Thanks, Ed!

Why didn't Lotus think of this first?

Don't blink or you'll miss Miller's Superbowl ad

I'm a big fan of folks who now run the Miller Brewing company. Hats off to them and their ad agency for coming up with this gimmick. This totally fits in with micro formats now popular on the web. Also an ingenious tactic to get the most bang for your ad dollar -- especially in an era of tight budgets. It would be cool to see a Lotus ad like this. What would your 1 second Lotus ad look like?

via JSOnline.com Business on 1/20/09

Primary Objective For Notes Consulting

At great risk of being drowned out by all the updates from the Magic Kingdom, I wanted to echo and expand on what Bex blogs about in Committees Can Only Create Systems That Mirror Their Own Dysfunction. I'm thinking alot lately about the sales process and spending alot of time refining my story. I really want to emphasize the value a Notes workflow application can bring to process automation in a business. Though my target market is SMB and they tend not to foster numerous committees, I still found it important to remember that communication is a key component in designing a successful workflow.

Money quote:

The number one task of any business is to make money... 
the number two task is to improve inter-departmental communication.

There is a fine line between just the right amount of notification and too much notification. There's a fine line between getting someone's approval and going around them. It takes a good ear to listen to your customer and some good questions to find out exactly where that line exists. It also takes patience and a flexible design to go back and make adjustments when the customer realizes that perception and reality sometimes have very little overlap.

Lotus Foundations: Hiding in Plain Sight

I've been doing some research for a prospective client on the possibility of installing Lotus Foundations and had difficulty getting some clear information on the product. (I did not plumb the depths of IBM's PartnerWorld site, so there could be good information there, but I suspect not.) The old Netix site didn't help much, and neither did the official Lotus Foundations site. 

Taking Notes Podcast #84 was good, but having something in writing is way better. Some of the stuff Sean Burgess and Graham Dodge have written about and the things Sean has mentioned on a couple episodes of the 1352 Report are helpful, but I'm just looking for some basic specs.

Where do you think I found a good overview of product? 

Wikipedia

Go figure...

How To Sell IT Services

• Step 1: Identify a Target Market
• Step 2: Develop a Strong Marketing Message and Hook. 
• Step 3: Create One Piece of Marketing Collateral that will Attract Prospects and Set You Apart. 
• Step 4: Get Visible in Your Target Market – the Manual Way. 
• Step 5: Keep Following up to Build Relationships and Credibility.

I typed the phrase "How To Sell IT Services" into Google and was presented with 3,540,000 hits. One of the top ranked sites was Sitepoint.com, so I checked out what was behind the link. A few clicks later I ran across this article which includes the five steps above. I thought the overall concepts conveyed were on target.

After making the committment to start a business, I must admit that the prospect of developing some sales and marketing skills is a challenge I'm excited to put into practice as soon as possible. So where does this put me this week? For starters, I'll be refining the work I've already done but now with the benefit of having the advice from Step 1 and the linked article therein. I will definately be gathering alot more background information on my target market through some Internet searching and some phone calls. After that, I plan on applying Step 2 and Step 3 to some marketing materials I've already created.

By this time next week, I plan on embarqing on some Step 4 work. What sales and marketing techniques have you employed in a startup business? What was successful? What should be avoided?