Not that you asked, but I have some things to say.

Across the world today, monthly-quota-based salespeople are either celebrating being at or above "the number" or scrambling trying to get there. The monthly quota and relative commission incentives are a great idea, based on a myth. Like money or wealth itself, it only exists, in so much as we allow it to in our minds. Need to buy something? Find out if the sales representative has a monthly quota. If yes, wait until the last day of the month and call them. See how flexible they are. I do have a monthly quota. But if you call me at the end of the month, you generally will not hear any desperation whether I am at a billion percent to quota or zero. No artificial timelines for me. I see that the entire concept is basically made up anyway. I may have a monthly quota, but that means I'll have one next month too. Everybody Relax.

A manager within the sales group asked the following: "How can we shorten the time from quote to close?" My answer...."Don't send a quote." I'll add a few caveats. I have a few clients that require, based on their internal processes, that I send quotes. One account in particular requires one or two quotes almost every day. They are high volume, and high-maintenance. They will never fit the desired level of efficiency I seek in clients. Oh well. But most of my clients will not see a quote from me. My contract is my quote. In a truly consultative approach a white-board, a good note pad, and a comfortable seat is what is needed. High-tech A/V isn't evil, just typically unnecessary to me. Every meeting should be focused on the design and engineering of the end solution. I may bring network maps, or diagrams to help the client visualize the concept. But I avoid presentations at all costs. When done with a handful of truly engaged design meetings, any present...

As salespeople (for this post, I speak of all salespeople not just tech) we are often trained to have delusions of grandeur. Our jobs require us to engage people in a manner often outside of the “normal social contract.” We must, to be the best, strive towards an accountability and subsequent stress level that is typically reserved for C-level executives. We ofen fit in rather high tax brackets. These things create a maverick attitude with grandeur at it's core, so be patient with the following point if it seems a tad delusional. Salespeople are more numerous in the business world than are Corporate Presidents and CEO’s. Our collective income as salespeople would probably border, equal, or possibly even rival their collective income. This is a statistically unfounded guess, possibly even a delusion, but it helps prove an abstract point so I will use it anyway. Work with me here. Too many of my sales counterparts are replacement specialists. They look to replace existing services, w...

Sadly, this is a telecom mantra. I've never been a true fan of the actual concept, but the saying can elicit a few laughs. But here's the thing..... We don't suck. Call me simple minded, but I am amazed at what my industry accomplishes every day. There is almost no other industry with more actual "moving parts". The ability to send an email or make a phone call still makes me feel a tad giddy. The ability to empower a large call center, or a data center, or a chain of locations operating with the singular mind of HQ.....utterly confounding. So what's the comment here? People suck. I'm including myself here. I take for granted the things around me that I don't understand. I strive not to, but it happens. Arthur C. Clarke said that any new technology appears as though magic (paraphrased). But it seems after a while we become jaded, take it for granted, and forget what it was that amazed us in the first place. We become demanding and myopic. We operate wi...

Fungibility is a fun word. I look forward to beating several CIOs and IT Directors over the head with it. Fungibility seems to be the defining word for what makes a commodity. The nut-shell definition for fungibility is "the same regardless of who creates it." Every telecom provider has a multitude of differences, therefore they are not fungible. Since most people tend to LOVE to talk about the negative, let's focus there. Ask any IT professional about their telecom provider. They will generally grumble and whine (typically these people hate their lives) and tell you about EVERYTHING that is wrong with their telecom providers. Each story will have different issues and problems. Each will show the weaknesses of a given provider. Logically this shows that we (telco's) are all different and not fungible. Also if each provider has different weaknesses, we must have strengths. There is an old telecom mantra "Everybody sucks, we suck less." In future blogs I will...

In 1996 the 104th Congress approved, and President Bill Clinton signed into law the Telecommunications Act of 1996. This law created many things, but one thing it created was my job. As Telecommunications Companies have flourished and floundered over the past decade, one recurrent theme has weighed upon the heads of many telecom reps. The theme, that our services are a commodity. The below is a definition of commodity from Wikipedia: A commodity is some good for which there is demand, but which is supplied without qualitative differentiation across a market. It is fungible, i.e. the same no matter who produces it. Dictionary.com provides the below definition of commodity and fungible: Commodity: an article of trade or commerce, esp. a product as distinguished from a service. Fungible: being of such nature or kind as to be freely exchangeable or replaceable, in whole or in part, for another of like nature or kind. So based on the above definitions, we have a slight problem. My them...