2009 September | A Sales Guy

If You Want it, Go Get It

I’ve always been a Will Smith fan. His ability to move from an 80′s rapper, to a 90′s sitcom star, to mega movie star has always impressed me. After watching this it won’t seem so surprising anymore.

Will’s philosophy-

-Be willing to die for what you believe in
-Where you are is not where you have to be
-Become something greater
-There is no easy way
-Don’t set out to build a wall; lay one perfect brick everyday
-Make a difference; the world needs to be a better place because you were in it
-Represent an idea
-Create whatever you want to create
-Believe; there is no reason for a “plan b” it just gets in the way of “plan a”
-Don’t be a realist. Be unrealistic
-Make a choice; DECIDE!
-Focus, be obsessive
-Protect your dream
-Don’t let anyone tell you, you can’t do something
-You want something? Go get it, PERIOD!

September 30, 2009 | Filed under: Personal Brand,Personal Development | View Comments |

Sales is Simple, Access Either You Have it or You Don’t

As I stated in yesterdays post, sales is simple. It comprises of 3 things.

-Access
-Influence
-Delivery

Get all three of these right and you’ll be quite successful.

Access is the first one and in my opinion is the most complex and most difficult. It’s like the velvet rope at a club. Some people walk right up and are allowed in, while others have to work really hard to get in. Some people get in just by hanging around long enough and others never get past the doorman.

Getting access to your buyer, your customer is critical. The chase starts and finishes with access. No access, no sale. Access is the ability to get the attention and engagement from your buyer. Access is permission; permission to meet, permission to “interrupt” in the form of a T.V. or radio commercial, and not change the channel. Access is permission to request information, to share information and to make suggestions. Access is permission to engage.

Great sales people and marketers understand the importance of engagement and permission. Great sales people gain access through trust. They listen. They understand. Gaining access is making an effective cold call. It is offering a free service. It’s providing a free trial. It’s getting a referral from a satisfied customer. It’s an on the mark marketing campaign. It’s providing a prospect information no one else has. It’s about giving without asking. It’s about knowledge. It’s understanding it’s about your customer and not YOU!

Gaining access is a subtle and delicate art. Being good at gaining access sets everything else in motion, the better at it you are the more success you will have.

Which side of the velvet rope do you spend most of your time?

September 29, 2009 | Filed under: Sales Process,The Chase | View Comments |

Sales People – Stop Selling

I think it’s in our blood. If we have an audience, if we know someone is going to listen, it comes over us like the good lord on Sunday, the urge to sell.

Folks, it’s time to stop. Take down all the widgets on your blogs. Stop pushing your next seminar on the top of your page. Stop promoting your book in the header. Kill the pop-up windows. Stop selling

In today’s online world, less is more. Your blog post, tweets and retweets, your followers and “time” will do the selling for you. Times have changed we don’t have to yell anymore. If your good they will hear you.

September 28, 2009 | Filed under: Web 2.0/Social Networking,What I Think! | View Comments |

Sales is Simple

Sales is simple. It comes down to 3 things:

-Access
-Influence
-Delivery (of what you sold)

Most people are good at one of them. Some people are good at two of them. Few people are good at all of them. Which are you good at?

Success comes from getting good at all 3, it’s that simple.

September 27, 2009 | Filed under: Business Performance,Sales Process,The Chase | View Comments |

The Healing Power of Your Social Graph

Sarah Cortes lay on a rock, unable to move and speak. When she hit the water, she knew something was wrong. The sharp pain that ran up her spine, was not a good sign. She felt comfortable she could navigate the 50 foot cliff jump, but once she hit the water confidence quickly turned to fear. Able to slowly swim to shore and drag herself onto a rock, Sara lay there waiting for paramedics.

An hour later she arrived in an enormous trauma center. After several tests, MRI’s, and CAT Scan’s it is determined Sarah has a fracture of V12 and surgery is recommended. Uncomfortable with the recommendation and more importantly, if surgery is the only option Sarah wanted to be in Boston near her home, Sarah requests a transfer. That is when her ordeal accelerates from bad to worse.

In an effort to defend their position and their recommendation the hospital staff begins to feed her inaccurate information, denies her access to Dr’s outside of the hospital and do everything they can to make sure she has surgery at their facility. Fearful, confused and frustrated Sarah turns to her Twitter network for help. With in 1 hour she is able to find an “accepting neurosurgeon” in Boston (the requirement to be transferred) and demands to be released. Despite finding an “accepting neurosurgeon” she still struggles to gain the hospitals support for a release and transfer.

With the help of Twitter and Text Sarah final wins her release. The result, her Boston physician determines surgery is NOT needed. The new treatment; 6 months in a brace with full mobility. Sarah barely averts an operation requiring 6 months of bed rest and total immobility.

Our online presence is an asset. I’ve said this before and will say it again. It will be the most valuable asset we will have, worth even more than our home. It will affect our offline social status, where we work, the jobs we have, the people we date and even the medical treatment we receive.

Like any asset, it is more valuable when you invest in it. Are you investing in your online presence? You should be.

September 26, 2009 | Filed under: Asset of The Future,Personal Brand,Personal Development,Web 2.0/Social Networking | View Comments |

Mentors Needed

My post on apprenticeship the other day got me thinking about mentors. We need more mentors!

I’ve never met a successful person who didn’t have a mentor, someone they looked up to who showed them the ropes, helped steer them in the right direction, acted as a sounding board, and provided support. Mentors serve a powerful role in the development of others.

I think there is an opportunity to provide more mentorship via Social Networks. Social media creates an environment allowing people with like interests and varying degrees of expertise to find each other. In an offline world, the experts, potential mentors, hung out with other potential mentors, while potential mentees (is this even a word?) loitered together. Rarely did the two meet. Online that all changes. Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin allow people of all skill levels and experience to engage. It’s mentor match-making heaven.

Being online also makes it easier and more fluid to provide mentorship. Understanding how much easier the Internet makes it, I can’t help but wonder if it is happening. Do you mentor anyone?

Increasingly, I am being asked to review others presentations, business ideas, podcasts etc. But, mentoring anyone, can’t say I’m doing that online. But I’m open to it. More of us should be. We didn’t get to where we are now by ourselves.

If I can help you, let me know. It would be my pleasure.

September 25, 2009 | Filed under: Career Development,Personal Development,Web 2.0/Social Networking,What I Think! | View Comments |

Letter to The CEO

This note was sent to the CEO of a Fortune 500 company by an employee hoping to make a change

Mr CEO,

I am keenly aware of the challenges we have as a company. There is a lot of money at stake. A lot of people/institutions are making a sizable bet on our company and it is why I felt compelled to send you this email.

The recent financial investments our company has made are clear and are providing a good return, from our initiatives to acquire competitive new technologies, to system investments such as our new supply chain system our company is working hard to generate a return for the investors.

Understanding this I believe our ability to show a strong return on our investments is being compromised by a “blind spot”. This blind spot is in the area of the culture and morale.

Mr CEO, these are my observations of our companies culture in a nutshell.

-We have too many people saying we CAN’T and not enough saying we can
- We are too quick to defend the status quo
- Most have come to accept the complexity and difficulty of working at our company rather than working to change it
- We don’t embrace change well when introduced
- We live in silo’s with little reward for venturing out
- The fear of failure prevails over the commitment to change. It is better to be average than it is to strive for innovation and creativity and FAIL
- A culture of fear exists, where obedience, compliance and intimidation are at the core (This is growing by the day, FEAR is a very real and in some cases a daily emotion for many working at our company)
- We have too many followers and not enough leaders, because it is safer to follow the rules than it is to make up new ones
- There is a sizable chasm between the executives and the rest of the company, not enough engagement
- We are too hierarchical
- We lack a clear, compelling vision that motivates the entire company. (where are we going? Who are we going to be in 3 – 5 years? A vision beyond an ROI)
- Morale is VERY low, we risk losing large numbers if the economy turns around, many are just hiding out until other options present themselves
- People are scared, not willing to take risks, not wanting to be seen and avoiding confrontation, dissent or contrarian views.
- The soldiers are growing weary

Mr CEO, from my experience companies cannot prosper or succeed over the long-haul without the soldiers. The investments, the initiatives, and effort to grow are drastically impaired without a strong culture. Our culture is defeating, not inspiring.

For our company to improve its chances of prospering the culture and morale need to be addressed with the same vigor and commitment the financial aspect of the company is receiving.

This is not a monumental effort but it will take leadership, investment and commitment. Some suggestions include:

- Create and share a compelling vision EVERYONE at the company can get behind and be proud of, then Manage to it. (Where are we going, who are we going to be?)
- Measure it! Add to our reporting process, metrics that measure our success or failure in driving to our Vision. (are we getting closer to where we want to go?)
- Engage the Executives: Use the new social media/enterprise 2.0 tools available to us to engage the Executives in INFORMAL dialogue with the company; tools such as Microblogging, Blogs, and Wiki’s. We aren’t effectively using the tools available to drive collaboration and engagement vertically. LESS OF THE EXECUTIVES TALKING AT US AND MORE TALKING WITH US
- Manage behaviors: determine what the cultural norms or behaviors are expected at the company and manage to them. (leadership, risk taking, innovation, collaboration etc.)
- Reward the doers, we can be more visible in rewarding those who take risk (success OR failure) It’s the behaviors we want
- Eradicate the fear: Make our company a safe place to work. Remove the fear of failure, and the intimidation (Identify ways to accurately measure employees comfort and fear level, then measure it regularly looking for improvement.) Consider doing a yearly culture survey and compare the yearly results. Are we making progress?
- Get more people engaged at all levels within the companies culture development and management. Build a culture with our own language, identity and behavioral norms. What does it mean to work at our company?
- Build a plan to reduce the complexity

There are many people in this company who are ready for change, you have the soldiers, they are fans, fanatics who want us to win. They now need an environment conducive to that commitment.

Our business and the industry are changing rapidly. 5 years from now they will look very different than they do today, and we are not entitled to be a part of that change. We need to make sure we not only are part of that change, but lead it and we can’t do it without the soldiers.

Mr CEO feel free to reach out to me if you would like to discuss further. Otherwise, I hope this email helps initiate the efforts required to address our “blind spot” and drive change. I look forward to participating in the effort moving forward.

This was an email to a CEO, however in the future I suspect we will see more of this in open forums. Social Media is giving employees more outlets to express themselves. Companies need to prepare. One way to be prepared is to be more attentive to the “soldiers”.

If you were an employee at this company would you send this email? If you were the CEO of this company, what would you do?

September 24, 2009 | Filed under: Business Performance,Leadership | View Comments |

Please Define “IT”

I see it all the time. It has happened at every company I’ve worked. Everyone does it. Some just do it more than others. We say we want to do something, we are going to do something or we start to do it, but we never say what “it” is.

At work “it” is we need to be more efficient. We need to reduce the cost of sales. We need to more net new customers. We need to reduce DSO’s (Days Sales Outstanding) We need to improve forecasting accuracy. We’re going to strengthen our product line. We’re going to improve production. We’re going to improve call times, etc. I think you get it. At work we spend a lot of time, committing to improve, strengthen, increase, and reduce. The problem is, far too often we don’t define what we mean by improve, increase, strengthen or reduce.

At home it’s we need to save more, and spend less. We need to lose weight and eat more healthy. We need to spend more time with the kids and less time at the office. But just like at work, we don’t define it. How much is more time with the kids. How much is save more and how less is spend less? How much weight is to be lost and what is healthy eating?

It’s easy to say your going to improve, reduce, increase, or do more. It’s easy because without definition success is inevitable. Loose a 1/2 pound, spend an extra 10 minutes with your kids, add a single net new customer, shorten your DSO’s by a day, no matter how insignificant to the big picture, you’ve done what you set out to do. However, the objective shouldn’t be to lose a pound or to improve forecasting accuracy. It should be to make an impact.

If you want to make an impact define: increase, reduce, improve, strengthen. If you want to just reach your goals don’t.

September 23, 2009 | Filed under: Business Performance,Personal Development,What I Think! | View Comments |

Bring Back Apprenticeship

About a month ago, I had dinner with Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures. During dinner Fred shared with me how he got into Venture Capital. He started in 1986 with Euclid Partners. He knew a lot about computers and the computer industry, they didn’t. So they brought him on. Fred worked 10 years with that firm, 10 years! He worked on a lot of good deals and made them a lot of money. What I found most interesting about his story, is Fred never became a partner with the firm. Fred didn’t benefit from any of the exists, he was strictly an employee. What Fred did get from his 10 year investment was the education of a lifetime. He got an apprenticeship. A very valuable one.

Fred is now Sr. Partner and founder of Union Square Ventures (His second Firm, as he founded Flatiron Ventures in 1996.) Union Square has an impressive portfolio that includes Twitter, FourSquare, Disqus and Outside.in. Fred has also had some impressive exists, including Geocities. If you follow Fred on Twitter you know he has over 30,000 followers. His blog has over 50,000 subscribers and he blogs often about his experiences at Euclid and how they have helped him today. Fred has been quoted or referenced in a number of mainstream media including; Time Magazine, Newsweek and the New York Times. Fred has become somewhat of a celebrity in the VC and Social Media world. Yet, all this didn’t just happen because Fred put up a V.C. shingle. It happened because of his apprenticeship.

Apprenticeship seems to have gone the way of the dinosaur. A right of passage for many skilled laborer positions, the apprenticeship was the way many became experts in their craft. They would spend years studying under Masters and come out the other side Journeymen and then become Masters themselves. I love this practice. We need more of it. I would love to see apprenticeships for Venture Capital. I think many of the finance professions would benefit including, hedge-fund management, Private Equity firms and others. I would like to see technology apprenticeship for certain verticals, like medical, bio-tech, and communications. As our world becomes more and more complex, and more and more specialized, apprenticeships can add tremendous value.

Apprenticeships do more than teach a craft. They provide real world experience to the ups and downs of an industry. They allow industry secrets and nuances to be passed on. They create life lessons for the apprentice. They establish relationships. Principles, values and experiences are kept alive, as each generation gives to the next. Apprenticeships create entree into complex worlds.

Unfortunately, few seem to have the patience for an apprenticeship. The experienced don’t have the time to mentor and teach. The up and comers are too impatient and short sighted to “pay their dues.” I can’t imagine too many young people who would be willing to work for ten years for salary only, as Fred did, without becoming a partner. It’s unfortunate. There is a lot to be gained by both parties.

Becoming great at something takes time. It takes failure. It takes experience. It takes mentors. It takes support. It takes mistakes. Apprenticeship allows all this to happen and more. An apprenticeship is an investment on both sides and if done well, it’s one with huge returns for everyone. The apprenticeship needs a second wind. It needs new life. Like investment in companies, investment in people has just as big returns, and sometimes even bigger.

Fred’s first start-up investment was Fred Wilson Inc. He invested the first 10 years of his career in that property. I would say it is one of his best investments to date.

Are there some great apprentice programs you know about? I would love to hear about them. Share in the comments and I will update this post and help spread the word.

If you’re a VC reading this and have an apprenticeship program, I know a highly skilled Sr. Executive Sales Leader willing to make a change.

CORRECTION: Fred did eventually become partner, but left before a big payday.

September 22, 2009 | Filed under: Business Performance,Career Development,Leadership,Personal Development,What I Think! | View Comments |

I Agree with the FCC

The FCC announced last week they will be proposing broad new rules forcing Internet Provides to treat all web traffic equally. It’s an expansion of network neutrality. This is a good move. One I hope they make happen and fend off the critics. I understand the opposition. Internet providers invest billions in infrastructure to build out their networks. I don’t blame them for wanting to exert a little control in order to maximize revenue. The problem is, like the closed mobile networks of the late 90′s and the early 2000′s, when Internet Service Providers control the networks, innovation is stifled; especially in the are of applications.

I’ve been in Telecom and have worked with or for Service Providers for years and they are not built for innovation. All of the SP’s come from some level of monopoly. ATT, Verizon, Qwest, come from the good ole bell system. Comcast, Time Warner, Cablevision and Charter, all have a franchise area and don’t have to compete with one another. Competition is NOT what they know. The SP’s know control. They know monopoly and bureaucracy. If left to their own devices they would use their own selfish motivation to promote their own selfish agenda, limiting access to certain websites, blocking competing services etc. They would slowly move to what eventually feel like a closed network.

I am a huge proponent of free markets. Many opponents will tell you that by interfering, you are interfering with free markets, however I disagree. The size and control the carriers have makes it very difficult for smaller, more innovative companies to compete or even have a chance. The SP’s have a history of interfering with commerce. Network neutrality was born in the 90′s when the telephone companies were giving preferential treatment to the connection of their calls vs. an off network carrier. As recently as last year Comcast was slowing traffic for subscribers who were downloading large files. The SP’s have proven they can’t be trusted to guard the hen house.

I don’t want smaller application development start-ups having to ask permission and or pay an SP to be on their network. I don’t want the next Twitter having to ask to be allowed on the ATT network. I don’t want the SP’s having that much control with who gets to play and at what cost. We need to make sure the networks stay open; mobile, broadband, wireless broadband, etc. The SP’s have every right to manage the entrance. They built the network. But once I’m on, get out of the way.

If I’m an SP, I might start thinking about more than just the pipes for once. But hey, that’s just me.

September 21, 2009 | Filed under: Business Performance,What I Think! | View Comments |