What Do I Do With All This Information?

We spend a great deal of time collecting data. Data itself remains a primary talking point within the marketing industry. We’re all supposed to be amassing this massive cadre of information about our customers, potential customers and competition. 

Data on its own is meaningless. It’s a lot like dumping a pile of topsoil on your driveway. The topsoil has the potential to grow trees and gardens, but unless you know how to use it, it’s simply a pile of dirt.

The goal of any commercial venture is to put boots on the ground. Your business needs customers. Whether it’s orders placed through your website or foot traffic in your brick and mortar location, this goal hasn’t changed much since human beings began selling things to each other. Our ability to collect copious amounts of information is supposed to help us achieve that goal. Instead, most of us ignore it.

If you’ve been in business for any length of time, you’ve likely been approached by many companies scaring the living daylights out of you by warning that your business isn’t collecting enough data. But how much is enough? And how in the world do you begin to sift through it all?

DATA NEEDS TO SERVE A PURPOSE

This statement seems on the surface to be ridiculous. Of course data needs to serve a purpose. But for most of us, we’re collecting data simply because we can and we’ve been told we should. Every piece of data you collect should have an end point. Why else are you collecting it? Data doesn’t lie. It shows us where we’re succeeding and, more importantly, where we’re failing. Data is only a pile of topsoil until we use it for planting. 

DATA ALLOWS YOU TO SEE TRENDS

One of the primary uses of data is to view trends. A product-driven organization can see clearly and almost instantly what sells and what doesn’t. Information organizations such as news sites and entertainment companies can spot trends and provide content that is most desirable for their audiences. The types of trends your data can show depends on your business. From straightforward data trends such as abandoned shopping carts to where a user drops off your website, to more complex data algorithms that monitor traffic patterns, peak demand and negative feedback, there’s a tremendous value in data. 

For people who slept through algebra class, data analysis can seem daunting. Analyzing data is a learned skill. It requires an analytical mindset. Part of the fun of data analysis is looking for the obscure. Data isn’t only derived from inbound marketing. If you’re going to follow a transaction life cycle, you need to have information for the whole cycle. That includes your outreach (your advertising campaigns), behavior during the transaction, questions or comments during an online chat or through your sales staff, sales data, customer reviews and comments, and product defects and returns. Your business may have different touch points. Effectively using your data requires you to understand where these touch points exist. 

DATA COLLECTION OFTEN INFURIATES CUSTOMERS

Your customers watch the news. They read things online. They’re acutely aware that data breaches are an everyday occurrence. They’re becoming reticent to provide too many details. If you request too many private details, things like a Social Security number, a CVV code on a credit card, mother’s maiden name, etc., you will lose sales. There are many situations where confidential information is required. Customers used to provide that type of information willy-nilly. Today, requiring too much identifying information often leads consumers to search elsewhere. The decision process happens quickly. Too many questions, too many details, customers will abandon you.

Many companies try to harvest data that has little or nothing to do with the transaction taking place in order to fatten their marketing outreach. We build email lists in order to bombard our existing customers with promotional material. There’s a thin line between customer engagement and customer abuse. Do you really want to send e-blasts to customers who have no interest in what you’re promoting? 

BE WARY OF STORING TOO MUCH OF IT

If the NSA, the IRS and the Defense Department computers can be hacked, trust me, so can yours. The law regarding responsibility for the inadvertent release of personal data is still catching up with real life. At some point, one of the lawsuits by consumers against companies that have been hacked will stick and precedent will be set. But whether or not your company bears legal responsibility for data breaches, your company will have to answer to the consumer. It may be through customer boycotts or even through increased costs to implement extreme digital protections. 

How much data do you need? How much of it do you need to keep? How long do you need to keep it? What are you planning to do with it? Each of these questions needs an answer. If your business can’t answer these questions, it’s time to seriously look at the information you’re collecting.

DO SOMETHING WITH IT

You have at your fingertips the type of information Don Draper could only have dreamed about. Unless you use the data, there’s no reason to have it. Use your data to take action. If data trends are telling you that Product X is doing well during the ordering process but has a 45% defect rate, you should be focusing on improving Product X. If you regularly see negative comments regarding a particular portion of the consumer experience, maybe the wait time to place an order or lack of knowledge by the customer service team, that tells you that you need to target those particular weak points. Data tells us what’s happening. But it requires us to learn how to read it. And it requires that we have the desire to make the types of changes the data suggests.

Nobody’s perfect. Every business can improve. You have at your command enough information to figure out where you need improvement. You also have enough information to learn what other information you need. What pieces of data will allow your business to make educated decisions? What do you need to know? Why do you need to know it? Those are the questions you should be asking when you’re thinking about data collection. After all, who wants a giant pile of topsoil sitting in their driveway forever?

It's Not Me, It's You — How To Break Up With A Client

We've all had them—relationships that start out great, the sky's the limit, love is in the air and there's nothing but rainbows and happiness. Just so we're on the same page, I'm talking about a relationship with a client. I mean, the same thing can apply romantically, but that's a different blog.

You start your relationship casually, maybe a meeting over coffee or a casual hour chat at their place, a conference room, and then it moves into the head decision maker's office and you know things are getting serious. You're selling yourself harder than a hooker when the eunuch convention's in town and you make the deal. Whatever it is you're selling, whatever service you offer, they are chomping at the bit to make the deal with you. Life is amazing. You are winning in a Charlie Sheen way.

And then time passes. Something goes wrong. The original spark just isn't there anymore. They call you constantly, all hours of the day and night, and they want changes, lots of changes. They've decided they don't like the concept they just spent the past week gushing over. Eventually, they end up taking advantage of your goodwill and they aren't holding up their end of the bargain. You don't get paid, or there's a new condition for you to get paid. And then you now it's time. It's time for the "it's not me, it's you" conversation. Because it is them, isn't it? It's not you. You tried your hardest and worked your sorry little heart out and did everything you could to make the relationship work. But they took advantage of you.

So how do you break up with a client? I've had to do it several times. I've had to do with and without lawyers. It's a lot easier without lawyers.

1. HAVE A PRENUP
No matter how much in love you and the client are at the beginning of the relationship, something will eventually go wrong. The longer the relationship goes on, the more likely it is that something will break down. Create an agreement that clearly states your obligations, the client's obligations, any compensation involved, the length of the relationship, any specific payment terms... essentially, every single detail involved in your relationship. This is a great time to find a lawyer. If the type of work you do has similarities across the board, a standard contract or a standard set of terms and conditions that are part of a contract will ensure that all parties involved, no matter how much in love they are now, will clearly understand the repercussions of the inevitable breakup.

2. COMMUNICATE EARLY AND OFTEN
All relationship specialists say the same thing. If you don't communicate, your relationship is doomed. On a side note, aren't most relationship specialists on the tail end of bad relationships themselves? I digress. The key to successful business relationships comes from identifying potential issues before they become issues and solve them in an expeditious way. The goal with your business relationship is to not have it end. It's a helluva lot harder to build a new relationship than it is to nurture an existing one. That said, sometimes communication fails. Sometimes people are just nuts. Communication breaks down for a multitude of reasons. Do your best to make sure it doesn't. But recognize that sometimes it does.

3. BE VERY, VERY CLEAR IN YOUR BREAKUP CORRESPONDENCE
The best way to avoid any misunderstanding or lack of clarity in breaking up with a client is to be absolutely clear with the client that you are breaking up with them. You will be shocked at the level of simplicity you need to explain that the relationship has ended. Sometimes it will come as a surprise to the client that you're ending the relationship. Many clients (hell, many people) don't see their own behavior as problematic or confrontational or difficult. You are there to serve them, after all. If you're a good and decent person, with a solid work ethic and a genuine trust of human behavior, well, first of all, I have great pity for you and some sad news for you—you're one of the few who does. Okay, I'm the same way, and it takes a lot of problematic behavior for me to get to the point of firing a client. I bend over backwards to accommodate nearly every request. But I've also come to the point several times where I simply can't accommodate anymore. My correspondence to the client is always in writing, usually via email (as that is the main form of communication by which I engage my clients), but from time to time it will be via written letter, and sometimes, if I believe there's trouble or there's potential legal action, certified mail. I explain why I am ending the relationship, I explain clearly what time period is involved in the breakup, what physical or digital files (if any) will be provided, and what compensation is expected. I generally will sacrifice compensation if it means the relationship will end and I will be able to move on cleanly. That may not be your way, but it's my way. I always figure that if money isn't involved, there are a lot fewer lawyers involved. Every situation is different. Every client is different. I've had multiple types of situations and each has been unique.

4. BE VERY WARY OF TAKING THE CLIENT BACK
I don't know if it's just me or if it's every marketing professional, but I have never had a client I fired NOT come back to me. Every single one. Seriously. Most will simply contact me as if nothing has ever transpired between us. Some will acknowledge the past difficulties. For the most part, the initial peace offering is "just a little job" that needs to get done quickly. "You know what I like, I know you can do a good job." As a self-employed marketing professional who's just survived the worst recession we'll hopefully ever see, I've been hungry. Very hungry. I'm not proud of it, but I've taken those clients back. When you're looking at a stack of bills and can no longer answer your phone because all you'll be doing is talking to bill collectors, your pride suddenly doesn't have quite so much value. There's not much that can be said when you have, as Seinfeld put it, no hand. When you do eventually regain hand, it's important to re-examine that relationship as quickly as possible, and get rid of it again as quickly as possible.

Breaking up is hard to do, that much is true. But breaking up with a bad client, like a bad romantic relationship, leaves you feeling a sense freedom and empowerment that will hopefully translate into intelligent forethought and well-vetted clients in the future.

Oh, who are we kidding? We love getting hurt. Bad clients give us good stories.