. One problem is that western society is aging and CEO’s have NO IDEA how powerful the internet can be if properly optimized.
One client refusted to use a lead capture form because his visitors”liked” the e-mail link. I told him what happens if the email bounces or he gets distracted. Facebook and Google make you fill out a form. Why wouldn’t you?
The future of the web will reward the businesses that make an effort to reach customers all over the globe.
Local mom and pops will be DESTROYED! Heck, Walmart is coming to my neighborhood and will put hundreds of businesses in the deep red.
B/C Walmart used to internet to EXPLODE. To grow. Oh well, more business and customers for us!
SF
If only there were a way to place this post at the Ends Of All Those Tables …for those who occupy the seats to ponder.
BillW
“The future of the web will reward the businesses that make an effort to reach customers all over the globe.”
Spot on! But way too many don’t speak englsih so you might want to put a contingency in for that!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_English-speaking_population
Homero A. Gonzalez
Quoting from your post;
“So owners depended on the IT for every decision including sales and marketing. Please!! Not the fault of the IT guy. But it lands on him anyways!”
I’d like to say that it Unjustly lands on the IT guy, the actual culprit is the business owner, or the head(s) of the company.
IT and Technology people in General, have always had the problem of fighting resistance to innovation and change. Its an uphill battle and it is very
difficult to”Make” Management understand new Technology, yes the one that is coming down the pipe…they eventually understand it, but usually very late in the game. Business owners and Companies who strive
to be on the leading edge, by embracing change, understanding how technology can help them achieve more with less, will continue to be the leaders.
Many companies had a visionary IT or Techie guy to thank for having secured a great domain name, and to be on the crest of the wave today.
Rick, I agree with you that in the past the IT guys have worn too many hats and that is their fault for not having refused and shown management how wrong they were… problem was, they were too busy keeping things running smoothly. (Yes, doing the job of 8 people). Good thing is that this is changing, and some are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel
Great post!. I sure hope lots of business owners and heads of companies see it and learn.
UFO
Its actually more complicated than that even. Because, using the internet as a sales platform most business owners think its nothing more than an additional sales channel. Thats why they flick it off to ‘IT’… Its just another electronic point of sale/
Its not, its the thin end of the wedge in a dramatic shift required to reengineer businesses to be fit for purpose in the 21st century.
It requires a step back and to see how the 2 different beasts operate (online v Bricks & Motar) and assessing the right balance to compete in the new environment.
You can see endless companies failing on the high street that never adapted to online sales… and you can see some that moved earlier on and are growing well in the recessionary environment.