I had mixed feelings when Google announced that they had indexed 1 trillion pages. Should I be excited about this. I really don’t know.
I have been writing since I was ten years old. Having written seven books and more than 1100 articles on this blog, I know what it takes to create original content. It is a lot of hard work.
Think about it:
* There are about 6.5 billion people in the world.
* Half of them can’t read or write
* Of the ones that can read and write only some of them write for publishing.
* Of the ones that write, only a fraction of them publish online.
Still, we have a trillion pages that are indexed.
I doubt how many of these pages have trusted and relevant content.
In my opinion, the fastest way to promote mediocrity is to lower the bar of entry. That’s what we have done using the blogs – anyone can create a blog in a minute. Personal publishing at its best.
So, what is the big breakdown because of this?
Simply put, everyday it gets harder for people to find trusted and relevant content on the web. Yes, there are a trillion web pages – but am I interested in all of them? No. Sometimes I wish there was a website that organizes content that is just relevant to my concerns and needs.
One such project to address the needs of baby boomers is Boomer411. About a dozen Baby Boomer Experts (led by Guru) have taken on the task of organizing content to take care of the concerns and breakdowns of Baby Boomers. The goal of the site is simple – help baby boomers find good information, fast!
Disclaimer: Boomer411 is powered by Rawsugar technology
Boomer411 is one of my favorite projects just because of the utility value. On one end it is a simple content management system for experts (we call them trustees) to organize the content that is relevant to the baby boomers. None of the trustees are paid. Everyone is doing this because they want to help baby boomers. On the other end, for baby boomers, it offers a discovery tool to help them find and discover good content that is relevant to them.
This is Guru’s first project as an entrepreneur. I am sure he has learnt a lot about entrepreneurship along the way but his big joy comes because he is creating something that is VERY valuable to Baby Boomers – a large majority of them will NEED help – sooner than later. And he is doing his part to make a difference in the lives of these people.
Sheila Marcelo is the Founder and CEO of Care.com, an online service for families to find trustworthy options for child care, senior care, pet care, tutoring and housekeeping. Prior to this, as an entrepreneur, Sheila has worked as an executive at several successful for-profit start-ups with a social mission: Upromise.com, an online service helping families save money for college, and TheLadders.com, an online job search website for executives.
Care.com aims to provide families with a trustworthy resource to address their care needs. Evolving past the traditional concept of a service directory, Sheila started Care.com to provide families with a more efficient way to find local care providers. In this discussion, we talk about entrepreneurship and addressing the needs of families.
RS: Sheila, this is your third startup. What lessons from your previous startups are you bringing to this startup?
SM: Having worked in a start-up environment for several years prior to launching Care.com, I was aware of the deep personal investment that comes with starting your own company. It’s like raising a child in its own way.
From my past experiences, I know how important it is for a company in our position to stay focused on what our goal is. For Care.com, and many companies out there, it’s easy to get sidetracked by any number of great opportunities that come along. I would much rather us be a leader in the areas that we focus on by providing the highest-quality service, rather than spread ourselves thin by pursuing every opportunity or partnership that comes our way.
Another key lesson that I have carried with me from my past experiences is the need to hire and work with a very talented team. We have a great group at Care.com, and I’m thrilled to have a team so committed to pursuing the company’s mission of helping families. The important thing to remember is that with a start-up, strategies can change at a moment’s notice. It is important to have a team that can adapt and switch gears when needed, but maintain the passion and enthusiasm for what the company is building.
RS: What motivated you to start Care.com?
SM: I was motivated to start Care.com based on the challenges I faced in my own life in trying to find quality care providers. With my husband and I both working, it’s always a juggling act raising our two sons and caring for our two dogs. Several years ago, in the midst of managing a career and raising my children, my father needed quadruple bypass surgery. Living in another state, it was a struggle to find adequate care for him – and the experience made me more aware that many families out there are without options for finding adequate care. You may have a trusted nanny or a regular pet sitter, but if their personal circumstances change or if they suddenly fall ill, it can be a struggle to find help in a moment’s notice.
RS: When you decided to launch Care.com, there were already a number of service directories. What was your game plan to play in the crowded space?
SM: Actually, I think there were certainly a lot of niche players when we entered the family services space, but Care.com is unique in that we are addressing the lifecycle of care needs under one umbrella. Many services like senior care can be very localized – so it’s often times difficult for an out-of-state family member to know who the trusted resources are in another area.
I think we also differentiate ourselves from a typical service directory by creating a greater degree of efficiency and safety to the process of finding a caregiver. A typical online classified may do a great job of providing a place to find local babysitters, but you still need to click through individual profiles to find the right fit. If you are a mom looking for a babysitter with infant experience who is available on select afternoons – it can be challenging to find someone who fits the bill. We tailored our search metrics to be very specific, allowing families to find providers in their area who fit the criteria that they designate.
Additionally, Care.com offers safety features like free background checks and recorded reference interviews to provide families with a greater degree of confidence when hiring a caregiver. It is still important to interview candidates and make sure that someone is the right fit for your needs, but by having Care.com address items like background checks and references, it ensures that important steps are not overlooked.
RS: What is the “litmus test” if any to see if the idea is worth executing on?
SM: First and foremost, I think it’s important to be invested in the idea that you are trying to get off the ground. With Care.com, I had a very personal connection to the services based on some of my own experiences trying to find caregivers for my sons, our family’s dogs and my father. Beyond that, it was fulfilling for me to create a company that addressed a social mission.
It is really important to solicit as much feedback in the early stages – whether that’s talking to friends and family or tapping your intended consumers for input. It is important to get a thorough read on how viable your idea is, and then beyond that it becomes important to evaluate the scope and scalability of a concept.
RS: What is your advice for “would be” entrepreneurs?
SM: There are definitely a lot of great aspects to being an entrepreneur. For me, the realization that we are creating from the ground up at Care.com is really exciting. It always amazes me to look out and see how much we have grown this company even in a short period of time.
At the same time, it requires a lot of work and personal investment to succeed at being an entrepreneur. Probably the single best piece of advice I can give is to develop a network of professional mentors and former colleagues that you can rely on for advice and guidance throughout the process. I have a number of people in my life who have provided me with a great deal of advice, guidance and support along the way. Beyond that, drink a lot of coffee!
RS: Lastly, what can you share about your future plans for Care.com?
SM: We just recently celebrated our one-year anniversary since the site’s nationwide launch – and it has been exciting to see how much Care.com has evolved in that time. We are continuing to expand our reach nationwide, especially in our services outside of child care. In addition, we are continuing to actively listen to feedback from our customers to figure out areas of improvement as well as opportunity.
On Saturday, I wanted to have a cup of coffee. There was a long line at Starbucks (makes one wonder why they are closing 600 stores) and I was not in a mood to stand in the queue. Next door was McDonalds. I had read advertisements about their new flavored ice coffee and decided to try it.
There were two choices and the person asked me what size coffee I preferred – “Medium or Large” and I said “Medium”. Then she looked at me as if I was from another planet. I thought something must be wrong and looked at the board. The two choices were:
Medium – for $1.89 + tax
Large – for $1.99 + tax
The difference was 10 cents. I asked whether I was one of the few who had ordered a medium drink. She said “You are the first one today” and in her mind, she must be thinking – “Yes, you are. Moron!”
Thinking about it, it just doesn’t make logical sense that for a lot more coffee they just want only 10 cents more. Obviously everyone is picking the larger version. Why would they not – it’s only ten cents more and a lot more coffee.
Why would McDonalds do this?
Well, there has been a lot of research that has gone into this field. Let me explain it in simple terms and then point to a research study.
Iced Coffee is new to McDonalds and hence there is no precedence for the customers to find out whether it is priced right or not. They can’t compare the price of an iced coffee to the price of a burger. So if they introduce only one size with one price, the chances are you will let the consumers guessing whether it is rightly priced or not. By shifting the criteria intelligently, you are now asking the consumers to compare the price of a medium iced coffee to a large iced coffee. And making a typical consumer think – “Wow. the large sized iced coffee is a deal”. In this whole process, the consumer has forgotten to question whether the iced coffee (medium or large) is priced in the right range in the first place.
Dan Ariely explains this concept beautifully in his book Predictably Irrational (website, book) where he talks about “Why Everything is Relative even when it shouldn’t be” in the first chapter. For a deeper discussion on the topic, please refer to the book and other works of Dan. You will enjoy reading about this and other research findings by him.
The failure of IndyMac bank is scary. It’s actually a scary lesson for all of us. You can read the full story at Wall Street Journal – Crisis deepens as Big Bank Fails. What caught my attention is the statement about what the bank specialized in. Here it is
It specialized in Alt-A loans, a type of mortgage that can be offered to borrowers who don’t fully document their incomes or assets
Just because something looks good on paper does not mean that it is good.
Think about it. Would you have deposited money in IndyMac bank if you knew that this was their specialization?
It is a referral site for the Jiffle service. It provides a brief overview of what Jiffle offering is and urges potential customers to go and sign up for the service. Think of it like a site with just a landing page. Companies do this all the time.
In this case though – this site was not created by us. It was created by one of your kind customers – Sylva Leduc. Sylva has been a long-time customer, power user and a long-time supporter of Jiffle. But creating a site dedicated to us – that made our day!
Take a look at the picture below (Photo courtesy: Kiruba Shankar). This is from an ad for the Samsung Refrigerator.
You would think that this is like any other advertisement. It’s not!
You will have to click through this link to find out how this advertisement is really implemented. (Hint: It is really not an advertisement but an Advertisement Experience)
Food for Thought: How can you create such an experience for one or more of your products or services?
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Update – July 10, 2008
I have recieved a few emails asking me why I am asking people to click through to Kiruba’s blog when I could just explain what this advertisement experience is – right here on my blog.
The answer is simple.You see – my first four published works were fiction. Specifically they were murder mysteries and spy thrillers. So I love suspense and wanted to create some suspense on the blog.
Just kidding..
Really, this interesting ad experience was discovered by Kiruba (who is a long-time friend) and rightly you should hear about it from him. Explaining everything on my blog and giving just a credit link won’t do justice as people may not click through the credit link
Anyway my $.02 only. There is no right or wrong way in these things. You do what your gut says. Sorry for those who thought I created an inconvenience.
After a long career in the traditional corporate training world, WayneTurmel is now the president of www.greatwebmeetings.com, which helps people develop the sales and presentation skills necessary to communicate effectively when you can’t be face to face with your customers. He is also the host of The Cranky Middle Manager Show, one of the world’s most popular management podcasts. (You may have heard our interview together a year or so ago)
I met with Wayne Turmel some time ago when he first interviewed me for his podcast show “The Cranky Middle Manager Show” on the topic of Personal Branding. Here is the link to that interview
I learnt that Wayne is now helping companies of all sizes to make the most of web meetings. In this interview he makes a business case for his business and gives some insights on how you can make the most of web meetings.
Here is the interview:
RS: Wayne, This may be an obvious first question – Can you make a case for salespeople to use webmeetings?
WT: The costs of sales are growing exponentially. Travel costs are going through the roof while travel budgets are getting slashed. Sales people are expected to better qualify their prospects before setting face-to-face calls and fewer bodies are covering larger territories. Any tool that helps speed communication is going to get a good looking at. And the cost of a webmeeting instead of going to the customer site can’t be beat- as long as they’re effective.
RS: Studies show that many sales people don’t like these tools (and avoid using them)- why not?
WT: Sales people by their nature love to be face to face with their customers…. Sales is based on a relationship, and it’s hard to fashion good relationships just through email or on the phone. Many people view webmeetings as one-way communication that doesn’t offer them a real opportunity for building those relationships…. and no wonder. The Vendors of these programs teach the tools you need to push information out, but most people never get taught to use the interactive components of these tools… they’re too busy figuring out how to use them at all never mind use them well.
I always use the analogy of PowerPoint. How many sales people got handed their first laptop with a presentation on it and never received coaching on how to use it? We sat through horrible presentations…when they could even get the projector and computer to talk to each other….how many hours of our lives were wasted?
RS: Audiences aren’t too crazy about them either….
WT: Our research shows that audiences quite like web demos if they are well done and focused on their needs. After all, they don’t have to leave their desk or have a sales person in their office they can’t get rid of. But they are often considered a waste of time. In fact we did a YouTube video on why audiences don’t like them… and some things you can do to make them more interactive and focused. It’s called Why Web Demos Suck- And What You Can Do About It.
Generally the most common mistakes according to our research are:
• Not being relevant to the customer’s business
• Too much information, most of it irrelevant at this stage of the sales cycle (going too far into features and specifics before they even know if they’re interested in the product)
• Not answering the customer’s most pressing questions in a timely manner
• The people doing the presentation are often subject matter experts but not compelling presenters (the word most often used was BORING)
RS: So, what are some of those things sales people can do?
WT: Just as in a face-to-face meeting you want to ask lots of questions and focus on what they really need, the interactive tools in webmeetings allow for two-way communication. Most sales people are so nervous about using the tool, though, they simply push information out. A wise sales organization will make sure that people not only get real-time practice with the tool before they are in front of a prospect, but they understand how to use it as a two-way communication tool, not just a one-way presentation platform. That’s what we teach at Greatwebmeetings- the sales and presentation skills they need to really engage their customers and be as effective “virtually” as they are in a face to face meeting.
RS: Can you please give an example?
WT: Sure. A software company in the Midwest had a subject matter expert who did their software demos. She was a very good presenter- engaging, fun to listen to- but her conversion rate with customers who had requested demos was about 50%. We worked with her to do a number of things. First, identify her outcome as the presenter, which was to get her customer to agree to a trial of the software. Then to ask plenty of questions before she started presenting (to avoid information the client wasn’t interested in) and to get to the customer’s most pressing questions right away. We also taught her a technique for presenting features tied to what the customer told her during the questioning and confirming buy-in before spending too long. Not only are her presentations generally shorter now, but the number of prospects moving to a trial of the product went up over 20%. Her CEO is delighted, needless to say.
RS: Isn’t there plenty of on-line training available?
WT: There’s lots of information, but much of it is in the form of recorded lectures and webinars. True training has three components- it addresses the real work the people have to do, it allows for self-discovery, and it’s assessed to see if the person has really learned something and get coaching and reinforcement of the new skills. With a regular presentation skills program, you’d expect people to get up and present after the training and show improvement. All our programs do that. Training without demonstrating improved performance is a waste of time and money.
Having lived in the Silicon Valley for more than a decade now, I get to hear ideas almost ALL the time – in various shapes, sizes and forms. Ideas, like most things in life, follow a normal distribution curve. Of the ones that I understand and can make a reasonable assessment, there are good ones, bad ones and most are average.
For whatever reason, there is a lot of emphasis on the “value” of the idea and less emphasis on the “value” of the execution of the idea. Actually, I can think of many reasons:
1. Coming up with ideas usually takes less time than actually executing on one of them.
2. If your idea fails at the idea stage, it is less painful.
3. You can talk about your idea as if you can easily execute it. But you can’t fake execution
4. You can change your ideas in a day but it is hard to change the execution course easily.
5. You can appear to be smart with more than one idea. Unless you are a chronic parallel entrepreneur, it’s hard to work on executing on more than one idea
6. Ideas are fun. You need a lot more brains and help to make execution fun.
7. You alone can support an idea. Rarely you alone can execute on the idea. You need a lot more help for executing on the idea.
8. Most often stakes are low for an idea. Stakes are high for almost all cases of execution.
One would think that people should be worried like crazy on executing on the idea. It is way more complex than painting a rosy picture through an idea. Unfortunately that is not the case. People are disproportionately worried about the idea. On a lighter note, some behave as if this is the last ever idea that will come to them. So they hold on to the idea with both their hands and by the time they act on it, it’s already too late (somebody else somewhere in the world has acted on it or technology has changed to make the idea irrelevant)
So, whatever is your idea – stop worrying about it and start focusing your energy on executing on it – if you are serious about executing on it, of course!
A blonde and her friend were driving past a gas station. The friend remarked – “These gas prices are going through the roof like crazy. Are you also upset?” The blonde responded immediately – “Actually, I don’t know why people are making a big deal about it. I always put gas for $20 every time. So I don’t have any problem”
Now, the brilliance of the Adwords model:
Companies can advertise on Google Adwords and bid higher to be placed higher on the ad stack. When one or more competitors try to outbid them, they can increase the bid even higher to ensure that they hold the place. If you think about it, every advertiser for a keyword is competing with everyone else to PAY MORE TO GOOGLE than the other player. You can almost visualize them as screaming “Allow me to pay more to you Mr. Google” and we will fight like crazy to ensure that we are the highest payers for using your service.
Now, the connection:
In the last couple of weeks, at three CEO friends told me that they have been advertising on Google Adwords for the last few years. Today they can only buy half of what $10K would have given them two years ago.
Now, the real question:
Unlike the blonde near the gas station, the CEOs know that they are getting less for the same money and they definitely want to explore alternatives. The real question therefore is “What are those alternatives?”
I have written about Globat Automatic Upgrade scam before. I have been busy to switch to another hosting company but I don’t think the company will ever learn how to “serve” the customers. I got another promotion that I had to opt out.
Here is the page where they ask me “why I am opting out”
One such project to address the needs of baby boomers is Boomer411. About a dozen Baby Boomer Experts (led by Guru) have taken on the task of organizing content to take care of the concerns and breakdowns of Baby Boomers. The goal of the site is simple – help baby boomers find good information, fast!
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