Y2K, the Dot Com Bubble, and Opportunity Everywhere

Y2K, the Dot Com Bubble, and Opportunity Everywhere - Lessons Learned, Episode 20

I have to say, 1999 was a great year for my business. Prince says it all: "Life is just a party and parties weren't meant to last." (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rblt2EtFfC4) 2000 would burst the bubble. But 1999 was all about SALES. And for me, a lot of lessons about marketing and sales. 

The Y2K rollover brought a great deal of FUD - fear, uncertainty, and doubt - to businesses of all sizes. As I mentioned in the last episode, some businesses were very worried, knowing that they had done nothing to prepare for problems.

I believe no one really thought he world would end. But the more you knew about the state of computer code at the time, the more you worried that a lot of stuff would just not work right. Luckily, small businesses could do some upgrades to BIOS code, operating systems, and software to avoid the problems. Or - and here's the part I enjoyed the most - they could just buy a new computer with none of those problems built in.

I committed to creating program specifically designed to help small businesses during this time. These included:

• Seminars on Y2K preparation from a strictly business perspective
• Seminars on Y2K preparation for technology folks
• Y2K audits to see if companies had software and hardware that wouldn't make it
• and lots of marketing to make sure everyone knew that we were offering these services

And here are the most important things I learned from the year-long campaign.

First, there are buyers and non-buyers. Some people were 100% guaranteed to have problems on 1/1/00 if they did not upgrade to 1/1/2000. And yet, they refused to spend any money. 

I was busy enough that didn't bother to bug them about it. Some did come back to me later (after 1/1/2000). By then I had decided that they either needed to sign a contract or I would refer them to someone else for tech support. None of them signed a contract.

As Russell Brunson reminds us, a buyer is a buyer. And, conversely, a non-buyer is a non-buyer.

Second, holding seminars, charging for them, and promoting them, gives you instant credibility as an expert. I think I was charging between $99 and $199 per person for seminars on Y2K preparedness for small business.

Here's the best part. I did ONE live presentation to an audience of about 100 people. And I never held any of my focused seminars at all. No one signed up. Why is that good? Because LOTS of people called me and said, "I don't have time for your seminar. Can you come by, evaluate our systems, and make sure we have what we need?" Yes. We have a deal for that service.

In other words, I sold a lot of consulting services because I advertised seminars. Clearly, I got my advertising in front of the right people. But they didn't want to be personally educated. They wanted their business to survive - and I was the person expert enough to hold a seminar on the topic.

I later repeated this with cloud services, virtual servers, and other topics. No one who doesn't attend a seminar knows whether anyone else actually signed up for it. It's like Schrodinger's Seminar. Is it live? 

Third, I was sold on direct mail! I had always dabbled in direct mail (postal mail) as a marketing tool. With y2K I went all-in. I sent letters, postcards, and flyers. I sent reminders, newsletters, and stories with examples of how to check some things yourself.

Pretty much everything we did with direct mail worked. We had to mail the same folks again and again. But we always got a response. And I was committed to direct mail as a major lead source from then on.

Fourth, I personalized the lesson you've heard a hundred times: Don't mine for gold. All the money is in selling shovels to miners. When you are absolutely certain that people need something, and that you can provide it, drop your insecurities and sell that thing!

Over the years, I enjoyed the gold rushes to in-house computers, in-house servers, Small Business Server, cloud services, SaaS, and other technologies. As I mentioned in Episode 15, I completely regret my choice to skip the connectivity gold rush. But I sold my share of shovels.

The bottom line is that 1999 met the two "perfect" goals I had set for the year. 1) I made money in the present. And 2) I gained new clients and prospects for the future. I started the year wondering where to go from here, and I finished it with a solid business to build on.

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My favorite Y2K-prep story. One of my favorite clients ran a software company that was a spinoff of a former client's company. They did whatever it took to make sure they didn't have one second of downtime.

That included investing in a rooftop generator, a failover system for the electricity, and redundant internet connections. My friend Andrew literally spent New Years Eve 2000 up on the roof. He "failed over" to the generator before midnight, checked out all the operations, and "failed back" after we were safely into the new year.

Maybe not his favorite new years eve story, but it's a good one he can talk about forever.

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Were you in business back then? I'd love to hear about your Y2K prep.

All comments welcome.

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Episode 20

This Episode is part of the ongoing Lessons Learned series. For all the information, and an index of Lessons Learned episodes, go to the Lessons Learned Page. 

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