The Eye of the Storm is what we call the classroom in the tower at Wizard Academy. This name is doubly appropriate; not only is The Eye of the Storm a momentary escape from the buffeting winds of business, it was funded by Tim Storm, a wildly successful entrepreneur.

It was the third day of a 3-day class. A hand went up in the second row.

“Yes?”

“What’s the next big thing?”

The answer leapt from my mouth before he had even finished the question.

“YouTube.”

Everyone laughed. This confused me until I realized the class thought I was trying to be funny. Yes, of course, YouTube was already big.

But not in the way I meant.

Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim founded YouTube in February 2005. Google purchased it the following year (2006) for $1.65 billion.

YouTube was an idea whose time had come.

During the 365 calendar days of 2011, YouTube delivered more than 1 trillion views. Viewership in 2012 was up by more than 40 percent: 1.46 trillion views. I mentioned that to you exactly 52 weeks ago. You might remember how I pointed out that one million seconds is about 12 days.

One billion seconds is nearly 32 years.

One trillion seconds is 31,688 years.

A trillion is a lot.

The statistics page at YouTube currently says the number of views delivered in 2013 was “50 percent more than last year.” This means they’ve jumped from 1 trillion views to 2 trillion views is just 24 months. It seems that you and I and the rest of the world are watching a lot of online video.

Advertising begins a conversation with prospective customers that will be continued when they make contact with your company. This is why it’s important to educate your sales team about your advertising.

Sometimes a customer calls to ask you a question. You answer. Sometimes they walk through your door. You greet them. But as Steve Wozniak wryly observed in 2010, “We used to ask a smart person a question. Now who do we ask? It starts with G-O, and it’s not God.”

Your customers are gathering information through Google and YouTube. This means your website and your online videos are vital new half steps that fall between your advertising and your customer’s direct first contact with you. (You know I’m right because you’re doing this, too. You walk to your keyboard every time you have interest in a product or a service.)

Are your customers finding the information they need?

I’m not talking about Search Engine Optimization. I’m not talking about responding to customer queries made by email. I’m talking about crafting an informative answer to the question you believe your customer will ask and then posting that answer in a video on YouTube. You can also embed that video on your website. How many questions can you answer intelligently? That’s exactly how many YouTube videos you should create.

Yes, I’m being serious.

YouTube is often called “social media.” This is unfortunate because businesspeople tend to see “social media” as cotton candy that offers little real nutrition. Entertainment value is measured by the number of views a video receives. I am not suggesting that you should entertain the public, but rather that you should inform them. Information value is measured by how well you anticipate and answer your customer’s not-yet-asked question.

YouTube delivers entertainment when we want to be distracted but it also delivers information when we are seeking answers. Google and YouTube give us unprecedented access to information, 24/7. This is changing the nature of sales training. As Steve Wozniak pointed out, we’re no longer seeking the opinions of experts face-to-face, we’re seeking them face-to-computer-screen. This is not how the world functioned a short decade ago.

Welcome to 2014.

Wizard Academy will soon be announcing the dates of our new online video classes. If you’d to receive advance notice of these class dates by email so that you can secure one of the 18 finely appointed, on-campus bedrooms at no additional charge, let Vice-Chancellor Daniel Whittington know of your interest and he’ll give you a 24-hour advance heads-up.

Brother Whittington can be reached at 512-720-8801 or [email protected] Capture the best you’ve got and make it available to your customer 24/7.

We’ll show you how.

It’s going to be a fabulous year.

The future is here.

Roy H. Williams