selling

by: John Caddell

For the past eight years, I’ve worked with helping midsized IT companies sell their products into a maturing telecom market. This is so different from the earlier times of unbounded growth that it doesn’t even feel like the same industry anymore.

In the old days (i.e., before 2000), there were so many new telecom companies sprouting up that a company did not have to be a leader to be successful. They just had to be good enough.

by: Jonathan Salem Baskin

Frugality is a tough lifestyle choice to monetize.

Of course, people still needed to buy stuff to give to one another in celebration of the holiday of their choice. Products and services were still required to support the ongoing habits of eating, traveling, entertaining, etc. Consumers still consumed.

by: Dominic Basulto

The recent economic turmoil has started me thinking about being on the "buy" side and the "sell" side of innovation. Almost any industry has a "buy" side and a "sell" side -- but the term is really a staple of the financial services industry. Get two investment professionals into a room, and they'll inevitably start discussing whether they're on the "buy" side or the "sell" side.

by: Jonathan Salem Baskin

The Wall Street Journal dedicated a special section in yesterday's paper to "The Secrets of Marketing in a Web 2.0 World," and made five shockingly novel revelations:

by: Jonathan Salem Baskin

Fart jokes. Bad puns. Scantily clad models. 

That's what the commercials on Super Bowl Sunday will give us next month. Created to appear but once in the light of TV, the spots will endeavor to out-dare one another in a virtual arms-race of foolishness, ribaldry, and expense.

by: John Caddell

I've worked on a lot of sales proposals over the years. It works this way: a company needing to buy supplies, services or products invites a number of companies to bid on the business. Frequently, they'll develop Requests for Proposal laying out all their needs, criteria, etc. Companies submit their proposals, and over several iterations, the buyer selects.

by: Jonathan Salem Baskin

I wonder sometimes whether we should think a little less about selling to people, and a little more about allowing them to buy from us.

It's not such a subtle distinction.

by: Jonathan Salem Baskin

 
A photo of Chevy's VOLT electric car appeared in USAToday yesterday even though it's two+ years away from the market, and GM is promoting new hybrid vehicles in three. It's a safe bet to expect that the car business will be fundamentally different in a few years.

by: Design Translator

One of my first bosses taught me an important lesson.

Good designers are a dime a dozen, he said. Coming up with a great design solution is the easy part. The hard part, he said, is getting the client to accept the solution.

“But if the work is good, don’t the clients know it when they see it?” I asked.

My boss just looked at me silently for a long time. And then, with gentleness and no small amount of pity, he reached out and patted me on the head: Poor kid.

by: Jon Miller

As VP Marketing at a B2B marketing automation company, I’m under constant pressure to take our marketing to the next level. When marketing to other marketers, the way we interact with our own prospects is a direct reflection of the capabilities of our lead management solution. If we can't market ourselves like a world-class company — and make it look easy — then why should our customers trust us to help them do it?