As you can see, the series on what makes a Great Team Website is on permanent hiatus. While the content was informative, I never felt like I was adding anything to the equation with it. What I was suggesting was obvious, and in fact many people are implementing it, but they just weren’t doing it well, and doing it well is more important than just doing it. Until such time as I can craft a useful series on the differences between going through the motions and providing real value to fans and sponsors, the Great Team Website series is defunct.

Secondly, you may have noticed a few changes around the site, including a change from sports business to small business. While I still enjoy working in sports and will always have a few projects going, my coaching, consulting, and advice is needed farther and wider than sports. This means I’ll likely pepper the blog with more posts on more topics, but happily will then likely do so more frequently.

Finally, I’m off to Europe! Not permanently, but will be there to do my work with European Cycling Camp Velo Veneto. I’ll be in Italy from 25 June until at least 6 August. Just prior to and after that period, I’ll be in Paris. If you know of any small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMB) in Paris that can use any of my marketing services, let me know! My mobile won’t work in Europe (though I will have a euro mobile in Italy), but my office phone will ring over there.

In the meantime, I thank you for your support, and wish you tailwinds, smooth ice, and oil-slick free beaches!

-Jason

You see, over the holidays, things got hectic chez Cardillo. There was a trip back to O-H-I-O (cold!), roomates moving out (surprise!), my own move (double surprise!), and of course client projects (no surprise there!). All of this meant I got behind on writing these posts, and couldn’t even keep up with my normal weekly schedule. Not even one post per week – weak!

It’s not that I didn’t have ideas for posts. It’s not really even that I got too busy. No, the real reason is that I didn’t execute the part of my plan that involved creating a quiver. A quiver, for a writer, is a set of posts that are pre-created and require little-to-no additional work to post. The kind of content that’s in there ready to go when you only have 5 minutes before you board your flight, or you’re laying sick in bed and can’t summon your creative juices. They are best when they are time-independent thoughts on your topic. Above all, they are useful.

They are not posts that you wrote and didn’t like. They are not posts that you never finished and need to wrap up and edit extensively. They are not time-sensitive topics you never got around to (my gut reaction to Tiger’s “indiscretions” is not a post in the quiver for May 2010). They are definitely not topics that you haven’t written about, but can put together a half-assed post on in 5 minutes.

So, I drained my quiver and never filled it back up. Instead of researching for inspiration in free time and knocking out some posts, I kicked back with a few beers instead of one. I went for a 4 hour ride when only 2.5 was in the works. I tried to find the partners to the single socks that appear after I do laundry. Anything but doing my bloody job.

So, dear reader, I’m back on it. Even though it’s a hectic time of year, I’m only having one beer, keeping the rides short, and leaving those single socks lonely – all to make sure there’s a full quiver of lessons from my mistakes. If I do it right, you’ll never know when I’m too busy to write.

For me, it’s my clients.
Freedom Bicycles – who trusted me (and Scarlett) to help them build the first website for a new brand, without any industry “chops” to point to. Thanks Marcus (and Dain).
Joan Vernikos – for letting me (and the rest of the team at Mains Associates/Connell-Whittaker) build out her personal brand one step at a time.
Hot Rod Cameras – for having a lot of patience for me playing around with different solutions. Trial and error can be frustrating for clients, but Illya not only rolled with it, he came back for more!
Solvang Cycling Clinic – a lot of back-and-forth would have made it impossible to meet our tight deadline, so Chris gave me the ball and let me run with it.
Meredith Miller – for trusting me with her website, giving me rides to races, couches to sleep on, travel cookies, and mostly being a great friend.

THANK YOU!

If the only reason you don’t do something is because you never did, that’s not a good reason. If the environment has changed dramatically and you are feeling pain because of it, this is a great reason to question yourself, to ask why. -Seth Godin

Unless you’re Alberto Contador, you’re probably feeling the effects of the global recession. Whether you’re an athlete, managing a team, or promoting an event, the pinch probably has you worried a bit. The natural inclination I see is to rush headlong towards the activities that have always brought in money in the past, and push them harder than when times were good. Trouble is, that’s probably not the best strategy.

For those companies that still have money, the same-old same-old is not an attractive investment. When consumers are spending less and less, companies want the most direct and efficient route to whatever consumer dollars are out there. No longer can they throw money at a general opportunity and guess which 50% of their budget is bringing the returns. Every dollar needs to be accounted for and producing returns.

If you’re ready to step outside of the usual, this is a great opportunity for you. I’m sure the Specialized/Alberto Contador/Team Astana negotiation was unusual, and the result certainly is. My guess is that the result was a good sponsorship deal for Specialized, a guaranteed contract for Contador, and we’ll now see AC staying at Astana even if their Pro-Tour license isn’t renewed.

But what about missed opportunities?

Daniel Holloway’s personal Ustream of the Munich Six-Day from his laptop was one of the only ways to know what was going on there. What if the promoter set up a couple of cameras, a mixing board, and streamed the event on the Internet? The riders could stop in and chat with fans live between events, and sponsors would have live access to engaged fans. I would bet that they could attract an international audience as large or larger than their current in-person audience, giving them a reason to pitch more and larger sponsors. Critically for six-day promoters, when the event grows in stature internationally, locals will be more likely to show up – who doesn’t want to be part of an EVENT?

Does your local event have a unique feature that stands out from other events? Maybe your men’s fields have gone up and down in quality, but the women’s fields have gone from strength to strength. What would happen if you doubled-down on that and, heaven forbid, made it a women’s only event? Promote the hell out of it using social media – which would be incredibly effective – with the goal of becoming the premier women’s event in yourstate/yourcountry/theworld. Can you make more out of less? Sponsors would love you for that!

What if you’re not winning as many races as you used to? What are the possibilities if you spent a ton of your non-training/racing time forging real connections with fans over social media? How valuable is it to your team and/or sponsors if you have 300-500 die-hard fans that will follow and support you wherever you go, even if you’re struggling? Damn valuable, that’s the answer.

Your Iron Curtain

Anything different that you might do is a risk. But if you’re already struggling, is it really a risk? Isn’t it a risk to keep doing what you’re doing? I recently read an article in the Wall Street Journal about red deer in Germany and the Czech Republic. Throughout the Cold War, there was a fence, a road, and guards that constantly patrolled the border, making it impossible for even wildlife to cross. 20 years after the fence has come down, almost all the deer – even those born AFTER the fence came down – refuse to cross the old Iron Curtain. Yet two bucks – one from each side of the border – cross to feed and mate. They will, if they haven’t already, become the alpha males of their herds, having their choice of food and mates.

Is that fence really there for you, or are you pretending that the Iron Curtain is still there? What border can you cross that might have great success on the other side?

Planning Ahead

1. Inventory – Know what you have, what you need, and where you have holes in your product line. Run sales reports if you can, but make sure to talk to your customers and see what they’re interested in. There’s nothing worse than stocking items you think are cool but your customers hate.
2. Set Goals – Whether it’s just you, or the gang’s all here, create a specific set of outcomes that relate to improving your business when you return. It could be as nuts-and-bolts as renegotiating a deal with a vendor to improve cash flow, or as hip as creating a photoblog to keep your customers up on the latest gear.
3. Schedule – Talk to your reps beforehand and set up specific meeting times. Organize the most important meetings first, 2-3 per day. Then, fill in with other meetings you would like to have. Remember to leave plenty of time to run into people or browse other booths between meetings.
4. Get Your Learn On – Look ahead to see what sessions are available that answer burning questions or just look interesting. If there are fees, make sure you have clear objectives in mind to avoid wasting money. This is a chance to identify learning opportunities that can make a bottom-line difference.

At The Show

1. Pick Up Badges Early – It never fails, someone always forgets their ID or confirmation back in the room, there’s a long line at Starbucks, you get distracted by a Blackjack table… Don’t plan on picking up your badge 5 minutes before a key appointment.
2. Use Your Technology – Most phones have a camera or some sort of voice recorder, heck, a lot of them have video. Rather than try to take notes, snap a pic or make a quick recording of something you want to remember. Especially if you do video, you’re much more likely to remember why it was so important.
3. Take Real Breaks – Especially at large shows, if you never leave the show floor, your soul slowly dies. Plan for a real lunch break, and make it just before or after the big rush. Get out of the hall and go to a restaurant where it’s quiet. Your mind will thank me.
4. Wear Your Badge High (my personal pet peeve) – Why convention organizers have badges hang so low, I’ll never understand. Tie your lanyard off so the badge is near your neck; this makes it easier for others to quickly read your name and then make eye contact, improving the quality of your conversations. Better yet, wear your own nametag in addition to the badge, especially if it’s a cool conversation starter.
5. Skip Booths – At least for the first day (or 2 days, of a 3+ day show), don’t stop into booths just because they have something cool. Focus on getting your “must-do” visits and meetings done first and then go back for the cool, but not quite relevant, stuff on the last day. This is where a voice/video recorder or camera can come in handy – it’s much quicker to snap a pic of a booth you want to come back to than to write down a note. (Option 2 – bring the new kid and give them the job of finding the 5 coolest things they hadn’t seen before. You get to keep your finger on the pulse of today’s youth, and they actually accomplish something useful at their first show.)

After the After-Party

1. Relax – Trade shows seem like they should be a vacation, but in reality, they are physically and mentally draining. Whether it’s leaving the show early, or skipping an extra 1/2 day of work when you get back, give yourself some time to recover.
2. Review – Look at your goals again. Did you accomplish them? Did you try to do too much and fall flat on your face (not from drinking), or did you aim too low and find yourself wandering aimlessly?
3. Evaluate – At specific intervals after the show (say, once per quarter), evaluate whether or not your show attendance (and the goals you set) are having a positive impact on your business. This is a good time to start writing down thoughts, questions, and problems that can become your goals for next year’s show.

There’s obviously so much more I could get into, but those are some quick and easy things you can do to make the show more worthwhile than just an excuse to go to Vegas (or where-ever). A properly done show should be an investment in your business that pays dividends throughout the year.