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

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." ....Henry David Thoreau A personal favorite. It so succinctly speaks volumes. Thoreau could have chosen more direct words to convey his message. He could have spoken of what "the mass" might be missing in life, or focused on the pain that comes with the inactive desperation, or used some derogatory wording. But what he chose was "quiet desperation". The minimalism of these words and the ability of "quiet" as an adjective to ironically amplify the "desperation". The words play on each other to build and create a higher meaning together, to convey a situation in which I strive to never, eve find myself. I'll tie this into business, hang with me...... Look around you at work tomorrow. Look at yourself. Happy? Feel as a part of something? Are you a self-actualizing part of a team? Good..now go do it better and try to learn every second. Are you there to collect your pay? Do you feel tra...

I once thought in weeks and months. I grew to think in months and quarters. I have, lately, been viewing things in quarters and years. I am not sure when this really happened, but probably somewhere around my seventh anniversary with my current employer. There could be something to the seven-year-itch concept, but that is for a later post. So as this mindset sets in, I see a degree of patience that I never thought capable. Don't get me wrong, I will never have a tolerance for certain things (decisions contrary to one's own self interest, not understanding one's own self-interest, refusal to grow or develop, under/over estimating, certain forms of inefficiency, accepting an inherently broken process simply because it is process that is in place, etc, etc). But when things get complicated, when things change, I see it as inevitable. Too many things in the course of my career have ended up heading in one direction, only to land in another place entirely. John Lennon said ...

I was with my family today and speaking to a relative who is not in the IT industry. He asked the question "What makes your company different?" I answer his question with simple and accessible answers. Not only is what I say to him easy to understand as a concept, it is also factual and not just opinion. Where I can truly benchmark my company, I do. I give him fact based, empirical differentiators. And here's the amazing thing, he simply trusts what I am saying. He views me, correctly, as knowing more about the topic than he does. It could be debated as to whether I should be classified as an "expert", but I can without debate be classified as "knowledgeable." He has no base of knowledge and thus sees me as a expert, at least in relation to his own knowledge level of the topic. So....why is it that many IT decision makers (for future reference "decision maker" will be shortened to DM) require years for me to gain their trust enough for them t...

What makes us, as salespeople, good? Easy......Work ethic, product knowledge, sales techniques, etc, etc. What makes us great? Much more difficult question... but the answer is probably between your ears. What am I talking about? ...I have watched some of the greatest salespeople and their secret is always a mental choice. Attitude is a tiresome and overused word. It has become trite and cliche. We are told to keep ours "positive." This is too simplistic an approach and will only serve those that are in the "good" category. I, however, will use attitude as synonymous with choice. Once one makes a choice to run their world instead of being run by it, their entire approach can be described as attitude. Therefore it can be neither positive or negative, when truly at it's best. What people are generally referring to here is "mood." Leave your mood at home. Many in our world approach things as a job or a task. These people are in their own way. They are vi...

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...