Know-How Exchange : Strategy

To Randall (WMAA): Thanks for the positive (and thoughtful) feedback. Much appreciated!

To BARQ: I know it's a bit confusing but Deltalytics is the company and iSEE (at least tentatively) is the product. So your example "Ford, powered by Model T" got it backwards, actually. Appreciate the effort though!

thanks!
lloyd

Here's another Saturday morning comment.
I like the logic of the naming strategy.
But I think that the "i" thing is becoming a salute to Apple, as in iMAC, iPHONE, etc.
Soon enough, the "i" thing will do the same as the "Mc" thing did for McDonald's and McMuffin and all the other Mc product lines.
Apple is the brand that owns the "i" in front of brand names, and anybody else who's adopting it seems at this point as if they have an affiliation with Apple, or they try to look and feel and sound like a brand that has nothing to do with them.

Don't use the delta symbol - it'll be harder to find in web searches, and not all fonts render it legibly (it's okay in your logo graphics, tho').

Differentiate product/company. If you sell this product line (but keep the company), what will the new company call the product?

"iSEE / Powered by Deltalytics" is fine. Would
"iSEE with Deltalytics" be too confusing?

I appreciate the comments so far, thank you all! In particular, though, MGOODMAN hit a couple of nails right on the head. That he's 'been here, done this' no doubt has a lot to do with it. He said:

"What we found was that the only way to sell analytics was to bundle it with consulting services -- to do the analytical work, draw conclusions and translate those into indicated actions." And he added, "Most people just don't seem to understand the value of analytics; they'll either do without or pay you to do it for them."

This position is the one from which I began when fleshing out the business model -- and it remains an important part of the overall plan. I'm betting, however, that the general business community IS [finally but only recently] ready to buy into analytics without any hand-holding. There's enough "buzz" to have made most business owners/managers aware that there's "something" out there that might be of value to analyze their data more effectively than they are currently.

THE MARKET
The challenge is to make it easy and compelling enough to get them over the hump of confusion and uncertainty. That's one segment of my target market, viz. the small operator who is unlikely to embrace consulting services but wouldn't mind spending $30/month to learn something useful about this business. Another segment is those who buy into the basic idea but need some hand-holding to make a commitment. The last segment are those companies who won't do ANYTHING unless consulting services are included.

I'm starting out by going after Segment #1 (no-consulting-needed prospects). And, without giving away any secrets too soon, I should note that the application will include what I call "consultative reporting," wherein certain reports will output some dialogue in addition to raw data in tabular and/or chart form. A sort of 'built-in consultant' to help interpret each report.

That said, detailed plans to bundle and pitch consulting services to the "more ambitious and educated" prospects using a combination of internal resources as well as a "Certified Consultants" network (to be established and cultivated later) have been drafted. Longer term, this will be become a significant component of the business.

OBJECTIVE = A LARGE NUMBER OF SMALL ACCOUNTS
If my guess is correct, however, consulting services will never approach the 50% of total revenue that Michael experienced with his company. But then again I'm sure he didn't offer a low-priced monthly subscription which, to me, is the critical differentiator and the one that will bring in a large number of subscribers.

Thanks again to all who contributed! I'm keeping the question open for a few more days to see what else might come along. Stay tuned ...

Lloyd,

Quick note:

I would love the chance to respond. This thread has my gears churning big time!

I'll have time to wrap my head around this and provide a response later this evening or tomorrow morning, so please do leave it open.

Good stuff!!

Great stuff here, guys! Some counter-feedback below (which I had to break into two parts because my comment was “too long”).

Blaine Wilkerson [JETT] said
“I can't help but agree with the "iSEE" name being a tribute to Apple. … Not that your target audience would get it confused or that you chose a "bad" name, but I think my point is clear. Even if you are not depending on SEO as a part of your marketing strategy, there is some great risk involved with picking a name that could be easily confused as a Apple product (or ANY other comp tech company).”

My reply:
With but one exception, I see nothing but UPSIDE with the iSEE name – including it’s similarity to several Apple-named products, among others. iSEE, the business intelligence tool, will never be confused with iPhone, IPod and so on. And its gentle ring and familiar-sounding’ness will help the name to stick and be more easily remembered. I considered several names before settling on iSEE including Know-It-All, RX (and its variations), Foretell or 4TELL, Foresight or 4SIGHT, 4CAST, 4SEE, Reveal, Revelation, Soothsayer, Sayer, Seer et al. 4SIGHT and 4SEE were serious contenders but took a back seat to iSEE in the end.

The downside, as Blaine clearly points out, is with SEO where (unlike a search for “deltalytics’ will only lead to one destination) a search for iSEE brings up a lot of false hits. I’m not worried about this because someone who is searching for iSEE (the analytics, forecasting, crm, or whatever they’re thinking of product) is likely to add qualifiers to render the search more precise. For example, they might search for “isee analytics” which will return favorable results. Indeed, after submitting “deltalytics” to google less than a month a month ago, the #1 hit on this search returns

Deltalytics To Launch Analytics Software Targeted To Small ...
Deltalytics, Inc. is offering a free 6-mo subscription to its iSEE analytics software. iSEE forecasts future business performance by analyzing changes in ...

A google search for “isee business intelligence” brings up

Strategic Small Business Intelligence - Powerful, Affordable, Magical
Unlike the majority of business intelligence (BI) tools which are expensive to license and maintain, iSEE is a low-priced monthly subscription with ...

… albeit at the bottom of page 1 results. Still, not bad and it can only get better over time. So, in short, I’m confident that iSEE -- from both a product naming and SEO perspective -- is quite viable. Besides which I recently registered the domain isseeanalytics.com which I’ll set up independently from deltalytics.com with an eye towards boosting traffic and search rankings.

For those thinking “be careful what you do because Google will ban you for doping their index,” I’m aware of that risk and plan to study more on the subject before potentially shooting myself in the foot. And, just as a side note, before settling on deltalytics I toyed with quite a few names most of which I registered “just in case” and plan to use as best I can as signposts to themselves as well as Deltalytics {I know, “be careful out there”}. These other domains, just fyi, are

DELTALYTICS.ORG (active now - for the blog and, eventually, the academic “home”)
DELTALYTIX.COM (it’s always a good idea to lock up the closely spelled variants)
DLYTICS.COM (ditto)
CUSTALYTICS.COM (an original contender for the primary domain name)
ESSENTIALYTICS.COM (might be used later for a totally FREE starter system)
MACROLYTICS.COM
MACROLYTIX.COM
SITEALYTICS.COM
TOTALYTICS.COM (might be used later if web analytics are supported, too)
WIZALYTICS.COM (another original, primary domain contender)
XALYTICS.COM (ditto)

With respect to using the shorthand ∆lytics in a text context, okay .. I won’t use it. I think I just got so sick of typing out Deltalytics every time and just assumed readers would get equally tired of seeing it ;-).

[. . . another comment to follow...]

Blaine [JETT] made a few other very good points that I [LAM] would like to briefly address as well.

JETT: “I fear your affinity for the name and the current format of your product and your "betting" may be blinding you from taking some very solid advice regarding the implementation of a consultant or at least a X day training class and perhaps a service contract. … I realize you are targeting small business owners, who as you are well aware, barely have time to eat let alone figure out how to operate the analysis program themselves.”

LAM: I completely agree, which is why the program must be brainlessly easy to install, configure and use. And that it shall be.

JETT: “Furthermore, you are not simply selling some helpful software, you are asking small businesses to completely change the way they currently do business and to depend on your product for the future of their company.”

LAM: Hmmm. This statement worries me (a lot). If what I’ve presented (here and on the website) suggests this even remotely, a major overhaul is needed. Unlike using a new order management system (which is what I do in my ‘other life’ at www.colinear.com) where changing the way one does business – at least in some respects to best conform to the software, esp. in terms of workflow – iSEE requires nothing of the sort. You push a button to get your data in, and another to get a glimpse of the future. Nothing changes except that new, and potentially invaluable, insights into how customers are performing and, moreover, how they’re likely to perform in the future (for better or for worse) are presented. All iSEE does is to answer questions that (i) the business owner probably didn’t realize ought to be asked; and (ii) that even if they new the answers were important, didn’t have a clue how or where to get them. Like I said, there’s work to be done in this regard and its good to know that I did a poor job of conveying -- to even the brightest among my visitors -- that iSEE provides information for consideration and possible strategic action. No more and no less.

JETT: “Perhaps you should present it as a useful tool that one can use to supplement their current applications and forecasting strategies, versus the Holy Grail that is guaranteed to predict the success or failure of a business/product 30+ days in advance. In other words, why should a small business owner hand over their future to iSEE?”

LAM: While I think Blaine is overstating the case here {nothing is being “handed over”} I do catch his drift and agree the message needs to be conveyed more clearly and, perhaps, less “threatening” as well. My biggest obstacle right now is that “seeing is believing,” but I can’t show much of substance until iSEE becomes available later this year.

Some even suggested that it was a mistake to launch the website at all for fear of giving a new/potential competitor an early heads-up. I decided, however, to take the gamble and to begin establishing the brand, SEO and to attract as many “free signups” as possible during the product development phase. Next up is to promote our “affiliate program” which will offer generous (and ongoing) rewards to those who refer customers. Although the final details aren’t set, we’ll be paying up to 50% of the revenue generated by referrals to our affiliates. I’d encourage those of you who have a potential interest in this program to please sign up at https://deltalytics.com/affiliates.html and stay in the loop.


JETT: But seriously, what is your marketing strategy? How are you planning on not only reaching the small business owner, but convincing he/she that your product is worth the time?

LAM: And therein lies the rub. I do have a (very) detailed plan that I’m confident (because of the numerous angles it incorporates) will generate interest and, eventually, acceptance. Its centerpiece is the notion that “a picture tells a thousand words.” That’s about as much as I can say on the subject right now, though.


JETT: Please don't get the wrong idea. I admire your Seth Grodin-like approach and I certainly do not I have seen product after product, from Artificial Intelligent light bulbs, to electrical outlets with built in emergency lights, to cool outdoor toys to data merging software products fall flat on their face because they assumed and "bet" that the rest of the world would think their product was as useful and necessary as they did. Dedication is essential, but without down-to-earth thinking, deaf and blind zeal can drive an amazing product into the ground.

LAM: I hadn’t heard of Seth Grodin before now and thank you for the intro. With respect to “blind zeal” versus “down-to-earth thinking,” you’re preaching to the choir. I am my own harshest critical and devil’s advocate, questioning everything I think and do. Having been the founder and CEO of a software company for twenty-one years – dating back to the mid 80’s when my largest client had an eight-user system with an IBM AT personal computer “server” (with a massive 80MB hard drive ) – I’ve experienced many things, made countless mistakes and, thankfully, learned from both (esp. the latter).

The most important thing I’ve learned, and would implore any entrepreneur who may be reading this to emulate, is to anticipate what might go wrong (or might just not happen), truly embrace it, and develop a counter-plan accordingly. Indeed, planning for contingencies with (nearly) as much thoroughness and (considerably more) open-mindedness as the desired outcome is critically important. In my case, for example, the biggest (and most likely) threat to the business plan is missing our November target date to release iSEE.

What should I do if we miss our target date?
And when should I do it?

These are questions I need to answer NOW – not on November 30th when I’m frustrated, disappointed, pissed-off and generally scrambling to save face and implement some form of damaged control. And just as important, while thinking through Plan B, I came to see and understand better ways to implement Plan A. In other words, once I figured out what could (and should) be done if we were to miss our release date, I saw additional ways to control and better administer the project overall. Another big advantage of thinking through “worst case scenarios” is that the emotional elements become largely suppressed along with the negative energy that can otherwise undermine ones performance later.

So, in short, once you’ve thought through and taken the worst case scenarios to heart, there’s not a lot of room for “I can’t f($#ng believe this happened to me” disbelief, because you’ve already been there and done that (at least intellectually).

On the other hand, you can’t afford to doubt yourself, either, when you’re in evangelical mode. It’s almost like there’s two personas involved: First, “This idea can’t miss, I’m gonna make a fortune with this thing!,” and second, “Murphy’s gonna win this one for sure, and I’ll be lucky if I don’t lose my shirt.”

Once you’ve played devil’s advocate with yourself, and fleshed out those painful (but potential) negative scenarios, you set that aside and adopt the first, viz. "zealot" position, completely and unequivocally. That’s where I am right now – thinking and acting 100% positive. Gee, I think I managed to turn my question into somebody else’s answer. I’m new here so I hope that’s a good thing.

. . . Many thanks again to all those who invested their valuable time and energy to engage my question. I’ll keep this thread open a bit longer posting a final reply tomorrow morning and closing the question. If anyone has a few more cents to throw in the meantime, please have at it.

lloyd