Sat, 13 Nov 2004

From Techie to Business Owner

I've figured out why I find sales so unpleasant. Being a business owner requires a much different mind-set than that of a typical techie.

I've been working as a sys admin and web developer for the past seven years. As such, I only have to sell myself to an employer or client once, and typically, over a single one or two hour interview period. Having to sell a product or service to a customer who hasn't already "hired" you is a much different proposition.

Failure

As a techie, I don't often have to deal with failure. When working on a new project or fixing an existing system that is broken, I just keep working on it until it's done. Rarely must I concede defeat and give up hope of finding a solution.

Failure is a normal part of sales, though. Salespeople cannot always just keep working on a sales prospect until a deal is closed. This would likely result in restraining orders.

With Postica, we decided that Greg would focus on sales, while I would handle technical issues. Nonetheless, I participate in some sales calls, and I become frustrated when sales don't increase as quickly as I would like.

Repetition

Direct sales requires a lot of repetition. You generally have to give the same pitch over and over to each new potential customer. This conflicts with my natural desire to automate repetitive behavior. When I come across a task that I have to do repeatedly, I usually write a script or subroutine to automate the process.

Part of marketing is to automate the sales message, but when bootstrapping a business with limited capital, much of your marketing message must be delivered personally to potential customers.

Mind-set

I need to find some good books on sales that explains how to get into the correct mind-set.

Michael Cage discusses the need to train non-salespeople for sales. In order to do this, the non-salespeople must learn to think like salespeople.

A couple years ago, I really got into blackjack. To be successful at blackjack requires basically becoming a computer. You must keep track of the count, and bet and play exactly as the rules (based on calculated odds) that you've memorized tell you that must. You must not become emotional after losing a lot of money when doubling after splitting (though you may want to feign being upset for the pit boss's benefit). What happens during a single hand is irrelevant. Your goal is to grind out a profit by having a slight advantage over the house based on the rules and your ability to vary play based on the count.

A fantastic book on blackjack is Million Dollar Blackjack. It describes how Ken Uston and his team won $4,000,000, persevering through lawsuits, pit bosses, the gambling commission, and malfunctioning electronic equipment (they used some computerized counting gear). Business tales are often similar. For example, Joe Kraus's story about how Excite got the deal to be featured in Netscape Navigator is a story about persistence in the face of rejection.

Is there a way to reconcile the techie mind-set with a salesperson's world?

business | Permanent Link

Fri, 29 Oct 2004

Motorola: Terrible Customer Service

I sent the following email to the Motorola Complaint department this morning. It seems I'm not the only one who has suffered from Motorola's decision to completely isolate their customer service department from those in the company who do more than simply answer the phone. Pat Keene has set up a blog called Hello Moto. Where's my phone? detailing roughly the same experience I describe below. If your call center is in India, and your repair center is in Tennessee, it's not like the CSR can walk over to the shipping department or a technician to get an actual answer. I got the idea to copy Stu Reed from Pat.

Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2007 10:55:32 -0700
From: "Christian G. Warden" 
To: d2d001@motorola.com
Cc: stu.reed@motorola.com
Subject: Customer Service Breakdown (RMA #XXXXXXXXXX)

Sir or Madam,
I sent my Moto Q in for repair at the end of July with RMA #xxxxxxxxxx
(zip code xxxxx).  It was received by Motorola on July 31.  According to
the IDEN website, the replacement was sent back to me on August 17.  The
Fedex web site confirms that it received notification of a package
shipped Overnight Priority with tracking number xxxxxxxxxxxx, but has no
record of actually receiving the package.

Having not received the package after one week, I called customer
service at 1-800-453-0920 on Friday, August 24.  I was given case number
xxxxxxxx, and was told that I would receive a call back within 24 hours
from the repair facility.  I didn't receive a call until 3 days later,
on Monday, August 27, and I was told that it was a "courtesy call", that
the caller didn't have any information about my phone, and that I would
receive a call within 24 hours.  I never received that call.

I have since called the customer service number four or five more times.
Every time, I am told that I will receive a call within 24 hours, but I
have never received another call since the courtesy call.  During one
call, I was transfered to the voice mail at repair facility.  I left a
message, but alas, did not receive a call back.

On September 1, I submitted a request through your web site (Incident
#xxxxxx-xxxxxx) explaining my situation and my inability to get through
to someone regarding the whereabouts of my phone.  I received an email
response saying that I would receive a call back.  I didn't.

On Tuesday, September 4, I called 1-800-331-6456 as suggested in the
response to by online request.  I was transfered to same call center I
had spoken with on numerous occasions prior.  I explained the situation
and was given a new case number, xxxxxxxx, and once again told that I
would receive a call within 24 hours.  I didn't receive that call.

On September 5, I received an automated response that my online request
had been closed as "SOLVED".  I responded that it was indeed not solved,
and that I still needed someone to contact me.  I received an email
response, "Once again, we apologize for any inconvenience this delay may
cause you. You will be contacted back to the contact phone number you
provided for accurate assistance with your repair."

This morning I called customer service once again, explained the
situation, and was told that they would contact the repair facility to
have them contact me.  I explained that this process obviously does not
work because the repair facility never calls me.  I asked to speak to
someone at the repair facility, and was told that no phone number was
available.  I asked to speak to the person responsible to managing the
repair facility, and was told that no such person was available.  I
asked for the phone number of the Chief Operations Officer, or a person
of a similar role in your organization, and was told that such
information was not available.  Finally, I simply asked to speak with
the supervisor in the call center.  I was told that the supervisor,
whose name the CSR ("Nicole", #351359) refused to give me, was
preoccupied and would call me within 10 minutes.  I didn't receive that
call either.

Due to the malfunctioning phone, and inability to get it replaced in a timely
manner, I have been without a phone for about six weeks, and have continued to
incur charges from my carrier, Sprint, during this period.

Your assistance in resolving this issue would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Christian Warden
(temporary) mobile: 310.xxx.xxxx
home: 408.xxx.xxxx

Update (09/23/2007): After I sent the email above, I received a call from Dorothy Hodges in the consumer advocacy department. She was very pleasant and eager to resolve my problem. She ordered me another Q, but they weren't in stock so she sent me a RAZR2 as a loaner. She also sent me a bluetooth headset as a sorry-we-screwed-up consolation token.

Upon receiving the RAZR, I checked my voicemail, and I had two messages from the management of my apartment complex. It turns out the original replacement phone was devlivered, but that Fedex didn't leave a notice, and that the tracking number Motorola recorded was incorrect. So last Monday I called Sprint with Dorothy and activated the Q. She requested a credit on my behalf since I had been without a phone for six weeks while still paying the bill. I managed to get them from their original offer of 100 minutes to $10 to $30, at which point I accepted.

business | Permanent Link

Thu, 28 Oct 2004

Find a Doctor or Mechanic at Insider Pages

I'm becoming a big fan of Insider Pages. I've used to find a mechanic and dentist this week. It's still a new service, so there aren't a ton of reviews yet, but they're off to a good start. I don't think they have too much of the smarts built in yet, e.g. the opinions of people with those similar to mine should be weighted higher, at least for things like restaurants and bars, but there doesn't seem to be any spam yet, at least.

Since they're still in the early stages and the network effect hasn't taken hold yet, they have a promotion in which you will receive a $5 Startbucks card after writing 5 reviews.

They also provide a wordpress plugin which allows cross-posting on your blog and Insider Pages.

business | Permanent Link

Northern Trust Does Good Economic Research

The smart folks at Northern Trust publish daily economic reports that are short, informative, and full of interesting graphs.

From a recent report on the illusory nature of the recent growth in household net worth:

The rise in household net worth in recent years has largely resulted from inflating prices of corporate equities in the late 1990s, and residential real estate in the past four years. But this rise in household wealth is illusory. The true measure of an increase in the wealth of a nation is the growth in its capital stock. In recent years, growth in our capital stock has slowed and the composition of the slower growth has moved in favor of McMansions and SUVs, which do little to increase the productive capacity of our economy.

From a report titled Investment Implications of the Inevitable Rebalancing of the U.S. Economy or Making Lemonade Out of Lemons, here's a chart of the residential real estate "P/E" ratios, i.e. the ratio of market value to rental rates.

I've setup an RSS feed of their reports so I can read new ones as soon as they're released. It tracks their daily and weekly reports, as well as their economic outlook forecasts which are published monthly.

Update (11/09/2008): I've redirected northerntrust.rss to a Yahoo Pipe that aggregates Northern Trust's own RSS feeds. It does not include their press releases, however.

business | Permanent Link

Sat, 02 Oct 2004

Free iPod Shuffle from ex24

Thanks to MyMoneyBlog, I will soon be the owner of an iPod Shuffle courtesy of ex24. ex24 operates order books for a handful of securities that allow it's customers to trade odd lots (less than 100 shares) amongst themselves. Basically, they are both an ECN, like Island (now INET) or Archipelago, and a broker/dealer. The description of how quoting works on their order books makes for somewhat interesting reading.

At times when the CQS is not operating, ex24 raises its offer quote by one cent each time members collectively buy from ex24 for a net 99 shares in that after-hours session and lower its bid quote each time members collectively sell to ex24 for a net 99 shares in the after-hours session. If ex24 raises (lowers) its offer (bid) quote due to after-hours purchases (sales), it increases (lowers) its bid (offer) quote by the same amount to maintain the same spread width. After ex24 has raised (lowered) its offer (bid) quote by five cents it either keeps its quote at that price or deletes its offer (bid) quote, depending on market conditions.

The decision whether to freeze the quote or delete it is effected pursuant to an algorithm that operates automatically. This trading parameter is intended to provide ex24 a degree of protection from the risk associated with posting quotes during times when CQS is not operating. Additionally, ex24 reserves the right to withdraw its quotes at any time during the after-hours session, which it might do in response to significant news affecting the price of a security traded on ex24 at times when CQS is not operating.

Finally, ex24 may program its algorithm to refrain from posting its offer (bid) quote if customer orders to sell (buy) at or near the CQS offer quote reside on the ATS. ex24 is in the process of determining the amount of customer orders that might cause it to refrain from posting a quote. Regardless of the metric chosen by ex24, the algorithm which determines whether or not to disseminate a quote operates automatically.

If you open an account, fund it with $500, and make at least one trade, they'll send you a free iPod Shuffle. Apparently, it's possible to use the Shuffle with Linux so I'm a happy camper.

business | Permanent Link

Overcoming Procrastination

Steve Pavlina, the founder of Dexterity Software, has written an excellent article on overcoming procrastination. If you don't have time to read it right now, here are the major points to avoid procrastinating on a given task.

  1. Realize that you don't have to do it.
  2. Start on a small subtask.
  3. It doesn't have to be perfect.
  4. Do things you enjoy first.
[via Business Opportunities Weblog]

business | Permanent Link

Sat, 11 Sep 2004

Beer Tastes Good

Apparently, it is now possible to inhale alcohol. I'm not sure why anyone would want to, though. I can't imagine going into a pub and having the bartender put down a pint of your favorite vaporized beer.

That sounds about as likely as someone listening to a crappy version of their favorite song on their mobile phone.

business | Permanent Link

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The state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else. - Frederic Bastiat