Updated: what I learned on the audio conference with Bo and Norm
One of the key points that Norm and Bo make in their book, The Knack , is that you gotta know what your key number is: the number which tells you, in real time, how your business is doing. Not retrospectively by looking at last year's financials.
But a number (or numbers) you can track by hand as you go along. Got me to thinking about some of the numbers that online marketers often use as a measure of "success": number of e-newsletter subscribers, number of blog readers via RSS, number of Twitter followers, Google ranking in search results - to name a few of the obvious ones.
What's the key number for a social media consultant?
Hmmm... I think you'd agree that none of these are the one "key" number for a consultant. Rather, these are the numbers that measure your success as a content marketer, which is the best way to market yourself if you're trying to be a thought leader and wise counselor. The number of subs, followers, readers relates to marketing. But doesn't explain what business you're in and what, exactly, you're selling. I'm curious. What do you think the key number(s) should be for a social media consultant and speaker?
I'd like to hear your ideas. Hint: "sales" (revenue) is *not* your key number, according to Norm Brodsky.
Useful link: ReadWriteWeb speculates (somewhat anecdotally) on how much social media consultants make.
Original post below
Was a panelist on an audio conference at 1:00 PM Eastern today with legendary Inc. columnists Norm Brodsky and Bo Burlingham to discuss their new book, The Knack: How Street-Smart Entrepreneurs Learn to Handle Whatever Comes Up . Online marketing expert Shama Hyder also took part. I interviewed Bo and Norm at last month's Inc. 500 conference to find out how they collaborate on book and article writing (interesting).
The author teleseminars are the brain wave of Elizabeth Marshall, who is co-author with Michael Port of The Contrarian Effect. See my Q & A with Liz. Register here (it's FREE).
Previous Comments
Bo Burlingham said on October 31, 2008 at 03:31 PM
This is a really good discussion to have online. The discussion alone will be a great learning experience. Thanks, Debbie.
Liz at CSD said on October 31, 2008 at 04:27 PM
Fascinating these immediate new “success numbers.” We’re tracking them – the web traffic, the click-throughs, the blog hits, etc. And it has actually made driving business something that we can all participate in and care about, not just the higher ups.
Bo Burlingham said on October 31, 2008 at 06:59 PM
Think about it this way. A hotel manager told me his critical number was occupancy (i.,e. the percentage of rooms occupied on any given night and on average over a period of time). I know a restaurant owner who can tell how much business the restaurant will do on any given night by the length of the wait at 8:00 pm. My friend Jack Stack knows a guy with a machine tool company who can tell how he’s doing by the weight of the products he’s shipped on any given day—not the dollars, not the time spent working on them, not the number of new orders. The weight. Every morning he wants to know that number from the previous day. Norm knows how well his records-storage business is doing by the number of new boxes put away in his warehouses—even though there are many other factors that go into total sales. We have an example in the book of how he used that number to avoid making what would have been a very costly mistake.
Bihter said on November 3, 2008 at 11:39 AM
Hi Debbie,
Just wanted to say that I’ve started reading your blog. I’m wondering if you have heard about the book, “What Men Don’t Tell Women About Business”. I heard the guy (Chris Flett) on the Today Show and thought you probably have already heard of him. I’m wondering what your thoughts were. He seems to be really taking on the ‘Old Boys Club”. I just emailed him, but haven’t heard back.
Anyway, keep up the great writing.
Best,
Bihter.
Colin Clark said on November 3, 2008 at 01:18 PM
I think your key number would be the total number of people who follow you regularly online. That would take into account twitter followers, friendfeed subscribers, RSS subscribers, and any other outlets you have. You would also have to have a way to eliminate redundancies (people who follow you in multiple channels). Basically it would track your total sphere of influence online.
Debbie Weil said on November 3, 2008 at 03:56 PM
Hi Bihter,
Thanks for the tip on the book. I hadn’t heard of it before. Here’s a page where you can download a chapter excerpt: http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470145080.html
Bihter said on November 11, 2008 at 07:00 AM
Hi Debbie,
I’ve been doing some additional research on the author, Chris Flett, that I talked about on my last comment. His company is “GhostCEO” (http://www.GhostCEO.com) and his book is a bestseller. I found it on Amazon here. Anyway, he was in the NY Times last Sunday under the “Career Couch” and he makes reference to women’s blogs like yours so I thought you might like to connect. I’d like to see you interview him and see what he’s all about. I saw on another blog he was a guest blogger. His email is: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Best wishes,
Bihter.
Allan said on November 12, 2008 at 12:05 PM
I suggest that one of the key numbers for a social media consultant (and I hate this word but there isn’t anything better) is your sales success ratio. How many leads turn into paying clients?
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