The FORUM Effect

Read the October 2009 Digital Edition Today!

Click here to access Digital FORUM.

This month features the Institute for Real Estate Management. 

Making Culture Change a Reality

In this month's article we outlined a process that helped the Academy of Dermatology move from organization-wide training on the principles of collaboration to making a culture of collaboration part of our everyday way of working.  But how do you make the right decisions about what kind of culture you want your organization to have?  We used feedback from staff surveys, combined with the desired state as defined by executive staff and senior managers.  How have you successfully defined your desired state?

Measuring internal search

Last week I wrote a post entitled Web site analysis in the absence of goals.  The post described a different approach to measuring Web success - from the bottom up.  The article I referenced in that post used internal search results as the example, but the concepts applied to all Web site metrics.  Consequently I glossed over Google's powerful ability to track and report on internal searches.

So, I thought I'd dig in a little deeper to internal search.

To start measuring internal search, you need an internal search engine.  If your site has one, then read on.  If not, consider the following excerpt from the article Internal Site Search Analysis: Simple, Effective, Life Altering! from A List Apart:

Now when people show up at a website, many of them ignore our lovingly crafted navigational elements and jump to the site search box. The increased use of site search as a core navigation method makes it very important to understand the data that site search generates.

No matter how modest your site, internal search should be in place as an alternative navigation method for users.  So, if you don't already have internal search, go get it.

For those with internal search in place, let's roll up our sleeves and start tracking it with Google Analytics.

The first step is to recognize how your site interacts with your internal search engine.  You do this by performing a search and then examining the resulting Web address.  To illustrate this, go to Google and search for Association Forum.  Google presents a results page.

Now, look in the address bar and notice the Web address.  It reads:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS249&q=association+forum&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g10

To break this down, you are on the google.com/search page.  The Web address contains a bunch of variables, each separated by an ampersand.  There is hl=en, which indicates the results are in English.  There is rlz, followed by gobbledygook.  Then there is q=association+forum.  There is your search term and "q" is the variable that serves it.

Now, do the same on your site.  What is your search term variable?  Once you have this in hand, visit this Google Analytics Help page for the complete instructions.  It takes less than 5 minutes to set it up.

Tracking internal searches can be of great value.  As the A List Apart article indicates, internal search is a direct reflection of user intent.  It also lets you follow the path of this intent.  Where does it lead?  Does your site present a satisfactory user experience?  Is there an opportunity to insert a call-to-action within this path? 

Or does the search result in no choices?  There is great value here as well.  Besides providing the opportunity to create a new page or redirect the search result, a no-option search also uncovers some subtle issues. Sometimes users misspel common words or transpoes certain letters.  In these cases, you can anticipate these mistakes and direct users to the appropriate page.

The A List Apart article goes into great detail on internal search analysis using Google Analytics.  I highly recommend a careful read through before your next internal search analysis.

What Happened? My Lawyer is Leaving the Firm

Confusion or even anxiety can be provoked when clients learn that their lawyer is leaving their law firm. While there are a number of reasons why this may have occurred, a big reason among medium- to large-sized or niche firms is a result of “conflicts.”

To the average person, “conflicts” sounds like disagreements among attorney. However, it usually has to do with the firm’s clients. Each time a lawyer wants to add a client to the firm’s roster, it reviews its client list and determines whether there is a conflict of interest between the existing clients’ interests and the potential client.

If there is a conflict, the lawyer may request the existing client sign a waiver. The client has the right to agree to the waiver or not. If they do, in certain instances, the firm may be obligated to set up “a screen” or fire wall between the two groups working on each client’s behalf.

As lawyers become more knowledgeable and specialized in a particular topic area, the greater the likelihood there will be conflicts that some clients won’t be willing to waive. Sometimes the decision to sign a waiver or not relates to public perception. For example, a non-smoking coalition may not want to be on the same client list as a tobacco manufacturer, regardless of the anticipated legal work. Conflicts in firms are inevitable. Usually, they are amicably worked out among the parties involved. Over time, the lawyer may decide that in order for his or her law practice to grow, s/he needs to be in firm with less client conflicts.

If the lawyer does leave the firm, clients must actively select to go with the lawyer. Otherwise, the firm assigns a new attorney to the client's work. In order to go with the departing attorney, the client writes a letter to the existing firm stating its decision and requesting delivery of their files to the new lawyer within a certain timeframe.

As always, if you have questions, talk to your lawyer about it. 

Web site analysis in the absence of goals

I read with great interest an article in A List Apart Magazine this week.  A List Apart is an online magazine dedicated to the Web design and development industry.  The article is Beyond Goals: Site Search Analytics from the Bottom Up.  What drew me into the article was its premise of "bottom-up" analysis.

My FORUM article and most writings on the subject of analytics focuses on the top-down approach - setting goals, implementing them and then measuring outcomes.

A shortcoming to this approach, the article suggests, is that this type of analysis only measures known goals and ignores existing user behavior.  Analyzing how users interact with the site right now - before tinkering with goals - can provide surprisingly useful insight into what they actually find useful.

The article focuses on internal search engine queries as a window into user behavior, but any pattern-based analysis will do. 

Take some time and review your analytics reports for answers to the following question:

What are the top entry pages?
What are the top inbound search phrases?
What are the most common click paths?

Then ask yourself "why"?  Chances are, some site visitors are interacting with your site in unanticipated ways.  All you need do is review the metrics with an open mind, follow the data and uncover this hidden utility.  Then, you can restructure the site to take advantage of it and nudge users towards your needs.

The full article is located on A List Apart.

Legal Services: More Tips on Your Role as a Client

In my recent article, "Demystifying Lawyers and Law Firms" published in the Forum (Sept 2009), I describe the inside workings of a typical law firm and touch on issues of structure, compensation, billing, roles, and expectation setting. Here are a few additional tips about your role as client:

• Review the engagement letter and other documents provided to you initially. Make sure you understand the terms. If you are hiring a law firm to do lobbying, for example, is it an "at-will" agreement meaning you can cancel it at anytime?
• Agree to the fees and charges up front and the frequency in which you can expect them to change. If necessary, ask for a monthly cap on expenses. Don’t complain about every charge once you have agreed to it, and don’t expect the lawyers to talk to you or work on your issues or case without billing you. When they do, celebrate!
• Sign only those documents for which you understand the purpose, rationale, and consequences.
• Request copies of all letters and documentation prepared on your behalf and keep them in one file that is readily accessible to you, but away from the prying eyes of others.
• If you are in the midst of a negotiation or critical situation, keep your lawyer informed of new information or developments, your schedule, expectations, and budget.
• Don’t expect your lawyer to give you a simple answer to complex questions, and, yes, assume every question is a complex question.
• Follow your lawyer’s advice, but don't follow it blindly. Ask questions so that you understand the technical and legal language and process.
• Talk to your lawyer about what is working and not working in the relationship. A meeting or conference call might just resolve the issue. Finding another lawyer and getting them up to speed is costly, so be judicious. But, if you don’t trust your lawyer’s expertise, judgment, or skills, it's time to find a new lawyer.
• If you have a dispute over fees, start by calmly discussing it with your lawyer. If after you have exhausted that avenue and cannot come to a mutually acceptable accommodation, consider calling the firm's managing partner. As a last resort, call your local bar association and ask about their process for mediating fee disputes.
• If you believe your lawyer’s conduct is unethical, contact your state bar association.

What tips do you have for working with lawyers or clients?

Measuring success, old school still applies

Many years ago, I first read the book Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy the founder of mega-agency Ogilvy & Mather.  In it, he speaks of measuring the effect of advertising.  He referenced a book entitled Scientific Advertising by Claude C. Hopkins.  Ogilvy minced few words in his recommendation of the book.

"Nobody, at any level, should be allowed to have anything to do with advertising until he has read this book seven times."

At a mere 64 pages, Scientific Advertising packs more useful information within its pages than books 10 times its size.

Hopkins speaks precisely on the concepts of return on investment; on the power of headlines; on the idea that advertising is an exercise in sales, not brand.  He strongly advocates testing messages against each other, down to the exact words.  He holds up all advertising against the harsh light of mail-order and its "traced returns."

As I read through the book, I was astounded how much applied to the Web.  The importance and methodology of measurement.  The establishment and implementation of quantifiable actions.  The need to test and refine message and method.  The entire book is relevant to the online world.

It was published in 1923.

I will confess to reading it only twice (so far), but it remains on my desk as a reminder that the paradigms of fundamentals rarely shift.

The full text of Scientific Advertising is available online at http://scientificadvertising.blogspot.com.

Read the September 2009 Digital Edition Today!

 

Click here to access Digital FORUM.

This month features the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center (CEC), a nonprofit affiliate of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce.

Who's to blame if fraud occurs?

Obviously, the dishonest person that committed the fraud is to blame, right?  Of course, but that is only part of it.  Many others are responsible in at least some way shape or form.  The Board of Directors has a fiduciary responsibility to the organization and is expected to provide oversight and make decisions for the good of the organization. Why didn't they ask more questions when expenses were over budget?  Why didn't they ask if the organization has implemented any fraud controls?  Did they make it clear to management that fraud was a concern?  Management is responsible for monitoring the operations.  Are they doing their job properly?  Are they taking short cuts?  Do they trust a certain long time employee enough not to review their work?  The long time trusted employee is often the one that commits the crime because the opportunity is there.   In addition, other employees may have suspected that something inappropriate was occurring, but never spoke up or didn't have an outlet.  Other employees may not have been doing their job correctly allowing the fraud to occur unnoticed. 

Preventing fraud is a process that starts from the top at the board of directors and filters down through the staff of the organization.  Just the notion that the organization is aware of fraud and it will not be tolerated is a strong deterrent.  It is important that the Board of Directors takes an active role in preventing fraud.  This can be done by merely making fraud a priority and declaring a commitment to deter fraud.  Hopefully, management will jump on board with the commitment and it will become a concept within the organization.

Saving Money with the Small Things

Talking about saving money within our associations has led me to think (again) about how to save money in my own life. (And of course I plan to spend a majority of that saved money on professional development opportunities to make myself a better, more involved, more committed employee.) Until recently I worked at the Institute of Real Estate Management, for which the Chicago Headquarters is located right next to a kindly Starbucks on Michigan Ave. Now, there are many coffee shops I enjoy, but this Starbucks happened to be the nearest and most convenient, so I ended up going there quite a little bit. And, especially in the summer, I started to notice that the receipts were really adding up. I blame this, of course, on the copious amounts of ice put into iced coffee beverages. Even when you repeatedly ask for "light ice," the result is almost always half a cup (or more) of ice. So you have to drink--and buy--twice as much to be a coffee-motivated, productive worker. Right?

Well, fortunately I found a cost-saving solution to this little problem. I ask for NO ice. Revolutionary thinking, yes? It seems counterintuitive to ask for an "ICED venti NO-ICE green tea latte," but let me tell you, it is possible. You get twice as much of the good stuff and, if you're so fortunate to have an accessible freezer with ice cubes available, you don't even have to sacrifice temperature quality. This is the secret to savings for which we've all been longing.