Take the Long View When Negotiating With Your Vendors

http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/money/article/take-the-long-view-when-negotiating-with-your-vendors-thursday-bram

Thursday Bram
American Express OPEN Forum
January 29, 2010

An insightful piece about vendor management and maintaining relationships with the people that are helping you to grow your business by providing you with access to materials and services. At the core, you want to make sure that you have a mutually beneficial relationship with your vendors, one in which you get a good price and they make a little bit of profit, to ensure that they stay in business and want to continue to work with you. I’ve watched too many short-sighted business owners try to beat up vendors for every last dollar, only to later discover that they don’t get the attention that they want, that short-cuts were taken or that they have been “fired” by the vendor because they can no longer afford to do business with them. Pay on-time (or early to get cash discounts) when you can and be honest with vendors and work out payment arrangements when you can’t. They are your business partners, whether you like it or not, so keeping them in the dark will only injure those relationships long term.

Financially Preparing Small Business Owners for 2010

http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/money/article/financially-preparing-small-business-owners-for-2010-susan-l-reid

Susan L Reid
American Express OPEN Forum
January 27, 2010

Although signs are pointing to a recovery from a year that most people would love to forget, there remain short-term issues to deal with and small business owners could use a hand navigating these waters. Reid advocates three things for 2010:  Hire a business coach, focus on what will generate near-term revenue and look for ways to reinvent your business.  2009 might have eliminated your major competitors or opened up a gaping hole in the marketplace that simply was not there in previous year, and you might just be the one to take advantage if you act now.

You never know when or where the creative process will strike. It could be in the middle of the night; it could be at the beach. Much has been written about some of the great entrepreneurs and their use of whatever means necessary to jot down that all-important design or idea. It seems as though my brain is always working overtime on some crazy idea or another.

When I was just a kid, I got it in my head that I could design and build a hovercraft. It seems funny now, particularly every time I see that Orbitz commercial with the guy trying to valet park his Orbitz hovercraft. But where most people get a passing thought and say, “That would be cool,” I’ve always had the need to write things down. I wish I had saved the drawings that I spent hours and hours working on for that hovercraft…I can still picture the schematics, such as they were, and my feeble attempts to try to figure out things like propulsion and directional controls.

These days, with so many things to work on and so many daily responsibilities, it can be hard to let your mind wander a bit and think about new things. We referenced an article a couple of weeks ago about the traits of innovation . What I figured out about myself is that my strongest innovation traits are Networking and Association. In fact, I think that they feed off of each other to some degree, which leads us to the need for cocktail napkins.

I am a networker. I like people and I like talking to them about who they are, what they do and their experiences. It was a partner of mine at Deloitte, John Moulton, who was the first to introduce me to the question, “What keeps you up at night?” and, in turn, I have asked it to colleagues, business leaders and friends hundreds of times since then. In asking such an open-ended question, you gain a lot of insight on what the real problems are that are troubling people, particularly as they relate to business. So, you ask hundreds of people what keeps them up, you are bound to see trends and sometimes there is that lightning bolt moment that you say, “This seems to be a real and pervasive problem. Using what I have learned here, here and there, why don’t we build something to solve this problem.” And that is how it happens…or at least, that is how it has happened for me.  And normally at a restaurant or bar where the conversations like these occur.

I’m not a rocket scientist (or as De Ann likes to joke, I’m not a rocket surgeon). But I have been successful at boiling down problems to their root causes and helping people figure out how to address those causes. You never know when inspiration is going to come. I keep a notepad on the nightstand for when I wake up with some unexpected clarity on a problem that has been bothering me. I often grab that same pad when I step out of the shower, where I think about my day and the challenges I’m faced and come up with some solutions. And after one long night at the tavern, coming home with cocktail napkins and register tape with notes and questions and possibilities (another cocktail napkin manifesto), I started carrying around a small notebook (about the size of a business card) and a pen.

So, the next time that someone asks you for a napkin with a crazed look in his or her eyes muttering something about the size of fan blades or lift needed to carry a family of four, go ahead and give it to them. You never know, they just might come up with the design for the next big thing. And if you can’t find a napkin, just ask me and perhaps I will let you borrow my notepad and pen. I have them right here. Oh, that reminds me, I need to make a note…

Getting Perspective

http://blog.inc.com/nolan-bushnell/2010/01/getting_perspective.html

Nolan Bushnell
Inc.com
January 14, 2010

When we started Insight, we took a much needed break from everything, jumped in the car and drove through 9 states and 2 countries over a 3 week siesta.   The time that we spent clearing our heads went a long way towards building the business that we have today.  Besides, who doesn’t love a vacation?   In his post, Bushnell talks about the values of gaining perspective while you are away from the day to day activities of the business.

Catching up to Mobile

http://www.clickz.com/3636125?utm_source=feedburner

Adam Cahill
ClickZ
January 14, 2010

Adam points to a recent study by Morgan Stanley that predicts that within 5 years, more people will be accessing web content via mobile devices than through computers.  Another article that points to why our partner, Ash Boodel, was dead-on with is blog post and the mobile web work that he is doing for clients in Washington.

Researchers ask why optimism is associated with health, pessimism with disease

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/11/AR2010011103365.html

Carolyn Butler
The Washington Post
January 12, 2010

I’m not normally one to rant about things, particularly in a public forum, but I think that these people have been wearing me down and caught me on a day when I was just too frustrated to put up with more. Who are these people, the subject of my tirade? They are the team at Salesforce.com. Many of you know Salesforce – they make an on-line CRM (client relationship management) tool that helps companies aggregate all of their contacts, leads, potential clients and clients into a single sharable database. The technology is great and they have done wonders for making it easier and easier to follow-up with people and keep prospects and suspects moving through your process. But sometimes the ease at which you can automate these contacts can lead to the exact opposite reaction, as so perfectly demonstrated by Salesforce.com’s use of their own tools and processes.

I evaluated their solutions in September and I should have known what I was in for then.  A free 30 day trial – just sign up and start using it. If you like it, then sign up on a contract, if not, no problem. Day one of the trial: call and email from my friendly sales representative. Day three: tricks and tips for how to get the most out of Salesforce. Day five: phone call, “Can we get you signed up for an online Webinar on how to use the system better?” Day ten: phone call, “So how is it going?” And so it went. The system worked well, so I bit the bullet and signed up. Minimum contract is just 12 months. Little did I know that that was simply to ensure that they had enough time to beat you into submitting to calls, seminars, sales pitches on all of the other ways that Salesforce can be your new best friend.

Today was my breaking point. I’m running a business here. I have been nice…then less nice, when I’ve received continued sales calls and emails from these people. “No thanks, I’m just interested in the one license for just the one feature.”  And, “As I’ve said before, I’m not interested in anything more from you guys. Please stop calling me.”   So today, a nice note from Kristen M. from Salesforce, letting me know that she is working with my sales rep, Nicholas F., (which is surprising because that is the one person that I have never heard of, nor from) and she wanted to have an exploratory conversation with me. Now, Kristen has emailed me before and I was very direct about my use of the product at that time. We exchanged several emails about this, which by the nature of this product that they also use internally, have to be attached to my file. My first response today was direct and short, “Thanks for the email, but I don’t think that I am interested at this time.”

Unfortunately for her, she emailed me back to let me know that she appreciates my candor, but that she has been speaking to other people at Insight Professional Services that have indicated their desire to implement more of the features of Salesforce. She wants to learn more about our focus as a corporation so that she can share how their services can bring the most out of our business. blah blah blah…

My next response (and more wasted time) inquired as to whom she is talking to in my company, since no one has heard of her, and explained that we are a small but growing company but that we don’t need any of their products. Further, I let her know that the constant bombardment of sales calls and email campaigns is a huge detriment to a relationship with Salesforce and to please put our company onto their “Do Not Contact” list, pronto. As of the writing of this post, I have not heard a response. I was tempted to cc: Jim Steele, President Worldwide Sales and Chief Customer Officer, but De Ann thought that might be a bit much. It’s probably part of their internal sales requirements, anyway.

So the next time you are tempted to automate the message and the timing of your sales emails, make sure that you consider that they might not be as well received as you might think. No one likes to feel like they are shoved into a database and auto-marketed to…it is a turn-off.

Let me know what you think about Salesforce… And I’ll let you know if I hear back from them!

Engagement rule No. 1: Thou shalt make it easy

http://smartblogs.com/socialmedia/2010/01/15/engagement-rule-no-1-thou-shalt-make-it-easy/

Jesse Stanchak
SmartBlogs on Social Media
January 15, 2010

The easier you make it to contribute to/help/join a cause, the more likely it is that you will get the help you are looking for.  The Red Cross raised $8 million for Haiti, just by making it really easy to text a number to donate $10.

Two Key Numbers You Need to Know to Manage Your Small Business

http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/money/article/two-key-numbers-you-need-to-know-to-manage-your-small-business-trent-hamm

By: Trent Hamm

American Express OPEN Forum

January 12, 2010

The single most-often heard answer I received when I ask business owners how they measure the success of their business is “How much cash I have in the bank.”  Trent’s blog puts a little more definition into that metric by looking at a 30 day average of the cash on hand instead.  Add to that a look at the average number of days for a customer to pay, and you will have some pretty good information about how the business is trending.

Build productivity with leaner practices

http://steveboese.squarespace.com/journal/2009/12/29/stop-doing-stupid-things.html

Steve Boese
December 29, 2009

A great and effective tool for increasing your productivity and removing redundancy from the workplace:  “Take a few minutes to ask a simple question - Is this good, or is it stupid? And if it is stupid, toss it in the trash.”  A great approach, as long as those making those good vs. stupid decisions are fully aware of all aspects of each issue – stupid to one department might be critical to another.