[Progress] Business Intelligence Solutions Provider

[TheOrchestrator]

I've now realized that the city I live in is a goldmine of small business owners and I also realize that I have a large network of family and friends on Facebook who I have a really good standing with. There are many who I've helped in numerous ways in the past years. I'm confident that many of them would love to see me succeed, so it just makes sense to start there. So, after taking some time to think it through, I'm just going to post this on my personal Facebook page and see what happens. What do you think? Do you think it's too much, or does it need something else?

Hi friends and family!

I'm reaching out to you because I need your help! Or maybe a better way to put it is that I'm looking for people who need my help.

I'm a professional with many years of experience as a data and automation expert, and who is also obsessed with speed and good customer service (Very hard to find these days, right?). If you, or someone you know falls within one of the below categories, please keep reading. If I strike a nerve, send me a message or forward this to someone who needs it! Are you…

• …a small business owner who knows you should make more data-driven decisions, but you struggle with using that data to quickly get the answers you need to succeed?
• …an employed professional who regularly spends 5 or more hours a week building and rebuilding the same reports for leadership, when you know there are much better ways that you could be using your time right now?
• …a leader in a small but rapidly scaling organization, with many systems, none of which talk to one another?

How easily can you answer questions like these?

• "What's our best-selling product(s)?"
• "What time of the year should we restock the inventory of that item?"
• "I feel like our expenses are really high on this yearly project/initiative, but it seems to bring in a lot of money! What's it's average annual return-on-investment?"
• "What clients should I focus most of our attention on? Why?"
• "Is that contractor being overworked or am I overpaying him?"
• "Based on the last 10 years, should we expect an increase or decrease in sales in January? How much?

As a business intelligence solutions provider, here's a sampling of the services I offer.

• Automating data-related work processes, including reports delivery
• Developing reports and/or dashboards that help you understand your business better
• Complex data analysis to help you answer harder questions
• Consulting and training to help you or your teams get the best out of the tools you're using.
• For fast growing organizations, setting up and maintaining your data warehouse so you don't have to.

Again, if this interests you or you have someone you'd like to help, forward this to them or send me a private message. I'd love to schedule time to chat.

 

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[Andy Black]

I've now realized that the city I live in is a goldmine of small business owners and I also realize that I have a large network of family and friends on Facebook who I have a really good standing with. There are many who I've helped in numerous ways in the past years. I'm confident that many of them would love to see me succeed, so it just makes sense to start there. So, after taking some time to think it through, I'm just going to post this on my personal Facebook page and see what happens. What do you think? Do you think it's too much, or does it need something else?

I'd make it much shorter and spark a conversation. And personalise it.

Hi Bob!

Long time no speak. How's the family? How's the golf going?

I've just started out as a freelance business intelligence consultant (where I help businesses make better use of their data).

If you know anyone who might need to analyse their data or automate their reports then please let them know.

Would love to catch up for a coffee some time!

Orchestator

...

I wrote about it here, and did a short video:

HOT! - When your back's against the wall...

When your back's against the wall... Someone gave me this advice a few years ago and it's got me out of a bind quite a few times since. On one occasion I was 2 days away from our mortgage payment and looking at an empty warchest. This advice helped. The advice? Start sending hand crafted...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

And these threads might help:

GOLD! - HOT! - MARKETING - Andy's Inbound/Sales Braindump

I was asked this a while ago: If you were to start your business from scratch, how would you approach prospecting? Given that you don't cold call. And you don't know many people in the business world to "spend your money on diesel and coffee" with. And you've already reached out to your friends...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

MARKETING - Just start already

It was just after midnight on 10-Nov-20 and I was annoyed with myself for not starting a particular project I'd been thinking about for a few weeks. I decided to quickly post a short note to my Facebook profile before hitting the hay. At the time I had 880 friends on Facebook and had been a...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

 

[Devilery]

I'm with @Andy Black on this one. Your pitch/message is incredibly long and contains a lot of hard-to-understand/unnecessary information. Is that really how you talk to friends and family?

I won't even bother giving a new example, Andy's version may seem super simple compared to yours but at this stage, all you need to get is a connection, you'll explain the details later. Just get someone to reach out to you.

 

[Andy Black]

at this stage, all you need to get is a connection, you'll explain the details later. Just get someone to reach out to you.

Exactly. Resurrect old conversations and relationships.

 

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[NervesOfSteel]

OP and @ElDiablo are supposed to face a common challenge : Will the small/medium businesses be willing to share with them their most valuable asset? Their DATA!

 

[TheOrchestrator]

OP and @ElDiablo are supposed to face a common challenge : Will the small/medium businesses be willing to share with them their most valuable asset? Their DATA!

LOL. Well, it's a general assumption that most companies leverage only 80% of their data. The companies that see all of it as a goldmine and leverage it regularly are still in the minority. So, I don't think most people understand its value enough to be that concerned about sharing it. Part of it comes from their lack of ability to translate it into meaningful and actionable insights, and I want to show normal people how.

@Andy Black and @Devilery
Thank you for the advice. I've now cut out about 80% of it and made it more natural/casual. I'm a bit of an "overpreparer" by nature. To be clear though, this isn't a private message or email I'm sending to specific individuals. It's a post to everyone I know, so it wasn't intended to address just one specific person, at least not there. The goal was to make a general announcement/appeal to everyone I know on the platform, but it sounds like you're suggesting that the more direct personalized message/email approach would be a better use of my time?

 

[Andy Black]

LOL. Well, it's a general assumption that most companies leverage only 80% of their data. The companies that see all of it as a goldmine and leverage it regularly are still in the minority. So, I don't think most people understand its value enough to be that concerned about sharing it. Part of it comes from their lack of ability to translate it into meaningful and actionable insights, and I want to show normal people how.

@Andy Black and @Devilery
Thank you for the advice. I've now cut out about 80% of it and made it more natural/casual. I'm a bit of an "overpreparer" by nature. To be clear though, this isn't a private message or email I'm sending to specific individuals. It's a post to everyone I know, so it wasn't intended to address just one specific person, at least not there. The goal was to make a general announcement/appeal to everyone I know on the platform, but it sounds like you're suggesting that the more direct personalized message/email approach would be a better use of my time?

Private message everyone you've ever done business or worked with. Plus family and friends.

Then post to social media.


Oh, and I was an Oracle DBA for a decade and was getting into Data Mining and Business Intelligence. I found it a bit hard to get clients to let me look at their data.

Luckily I fell into Google Ads so I can look at data relevant for their business without their permission. Then I can hop on a Zoom with them and look over their shoulder at their data and tell them where they're bleeding money and/or could make more money.

You may find a lot of businesses don't care that much about mining their data. They'll often care more about increasing sales and/or reducing costs.

 

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[TheOrchestrator]

@Andy Black

Got it. Well, looks like I've got my work cut out for me, because I have a lot of personal messages to write now. I've also now realized that I regularly run into a lot of these people (both family and friends). This means that some of these "messages" can also be done in person, so I'll do a bit of that too. Let's see how this goes.

 

[TheOrchestrator]

Quick update: Got a bite. A former colleague immediately responded. She has a nonprofit that she's been running for a little over a decade and has always struggled with this type of stuff and would love some help. She's a former colleague who was always impressed with my work.

Not sure what I can expect since nonprofits tend to operate mostly on shoestring budgets, but I guess it's a start. There are still a number of people that I need to email/message and some that I will likely run into this coming week.

 

[TheOrchestrator]

Just got another response from an old friend who I haven't seen in nearly 20 years and who was really happy to hear from me. He runs a huge buying cooperative of roofing companies, and they are trying to get a better handle on their data. He wants to set up a call with me as soon as possible.

I don't plan to bore people here with a new update for every single nibble I get, but this one's got me excited.

 

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