Learning from my business: About focus
Let’s just start with saying this is a difficult and confusing part of my business. I suspect if I could figure this out or come into some kind of right relationship with it, everything else could fall into place. This post won’t have answers, but perhaps by writing out the conflict someone will see a different way of looking at it that can help shift the logjam.
In my mind, I have a clear focus
I created a set of images that can be used across a range of disciplines. Primarily training, facilitation, coaching, consulting, diversity and inclusion, counseling, and education. In my mind, all of these are about helping people see themselves or other people more clearly. By starting the engagement with photographs, the mind creates or uncovers a different story than it would using words alone. This helps us understand whatever we are exploring in a different way than if we just intersect verbally.
To me, that is a clear focus.
After two years in the market, I fully understand that I may be the only one who believes that. Part of me understands it. Each of these disciplines speaks in slightly different language. People seem to focus more on the differences than the similarities. When people search for solutions, they often want something very specific that they think will solve their issue.
When I plan a group process, I start with an assumption that the most effective intervention is the one that works with the uniqueness of the participants toward a goal that is customized for the situation. I designed the whole VisualsSpeak process to be the bridge between those two places. This requires skill on the part of the professional to do some kind of assessment and to identify a desired outcome. I assumed customers would come with these skills, but not all did. I always do custom interventions, so it didn’t occur to me that others would want detailed directions of exactly what to do. But many do. Others use the tools in totally different ways than they were designed, and are happy with that.
Everyone wants something different
Creating a tool that is so flexible did attract a wide variety of early adopters. Very quickly, the requests for new images and specific programs started arriving. Some wanted live training, some online, some a community, some discussion groups, some help with questions, some help with debriefing. Not just general, but tailored specifically to their application. The coaches wanted one thing, the trainers another. There weren’t enough of any particular group to support the development of anything. We tried to serve these requests by talking people through their question development on the phone, starting the blog, and sending a monthly newsletter. I suspect that by trying to answer everyone, we answered no one effectively.
At the same time, the flexibility of the tool in my mind is its core strength. I was at a birthday party last night, and just in the room there were people who used VisualsSpeak in these ways
- training department for supply chain of a major sportswear company using it for leadership development, helping leaders get clear about how they work with people across cultures
- diversity department of a large hospital system using it for helping people work through conflict and job dissatisfaction
- food and nutrition department of another large hospital using it to help them identify what customer service means to different cultural groups
- independent trainer using the images to help people create definitions of racism, prejudice, oppression, and justice
- independent facilitator using the tool to help university faculty and staff do strategic visioning for their programs
- conflict resolution faculty using it to help students understand how much they read into first impressions and how each persons viewpoint varies so dramatically
And that was just a small selection of people at a social event. Almost everyone uses the tool differently, and each one of them often uses it for multiple purposes.
What does it do?
It totally depends on what you are using it for. Which I realize just totally frustrates people. But to me its like asking people what does talking do? Talking itself doesn’t do anything, its what and how you apply it that does something. Same with VisualsSpeak. It offers the potential for a lot of things, but you have to apply it to get results. We supply the tools, your results will depend on what you do with them.
It feels like all the marketing formulas for businesses are created for things that are definable, predictable, and concise. Starting conversations with photographs isn’t like that. You are opening the possibility for people to talk from places they don’t normally, sparked by associations that are individual to them.
A picture is worth a thousand words, but often a different thousand for each person. It’s where the deeper conversations often start. Suddenly I can see more clearly where we are similar and different, what your viewpoint looks like, and start to hear some of your beliefs, values and assumptions. The photos spark what might be sitting in your unconscious or subconscious, helping you see what might be missing from the story when you just use words.
Yet, I am constantly asked what it does. People do not understand it. I don’t seem to be able to explain it? Even people who experience it don’t always know how to apply it. Maybe its in my blind spot? I can think of endless things to do with it, all sorts of ways to apply it.
How it feels
VisualsSpeak is my passion, something I have spent five years developing and testing. I am not detached. Maybe it would be better if I was, but my identity is intertwined with it. So part of what makes it so overwhelming is when people don’t understand VisualsSpeak, it feels like they don’t understand me. When they don’t see its value, it feels like they don’t see my value. When they don’t know what it does, they don’t know what I do. I start feeling invisible and like I am not valuable. And while my head knows better, once again my heart still feels it.
Questions I have as I think about what I can do?
I’m not sure what I am missing here. Is the answer to select one tiny little thing the tool might do for a select group and just market that? Is it my inability to communicate clearly? Is the product wrong? Do I need to provide something else to go with it? Do I need separate sites or pages to reflect the language of each audience with examples for them?
How do you figure out where you are going wrong? Or is it just a matter of continuing to try things, hope something helps, and hope things work before you are out of resources? Or maybe it is how do you keep from getting discouraged as you try time after time, and it doesn’t make it better?
Will you walk with us?
We really hope you’ll continue to share stories with us, and offer suggestions and ideas. It has been so helpful to feel the support and know we are not alone walking this path.
You can subscribe to this series by subscribing to the blog by RSS or email. You can also subscribe to our e-newsletter where we usually talk about tips and tricks for using our visual tools.
Here are the blog posts in this series;
My business has cracked (be sure to read the comments, lots of shared wisdom and support)
Learning from my business: About branding
8 Responses to “Learning from my business: About focus”
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Christine – You start this post by saying that you thought that you have “a clear focus.”
Then you go on to describe in detail how that focus disappears: “…the most effective intervention is the one that works with the uniqueness of the participants toward a goal that is customized for the situation.” That’s not a focus, but a reinvention of your product and service for every client.
You describe the way that focus melts away: “Very quickly, the requests for new images and specific programs started arriving. Some wanted live training, some online, some a community, some discussion groups, some help with questions, some help with debriefing. Not just general, but tailored specifically to their application. The coaches wanted one thing, the trainers another. There weren’t enough of any particular group to support the development of anything.”
I think that in re-reading these sentences that you would agree that you don’t have a specific product or service, but respond to each client with a unique solution. Besides being exhausting, your business doesn’t have any “scalability”, which is necessary to grow and to develop efficiencies in order to make an acceptable level of profit.
This doesn’t mean that you need to pick ONE aspect of your business and only do that. That is the other extreme. Rather, you need to analyse what you can do to make what you offer available to others WITHOUT YOU! Yes, you need to let go of your idea and give it to others to make it work, each with their own special application or use or market segment (ie., with their unique focus). The creativity in this business, I believe, is in the creativity of inventing new applications for specific groups, and then seeing if you can find someone else to set that application as a business and give you a percentage.
For example, I can see a set of your images being adapted for an art therapy focus, another set for a career decision focus, and the third set for coping with being released from prison (as just three examples – each with sizable markets and cadres of professionals you can train to use your images). It seems to me that you need to identify the various market segments for which you can develop image sets, and rank them by size. Then work on one market segment at a time, producing images, manuals and training sessions for that segment. That’s a business focus to me. At the same time, you can continue to be creative and not bored.
I recently read an African proverb that said, “With enough time, you can cook an elephant in a pot.” That’s focus!
Christine,
It’s interesting to read Gary’s comments, because they’re similar to the things that my husband said the other day when I was telling him about your business.
The first thing he said was something like “she should make a set for parents and/or teachers, and teach them how to use them with their kids/students, to help kids express themselves or have difficult conversations.” Maybe not the application that would appeal most to you, but I think the idea of selecting specific market segments, developing sets with and for them, teaching them how to use (and sell!) them, and then moving to the next market segment has some merit.
Perhaps there are some market segments that appeal to you personally that would be a good place to start?
My husband also said “forget about the trainers and coaches–they (meaning us, so I hope nobody else reading this takes offense!)already think they know better, and they want to do things there own way. I had no idea he had such strong opinions about us
but he may have a point there.
I hope this is helpful. Like Susanne, I’m a believer so I look forward to following your progress and staying involved with the future success of VisualsSpeak!
Ann Marie
Having a husband in marketing, I tend to agree with the comments on market segments. Also forget about trainers per se-since in my own experience when I gave it to trainers to use they already had their own ideas. I thought about why I got so interested and I have to say it was experienceing the tool even in its “Beta” version. So if you pick your market, offer a class, demo or other means to that group and then sell the product-packaged with formats and questions for using it. For example, within a company-it could be sued for training, meeting facilitation, strategic planning, visioning, employee oreintation, exit interviews, focus groups, etc. Then someone would want to buy it knowing they could use it more than once and for more applications.
Hi Christine –
I found your site/blog through Michele Martin’s Bamboo Project Blog, and I’m enjoying learning more about your journey. Thank you for your willingness to share your experiences with us.
My background is in training and facilitation, so I find your tools to be very intriguing! What a great concept.
As for branding/positioning, I think Gary has a great point. Are you selling a product or a service (or both….), or a community? And, can you clearly communicate exactly what it is or what it does for your customers?
If I might, let me suggest you focus less on the amazing range of possibilities your product offers…and more on the problems it solves.
Perhaps something like – “We use a series of pictures to jump start group problem solving and help them develop much more effective solutions”
I keep thinking of my time in the Air Force…we used so many acronyms and “insider language” that my mom finally told me to stop one day. If I couldn’t explain it to her in plain language, then she didn’t want to hear it. It was a great lesson! How would you explain what you do to your mom (dad, child, nephew, cousin, grandmother, etc.) in plain, simple language. One sentence.
Just a few random thoughts – hope it might be helpful
Jane
p.s. Perhaps you might clarify for folks a bit – from your description above, you listed quite a few nice clients! Training departments, independent facilitators, etc.
How is your business finding it a struggle? Do you need more clients overall, or more profitability in how you provide your services?
Jane
@Jane Neumiller-Bustad: I continue to work on getting the words together for what the tools do for people. I’m still getting caught by the shear number of ways it can be applied and the range of outcomes it produces. I started to list the problems it solves in the different arenas, and the list if still too long and confusing. Narrowing it down in an ongoing process, but it is coming along.
My Mom tries really hard to understand what I do, reads my newsletters and blog faithfully. I don’t think I have been able to express it in a way she fully gets it yet. I’m committed to keep trying.
The business isn’t flourishing in any area, since our offers are still unclear. We were trying to be a product/training/consulting company all at the same time serving too many audiences. So a big piece of the work is overhauling the core business model.
I really appreciate your input. Always helpful, esp to hear from new people to get fresh viewpoints.
I agree that Focus is very important. Having a business plan should incorporate this focus. Unfortunately, physicians like my brother, receive no formal business training in medical school or residency. Yet they are thrust into a small business the minute they enter practice.
Thankfully for him my specialty is in books. To help him find a Concrete business model for his Practice, I introduced to him a tried and true guide, “The Ultimate Practice Building Book,” by David Zahaluk. Dr. Zahaluk details advanced concepts including how to build your practice’s core message and USP, inexpensive retention and referrals systems, direct mail campaigns that work, easy and lucrative joint ventures in your own community, coding pearls and how to get more out of your staff than you ever dreamed possible. It really is an amazing resource.