Aug 2009
The definition of insanity....
The definition of insanity, is doing the same things over and over again but expecting different results!
According to Rick Spence who is the author of Canadian Entrepreneur, in a recent article that appeared in the Vancouver Sun entitled Deep Cuts Not the Best Cure reiterates this statement. According to his article and research provided by a Canadian marketing firm, it appears that of the of the small to medium sized companies, many of which have been affected by the current economy, have done nothing to change their approach. It goes on to highlight that these companies have not changed their sales strategies, have not tried anything to adapt to their customers needs, and have not done anything in order to try to get closer to their customers.
That is insanity. It is one thing to not know what to do or how to do it...but, it is another to do nothing at all. It is unfortunate because the success or failure of these companies affects us all. Not only does it create jobs and opportunities for Canadians, it affects the communities we live in, it affects the opportunities available to the next generation (our children), and it affects the ability for Canadian companies to be able to truly compete on a global level.
According to Rick Spence who is the author of Canadian Entrepreneur, in a recent article that appeared in the Vancouver Sun entitled Deep Cuts Not the Best Cure reiterates this statement. According to his article and research provided by a Canadian marketing firm, it appears that of the of the small to medium sized companies, many of which have been affected by the current economy, have done nothing to change their approach. It goes on to highlight that these companies have not changed their sales strategies, have not tried anything to adapt to their customers needs, and have not done anything in order to try to get closer to their customers.
That is insanity. It is one thing to not know what to do or how to do it...but, it is another to do nothing at all. It is unfortunate because the success or failure of these companies affects us all. Not only does it create jobs and opportunities for Canadians, it affects the communities we live in, it affects the opportunities available to the next generation (our children), and it affects the ability for Canadian companies to be able to truly compete on a global level.
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Have you ever been your own customer?
20/08/09 08:43 Filed in: Operations
After getting the call, I had to go into my branch of the bank to “get a new card” according to the person who contacted me from the security department. I thought that this would be a simple 5 minute stop at my branch. 35 minutes later after filling out a number of forms, reviewing recent transactions on the account, and programming my new temporary card, I was finally out the door.
As part of this process they were to reimburse me for a couple of hundred dollars which was taken from my account. I was told by the teller that since it is a smaller amount the money was back in my account and that was all that was needed to be done.
Yesterday, I received a call from the audit and fraud department of the bank asking me to call them back. So, I called back one time from the road but my cell phone battery died. I then got back to the office and phoned them and it rang several times. I heard a ladies voice very briefly just before the line went dead...she must of accidently hung up on me. So, I call back again.....ringing constantly for about 3 - 4 minutes. I hang up and try again, and this time after one automated recording asking me to have my card number ready for faster service, there is another one that just says Welcome to the Audit Department....and then silence. I did not know if I was to wait on the line, if the line was cut off again, or if I was in one of those IVR black holes that we have all experienced when trying to deal with an automated phone system. I tried this a couple more times and finally decided to sit on the silent line and hope for the best. After several minutes a live person finally answered the line. Oh....and when we talked his only comments were to me...we have reviewed your file again, and everything is OK and the funds have been deposited in your account. What? I went through this just to have you confirm what the teller had already told me and I thought was already done several days ago?
So what is the point of all of this? Well as a customer of this bank for almost 20 years, I was extremely frustrated with this whole experience. Do not get me wrong I appreciate the fact that they at least stopped more money from being taken from the account and are doing the best they can to stop this type of crime...but the experience for me as a customer was unbelievably frustrating. When was the last time you picked up the phone and called your support organization? Your sales team? Your Reception? or tried to get through to your own extension using the dial by name process? If you have not done this for a while, then do it today. Make sure you are not loosing precious sales opportunities or even customers somewhere in your system. Many of the customers will not tell you that there is a problem as they often do not call back at all. Take the time to make sure your systems are set up to make the experience for the customer easier...not harder and more frustrating.
Building Start-up Sales Teams:Tips for Founders
17/08/09 00:03 Filed in: Operations
Recently I was involved in a conversation on LinkedIn that was focused around the question as to when is the right time to hire a VP of Sales. I am a bit opinionated about this as there really is a “right time” to do this. Many people argue that you need to have a VP of Sales right out of the gate with your company, but I actually disagree. The focus and money should be spent on getting closer to your potential customers to better understand their needs and requirements. Once you have this nailed, and have built a solution that meets these needs and demonstrated that customers will actually pay for your solution, then bring in some sales talent to help you get some traction for your solution. Then go out and hire your VP of Sales.
Anyway, one of the answers to the question pointed to the following article Building Start-Up Sales Teams:Tips for Founders written by Dharmesh Shah who is an entrepreneur and founder of the OnStartups.com blog. I think that this article does a great job in putting this decision into perspective....so why reinvent the wheel, as Dharmesh has done a great job in framing this discussion. I particularly like items 6 and 14.
Anyway, one of the answers to the question pointed to the following article Building Start-Up Sales Teams:Tips for Founders written by Dharmesh Shah who is an entrepreneur and founder of the OnStartups.com blog. I think that this article does a great job in putting this decision into perspective....so why reinvent the wheel, as Dharmesh has done a great job in framing this discussion. I particularly like items 6 and 14.
We have been "practicing what we preach"...
11/08/09 13:17 Filed in: News
Over the last number of months we have been out talking with our network, meeting with potential clients, and completing a number of customer engagements. All through this process we have been asking questions and trying to understand ways that we may improve, and make what we offer even better. We received some amazing feedback from a number of these clients on a number of different aspects of our business. First, they told us that our website led them to believe that our process and methodology was only for start-ups and early stage companies, however they clearly saw that companies of different sizes and stages of growth could benefit from what we had to offer. So, just like what we help our customers to do....we listened to our clients and made some changes. Take a look around the site, and you can see the changes that we have made to clearly articulate our offerings and the value to companies in all of the various stages of their growth. We are always looking for more ways to improve, so please contact us if you have any feedback or if we can be of assistance in any way.
Second, with many of the very early stage companies (Concept and Seed Stages), we know the challenges that you face as it relates to managing your resources and trying to build some momentum for your new company. Having said this, we have created a new way for you to get some very basic initial market feedback regarding your product or service with minimal investment. We have recently launched www.techhotornot.com where each week we post a new technology for people to review, and provide some basic market validation for your solution. We have had some amazing response to the site so far and have already provided some real-world market feedback to a number of initial companies. Through the site, we are also continuing to build a database of “Panel Experts” who have joined the panel to review and potentially provide some real-world testing for new technologies that are of interest to them. This database is continuing to grow.
So, have you gotten out and talked with some of your customers lately? If not, then there is no better time than the present in order to do so. We will continue to find opportunities to listen to our customers, and implement this feedback in order to make our company and our offerings even stronger. And since this is what we “preach”, we will continue to find new and creative ways to help our customers to do so as well.