Testing video for blogging and software demo

Posted on July 31, 2008
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Let me know what you think.  This is a quick version using Jing to capture and a shareware to convert to AVI and then uploading to YouTube.  I could stream directly from Jing, but  wanted to try this.  Jing saves as a Flash file… So we’ll see how this works.

 

Thanks!

Steve

Trust, Sales, and Customer Relationships

Posted on July 24, 2008
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For several years now I have been talking to sales people about trust and how it is constantly part of our sales cycles.  In today’s world this is more true than ever.  As sales people and small business people we blog, we connect on linked in, we have a facebook profile… But why do we and what do we hope to gain?  Chris Brogan is an expert on social media (and a really funny guy).  He has an e-book that I read and I highly reccomend you do to.  You can download “Trust Economies: Investigations into the New ROI of the Web”.  In the second section he entitles it “Stop thinking Sales.  Start thinking relationships.”  I wholeheartily agree with this.  Read more

Vacationing in the The National Radio Quiet Zone (NRQZ)

Posted on July 8, 2008
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The Green Bank Radio TelescopeOkay.. So I discovered that there is a 300 square mile area in West Virginia where there are no radio transmissions allowed. (If you didn’t know, cell phones are radios) This is in place because of the GreenBank, National Radio Astronomy Observatory.  So, I was in a place where both my Blackberry and WiFi and any other connection device that uses the airwaves was… well… silent. Now what does this have to do with sales? Read more

Business Networking and growing grass (not That! your lawn)

Posted on June 2, 2008
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I was listening to a radio show from Nashville last night.  I am a big fan of singer songwriters, and the writer that was being interviewed said something that impressed me, but with a sales angle. seedling

 “You can’t force seeds to grow, you can only feed, water, and nurture them so they can grow on their own.” 

Our business networks are like that.  I have attended several events in the last week and I saw people trying to network and build their network.  Some were pretty good and others just… well.. sucked.  For example, I was at The Capital Network VC / Entrepreneur networking event. 

Read more

Hiring next generation Sales People… Sales Person 2.0?

Posted on May 24, 2008
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As you hire new sales people, consider this, on average:

No consider that if these are the people who will be selling for you … These are also the people that will be buying in the next 5 - 10 years… and in some cases TODAY!  What are you doing to take advantage of this generations knowledge and creativity?  How are you training them to deal with less technically sophisticated buyers?  You have to be thinking about this.
 
Want an idea of what even the next generation of workers can do?  See below.  This was produced by my 14 year old Niece… She has 22 of these movies and has been doing this for over a year.  This is the next generation of selling that we will have to embrace… The question is how and when?  How are you changing your workforce and hiring in this 2.0 world?  What are you embracing next?

How committed are your sales people?

Posted on May 22, 2008
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How is hiring changing in the new business world of 2008 (or 2.0 :-) ? One company, Zappos online shoe retailer, will pay you a bonus if you want to quit. That’s right $1,000 if you quit after the 4 week training period.

Sound dumb? Well, let’s think about it. Have you ever had a sales rep that you could tell just wasn’t enjoying his or her job? Do you have an employee anywhere in the organization that has said “If I could find something better I would be out of here!” If so, there are two issues. First, is yours a place that people want to work? Second, If they aren’t committed, why do you want them there anyway? They aren’t happy and odds are they aren’t keeping their customers, internal or external, happy either. I don’t know if am proposing that anyone institute this as a policy, but it seems to work for Zappos. It sounds like a hell of a way to create the culture you want. With the workforce changing, you need to figure out how to find, train, and retain talent. This may very well be the answer for Zappos. What have you tried?

Hmmm… 4 week training program? How many companies have that anymore?

Jon Lester, a no hitter, social media, relationships - thoughts on a great game

Posted on May 20, 2008
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Jon Lester
 
 
I was at Fenway park last night for the best baseball game I have seen live. It was really awesome to be there!  The Red Sox 7-0 win over the Kansas City Royals was just art to watch.  If you have never been to a game at Fenway Park, you have to put that on your list of things to do.  You are surrounded by history, hot dogs, and true baseball fans.  To see only the 12th no hitter in the history of the park was really something!
 
This night was really special because of Lester’s personal story.  But this was a really interesting night for a couple of reasons.  I carried my Blackberry with me because we had to leave the cah-keys with the guys at the garage, and hey… this is Boston.  So I decided to use Twitterberry and drop some updates.  Soon I was seeing updates both from people inside Fenway, and people watching at home, who were just as involved in the game as I was.  In fact, I had forgotten that I have my twitter updates on my facebook, so I was getting emails from friends, during the game because they saw an update on my Facebook.   But the cool part was that I was connecting with people I know and don’t know, on a common level just by sharing my thoughts on a great game.  It was really great to share that.
 
How many times in Business and Sales do we try to do that?  Sales people are constantly taught to “build rapport”.  What we forget is that rapport is defined as “Relationship, especially one of mutual trust or emotional affinity.”  Mutual trust… That is the key.  Before I can trust you, I have to know you.  How can I get to know you if I never see or meet the real you?  So many times I see sales people try to build a relationship and never actually show any of their personal side.  Yeah, they buy drinks and dinners.. But never get past the outer facade.  I think this is why so few sales people blog… Blogging opens up many things…  You can’t fake it. 
No one wants to get to know a borg… so, if you want to learn how to quickly build relationships, take a look at my friend Keith Ferrazzi’s book, Never Eat Alone.  He has great stories, ideas, and techniques for “Networking”.  But really it is just about people.  The cool thing about this book??? You can use all of the techniques and concepts that he writes about, and apply them to your social media.  It is still people, just a different venue.  And the short course?  Here are a few:

  • Don’t be afraid to be you… It is who you are, we will see it sooner or later
  • Have an opinion without being a jerk (people respect us for having principles and taking a stand… they dislike us for being dogmatic and an as!h0le)
  • Be Interesting!  For God’s sake read a paper, trade magazine, a <gasp> Book!  Have something to talk about besides you and the weather.
  • Always think about how you can add some value to the person you are with, or is reading, or whatever.  If you don’t seem to have value, why do I want to get to know you?
  • Learn to like people… all kinds of people.  If you can’t actually be interested in them, they will know it.  This stuff you can’t fake.

Try this at your next event.  Try it with your next blog post…   And of course… GO RED SOX!

Steve

 

 

 

Hello we’re back!

Posted on May 16, 2008
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Okay.. that was a chore.  actually it was a royal Pain in the A!S!   We got highjacked about 2 weeks ago and I found myself selling Vi*gra and C!al1s… Don’t ask.  It was painful… If you are on WordPress 2.0 or earlier, watch out!

Anyway, after switching hosts, losing all of my posts, and upgrading wordpress…. We are back!

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope to have some new posts soon.  I plan on getting you information that you need so you don’t get messed up as I did.  In the mean time, drop a note.

 

Steve