Microsoft ISV Summit

 Articles, Marketing, Uncategorized  1 Comment »
Jun 012011
 

I attended the Microsoft Canada ISV Summit yesterday. It took place at Microsoft Canada’s office near Toronto. One of the speakers was marketing thinker and writer Mitch Joel.

He promised to be provocative and he was. He was unbridled and extremist in his support of the web, digital and social media. I didn’t discern much, or any, limit in these regards with him. Fortunately, for I and those like me who despise the style (or lack thereof), he was not a ‘ra-ra’ style speaker and kept his delivery intelligible.

He spoke about the humanization of technology: real interactions with real human beings as his subject.
He talked about a huge shift: to be present when and where potential buyers/interested/consumers are. He made a case for making it simple for people to buy from you (that should be marketing 101). He implored the audience to be active in their worlds and not wait for customers to come to them.

Joel spoke of his 6 points (pixels) of separation:

1- Accept it
2- But don’t stop everything else you are doing
3- Don’t write cheques that Social Media cant cash: improve your digital marketing value (websites, mobile, etc.)
4- Be open (social media should be shareable and findable)
5- Think like a publisher (it is content after all) and a marketer: have valuable content
6- Don’t ask what you are doing, ask why… focus on strategy and build value for your brand

Key Provocations:

  • This is the first time in history that marketers are behind consumers. Utilize and rejoice the disintermediation with your potential customers and users.
  • Remove yourself from traditional value systems, don’t be stuck in the old ways.
  • Keyboards are like rotary phones.
  • Get online, be interactive, open up to technology and its semantics.
  • It is not just for teens. Youtube and Facebook are dominated by middle-age or older demographics.

 

Other speakers talked about the company’s cloud focus. However, one senior Microsoft manager was bold enough to announce the end of the Cloud era. Calling the proverbial Cloud the past, he told the (likely surprised) audience that 2011 is the beginning of the end of the Cloud era. 2011 and on belongs to NUI (the heir to the throne of GUI, namely Natural User Interface) comprised of human interactions like voice, touch, gestures and thought. The fastest selling consumer good, the Microsoft XBox Kinect is an actual example of what the speaker had in mind.

Other speakers were quick to emphasize the company’s Cloud (SAAS, PAAS and IAAS) capabilities and exhort the ISV partner community to jump aboard the Microsoft Azure ship.

 

 

Kinect

*I do work on behalf of Microsoft

Goals & Achievement

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Feb 022011
 

 

Here is a compilation video with some nifty achievements. How motivational is it to see individuals achieving these skill levels? Is it a good idea, for the rest of us to have such lofty goals in the first place? Or should we encourage and commend workmanlike behaviour given that it correlates to a majority of people? Is it unrealistic or even unmotivational to find inspiration in such feats? Or just plain fun?

Can humans walk on water?

Get To Know Your Partners Or Customers Better Using Technology And Social Media

 Articles, Selling, Selling More, Uncategorized  Add Comments »
Feb 022011
 
  • Are you subscribed to your customer and resellers blogs or tweets? Do you have a Twitter account? Share your partners public thoughts with your own followers. Ask your customers and partners about their posts. Can there be a bigger compliment?
  • Do you monitor their news and websites to see what they are posting, what their news is and what they are most proud of?
  • How could you interact better with them using Social Media?
  • Here is a thought grenade: how about inviting all, a segment of, your partners, resllers and customers to an online seminar where you facilitate a public discussion on profitable strategies and what is happening in the marketplace?

Is Buying CRM Like Buying A Car?

 Articles, Uncategorized  3 Comments »
Dec 032010
 

Came across a light-hearted article on purchasing Customer Relationship Management.

“Because when you’re buying a new CRM system, just like when you’re buying a new car, it’s not about what you want…it’s about where you are in your life.”

CRM and cars?

Personally, I shuddered at the thought of a minivan at any stage!

Your Managers & Your Promotion

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Nov 232010
 

If you want your boss to approve of you and your future request, ask for his or her advice, including seeking particulars, and then take it.

In this case, the question one poses should not be general (although that is an OK place to start), but rather one should focus on how one could be more effective on the job and with whom else one should speak. The ‘whom else’ is comprised of people a level or two above you.

Take the advice and implement with yardsticks.

Approach other senior individuals (via e-mail if possible) and ask for time to have coffee or simply to chat informally. Ask about what they are up to in the short and medium term and pivot by asking them how you could contribute and help with the endeavour. See how you can contribute to their goals and/or other goals of theirs you might have heard about. You are being helpful and proactive.

Follow up with the person and share your suggestions and ideas. Feel free to share with a larger group (in a meeting or via e-mail).
It is also appropriate for managers to e-mail the executive team promoting one’s team’s accomplishments.

Once a relationship has been established ask for advice and help regarding how to obtain the position in which you are interested. It might be a specific position or it might be a type of a role. Explain why you are a fit. Asking early on is being pro-active and gets you a leg up!

Sales & Motivation

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Jun 292010
 

Have you noticed how sales teams often have loud meetings and boisterous events to pump themselves up? Yet, this activity is seldom seen elsewhere. Whether the position has metrics (lawyers, doctors, truck drivers, teachers, etc.) or not (secretaries, assistants, handymen, etc.) other professions rarely engage in similar action to boost morale or pump up the group. Why?

For one, the energetic activity has short-term effect and could be self-defeating once repeated too often. Banging a gong can rouse people and certainly draw attention, but if repeated can lose it efficacy. In other words, this type of motivation is alas short-lived.

 

Why would managers follow such techniques: Perhaps the answer is a short term boost is warranted. Fair enough. Often though it is a lack of known alternatives or desperation that drives management to doing things that do not have the necessary impact. Management does not know about an alternative.

 

While the earlier mentioned behaviour has merit, one wonders what sort of an action could have a longer-term effect? The answer is training/education and the feeling that one is part of something bigger and in a team environment. Both are factors in competency and self-motivating. One of the requests and needs that employee clamour for, other than base pay and a work/life balance, is education. Not only is education motivating, but also the act of knowledge helps with consistent and longer-term enthusiasm that lasts beyond the adrenaline of a loud sales meeting. Simply put, people like doing what they are good at. On the flip side, how is it that managers often ask their salespeople to do what they do not know how to?

These are the goods for lasting motivation.

Being good at something provides for the self-sustaining adrenaline that drives the individual. Helping someone get there, coaching them for better results and allowing them professional education are longer term solutions for motivation.

Managers and organization should pay close attention because education credits and training are one of the pillars of sales employee satisfaction and simultaneously positively affect the salesperson’s performance. Performance clearly has to be measured, which suggests education and training need to be monitored and staff held accountable for practicing it.

Salespeople need skills. The motivation is a by-product of being good at their jobs.

Ideal Qualities For Salespersons… And What Hiring Managers Need To Know

 Articles, Management, Selling, Uncategorized  2 Comments »
Jun 162010
 

A recent study by Spearhead Training in the United Kingdom offers some valuable insight into sales success. The information in the study should wrap some hard numbers around hiring practices and the mould of the successful salesperson. The conclusions were reached with the help of a study of 380 salespeople in the consumer goods industry.

Here is the gist of the article: hard work and effort trumps talent in sales. This has implications for salespeople, managers and hiring managers. Very interestingly, this study aims to answer the oft-asked question on how to hire for and increase the chances of success in sales. What is better predictor of success in sales? Is it talent? Is it experience or is there an optimal combination of these adjectives?

This study looked at five factors, namely competitiveness, self-motivation, conflicts in one’s career and objectives, conflict in roles i.e. negative experiences on the job such as negative prospects, and the amount of work put into the job.

The study has several eye-opening conclusions. Self-motivated and competitive salespersons have the least number of problems. People who are naturally competitive have the least problem with motivation. There is a direct correlation between effort and success. This is followed secondly by competitiveness.

The conclusion is that hiring managers should sniff for competitiveness above all else. The number one type to look for in a salesperson, according to this study, is a fighter. A fighter is someone who strives hard and is as competitive as possible.

The second conclusion is to place processes in place. The study insists that people who want to and indeed do put in the effort to do the right things will succeed. One example given is setting a minimum number of mandated customer visits every month (for field salespeople) for instance.

http://www.spearhead-training.co.uk

Career Development

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May 292010
 

How many times have you read a survey indicating that career development is very important to employees? More importantly, how many times have you, as an employee, felt that having a career path is as important to your workplace well being as work hours, job description or benefits?

It is illogical then that so little time and effort is given to such an important aspect of the employee-employer relationship. There could be a myriad of reasons why, but having this type of conversation officially and regularly is also beneficial to the employer. Retention of good employees is key. Improving employee performance is important. Understanding what employees can bring and add to the table is smart.

At the very least, having the time to review the matter is motivating and informational to both parties.

Employees:

1- Make your career happen. Do not let it happen to you because if you do… you might get exactly that. Ask for formal reviews and planning of your careers.

2- Come with statistics, proof and examples you can cite. Be specific with your goals, but flexible. If you do not have enough collateral to bring to a meeting ask yourself why and how you could change the situation.

3- Remember that your goals must coincide with your company/employer’s before anything moves forward. Draw this information out. Be persistent, but respectful. Be honest with yourself if you find your employer to be evasive.

4- This is a process; not a one-shot event. Develop the situation and be consistent. A bi-annual or quarterly discussion is appropriate.

Employers:

1- Create a schedule to assess and plan your employees’ career. This is respectful, responsible and engages the workers with the company and organization. Do not limit the conversation to these occasions however. Why deny yourself the opportunity to be informed and up-to-date?

2- There is always something else to do. There is not a thing that is as important as your human assets. The chair and the walls would mean nothing without smart and dedicated employees.

3- Open your mind to your team and whether there are opportunities for cross-alignment internally or if one employee can assist with the development of another.

Both employee and employer need to discuss short and long-term expectations and set a measurement and feedback mechanism.

Uncommissioned Salespersons

 Articles, Management, Uncategorized  2 Comments »
May 262010
 

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us is a new book by author Daniel H Pink. In his 2009 book he advances the notion that paying commissions to salespeople is possibly a wrong method to motivate. He argues that companies would positively influence salespeople by removing the carrot and the stick. He goes on to assert that paying a straight salary improves the customers’ experience, promotes teamwork and collaboration and reduces the complexity with which management has to grapple. His case studies should make for good reading.

This idea might sound anathema to many in sales and sales management. However, it is also clearly the case that many in sales fail despite having the carrot of a commission and the stick of not being able to put food on the table over their heads. Pink, reportedly, has case studies as proof and demonstrates that sales have increased where the commission structure has been removed.

I look forward to reading the book to see whether he has a compelling case or not.

Bad Reputation

 Articles, Selling, Uncategorized  Add Comments »
May 102010
 

Another day and another couple of people giving the sales profession a bad name.

According to New Mexico’s KOB TV a couple of men have found a new way to give the sales profession a bad name. What is the novel way? Threatening and cursing potential customers.

The two young men have put the neighbourhood on edge by knocking on doors and abusing the residents who do not wish to buy magazine subscriptions. But that is not where things stopped. One resident claims that upon refusing the offer at his door he was threatened by one of the door-to-door men that he will tell his dad to come over to the door of the owner who refuses to buy. The young man also managed to add that his dad is a retired Marine Corps member. The salesperson left when the resident responded with musings of his shotgun.

Another neighbour states that the same two claimed to be working with University Of New Mexico’s the Children’s Cancer Center. They insisted that their proceeds go to charity. They had no proof and no ID to back up the claim.

It is important to distinguish the professionals with integrity from the detritus.

Go to www.kob.com for more.

*Things That Need To Go Away: salespeople threatening potential customers.

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