2009 June | A Sales Guy

The End of The Quarter

Today is the end of the quarter, and if you are in sales you know what that means. The end of the quarter marks the mad dash to get in as much business as possible before 12:00 midnight to ensure you make your number.

I’ve always found this to be an interesting dance and for those of you not in sales it goes a little like this; The V.P.’s look at the most recent reports to determine where they are in relationship to their revenue number or quota. They in turn look down into the organization to the directors and managers and ask, “what can you move into this quarter from next quarter?” This sets off a flurry of activity as the sales teams call in favors, offers deals, creates discounts, and sweeten the pot all to get revenue a day early. It’s an unhealthy way to do business.

The other reason I find the end of the quarter so interesting, by bringing in deals expected to close next quarter you, in essence, have gap to fill next quarter. This gap inevitably get’s filled the same way the previous did, by bringing in deals from next quarter by calling in favors, offering deals, creating discounts and sweetening the pot. Its a viscous cycle. Especially if your sales cycle is longer than 3 months.

I don’t like this dance and I don’t think it benefits the organization in the end. It becomes a viscous cycle that costs more in the long run, as sales people create scarcity and give away the farm to make their number. To avoid it companies need to be more disciplined in sales operations. Start with focusing on sales cycles and closing ratios. If a company has strong understanding of it’s average sales cycle length and the % of deals it wins, they can have a much clearer view of what to expect each quarter. This allows for much better forecasting and quota allocation. Secondly, companies need to have a greater focus on the long-term. The mad dash to bring revenue from future quarters into this quarter only creates a brutal cycle that is difficult to break and can cost the company millions. Take the hit in the 3rd quarter, don’t make deals that you don’t have to make if you close two weeks later, don’t give away extra product to close today, if you won’t have to close in 3 weeks. Rarely is it worth it.

Don’t train your customers. If this is a pattern, your customers will pick up on it and purposely wait till the end of the quarter to negotiate, knowing you will be more flexible on the terms to make your number.

Set realistic plans. This is a big one and could be a post by itself. My experience, is most companies build their plans through a process of, “how much can we grow?” with little analysis on what the market can bear, what the company resources can support, what the competition is doing etc. Few companies actually do a thorough analysis before committing their yearly numbers. This approach is like throwing darts.

The mad dash is just about over. My team and I will make our number, just barely. We didn’t sweeten any pots, we didn’t create any discounts, but we did have to call in some favors and that has a cost.

I don’t like the dance and don’t think it’s a good reflection of an organization. But it’s over for the next 3 months. To my fellow sales guys, enjoy the reprieve, you deserve it. Rest up my friends as the battle will resume again soon.

June 30, 2009 | Filed under: Sales Leadership,Sales Process,The Chase | View Comments |

Facebook is Going to Change Your Life

A friend of mine Paul Dunay from Buzz Marketing For Technology just published an ebook: 7 Ways Facebook is Going to Change Your Life and it’s good. Paul and I have had many passionate conversations about where social media is going and its impact on society. We both agree; we are going through a cultural revolution of sorts, similar to those experienced by the introduction of the telephone at the turn of the century, the air conditioner and the television. How we communicate ideas is changing. How companies talk to us is changing. The definition of friends is changing. Its changing in profound ways and Paul has a unique view of it all.

I think Social Media is going to be at the core of our society very soon. It will influence everything, from how we buy products, our careers, how we interact with our friends; how we engage with the TV and other entertainment. It’s going to change our lives.

Getting a view into this new world is tough. Like times past, many predictions seem funny now, while others are spot on. Paul does a good job in providing a good view to where things are going. I won’t be surprised if the all his predictions are spot on.

7 Ways Facebook Will Change Your Life

View more presentations from Paul Dunay.

I hope Paul is accurate. I like the idea of a world where my network and I are at the center.

What do you say now Copernicus?

June 29, 2009 | Filed under: Web 2.0/Social Networking,What I Think! | View Comments |

TweetDeck on My Iphone

I use TweetDeck on my laptop, so for consistency sake, I thought I’d try it on the I-Phone. I currently use Twitterfone, and like it but figured it was worth a try. I bought Tweetie awhile back, but thought it was a waste of money as it offered very little extra than the free Twitterfone. After a little less than a week of using TweetDeck, I can say it’s become my default Twitter mobile application. Mostly because it’s familiar. It looks and feels like what I am used to on my laptop.

Besides being familiar, I like all the columns being on a single page. I like the live search capabilities and the ability to add columns to follow certain companies, people, words, etc. This feature, more than any other, brings tons of utility to the application. I like the UI as well. It’s crisp, clean, and easy to use. I also like the fact that it has a built in URL shortener. Now that the I-Phone has cut and paste, a URL shortener is huge. I’m using cut and paste in I-Phone almost every day. It makes sharing much more dynamic.

What I’m not digging is it’s inconsistency. When I open it, it’s a crap shoot if all of my mentions, DM’s and favorites will actually appear. There also seems to be a lag from Twitter and my laptop to the phone app. I have no clue why. I haven’t been able to figure out how to delete individual tweets. I use favorites as a place to store tweets to read for later. I want to be able to delete them from the phone, once I’ve read them.

In spite of it not being perfect and the fact that I’ve used Twitterfone for the last year, I’m finding enough value to switch. It’s easy, quick, and familiar; yes, familiar. Familiar is important to me and I suspect others. I’ll be curious to see how TweetDeck on the I-Phone does.

Have you tried it? What do you think?

June 28, 2009 | Filed under: What I Think! | View Comments |

When Should You Get Married?

I was hanging out with my daughter, and few other 20 somethings the other night when the conversation turned to marriage. My daughter blurts out she wants to be married before 30.

Gasp, are you freakin’ kidding me? I look at her and ask: “Why?”

With a serious, yet clearly misinformed tone she replies with some mubble jumble about wanting kids and 30 being too old.

I get it. To a 22 year old kid 30 is old. But to the rest of us, 30 is young, very young. How do you explain to a 22 year old that getting married in your 20′s is just too young? Trying to explain why 30 isn’t old, isn’t going to do it. Talking about responsibility isn’t going to do it. So what to do?

I’m sitting thinking, an intervention is required but how? Then it hits me. Make it about her.

I grab a menu and point to each end and say; “This end is when you are born, this end is when you die” How much of the menu is yours if you get married at 25?” She looks at the tiny sliver between my two fingers and she starts cracking up as the light goes off.

“Not much,” she says.

Exactly, if you get married at 25, you have no more than 7 years out of 80 for “You Time”. It’s a tiny sliver of your life. Less than 10%. Ouch.

Not much is right. Deciding to get married comes down to “You Time”. How much “You Time” do you want? The majority of our lives belong to others. For the first 18 years they belong to our parents. Once we get married and start a career they belong to our spouses, our jobs, the kids, the mortgage, they belong to everyone else. There are a few precious years in between that are solely ours. We get to make the rules and owe no one and explanation. We can think only about ourselves.

This time is when we can travel and explore the world. It’s the time we can make decision on a whim. It’s a time for living and experiences. It’s a precious time that should not be squandered. The time from when we leave the house to when we get married is “You Time” and it’s yours to do as you wish.

Waiting to get married gives you more “You Time” and balances things out.

It’s all about the “You Time” Do you want a sliver or chunk?

We all hear the arguments against getting married early (I’m sure there are some for, I’ve just never heard them). You’re too young, no money, not mature enough, lack of understanding for the responsibility etc. We’ve heard them all.

Thanks to the menu and some quick thinking it’s clear to me. It’s not about any of that. It’s all about the “You Time” and how much of it you want. Like any 20 something, it’s all about them. And no “You time” is something they get.

We’ll see if it works. If she holds out to 30, I’ll call it a success.

June 27, 2009 | Filed under: What I Think! | View Comments |

The OverSeer

The overseer watches. His goal; make sure you do what your supposed to do. Rigid and demanding they pay little mind to anything other than the task. Overseer’s rarely add value to the effort. Their job is to make sure it gets done. They, as the name suggests, oversee. Overseers don’t participate in solving problems. As they see it’s not their job to fix or solve problems. It’s their job to make sure you get it done. Overseers bark orders, reprimand when results aren’t met and fire those who just can’t get with the program. Overseers report numbers and react to numbers. They don’t understand what’s driving them, nor do they care. The number is the number and either they are being met or they are not. Despite their own sense of self-importance, overseers bring very little value.

Sales has more overseers than any other profession. It’s easy to be an overseer in sales. To an overseer you’re making your number or not. Those that make their numbers stay, those that don’t . . . well don’t.

You have a sales guy who finishes at 85% of quota, in a market that has declined by 30%. You have another sales guy who finishes at 130% of quota in a market that is growing at 200%. Who has done a more impressive job?

The overseer sees the guy at 130% of quota as his man, because he made his number. But is that accurate? Who do you see as the more valuable sales guy.

Getting productivity and meeting goals takes more than an overseer. It takes leadership and engagement. It takes involvement. Overseers don’t get involved. In their world there is a clear line between him and the doers.

I’ve been hearing a lot lately that the pressure of today’s sales environments is creating a lot of overseers. I find that to be unfortunate. Tough sales environments, more than ever, need leadership not overseers.

To break a sales decline takes engagement and involvement. It’s more important than ever to understand what is impacting sales, why customers are struggling, what the market drivers are, how your products are positioned, what your customers are looking for, how your team is positioning your company and more. Tough times make overseers, when the should be creating leaders.

June 26, 2009 | Filed under: Sales Leadership | View Comments |

Utility in Social Media

I started cre8Buzz in 2006. cre8Buzz was about accelerating exposure for the little guy. We wanted to create a way for the content of the masses to be seen. A sort of long tail accelerator. cre8Buzz didn’t make it and we shut the doors in 2008. (you can read about the buzz here) Tons of social networks have come and gone in the last 3 years and I’m seeing a trend. Like everything else in our lives, social networks that provide utility are the ones that work. Regardless of their features and functions, Social Networks need to provide utility.

LinkedIn has become the leader in professional development and networking. It’s utility lies in connecting professionals with other professionals, in helping them find jobs and connect in groups around similar professions.

Facebook, is the personal site. Yes, many companies are using it for marketing, but the majority of users are connecting with H.S. friends, finding old acquaintances and staying connected with their current friends. Facebook, to me is about the personal relationship. I don’t have a lot friends or followers on Facebook, just good friends and acquaintances. I am creating a Facebook page for my larger online network of friends and followers.

Twitter is about branding (personal or corporate), broadcast messaging and realtime search. Twitter is a great online marketing tool. Providing people looking to distributed information or get information an easy way to do it. Twitter corrals the masses. With no intended recipient Twitters lob stuff out and see what happens. Twitter has created a platform for dynamic information flow and network building.

MySpace is declining in it’s numbers. They’ve laid off 400 people. Why? Because their utility is quickly becoming niche. Myspace is the place to find cool new bands. It’s the place to discover new music and talented musicians. It’s utility as a meeting place to hang out with friends is waning, they can thank Facebook for that. I think in a few years, Myspace’s value will be strictly for fans and bands to connect. It will be a music site.

As the use of social networks grows, we will become increasingly particular on how we use them. We are going to expect that they provide some sort of value. We will expect them to integrate into our lives. Social networks will not longer be a hobby or strictly entertainment but an integrated component of our lives that we rely on to accomplish things. Facebook may become our new contact manager or phonebook, where we dynamically manage our friends and family. Twitter may become our news channel and search engine. LinkedIn may replace resumes and cover letters and become a career development platform.

Social Networks are becoming increasingly utility driven. Users on them today, look to get specific value from those they use. People not on them are asking; “why?” They are looking for a reason to invest their time. They are looking for a return on that time. They’re looking for utility. I think we will see an increase in the utility we get from Social networks. As users are going to want more meat and less fluff.

I think this trend is only going to increase. It’s happening already. Have we seen the last of new social networks? I’m not sure. Although, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and MySpace to small degree have the key area’s covered. I think we will see them look for more ways to add value. I suspect they will create more hooks into our lives making them that much more integrated and that much more difficult to for us to unhook.

I see us looking at social networks through a lens of value. We are moving into a the next phase of social networking, and this phase is not about the cuteness or the fun, but the value. Users will relentlessly ask, what can you do for me today and the answer better be good . . . or their gone.

June 25, 2009 | Filed under: Web 2.0/Social Networking,What I Think! | View Comments |

24 Hours With My New Kindle

I’ve been wanting a Kindle for awhile. I’ve vacilated on getting one since they’ve come out. I’m kind of a hardcover book guy. I like filling my bookshelfs with each finished book. They act as a testiment to my accomplishment. A sort of trophy.

Despite my narcisism, my gut was telling me I needed a Kindle. Reading from a device like I listen to my music on an I-Pod just had a nice appeal to it.
My New Kindle

Putting an end to my indecision, BigE gave me a Kindle for Fathers Day. I’ve been playing with it since yesterday and over all I like it.

The Kindle kills it in one area and is a dog in another.

As an ebook reader and from a software perspective the Kindle is fantastic. You can download a book from the Amazon store in less than 60 seconds from anywhere there is Sprint network. When I did it, it was more like 15 seconds. You can bookmark pages, highlight sections, and add notes to passages. All your notes and highlights are stored in a central place called “My Clippings” and can be easilty retrieved. I love this feature. I like to take notes on what I read. This makes it a cake walk to get to them later. There is a decent search function as well. One of my favorite features is the active dictionary. The Kindle gives you the definition of a word by simply putting the cursor next it. This is big for me, because I am constantly unaware of the words I’m reading. The screen is clear and easy to read, and the text or font can be adjusted to whatever size works best for you. As a ebook reader the Kindle has it nailed.

From a hardware perspective, I am a little disappointed in the Kindle. Navigation through the menu and home screens is done through a little 5-way controller or toggle system. This 5-way controller system is very cluncky. It requires lots of extra steps to move through the menu system, to clip or to highlight passages. Performing functions can take as manny 10+ clicks or movements, that could be performed in one or two with a touchscreen. I was also disappointed to find that out the Kindle doesn’t have an illuminating screen, so I can’t read it in bed without a light on. I like to read in bed and not disturb BigE. I was hoping this would solve the problem. I guess not. Although you can add notes, the typing buttons are difficult to use. Hunt and peck is the only way to use them. It’s almost impossible to type with two hands. The positive is it ensures my notes are precise and simple. As a hardward device I was rather disappointed in The Kindle.

Despite the hardware shortcomings, I am enjoying my Kindle. The first book I downloaded was Crowdsourcing by Jeff Howe. (I’ll share my thoughts and Quotes on the book here later). I’m glad BigE took the leap for me. In future releases I’d like to see a touchscreen to make navigation easier. I’d like to see more sharing capabilities, including integration with Facebook and Twitter. This way I could let people know what books I’m downloading on Twitter and create book clubs on Facebook. I’d also like to see an illuminating screen so I can read it in the dark and not keep BigE up.

The Kindle is a pretty cool device and will change how we read and learn. I’m enjoying it. As I spend more time using it, I will share more of my thoughts here.

Do any of you have a Kindle? Do you like it? What do you think?

June 23, 2009 | Filed under: What I Think! | View Comments |

Leadership Required

I started this post earlier this month and thought there was not better time than Fathers Day to finish it.

My 3 year old daughter is learning how to rollerblade. She has these cute pink and white rollerblades that are way too big for her 3 year old feet, but she just doesn’t care. She’s determined to do it.

The other day she has her skates on and while she is clumsily moving across the porch she looks up and says; “Daddy, watch me!”

At that moment, it hit me. I’m her father. Everything I wanted from my dad, she wants from me. She wants to feel special. She wants me to be proud of her. She wants to feel safe with me. She wants to feel supported. She wants security. She wants to be trusted. She wants to trust me. She wants me to have confidence in her. She wants to count on me. She wants me to be there for her.

I didn’t have the best relationship with my Dad. I learned a lot from my Dad, but I never felt all these things. It was at this moment, when my daughter looked up at me that I realized, in the simplest of ways, she wants everything I wanted from my Dad from me and it’s my job to make sure she gets them. What hit me the hardest wasn’t the logical recognition of this. I’ve always know these things. It was the emotional recognition. I remembered what it felt like to be a kid and looking at your Dad; wanting his approval, wanting to know he would make things OK, wanting to feel safe and special in his company. I remember how important my Dad’s approval was. That single glance and statement; “Dad, watch me!” made everything crystal clear. I am responsible for how my daughter feels.

Leadership is very similar. Love is not involved, but many of the same desires are. As a leader, I’ve learned that despite it being business, I’m working with people and they look to me, as I look to my leaders, for encouragement, support, security and recognition. I’ve learned employees respond best when they feel safe. When they know we care for them, when employees believe we are concerned with their careers, their efforts, their commitment to the company and to them as people they perform better.

This can be forgotten in the most difficult times and it shouldn’t. Layoffs are inevitable. At times people aren’t the right fit and move on. Despite the “business drivers” and the “metrics” and the “data” people are a companies only dynamic resource and there frame of mind has tremendous impact on the success of the team, the region and the company.

In these difficult times we can be focused on the data, the numbers; we’re cutting expenses, laying off people, suspending 401K matches, requiring furloughs etc. Getting the company back on track is critical. However any plan or approach that doesn’t make the employees feel safe, part of the solution, supported, and valuable will yield few results. The biggest impact to company aren’t the layoffs, or the expense reductions, or the new strategic direction it’s the mindset of the employees.

As leaders, like fathers with their children, we have tremendous impact on the psyche of our employees. We can grow great teams. We can destroy talent. We can motivate. We can demotivate. We can create energy. We can create inertia. We make an impact.

I’ve come to learn that I have tremendous impact on the people that work for me. They rely on me as much as I rely on them. Just as what I do as father impacts who my daughter becomes, how I lead my team impacts who my team becomes and all starts with remembering it’s not JUST BUSINESS.

My daughters and my team fail because of me. I succeed because of them.

June 21, 2009 | Filed under: Uncategorized | View Comments |

Why Acquaintances Are More Valuable Than Your Closest Friends

About a month ago In my post: Online Presence – Asset of the Future: Why Your Social Graph Will Be Worth As Much As Your Home. I wrote about the importance of building an online presence and it’s impact to your financial and personal success. One of the reasons I believe this will happen is because of the importance of acquaintances, which have been identified as more valuable to us than our closest friends. According to a study by Mark Gronnevetter the people we know casually or our “weak ties” are for more important to our lives and success than our closest friends or our “strong ties.”

In 1974 and then in a 1980 follow up study, Mark identified the value of weak ties. Mark says simply, weak ties act as connectors to other social groups. Each of us have our own set of close friends that make up a densely knit clump. These densely knit clumps or strong ties are critical for our social well being, however stunt the flow of information and confines us to the information with in these close knit groups. Weak ties dictate our success by allowing access to the densely knit clumps of our acquaintances. This access to other densely knit groups allows information to flow. Weak ties are absolutely critical to access. The lack of weak ties deprives us of valuable information.

“This deprivation will not only insulate them from the latest ideas and fashions but may put them in disadvantaged position in the labor market where advancement can depend on knowing about appropriate job openings at just the right time. Furthermore, such individuals may be difficult to organize or integrate into political movements of any kind since membership in movements or goal oriented organizations typically results from being recruited by friends. While members of one or two cliques maybe efficiently recruited, the problem is, without weak ties, any momentum generated this way does not spread beyond the clique.”

What do social networks do better than anything else? They create 1000′s if not 10,000′s of weak ties. Social Networks are creating a weak tie economy, where those with the most and strongest weak ties are the affluent and those with the least and weakest are the poor. As Granovetter illustrates, weak ties are critical to getting work, organizing, and access to information. Those who are unwilling or unable to establish, and leverage weak ties will struggle to survive in this new social economy.

We have relied on weak ties long before the internet and social networks. Our offline weak-ties have always been apart of our personal and social status. We’ve used them to find jobs, to find help: like baby sitters, and handymen. We use them for information such as places to stay when we travel. Weak ties introduce us to books and movies and provide random, unexpected information we are unable to get from our close knit friends or strong ties.

Social Networks blow the concept of weak ties up. The avg. person is only capable of managing small number of offline “weak ties”, maybe 25 to 50. Social Networks allow us to grow our weak ties exponentially, to thousands and tens of thousands online. Social Networks also increase the velocity of our weak ties by getting us access and information in seconds.

In the not too distant future, not extending weak ties through a strong social presence and social networking will put people at a decided disadvantage. Social Networks are accelerating online, what we already rely on offline. Weak ties are stronger than strong ties. It’s always been this way. We’ve just never noticed it.

In a social economy, weak ties are the currency and wealth will be measured by the size of your weak tie bank account.

Are you growing your bank account?

June 19, 2009 | Filed under: Asset of The Future,Personal Brand,Personal Development,Web 2.0/Social Networking,What I Think! | View Comments |

It’s Not That You Can’t, It’s You Won’t

Have you ever told a customer you “can’t”? Have you told them you can’t add that product with their order. You can’t do next day shipping. You can’t add a particular feature? You can’t give them an extra week of consulting for free. You can’t upgrade them to first class for free. We tell customers often that we can’t do things, but the reality is we can. Telling customers we can’t is bullshit, because in most cases we can, we just won’t.

Can’t is definitive, it’s absolute, it is incapable of being done. Rarely does a customer ask us to do something that is impossible. So, if it’s possible then; it’s not that we can’t, it’s we won’t.

Can’t is our way of saying we don’t want to do something, with out having to take ownership for the decision. That’s unfortunate, because we need to take ownership. Won’t is not always a bad thing. I won’t work for free and I’ll tell a customer that. What is important is understanding why we won’t do something. Saying won’t forces us to be clear about what it is we are doing. It helps us be clear on why we won’t do somethings and why we will do others.

Saying can’t is rigid and inflexible Saying you won’t is being honest. If you won’t seat me and my friends at your restaurant at 9:00, because you close at 9:00 that’s OK. You have that right. Just don’t tell me you can’t, because it’s not true. You can, you just won’t. And the next time my friends ask me to go to your restaurant, I won’t lie and say I can’t, I’ll be truthful and say; I won’t.

How often do you say; I can’t when you can . . . you just won’t?

June 17, 2009 | Filed under: Business Performance,Customer Service | View Comments |

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