On tuesday, I was talking about Marketing for Startup Britain, the 5-day conference held in London last week, organized by Startup Britain and the Marketing Agencies Association.
Over the last few days, I’ve been catching up with people who were there. Some, like me, only managed one day; some managed two or three – and others did the whole week!
What I’ve been hearing has been, on the whole, extremely positive. I certainly came away inspired to change my focus on certain aspects of my new brand. Everyone else I’ve spoken to so far is in business, or going into business, for the first time and they’ve all said they learnt a huge amount.
Do you feel a ‘but’ coming on…? My English teachers would have the horros if they saw what I’m about to do, because they all told me NEVER to start a sentence – let alone a paragraph – like this…
BUT! one thing which has come through consistently about last week is that, while most of the speakers spoke very eloquently from a startup perspective, however long ago they started and however successful they’ve become, others seemed to be completely out of touch with their audience. I won’t mention any names, because they all gave their time with the best of intentions, but I’m told there was at least one whose presentation made no real reference to startups and who, away from the microphone, admitted having no interest in very young businesses. That leads me to ask what on earth they were doing there. The only answer I can think of is that they hoped some of the fledgling businesses would grow up to be something they would be interested in. There’s nothing wrong with taking the long view when it comes to building business connections, of course – but alienating people at the beginning by showing they’re too small to interest you, by talking to them about things which have no relevance to them, isn’t exactly a great foundation for a long-term relationship!
I should have had one of those very new business people on my radio show yesterday – but technology threw a wobbler – so she’ll now be on in a couple of weeks. I’ll tell you more about her then.
All I’ll say now is that she was a joy to interview and the ideal kind of guest for the programme. There’s absolutely no point in my having the CEO of some global corporate on to talk about the trials of floating a company on the stock exchange, when I know my listeners are made up largely of home-based parents who are trying to get some kind of enterprise off the ground, or wondering whether, one day, they might be able to do it. Someone who, in a very dark time in her life, came up with an idea which she’s now going all out to make a reality, is much more relevant to them. Offering them someone who can’t identify with them is like trying to communicate with a non-English-speaker by SHOUTING! VERY! LOUD! AND! VERY! SLOW-LEEEE! – frustrating for all concerned – and completely pointless!
Whatever we’re trying to say and whatever medium we use – live presentation, radio, podcasts, phone, leaflets, website, social media – you name it! – knowing who we’re talking to and at least trying to speak their language is vital. Otherwise, we end up talking to ourselves.
Feedback: A painful noise? Or music to your ears?
A couple of years ago, I did a presentation under this title. It was all about the similarities I’d spoted between two apparently completely different kinds of feedback – the horrible, high-pitched whistling noise you get in a studio, or with a PA system, when the mic is too close to a speaker or a pair of headphones and the sound circles around between the two, and negative comments from customers.
I hadn’t thought of it in ages – until yesterday.
I’m currently adapting a series of training courses I normally deliver personally, into downloadable packages. If you’ve never done that, it isn’t as easy as it looks. When I’m face to face with a client or group of clients, although I follow the same basic process each time, their questions and feedback play a significant role in deciding what we focus on and how I deliver the information.. The online version has to include everything and be user-friendly for everyone who wants to use it.
As I’m too close to the subject and the material to judge whether I’m hitting either of those objectives, I’ve asked a small group of people to road-test the course as I develop it. Yesterday saw the first major milestone, when I sent them the first draft of the first module.
To be honest, I was quite surprised how nervous I was – it was almost as bad as when I hit the ‘Send’ button and emailed out the very first draft of the book!
A few hours later, I was sitting in the radio studio, interviewing Caroline Thomas of Sales Scene and Louise Innes of Dotty Hippo Design, about the Thurrock Network Group and their ‘Thurrock’s Den’ project at this weekend’s T-Fest. If you’re in the area, go and check out their stand – there’s a great prize on offer for the best videoed business pitch, courtesy of the Park Inn Thurrock, Sales Scene and Dotty Hippo Design.
The interview went really well – both girls know their stuff inside out and are passionate about their subject – but through the whole thing, I could hear the familiar high howl of feedback in my headphones – OUCH! There was nothing obviously wrong and as we were live on air, there wasn’t much I could do by way of investigation – so I just had to grin and bear it – and solve it at the earliest opportunity (before the poor listener ran as far from the radio as possible, holding their ears!)
So what’s the connection between those two events? Well, as I said at the beginning, audio feedback happens when a mic gets too close to an output source. It’s a nasty noise – it can actually hurt if it’s loud enough – but it does alert you pretty quickly to the fact that there’s a problem which will, if it’s left unchecked, drive listeners away. It’s usually quite easily fixed, by putting distance between the two bits of kit which are annoying each other.
In business, we often fight shy of getting too close to our customers, in case we hear something that hurts, don’t we? I’m twitching at the moment, waiting for my test-drivers to come back to me. I’d love them to tell me my first efforts are wonderful and I should just keep doing what I’m doing – but realistically, I know they’re far more likely to offer constructive criticism. Some of it might even sting a bit – but at least it’ll tell me where the issues are at this early stage and I’ll be able to fix them before the product hits the market – and prospective paying customers vote with their hard-earned!
We tend to see complaints etc as problems – but shouldn’t we actually see them as opportunities to improve? Rather than being painful noises (avoided by putting a distance between us and the critic), shouldn’t they be music to our ears? I’m certainly trying to see them that way at the moment!