Sales Manager (Vendor Rep)

Had one of my vendor reps introduce me to his sales manager. It was interesting. That sales manager had no interest in me or my business. He was more focused on something behind me. Not that I cared about his interest. It would be at least polite to the rep and me to pay attention.

The conversation ended with keep up you sales so the rep can keep his job. Really, a threat to your rep and kinda to me. Clearly management doesn't mean quality.

The HTG Presentation

With Johnathan from Marco (In St. Cloud MN) went really well today. We had close to 100 in attendance and came away with 30 business cards from companies wanting more information. It continues to amaze me how people want and need good sales advice.

I am in the technology business. You know, making high end electronics decode messages, encryption, email, video and more. Yet as complex as these things are, ultimately they are black and white, or 1's and 0's. Sales is shades of color, emotion and understanding. This is much harder to pass on.

I will add some of the advice over the next couple of days. However for today it is simple. To manage sales people, you must manage them individually. That is work their strenghts, help over come or reduce their weaknesses. Don't try and clone yourself. Even though you may be a successful sales person, every one finds sales success in different ways.

Is the art of picking up the phone lost?

I have been dealing with a company (From Redmond) Anyway, trying to get financing set up for a customer. Now lets face it, I get a phone call a day that is willing to do financing. But due to the existing relationship with this company, I decided to work through my TPAM (I may have said too much) and set up an account to allow us to offer their services to our end users.

Due to confusion with our name, our headquarters location and D&B information, I have been emailed 8 separate times. I ask for the person to call me. They continue to email. I tried to call them. Guess what, generic 800 number and I was unable to get to the person emailing me.

So instead of emailing 8 times and really now getting me to the point of irritation, this person could have called me, had a 3 min conversation and a new customer. Instead, I will wait till the end of the day and if I have not heard back? To the competition I go!

I have seen it everywhere.

The news, people at work and of course the Internet. I had to see what the big deal is?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

That's right, Susan Boyle.

So why are people so drawn in by this? I think it has a unique flavor that attracts everyone.

• Just the average "Joe" can bring down the house
• People were against Susan yet she was not deterred
• The pure power she commands in her voice
• The confidence
• Achievement against all odds
• The loaner overcomes

Just some of what I have heard. It is my opinion that we all have this in us. Sure, not singing in particular (You do not want to hear me) but there is something in all of us that is unique, better than the rest and can overwhelm the odds. The question is, do you have the courage to get on stage and show everyone what it is? Do you have the ability to let others on stage and show you theirs?

Thanks Susan for inspiring a world.

Do all movies come from the same formula?

Recently it seems like I am in a funk of watching shows with the same theme. Stars get in a situation. Then they start to recover. Things go bad. Then the star come out the winner.

Starts to get a bit old. I think that is why I enjoy the shows based on a true story. However not always do they get outside the the above theme.

Found a reason for the webguide

Webguide (Plug in for Media Center that works like slingbox"

Jenifer's dad forgot to record one of his favorite shows. I had it recorded so I showed him how to log into my Webguide. He watched the entire show without a glitch over the internet. It was easy and worked really well.

Sorry for the quick entry. Big training today. However it is the first entry Rich has (I believe) on the blog.

What is it you need to bring to the market?

I was thinking, what is it that a manager needs to bring to business today? Really new products are only a short success. That is inventing something new. Sure, it can be done. It happens every day. Yet this takes some real creative people or think tanks that spend millions of dollars.

Even if you do come up with a new product or solution, with the Internet new does not last long. Pretty soon the competition grabs the idea, changes it a bit and now it is no longer unique

What I believe is important in this age is the ability to take all of the products and create a unique solution. That is by packaging, adding unique value and presenting it in a way that your client can understand.

In the day of Internet price cannot be beat. Selection cannot be beat. However the human factor cannot be overcome.