The live meeting.

While "Live Meeting" refers specifically to a brand, I am generically speaking about remote meetings with a remote view of some one's desktop.

Today I sat through one of these with a customer (And several others) Granted they did schedule this meeting for an hour and a half, that is WAY too long. Can anyone really focus that long on this type of presentation? I would suggest that these meetings should be 1/2 hour long and only go over if the customer drives that conversation. If you cannot adequately present your solution in this time frame, you should probably do it in person or some other means.

Bottom line is have an agenda.

Ask the customer for input prior to the call and have their input on the agenda.

Repeat the customer needs at the beginning of the call so you know exactly what they are wanting out of the call.

If you are going to go over, ask for permission and define exactly how much time you will need.

At the end of the call define the next action and set a follow up time.

Pretty much all calls I am involved on that are set by others, all these rules are broken.

(Now I want to post but the stupid post button does not work in ie9)

I upgraded to IE 9

For those of you who are not that techie, that is Internet Explorer 9. It looks nice, has a couple of new features and over all has been working good. Except one thing. On this blog, I cannot publish new posts! All buttons work except the Publish Post button. So for right now I write on my laptop and then go to Jenifers PC to publish. How annoying.

What I want to be when I grow up.

The other day Caden was talking about that and his answer? A Hobo. Seemingly a strange answer until he qualified. He would get to see the world, camp all the time. No home work and he could catch a train going where ever he wanted to go. When I ask him about family he said that he could come home on the train, it wasn't that far of a walk and he would take Molly (Our dog)

After hearing him talk about it...I want to be a Hobo.

Sales versus Marketing?

The other day I was ask the difference. Let me lead off to say that each is important.

One major difference is the fact that you usually do not market one on one. That is left to sales. Sales builds that person on person relationship. Marketing is more like the bombardment of a target from the air. You really cannot see the people you are trying to reach. Sales is like the ground troops.

I read that in a article the other day talking about sales. To be honest I really do not like using military as the example. That relates sales to war. Bad sales is like war. You against them IE You against the client. That is not it at all. Sales should be about building long term relationships, fulfilling needs, helping others and more. None of that should be confrontational.

OK Today's post is a bit of a ramble. Back to the subject at hand. If you are going to be successful in sales, you must market yourself, the company and the solution. This opens people to new ideas, wants and needs that they may have not seen before. Time and time again I have seen companies stop spending marketing dollars first to help the bottom line. That is like digging up a flower to get it to grow. You must plant the seed, water and nurture, then see the results. (Plant the seed is marketing, water and nurture is sales, results are profit) Now, if you plant a seed in bad soil you will get poor results. By excessive watering you will not get better results.