Here’s what’s happening in 2017 – SharePoint, Office365, Autodesk, and Salesforce software integrations

 

As I presented my 10X Talk to my CEO mentor circle in September 2016, it didn’t go like I wanted it.

I was in front of a bunch of business executives far more successful than me. Some are entrepreneurs who have started $50M dollar companies several times.

I’ve only done it once and have the same company now for over 10 years.

During my presentation, I told them about HingePoint’s unique process to launch software. How we can work with any system. I told them that we deliver “Innovation through Systems.” And we are different than other IT companies because we have a “Results Guarantee” on ROI. I showed them the coolest solutions we’ve created. I thought they’d be impressed.

I wasn’t even five minutes into my presentation. They stopped me.

They collectively asked, “What are you really selling?”

I felt like I was in a dream. You know the one. The one where you’re not prepared for a final exam and you’re in front of the class in your underpants.

Then my mentor circle challenged me.

“What are you selling? Make it clear. Make it like buying popcorn at a movie.”

This forced me to change, evolve and transform myself and my company.

1. I changed myself by learning

Even though I read quite a bit, I started reading even more fervently. Some were books I should have read years ago.

Here’s what I read:

  • What’s the Big Hairy Audacious Goal my company is going to achieve? –From Good to Great
  • What’s the one goal I want to accomplish this year… and what will I do to accomplish them? 4 Disciplines of Execution
  • What are the three channels I’m going to use to penetrate the market. –Traction
  • How do I say what we sell crystal clear? -E-Myth
  • How do I take out the fat of work, how do I stop wasting so many resources? -2 Second Lean
  • How do I manage my team better and make better goals? –Rockefeller Habits 2.0

I read other books, too. Like the Bible and Hockey Strong to help me stay courageous. We like hockey stories at HingePoint. We have a few college and former pro hockey team captains working here.

2. Narrowed our company focus

The main thing that emerged was that I needed to narrow the company’s focus. Last year we had five goals. This year we have one.

This year it’s simple, our One Goal:

We want to increase the number of prospects who instantly understand what HingePoint sells and is an expert in.

This is not just a marketing goal. This is a goal that encompasses the entire company. Everyone better be able to express this, from our financial dashboard expert to our project managers and sales leads.

3. Changed our message

We are changing our message.

We went from “Innovating through Systems” with a unique process to this:

Take control of your company information and build faster by upgrading the software tools you use in your business.

Said simply: Build faster by taking control of your information

  • We get rid of busy, manual tasks with software that does it automatically
  • Make software and systems “talk” to one another to streamline workflows
  • Give instant access to needed, critical info about your company from one screen

We’re of course going to test this message with past and current customers and friends.

We also made four packages we sell. Since we are really system developers and system integrators for platforms like SharePoint, Office365, Salesforce, and more (see “Cloud Platforms” in the main menu), you can buy our development services in four packages. Our thinking is to make it like movie popcorn. You can buy small, medium, large and extra large tubs of popcorn for systems development.

What we Sell for Systems Upgrades:

Quick Fix — Does your software need a quick fix? This package includes fixing server issues, removing bugs, technical assessment, upgrading existing software or systems.

Redesign — Need to redesign how software works? This package includes configuring software, launching software, maximizing out of the box features, customized user guides.

Connect & Customize — Need different systems to talk to one another? Multiple systems and software will automatically share data with one another. Create custom code so your software will work the way you want it.

Complete System Overhaul — Complete overhaul and design of your system. Redesign how your company works with better software and better tools. Technical assessment and develop a roadmap to get there.

4. Changed our Audience

We also changed our persons or target clients that benefit the most from our solutions. We were focused the past few years on the general Architecture, Engineering and Construction industry where I’ve worked most of my life. As a hybrid systems and civil engineer, I’ve spent most of my career automating the architecture and engineering world.

But doing research, we realized that the majority of our business comes from real estate developers and construction companies wanting to streamline their business using technology transformation as the strategy for efficiency and profitable growth.

Even though we still serve architects and engineers, we are changing our website to show we specifically cater to commercial real estate and construction and manufacturing companies.

Our next steps are to actually implement all of this. I’ve hired a developer to begin making these changes on our site. And our entire team is responsible for this plan.

I’m excited about 2017! I hope you are, too.

Thanks for listening. If you have any feedback we’d love to hear it. Email me personally at bryce@hingepoint.com. You can tell us if you can understand “what we sell”!

I wish you the best of luck this 2017.