I’ve taken on an advisory role at a local startup that is currently bootstrapping their existence.  As a result, free stuff is worth a look.  I’m extremely impressed with two free tools that we are using, Zoho CRM and WordPress.  Neither of these existed when we started Janeeva.  At Janeeva we are using an open source CRM solution that gets the job done but has many drawbacks.  Zoho CRM solves every problem we’ve had.  It is hosted so we don’t have to deal with the download.  The interface is very friendly.  It is very configurable.  And to top it off, the mobile app is great.  It is only free for a couple of users but the pricing is very reasonable as you add employees.  My favorite feature the integrated email.  This costs $5 per month but is well worth it.  Every email to or from a prospect is automatically linked to their CRM profile.  It is seamless and beautiful.  The second great tool is WordPress.  The company’s website it built using WordPress which started as a blog but has become a great CMS platform.  The site was easy to build, easy to customize and most importantly really easy to update.  At Janeeva, our site is built using traditional HTML and it is not at all easy to update.  Wordpress is an outstanding solution.

Are you doing webinars?  Judging by the avalanche of webinar spam in my inbox, I’m going to guess yes.  I’m doing them too but I’m not sure if they are working.  I’m measuring success in a very simple way which is qualified leads.  So far, zero.  I’ve talked to a couple of friends who are also producing webinars and have heard similar results.  So what is going on?  I have three theories.  First,  webinars are too long.  Trying to make them conversational makes them inefficient.  If I’m just doing some research, an hour is an awful long time to invest.  Second, there are too many webinars.  An hour long discussion is like a mini conference.  How many conferences do most people attend in a year?  Probably just one, three on the high end.  So why would I want to attend 27 webinars?  Third, buyers don’t attend.  We get decent attendance, but not from buyers, from the curious.

As Mark Twain said, “If you want me to give you a two-hour presentation, I am ready today.  If you want only a five-minute speech, it will take me two weeks to prepare.”  When buyers start their research, I think they want the five minute version.  If a buyer (of enterprise software) is serious he/she will want a presentation, a private tour, the star treatment (which we are happy to give by the way).

My solution to our webinar problem is to take the two weeks to produce a video of five minutes or less that contains the same key content as an hour long webinar.  I expect more video views than webinar attendees and to reach viewers more likely to buy.