Aug
21
Please support my members’ project for an Online Free University Action Needed By September 1, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Dear Friend
Imagine a world where everyone, anywhere, can go online, and for free, get the equivalent of a college education. How would that effect society? Could it have an effect on world peace, on solving our problems, and making this world a better place? Such an educational portal has been my dream for a long time, and with your help, I believe that we can make it a reality.
I don’t want your money. This is not a request for anything other than a small moment of your time. With your help, I’m hoping that I can receive funding for this project. I recently submitted my proposal, “Worldwide Free University” to the American Express Members Project. and with your support it could get funding . There are only about 1,000 projects now, so odds are pretty good. First prize is $1.5 million, second price is $500,000, and there are 5 remaining prizes available, each for $100,000. I know that I can make significant progress on this project with even the smallest budget.
I’ve outlined my proposal at http://www.membersproject.com/project/view/KHB7EG
I also have a video on youtube, which outlines this project. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-MlCGhrKr8
The video is about six minutes long, if you don’t have that time, please download a copy of the powerpoint at http://www.smartchive.com/wfu.htm
If you’d like to help, please go to http://www.membersproject.com/project/view/KHB7EG and click on the nominate link.
September 1, 2008 is the last day for this project.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Paul Misner
paul@paulmisner.com
www.paulmisner.com
Jul
29
Review Influencer, the Power to Change Anything
Filed Under Communications, Leadership, Management, Marketing, Sales | Leave a Comment
I am a big fan of Vital Smarts books, training, and CD’s. Their first book, Crucial Conversations, contains essential skills needed for success working with other people. It was only later in my studies that I realized that Vital Smarts borrowed liberally from the world of non-violent communications studies.
I wasn’t as enthused about the second book, (Crucial Confrontations), but felt it was worthwhile nontheless. I view it as a supplement to Crucial Conversations, which focuses mostly on the having conversations when there is a confrontation at stake.
Well, I’m extremely happy to say that Vital Smarts new book, Influencer - The Power to Change Anything, is not an example of the law of diminishing returns. This book is arguably the best thing coming out of Vital Smarts.
This book is a study of what works in the field of Influence, and borrows from social and positive psychology, management, sociology, and non-violent communications. The folks from Vital Smarts borrow from everybody, but come up with something that is cohesive, unique, and effective.
Mixed in with the data, are numerous examples and case studies that serve not only clarify the content, but make the book an easy read as well.
This book is a must read, (or a must listen to), if you want to understand the tools to make change in your life, your company, and your world. Whether you’re trying to lose weight or reduce disease progression in an impoverished country, Influencer has something for you.
Jul
17
I went to the book store to get my latest basketful of business CD’s. Almost as a joke, I picked up Robert Sutton’s book, The No Asshole Rule. I’ve worked with difficult people in the past, and hear stories from friends of mine inside and outside the industry about difficult people, including staff, coworkers, spouses, and others. I thought that this would be fun, and as Fat Albert says, “If I wasn’t careful, I might learn something, too”.
I did have fun, and I did learn something too. Sutton gives an overview of how assholes affect business, from a human relations, legal liability, operational cost, and in terms of loss sales and employee turnover. He does this using examples that are sickening, amazing, and (with the passage of time and no personal involvement) humorous as well.
These examples are also educational. Sutton gives a number of good tactics towards eliminating and disempowering the asshole. Sutton provides a number of good ways for companies and groups to avoid even hiring a difficult person.
Finally, Sutton steps into what is arguably dangerous territory. He talks about the positive side of the asshole, and turning on the inner asshole inside you.
The audio book is not without flaws. I didn’t think that the reader’s vocal temperment and pacing were in line with what Sutton was teaching. It just sounded a little bombastic to me. I felt that Sutton should have addressed more the dilemma of dealing with an asshole you have no power to get rid of, asshole management, I guess.
Finally, it might not be an appropriate book to listen to when traveling with passengers occupying booster seats in your car. So buy it, and put on those headphones.
Jul
17
The 400 Hour Work Week.
Filed Under How To, Sales, Time Management | Leave a Comment
Then I lost one. My first loss ever to this competitor in head to head competition. Damn, what a slap in the face, even though they came in $150K less than me.
It was time to change my game. I realized that I was partially distracted by a string of interviews with a Fortune 5 company. I wasn’t crazy about the job, but thought that the management was great, and the company fantastic. But I really think that the company I work at now is in the midst of an exciting and challenging time. That’s more important to me than the money, and I’m happy to say that the money has always come with me.
So, the first thing to change was the mindset. I may have a shitload of people over me, that have more power than me, and more access to resources than me, and it made sense to ask them for help. But that wasn’t enough; I had to respond to my competition in a way that was scalable, focused and fast.
First, I cancelled my interviews with the other company. I needed to focus on this mission and this mission solely.
Then I developed a philosophy. Many of you have read that book, “The Four Hour Work Week”. Sounds great to have your little businesses going “ca ching ca ching” all in chorus while you’re in Fiji contemplating your navel. Yeah, dream on.
What the book did teach was a philosophy. Get rid of worthless stuff. Set up processes, automate, and/or outsource the disagreeable or less profitable tasks to others. Do what makes money, and what I like to do.
So instead of a 4 hour workweek, I’m working a 400 hour work week. I’m leveraging a number of different resources to speed up my impact including:
- PHPList- an open source email tool.
- Jblast- Fax broadcast service.
- Callfire – automated dialing service.
- A Web developer and virtual assistant I picked up from getafreelancer.com
The Internet has made these power tools very inexpensive. PHPList is a free email tool that I use from a $6.95/month web site hosted at siteground.com. The program is literally installed with a mouse click.Jblast charges between 6 and 12 cents per page faxed, and Callfire charges 3.9 cents a minute.
I can play like the big guys, and still get it under the radar on my expense account. Stay tuned. Over the next few days, I’ll give you my experience with each of these products and services.
Jul
6
Review: What (Really) Works
Filed Under Customer Service, Sales | Leave a Comment
What do great businesses in common? What do bad businesses forget to do? In their book, What Really Works- the 4+2 Formula for Sustained Business Success, the authors Joyce, Nohria, and Roberson analyzed data from hundreds of different companies. Using total return to shareholders as a results, the “Evergreen” project as it was called identified 8 factors of successful businesses.
In order for a business to have sustained success they needed to exhibit all of the first four, and two of the last four, hence the 4+2 formula in the subtitle.
The four mandatory factors are:
1) Strategy- Devise and maintain a clearly focused strategy
2) Execution- Develop and maintain flawless operational executution
3) Culture- Develop and maintain a performance-oriented culture
4) Structure- Build and maintain a fast, flexible, flat organization
The four optional (remember, you only need two) catagories are.
1) Talent: hold on to talented employees and find more
2) Leadership: keep leaders and directors committed to the business
3) Innovation: Make innovations tha tare industry transforming
4) Mergers and Partnerships: Make growth happen with mergers and partnerships.
One of the problems that I have with some of these management books is that they shoot their wad after the second chapter, the one that outlines the book. The value of this book after the second chapter is arguably less that the outline, but the case studies of both good and bad companies are interesting, well written, and reinforce the premise of the book.
I think one could argue about total value returned to shareholders being the paramount sign of a good company, especially when one looks short term. The authors had to pick something, and I think it was a good enough factor, that was easy to define.
I also know that this book isn’t a panacea. Like every other business book, this one will chaffe with age. I do think it reinforces some basics, and I think it merits reading.
If you’re in Columbia,MD, get a copy cheap. Daedalus Books in Columbia had it in stock for $4.98
Jul
6
Jesus is My Sales Manager- The Interview
Filed Under Sales, Spirituality | Leave a Comment
Bob, thanks for coming in. Grab a seat. Sit down. Do you want a cup of water? Listen, I know you only have about 15 minutes, so if you don’t mind, I’m going to do most of the talking. If you like what you hear, then let’s set up another time to have a real two-way conversation.
Well, I took a look at your resume, and it’s great. You read and write Hebrew and Greek, we can really use that. The Founder wasn’t really into documentation, and we really need someone who could help us get some of his speeches down in writing. We’ve got one guy, Mark, whose just about ready to finish up something, and I hear another guy, Matthew is planning on doing some kind of revision.
I see you were referred by Paul? Did you know him when he was a cop? Yeah? I know he really has changed a lot since then. Seems a few years back, our Founder’s Son came down to recruit Paul into the organization. They had a brief talk, and Paul joined up. Changed his name and everything. We really had a lot of doubts about Paul at first, but he’s been one of our top performers, really working hard to penetrate new territiories and develop new markets for us. He’s started a number of User Groups, and he’s written some pretty good white papers for us too. We’re planning on adding Paul’s white papers to our user’s manual.
The first thing I want to tell you is that we are selling the perfect product. Everybody needs it, millions have been asking for it, and there are millions out there who need it, but don’t even know that they do. We really need to get out and push the messaging.
Let me tell you a little about ourselves. We’re an established start-up. We’ve been in business for about 5 years now. Our Founder’s Son started this territory, ran it for about three years, and then returned to Corporate. He’s still actively involved with us, in fact I recommend that you talk with him as much as you can. I’ve heard one of the things he’s working on now is a Sales Club for our top performers, and it’s going to be so incredible, that once you’re there, you’re never going to want to leave.
We had some independent agents do a little bit of publicity for us prior to starting the territory, but by in large, people weren’t getting the messaging. Corporate was getting very concerned about this. If we maintained the status quo, this territory would have just folded to the competition. So the Founder sent his Son down to see if we could change things for the better.
Immediately, the competition tried to do a friendly takeover, and was in discussions with the Founder’s Son. He turned them down, and went out and hired 12 inexperienced salespeople, and made them regional managers. We had some turnover, one of the regional managers later left after he leaked some priviledged information.
The regional managers did a pretty good job with the Founder’s Son’s help. The Son is a amazing public speaker, and he could do some amazing demos. He gave the ability to demo to the RM’s but to be honest with you, sometimes they just lacked the necessary confidence to to the demos as good as the Son. They are starting to get stronger with more experience and faith.
We brought on some more people, but now we are thinking about developing a multi-level marketing program. We’ve just found that our customers make the best salespeople.
I want to be straight with you. There are some bad things about this opportunity. . We have some major competition in our marketplace. We don’t hold marketshare right now. The market leader is a company called Darkside, Inc. They have some real slick marketing materials, and they are extremely aggressive in the market. They will say anything to make a sale. They don’t require a lot of committment, but once a customer has signed up, it can be very difficult to leave, even though Darkside has a very poor product satisfaction rating. The salespeople at Darkside just keep promising and promising, and their customers hope they deliver. Unfortunately, Darkside never delivers.
We did start a competitive trade-in program against Darkside about 20 years ago, and while we are not getting the response we’d like, we are extremely delighted even when we can get just one person to make the transistion. And I’ve never seen a customer who’s used our product correctly feel disappointed after coming from Darkside.
The converse is also true. Nothing makes us more upset than losing a customer to Darkside. Darkside promises everything to the customer, but when they sign up, they will find that the most important things are missing.
Also, there will be a lot of travel. The size of the territory is tremendous. You’ll be living on the road much of the time. We don’t have any cars or planes available at this time; you’ll be limited to foot travel and the occassional donkey ride. You can expense your sandels though, within reason.
We don’t have a lot in the way of technology either. No cell phones, no powerpoints, no laptops, no TV or radio marketing. We are expecting these things in future budgets, but right now, you’re going to have to rely on word of mouth, getting out in the field and pressing the flesh. The one technology that we do have is instant messaging with the Son and the Founder. If you need Him, He’s always available.
Ok, I’ve been beating around the bush. We’ve got a problem with regulations in some of the territories in which we operate. I’m sorry to say this, but our product has been determined to be illegal by the authorities in those territories. In some places, allthough we aren’t illegal, we’ve met such a hostile reaction from the locals, that we might as well be illicit. Some of reps and customers have been arrested, jailed, and even killed. You really need to consider the possibility of this happening to you and your people before you accept the position.
We’re not backing away. We feel that our product is so important, that we have to bring it out to the field, even if local governments feel differently. If we can penetrate some of the markets in these areas, we could overturn these laws barring our service.
You won’t be alone managing. After He left, the Son sent down one of His assistants to work in the field. You really should take advantage of this resource if you take the position. I’ve been told that working with the Assistant is like working with the Son himself. This assistant is very efficient, He seems to be working everywhere at the same time.
I know I’ve given you a lot to think about. Go home, talk it over with your wife, and get back to me. Here’s some of the Founder’s speeches to look at while your making the decision. We are going to add these to the User’s Manual. My personal favorite is the one he did at the Mountain some time back.
Jul
6
Review:SugarCRM How Sweet is Is
Filed Under Sales | Leave a Comment
I’ve been interested in CRM since my days as a Police Officer/Student at the University of Pennsylvania Police Department. While in school, I worked in development of a members database for the Musician’s Union Local in Phila, and for my independent study at school, developed a client management system for the Victim Support Unit at the Police Department.
My career in sales furthered this interest. I became an avid Act! user, and was such a good beta tester for the company, that I usually didn’t have to pay for the software.
Act had a substantial change in 2005, moving to a relational database structure. What I thought would be a great change turned out to actually make the program unusable. Using the .NET framework made the new Act! slower than ever before.
I felt like an orphan, and didn’t know what to do. The lack of a good CRM really was hurting my productivity.
I tried a number of different options, including Prophet (too slow with a large number of users), and Microsoft Business Contact Manager 1.0 (pretty much the same quality as any 1.0 MS product). I was still at a loss to find something that worked for me.
A friend of mine, Haroon Khalid, told me about an opensource product called SugarCRM. I took a look at it, and it showed promise. It was a blatant Salesforce.com rip, which I considered a plus, having worked with the product in the past.
In order to install SugarCRM, I figured that I had to install MySQL, PHP, Apache, and the Sugar code on my laptop myself. Ok, it would take a couple of hours, but I have experience, and I knew I could do it. WRONG! It was much, much easier. There is a project called SugarSPIKE which installs Sugar and all the additional programs in less that 10 minutes. I was up and running.
The product is fantastic, very, very, stable, and bugs are minimal after the first patch. (Warning about point releases, wait until the first patch comes out.) There is an additional software product, available for a fee, that connects with MS Outlook.
The OpenSource version of the product lacks the reporting and quoting functions that I would need to give this a full OK. They are available in the full version, some third party products, or you can do as I did, and hook the database up to access with an ODBC driver. I’d gladly shell out the money for the full version of the product, but the folks at Sugar will only take a 5 license purchase.
Jul
6
A Car That I Would Buy… Some Lessons For the Auto Industry from Southwest Airlines
Filed Under Customer Service | Leave a Comment
If GM wants to save themselves, they might want to take lessons from Soutwest Airlines. That’s right, SWA. Why, because much of the things that GM does is exactly the opposite of what Southwest does, and that’s why we don’t have any loyalty.
It’s not just GM, it’s the auto industry in general.
Here’s a letter I wrote to Volkswagen a few months ago, about the dreaded Russel Volkswagen. I never recieved a response:
Diane,
Thanks again for your quick response. I know that you are supposed to handle this issue from the US end, but I believe that the problem that you face with Russel Volkswagen is not just an individual issue. That’s why Mr. Winterkorn is being cc’d.The problem is endemic of the way that Service Departments are set up as profit centers for Dealers, and also the way that service technicians are compensated. It’s also a problem of how your customer satisfaction systems have become just a game that the dealers play.
Because profit has become such a motive of these dealers, I believe that customer satisfaction has taken a second seat to making money. I don’t believe that the service department techs are compensated on satisfaction ratings at all or nearly as much as they are on the repairs they perform for customers.
When I come to a dealership service area, I expect to pay more, but I also expect that I won’t be ripped off. I am in a situation where the people making the recommendations are compensated for recommending that I’d pay more rather than less.
When every time I come to the dealer costs multiple hundreds of dollars, it ends up making VW look like they sell cars that are pieces of junk. I honestly couldn’t afford to keep my vehicles by going to Russel every time the diagnostic light goes on. And I wouldn’t recommend Volkswagen because of the costs of keeping the vehicles long term.
I have two VW’s, both 2002’s, one with 68K and one with 86K miles. Both had gone into Russel with the check engine light on. Both came back with similar diagnosis. Broken CV joints and Vacuum failure. I had the first one repaired at Russel. When I got the call about the second one, it made me sick and angry. I said don’t touch it, I’m going to get it repaired elsewhere. They still charged me $100 for the diagnosis.
I took my car (the other one is driven by my wife) to a local mechanic who was ASE certified and highly rated. He agreed that the CV joints were broken, but he gave me an option to have new axles installed, because the labor would be less and it would be roughly the same overall cost.
Now on the vacuum leak, here’s what he said. “I CAN make a leak, by pulling tubes under your car, but the car really doesn’t appear to have a leak. Let’s run the car for a bit, and if the light goes on again, we’ll do something about it.” It’s been two weeks, so far so good.
I left and he reminded me that I’ll need a new timing belt at 105K. I thought that it was a nice touch.
Now, I have to wonder, were the mechanics at Russel just aggressively attacking the problem, or were they taking advantage of my ignorance to make a profit? If they did this, and there is a pattern of this, it’s fraud, plain and simple.
And it should be investigated.
Diane, I don’t know if you were around when the VW’s were exploding coil packs. It was a tough time for my family, but VW stepped up to the plate, fixed our cars, and sent us an unexpected check for $100. Later, I recieved a letter inviting me to be involved with the class action suit. I didn’t sign, I felt that VW attempted to make good, and it would have been hypocritical of me to have taken your money, then become a part of a lawsuit against you.
That’s why I’m giving this information to VW, not to an Attorney’s General, or a lawyer. Please check the records of Russel’s service department. See if there are patterns of wrongdoing. What I’ve seen may just be a coincidence.
I think the problem is probably in a gray area between the maliciousness and acting in one’s or one’s company’s best interest. And that brings us back to the compensation issue. The pressures of running a business may be forcing this service department to make judgments on repairs which are not in the best interest of their customers.
Again, I’m really trying to help here. I don’t have any problems with VW, but I believe that I may have been wronged by this dealer. And it ultimately reflects on VW’s reputation.
Thanks
Paul Misner
So what could a car company do to make themselves “the Southwest of Cars”.
Trim a product line down to 2 cars: A sedan and a station wagon. Keep everything else the same. A simple engine with a decent amount of power, a decent radio (put a headphone input jack in), and a nice quality inside. Don’t offer options on mechanics, and offer options on trim that are fairly priced.
The Internet changed the way that the buying processed worked for the industry. The average buyer is aware of how much the car should cost them. But we’re still in the dark on repairs. That’s wrong. Let’s make the diagnostic and repair pricing process open and affordable.
I know that what I want is not what everybody wants. Some folks like to fly First Class rather than to deal with Southwest’s fair and democratic seating arrangement. I’m just giving a business model that could make the auto companies get new business.
Hopefully, someone will hear this, and they will have me as a customer for life.
Jul
6
It’s Called Work For a Living, by Larry Winget, a Review
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
My usual rotation for reading follows a pattern of a business book, a religious book, and something else. Last time around, I was a little burned out on business books, so I went to the bookstore with the thought of getting a book that has some valuable insights, but is also a lot of fun to read.I ended up buying a copy of “It’s Called Work for a Reason”, by Larry Winget. Larry is a self- proclaimed “irritational speaker”, who gets in the readers’ face by pontifacting on things that you and I already know, and maybe are guilty of ignoring.
Some of Larry’s thoughts:
- Teamwork doesn’t work. Being a successful manager involves making stars out of your employees..
- You aren’t being paid to enjoy your job. You’re being paid to work.
- You’re responsible for your own results.
It sounds pretty simple, and it is, but Larry reinforces a good work ethic in a straight forward, humorous fashion, that I found very refreshing.
If you want a quick read, that will make you better at what you do, I’d suggest you take a look at Larry’s book.
Jul
6
You’d Think They Would Know Better ZD-NET and SPAM
Filed Under Customer Service, Marketing | Leave a Comment
Once a year or so, I unsubscribe to everything email. Newsletters, marketing, things I want, things I don’t want. It doesn’t matter, it’s a purge, a way to get things in my inbox back in order.
This year, I’ve only had a bad experience with one company, and to my surprise, it was ZD-NET. Their emails keep coming, and coming, and coming, like the Terminator.
So, I sent a nice email out to Jason Young, CEO at Ziff-Davis pubishing.
Jason,
I know this is not intentional on the part of your teams, but ZD has grown so much that when it comes to email, you are a victim of your own success.
Half of my inbox was being filled up with your publications, and despite multiple what appeared to be successful attempts to unsubscribe, I’m still getting them.
I’m a reader, I know that ZD frequently rallies against this type of issue. Could you have someone on your team investigate the issue, and see what’s going on?
Thanks
Paul Misner
I didn’t get a response from anyone on Jason’s staff, but I did have the Web Buyer’s Guides Stop coming, but other email from Ziff Davis keeps coming and coming and coming. At least 5 more since I wrote this letter.
The Can SPAM act requires
that your email give recipients an opt-out method. You must provide a return email address or another Internet-based response mechanism that allows a recipient to ask you not to send future email messages to that email address, and you must honor the requests. You may create a “menu” of choices to allow a recipient to opt out of certain types of messages, but you must include the option to end any commercial messages from the sender.
Ziff-Davis has been made aware that this is a problem, yet they are not addressing it. What’s up??
Note: Class Action Attorneys, count me out. I don’t want a free subscription to PC World for 2 months, while you collect a big settlement.