Food for Thought

I've been responding to your questions and have a few of my own for your consideration:

1. The India CCTV system manufacturer, Livedarshan features customer case studies of actual CCTV installations on their website. We can create similar case studies based on our experience. Should such studies be included in our web design?


2. Would including informative white papers such as
   "What Everyone Should Know about Security" be useful to our site?


3. The United Kingdom has an extensive installed base of CCTV surveillance systems and the UK Metro Police coordinate with owners to assure the images are useable. Would a page similar to CCTV maintenance guidance benefit our site?


4. Security Design Services is an all inclusive professional site with a number of interesting features; for instance "How Things Work" and "Design a System". In your opinion, do these features add or detract from their site?


5. The EZWatchPro website is a bit busy for my taste but may contain ideas. Do you think this site has any ideas worth emulating?

A CCTV Configuration Wizard

Fairfield Electronics is a CCTV consumer site that contains a unique "specification wizard". You may wish to check it out to see if it enables you to choose components for your CCTV system. It's not perfect, but it is heading in an interesting direction and it might be useful to small commercial customers such as convenience stores, who often desire a "ball park" estimate of costs for budgeting purposes before they're willing to contact a supplier. Could such a wizard fit into our website?

IFMA Trade Show Results

The IFMA trade show was a glorious success! The laptop-based video clips of the benefits of CCTV went over exceedingly well. People left asking for more. Our first email HTML newsletter requires adjustment to maintain the interest and relevance to the show exhibit, and that's my immediate task.

The IFMA staff has asked to include this (as yet undefined) enhanced article in THEIR newsletter to their 8000 members. And they have asked us to consider responding to an upcoming "call for papers" that might result in a presentation to participants of the IFMA conference in San Diego next year. I'll share more results about this as events evolve and time permits.

Remember "FAB"? I discussed this marketing concept of "Features, Advantages, Benefits" during our client presentation. Clearly, the excellent response I reported above is a result of discussing "Benefits" to those who stopped by our exhibit. During the video clips, we spoke of the benefits of shifting the attention of guard staff from that of identifying threats, to that of assessing rapidly recognized computer-identified threats and then taking appropriate action to resolve the situation.

I'd like our website to be primarily informational, to focus on benefits, and to request our inclusion in any Requests for Quotes that might emerge as readers connect perceived benefits to their own business situation.

IFMA Expo Day #1

Turns out that while our exhibit booth #102 location looked rather poor on the exhibit hall diagram, it is a VERY good location that is readily seen from one of the two entryways to the hall. The extensive video motion at our booth is continuing to work in our favor as most folks attracted to the booth stay to ask questions. In fact, two great contacts came to us before the hall even opened - from other exhibitors who requested quotes for their businesses.

The exhibits opened at 2:30 PM and we had a steady stream of interest right through the 5 PM closing. We collected lots of warm leads and some hot leads, one being "super hot" (a manufacturing site who had budgeted for a sophisticated CCTV system could not find the technology they desired so had not yet purchased - they discovered the exact technology they wanted when they saw our video clip at the booth and will reopen the RFQ!) Attendees here are indeed the decision makers.

We're realizing our website will need to run film clips and support PowerPoint web conference calls to enable meaningful follow up to our prospects. We'll also want to feed live images from net-capable cameras and digital recorders. I'll continue to keep you abreast of our news and ideas as they emerge. Please keep me abreast of your questions and concerns as the project progresses.

FAQ's

PLEASE NOTE: The Frequently Asked Questions link has been UPDATED and placed under the Sidebar heading "BUAD477 References". Clicking this link will launch a single indexed page of categorized questions and my responses.

The FAQ's page also includes a direct link from which to email questions directly to me. I will attempt, but cannot guarantee response within 24 hours of receiving your email. I will respond both directly to the sender of the email AND post the response on the FAQ's page. The FAQ's link on this Business Quest blog will have the date of the most recent FAQ update so you do not need to link to that page unnecessarily. You are encouraged to ASK QUESTIONS EARLY AND OFTEN so everyone can derive the most benefit from this resource.

Trade Show Results - Lancaster

Our booth attracted a lot of interest and good conversation, making the trade show a fun event for us. Folks enjoyed our projecting the image from our "tour" camera atop the pole, and it had an unanticipated benefit - the image displayed the Time and Date across the footer so as it turned out, we inadvertently supplied the only clock in the entire exhibit hall!

Folks in our aisle would usually stop to watch the film clip of the intruder jumping the border fence (as described in yesterday's posting). This afforded a painless way to strike up a conversation, explaining where the film was taken, that YES, it was actually a real, not staged event; NO, we don't know what happened to the intruder; and YES, if there were two intruders, the camera would have followed the intruder threatening the highest risk area… and so forth. The conversations naturally continued a course to the capabilities of security cameras and our assessment of the attendee's level of interest.

Opening a conversation with folks who were already expressing a level of interest in security, whether a potential customer or not, made the event interesting and fun for us. In the "conversations" model I shared with you, we were clearly in a conversation for RELATIONSHIP that sometimes moved into a conversation for POSSIBILITY, (i.e., "I think I have a [friend, relative, acquaintance] who might be interested in CCTV and I'll mention I met you"); or further progressed into a conversation for OPPORTUNITY, (i.e., "I have a huge commercial farm with a number of large outbuildings and I want to think about adding security to the property"), and in at least one case, to a conversation for ACTION, (i.e., "I manage a hotel. Give me a call, I'd like you to come out and quote a new security system.")

Again, we netted quite a number of leads. This time I would categorize the cards in the bowl as "cool" rather than "warm", and most in my pocket as "warm" with only a couple as "hot". The reason for these shift of terms from the previous trade show is simply because many Lancaster show exhibitors were offering door prizes if you dropped a card in their bowl (we offer an electronic newsletter). The large offering of door prizes caused attendees to drop cards willy-nilly in any bowl they saw, so I know a lot of the cards are probably not from folks who had any interest in CCTV but from folks who were interested in a door prize. But they'll still get our electronic newsletter and by their click-through to our links I'll be able to identify true prospects.

Oh, and speaking of prizes, we were delighted when our exhibit was awarded FIRST PRIZE for MOST INFORMATIVE EXHIBIT! A very happy result that boosts our energy for manning our American SecuriComm booth at the IFMA World Workplace Conference at the Philadelphia Convention Center, October 23-25.

Our Lancaster Exhibit

Today we're exhibiting in booth 35 at the "LANCASTER CHAMBER BUSINESS EXPO" , from 9AM TO 6PM. This exhibit features three LCD screens and a digital projector. We're using the projector to display a huge image on some blank wall space over an emergency exit in the aisleway to the left of our booth. The image comes from the pan/tilt/zoom camera you see atop the pole in the picture as it "tours" the exhibit room. A "tour" is a preset path that is programmed into the camera, in this case causing it to zoom down an aisle, pan over the displays, zoom out to show the entire exhibit hall, then pan around and zoom in on other aisles. The effect is meant to attract people to the image (and our booth) to see what it's all about.

The large LCD display atop our camera display rack is showing a continuous film clip from one of our vendors. The film is of the images from a state-of-the-art camera system located at a border crossing at a well-known middle east location. The camera is not manned but the camera's computer is looking for human-form images. When it finds one it puts a highlighted box around it and as the image moves, the box moves, leaving a highlighted trail behind it. In this case, the camera is watching an intruder, dressed completely in black, moving in the shadows and then crawling over a fence into the protected space. As soon as the space is invaded the image is alarmed and handed over to an automatic pan/tilt/zoom camera that then tracks the image. In this manner a border guard need do nothing more than glance at the monitor to assess the situation and take appropriate action. The camera does all the tracking without human intervention. This sequence is designed to interest people in the possibilities of CCTV and to experience it's use in high security situations.

We have two recording digital video recorders (DVRs) in a rack to the right of the booth, topped by another LCD display. The images on this monitor can display any of various cameras mounted on the panel to the left of the booth, and those cameras can be moved by use of the joy stick controller on the display table.

I'll say more about the results of this trade show tomorrow.

Marketing Update

"Well", you might ask, "if you guys are having so much fun exhibiting at trade shows, what's the next step?" We've been thinking about that and believe our most important next step is to respond quickly to EVERYONE who has expressed interest. During our first trade show interest was expressed in two ways:
1) folks stopped by and tossed a business card into the bowl, and
2) folks chatted us up with some serious conversation and gave us their card.
We immediately phone the folks having serious interest and have been very successful in scheduling meetings. In fact, those meetings have garnered firm requests for quote; "a consummation devoutly to be wished", (speaking of quotes!)

Now how do we professionally and efficiently follow up with a card from the casual visitor?

Here's what we're up to: Since practically everyone who drops a card also has an email address, we send them an email - not just text, hypertext, not just a letter, a newsletter. Every card in the bowl is mailed an introductory copy of Security Alert, our brand-new on-line newsletter. Take a look! This approach offers a rapid and professional response where we can:
1) see who opened the newsletter,
2) see how many who opened the newsletter clicked a link to a webpage, and
3) enables us to encourage immediate response with a free consultation and service offer. Will our project website need to be designed to accommodate this process? You betcha!

We’re on a roll…

American SecuriComm will be taking our roving exhibit to the IFMA World Workplace 2005 Conference & Expo at the Philadelphia Convention Center Oct 23 – 25, 2005 where we’ll join 260 exhibitors to interact with an anticipated 5000 attendees. This conference attracts architects, building and remodeling contractors, engineers, facility executives and managers, property managers, and procurement professionals. We hope these contacts will remember us as new businesses and existing clients in the area identify their need for reliable security installation and service. I’ll share more as our marketing efforts evolve.

Chapt. 14 Student References and American SecuriComm

I’d like to share a few thoughts as I read your referenced material:

12 Website Design Decisions and the linked article Make Your Website Purposes Crystal Clear are good articles contained in a very cluttered website structure. The web header is full of menus and tabs, a search engine and tiny type for "What‘s this?" and "Contact". The left margin is cluttered with links and the right margin with ads. Not a good example of practicing the concepts of the article.

You may wish to evaluate each web site you come across as to both content AND presentation, to establish your own tastes and hone your own opinions.

As to the article, I like the organization. American SecuriComm is interested in Brand Development and Revenue Generation. For the latter, we are interested first in prospect generation (for our in-house and contractor services) and second in online sales transactions (in affiliation with our distribution partner who does not have a website). We are not interested in Advertising and Referral Revenue nor Affiliate Programs. We are interested in Cost Savings and Customer [and subcontractor] Support.

The four questions: How can I present my company in the best possible light?, What sources of revenue can we realistically expect from our online business? How can we achieve maximal cost savings on the Internet? and How can we provide excellent online customer [and subcontractor] support? are helpful questions to address as you define project goals.

Liquid Web Design provides a helpful distinction but resides in the "Construction" block for later consideration; therefore the concept it presents is worthy perhaps of only a mention in your recommendations.

Tell me what your website does! seems to me to be a good article and in scope. Noting the point made regarding "tagline", I‘m pretty sure that neither American SecuriComm tagline works too well in this context. Our taglines are, "Loss Prevention Specialists Creating Secure Environments" and "Who Is Watching Your Business". I’m open to your suggestion of alternative taglines that better fit the criteria described in this article.

Content Attack as a press release (structure rather than content) provides a good example of the kinds of press releases I‘m considering for our American SecuriComm site. For instance, we are installing security in Harrington, Del. where images from cameras installed at a public housing facility will be transmitted by microwave for monitoring at the Harrington Police Department. This tale is a candidate for a press release. As to the content of this article, I‘m more inclined to engage a newsletter/press release writer (I have already) to generate copy specific to our business then to "seed" our site with generic articles. However I do find value in knowing the service exists.

A Dallas Website Design Company - Again, I find value in knowing the service exists but I am not inclined to "force" a position on web search engines (at least, not at this time).

Thanks for all the good material, it helps to hone our direction.

Sidebar Addition

I was entranced by Julia Sweeney's fascinating monologue while listening to a replay of an episode from This American Life on WHYY this weekend and enjoyed her wonderfully open personality. When I discovered Julia's blog , I was completely enrolled in discovering more and needed a place for the link. Note "News Feeds" in my sidebar is now "Points of Interest" so it might logically contain her link and others that are not necessarily news oriented.

AND, If you want a laugh at the expense of the Security Industry, be sure to check out the sidebar link to The McWilliamses and the Burglar Alarm. It is as true today as it was 100 years ago!

Thoughts of the Day

I hope everyone did well on the midterm exam. I know I gave it MY best shot! I'm obviously looking forward to our interaction during the balance of the semester.

I've reviewed the Chapter 14 presentation, have bookmarked "Jakob Nielsen on Usability and Web Design" and have printed out copies of the referenced IBM guide and guidelines as well as the references in the two student presentations. I'm reading through these materials to maintain alignment with you as the course proceeds.

A Google Blog search found this "Business Quest" site so I am pleased to see that I'm now "searchable" or as the phrase appears to have evolved, "Googleable". I'm intending to post something each day (or so) that is relevant to the American SecuriComm marketing effort or to web design or content ideas that I run across. I hope you find this information helpful to you.

Any questions can certainly be emailed to me, or entered as comments to ANY post on this blog (I scan ALL posts for additional comments, so if you just want to comment to my most recent post, even if the comment is not relevant to that specific post, I'll see it and respond.)

A word of caution: There is a practical human response rule that "work expands to fill the time allotted", I know it all too well. (I have confirmed this rule with my personal college and business life proclivities and my previous and recent experience with two BUAD444 teams!) I will attempt but CANNOT guarantee immediate response to questions for the following reasons:

• Business installations, trade shows, customer visits and just the press of everyday work WILL interfere with the time I would love to devote to responses. Things are manageable now, but if an emergency were to arise during the final stage of this course, you could find me not available at all!
• From a practical standpoint, I can handle the trickling of questions and discussions if they come in over time as it is easy to then work my responses into my other commitments, but a last minute deluge of questions and discussions may prove personally overwhelming and impossible to handle; this will result in a distinct advantage to those teams who ask early and often and to the detriment of those teams who hesitate or delay. I don't want anyone to suffer, I want us all to enjoy the experience!

Remember I'm in this with you, I'm not judging or grading, I just wish you to be the best you can be and for us all to enjoy an entertaining and educational experience.

Update to our E-Commerce website software

Effective October 11, 2005, our software provider, iCode, Inc., has changed its name to "Everest Software, Inc."
As noted in our Project Description, American SecuriComm uses Everest software to manage and view our entire business, and we intend to incorporate the E-Commerce component into our web storefront. The software WILL BE UPGRADED to version 3.0 by the time the website is implemented. I’ve placed the Everest link on the sidebar so you can learn more about the features provided in version 3.0.

Trade Show Results

We exhibited October 11th at the trade show held at the Bank One Center at Riverside Park in Wilmington, DE. Our booth was a wonderful success, netting many compliments, lots of interest and best of all, warm and hot leads from qualified prospects.

We’ve become so enthusiastic we’ve signed on to exhibit at an ALL DAY event! VISIT US AT BOOTH 35 AT THE "LANCASTER CHAMBER BUSINESS EXPO" , THURSDAY, OCT. 20th, 9AM TO 6PM.

A Quick Thanks

My personal acknowledgements to...
Meredith, for responding to my request for project discussion feedback,
Kristen, for responding to the comment I placed on her blog (and taking up the suggestion),
Kyle, for the link to my blog, and
Alexis, for the useful Online Marketing Blog link he placed on his blog's sidebar.
Thank you each and everyone, George

Opportunity to Introduce Yourself to Local Businesses

The "4th Annual Joint Chamber Tabletop Networking Mixer" will be held 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM, Tuesday, October 11th at the Bank One Center on the Wilmington Riverfront (includes complimentary Hors d'Oeuvres).

Non-member tickets to the event are $20 but as an exhibitor I have a VERY LIMITED number of complementary tickets that I will offer on a FIRST RESPONSE BASIS to students of BUAD 477 who are interested in attending the event. All you do to earn a ticket is be among the first to COMMENT WITH A RESPONSE & TICKET REQUEST to my September 30th "Project Discussion Feedback" post.

There will be 180 local businesses who are exhibitors, so this may be an opportunity to introduce yourself to folks who are hiring graduates. American SecuriComm will be giving a live demonstration of CCTV at our booth so this also presents an opportunity to meet Andrew and to see our surveillance offerings.

BUAD477 References

Please note that I'm now posting references in the BUAD477 sidebar to support our Project. The first two references are a consequence of our September 27th Project Meeting.

During that meeting I was asked my opinion of an effective web site and mentioned "AngelVision" because I was lured to the site by an unsolicited email, and having visited the site, I took up an offer for a live web meeting. Within a week I had moved from "not knowing" to having received a very attractive price quote. I would very much like our prospects to move from "not knowing" about American SecuriComm to expressing interest and receiving price quotes too. I believe this is an excellent example of a highly effective marketing oriented approach in which the web site plays a critical role.

I shared my value for the "four conversations" distinction. A very succinct guide discussing this and other valuable distinctions is available on "Coaching Practices for Managers" at the "National Managers' Community" web site sponsored by The Government of Canada. You will find the following topics described in easily understood language complete with real-life illustrations:
1. WORKING WITH COMPLAINTS – Find the hidden requests in complaints
2. LISTENING FOR COMMITMENT IN COMPLAINTS – Hear the commitment
3. CHALLENGING GENERALISATIONS – Catch generalisations
4. WORKING WITH ASSESSMENTS – Be aware of limiting assessments
5. WHAT’S MISSING? – Look for what’s missing
6. WORKING WITH MOODS – Observe the power of moods
7. THREE TYPES OF CONVERSATION – Focus on the right conversation
8. WORKING WITH RECURRENT PROBLEMS – Look inside

Please look for additional links in the BUAD477 References sidebar whenever you visit this site and PLEASE provide a feedback comment as requested in my previous post.