NFIB

Clued In
04/ 15/ 2002

by Christopher Locke
The conversation has begun.

Since being published last month, The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual, has ignited a global conversation on the new business reality created by the Internet. The book's four authors, including Internet pioneer Christopher Locke, challenge corporate assumptions about how business gets done in a digital world.

Despite all the attention the book and its web site, www.cluetrain.com, have garnered, what hasn't been reported is the compelling case it makes for small businesses to come out ahead in the wired marketplace.

In this new business reality, markets are defined by conversations, and their participants communicate in language that is natural, honest and relaxed. Although that's bad news for big businesses, which rely on spin control and multi-million-dollar marketing campaigns, it's good news for small businesses, which already talk to their customers this way. It means doing business on the Web is less challenging for small businesses, as many already operate in a way conducive to the new reality of e-business.

Co-author Christopher Locke is a small business owner, president of Boulder, Colo.-based Entropy Web Consulting. He has long been an Internet visionary, launching in 1993 the first publication covering the dot com industry. He's also worked for Carnegie Mellon University, MCI, IBM and as a construction contractor.

Locke sat down with MyBusiness magazine to talk about how small business owners are well-positioned to win in the electronic marketplace.

myBusiness For those who haven't read your book or seen the web site, tell us a little about The Cluetrain Manifesto and the idea of networked markets.

Christopher Locke The Cluetrain Manifesto started as a web page that went up in March of 1999, created by four business folks who have a deep grounding in the Internet - myself, David Weinberger, Doc Searls and Rick Levine.

We got talking about the way the whole Internet hype was being presented to the world. One of my pet peeves was hearing reports about how many trillions of dollars e-commerce would represent by 2002 or 2003. Reports varied and the numbers varied. The assumption was that you could just project revenues as if this was television or any previous broadcast space medium. My take, and the other authors', was that this medium has distinct differences from what was before. For one thing, the Internet elicits exchanges between people - unlike television, where you're sitting in your living room and blasted with advertising and programs. With the Internet, you run into things like mailing lists and web conferencing mechanisms and bulletin boards, where there's active interchange among regular people.

And that's the premise of the book, that markets are conversations. Think of a bazaar 5,000 years ago, where people went not just to buy figs and spices, but to find out what was happening. Talk was the main attraction. The Internet brings the ancient marketplace back into the 21st century.

mB That seems to be where small business owners have an advantage, because they are conducting these conversations every day, with customers coming into their shops, at the Rotary Club, or at the Little League game.

Locke It is tremendously easier for a small business that is embedded within a known physical community in the real world to adapt to the Internet's conversation model. Big business is used to spending multi-million dollar budgets on massive television and magazine ads, and they speak with a very different voice. They are looking for the lowest common denominator; they don't want to alienate anyone. So their messages tend to be kind of vanilla.

But you as a small business owner have a great advantage in that you're perceived as another member of the community. The Cluetrain Manifesto says "People recognize each other by the sound of the human voice." Because small businesses don't have a legacy of spending huge advertising budgets and speaking from a script, it's easier for them to take the leap onto the Web and put their voice out there. I've heard from sole proprietors who say they feel this gives them permission to go with what they have always felt in their heart.

mB For many small business owners, cost and expertise are their biggest barriers to entry in putting up a web site. You're saying it's not just a big boys' playing field?

Locke The Internet has opened up potential for small businesses that is extremely empowering. But if you look to big media or big business to tell you how this stuff works, they're going to tell you, "Oh, watch out, be careful. You'll get cut to ribbons out there."

Don't buy the hype. Even the smallest company can experiment with the Internet. And so cheaply, you'd be nuts not to. Powerful tools can be in your hands for just pennies.

mB But we've all seen those inexpensive and free sites, and most of the time they look it. How can they compete for viewers' attention with the sites the bigger companies spend a million dollars on?

Locke The notion that you've got to put a huge budget into building the world's best web site is wrong. People have come in droves to the Internet for conversation, not for more commercial messages and advertising.

The Internet is going to create trillions of dollars in commerce and many of those dollars are going to flow to businesses that are more responsive to customers - and a lot of those will be small businesses. People want to interact with people. They don't want to be sold a bill of goods with a lot of fancy talk. And they are going to vote with their dollars.

mB What about a non-technical small business, like a plumber? Can his business benefit by being online?

Locke The press makes you look at the Web and think: "Well, this is only for people who are launching an Internet business." No matter what your business, you need to look at the Internet as a way to build relationships with customers. You shouldn't stop advertising in the newspaper or the yellow pages, though. You should take some care that those things work together.

mB So where should a small business owner start in designing their web site?

Locke Here's a practical thing a lot of small businesses can do: look at as many sites as you can. Ask yourself, "Does this invite me to do something, or is it just like television advertising? Is it just telling me how great the company is?" Emulate the good examples. I think that for most people, if they're honest with themselves, their gut is going to be a lot better guide to how to present themselves online than looking at the big boys.

Also, proceed with some degree of caution. I don't mean be scared, I don't mean be timid, but go incrementally, do some testing. Get as much feedback as you can. If you start with something massive, it's going to be very expensive to change it.

mB What should be the basic purpose of a web site for a small business owner?

Locke You have to get people to care about what you are doing. In every single small business, the owner is making money because he or she has knowledge. For a yoga studio owner, for example, their web page can offer information on what is yoga. What are its roots? What are the benefits of using it? If you're a general contractor, you can put up something like: "Thinking about remodeling your bathroom? Here are 10 things to keep in mind." You could explain that if you tear out your toilet, you also have to take the floor tile out. You don't even have to say, "It's going to be so much work, let me do it for you."

Small business owners need to remember that not every sentence on a web site has to sell. Instead, relax, sound like you normally would, as if you were talking to your neighbor. Which is what small business owners already do to a large degree. It's where they have the edge over big business. The key is to take a light touch with the valuable information you can convey on a web page.

mB What about the technical side of putting up a web page?

Locke A lot of small businesses look at the Internet and get intimidated by the size and the amount of money they see being talked about in the newspapers. They go, "I don't want to wade into all that. It's a mine field."

But it's really not if it's about stuff you already know. The technology part you can pick up in a week or so. The real critical part of whether the Web will help your business has more to do with who you are as a human being.

I got my first computer, an Apple IIe, in 1980 when I was a cabinetmaker. When I first turned the thing on, I didn't know what I was looking at. I didn't have any background or formal training on how to use it. It was all the seat of my pants. I got a lot wrong, but that is how you learn.

Forget going to a big company that will charge you a lot to set up a web page. There are people in every community across the country these days - students, kids in high school even - who have enough skill to put together a page.

mB What are the basics for a small business' web site?

Locke I would recommend this for a business of any size, from Microsoft to the corner pizza parlor: Have a way that you can get people to give you their email address and have a way to touch them back. And when you touch them a week later or month later don't send them an ad. Say "Here's a useful tip - and by the way, come on back to the site because I'm running a special on elbow joints" or whatever.

If all you have is a web site that's like a billboard, and someone doesn't need a plumber today, they aren't going to bookmark your site. But if you have visitors sign up for a newsletter, you're creating a database.

Also, have an email button on the page so people can click and write you back at the simplest level. When you get, "Gee, I loved your page," or "How come you don't have anything about X?" listen and respond.

mB So small business owners need to tap their expertise to draw people to their web pages?

Locke Yes. If you're a plumber, maybe you could write a newsletter. It can be simple, it doesn't have to be updated every day, but you can write about some of your plumbing experiences. You know, the type of things you fish out of people's toilets. Crack people up. That keeps them coming to the site, even if they're not looking for a plumber.

The model for this is Click and Clack, the public radio car advice guys. Most of their audience doesn't give a damn about cars. They really are not tuning in to find out how to adjust their carburetors, they are tuning in because these guys are hysterically funny and very naturally so. So if there's a way you can create something on your site to keep people coming back, that's what you want. It doesn't even have to be funny; it could be "Here are more simple tips for cleaning your carpet."

mB How can a site like that help a small business' bottom line?

Locke You don't want to look at the Web strictly as a way to increase immediate sales. If you do everything right and get a lot of people talking about your page, but then you don't respond to any email unless it's a job possibility, that's a bad idea. But if somebody emails you a question and you take five minutes to answer it, that person is going to say, "You know I sent email to this contractor and he got back to me inside of a day with a great answer and told me to go buy this or that." You're not going to make a sale off of that, but it is networking. This is what networking really means. Somebody is going to be your pal from that. They're going to appreciate the fact that you took the time to be real straight with them. You're going to get great word-of-mouth referrals.

This is the main thing that big companies are the absolute worst at because their email is answered by robots, responding with this or that official statement. It's a real serious edge the small businesses have, that personalized reply.

One of the things I've learned, and I think everybody who has been online learns, is that this networking has a magical way of giving back to you. You start creating friendships, you create more relationships, maybe you're selling more products, but the point is your whole world is expanding.

mB It sounds like you're saying selling online should not be the be-all and end-all of a small business' Web strategy.

Locke Before you talk about taking anybody's credit card, before you get market share, you have to get mind share. There are a lot of people looking for the quick, easy snake oil sale on the Internet, but there is no long lasting business there. The old values hold true. If you're a plumber living in Cincinnati, you're going to have to establish relationships where more people say good things about you than bad things. And your business grows and you can hire more people and the 'Net can be a great way to reach out and do stuff.

Before you start selling online, you have to have the comfort factor of knowing your site is really working for you. You have to see your page is bringing you relationships and as that becomes obvious you could start with, say, six things you sell. Test for a while. Even if your plan is to ultimately have a big product catalogue online, you'd be crazy to do that from day one.

mB Well, if a small business isn't using its web page primarily to sell things, why put all the time and effort into building one?

Locke There's the potential here to integrate your work and life, and have more fun with your business than you ever imagined. One of things The Cluetrain Manifesto is saying is that business is not a separate part of life, which is something many small business owners already know.

Most people started businesses because there was some aspect of fun in it. Maybe they've forgotten that. The 'Net can put a lot of fun back, it can reenergize a business.

You have to look at your investment in the Web as, "What's the value of being turned on about your business?" For people who started their own businesses precisely to have more control over their life and the opportunity to enjoy life more, this is going to be a very gratifying ride.

Small Business Sound Off
Does this story hit home?  Share your story with us