I was talking to JD about blogging, and he suggested that it would be a good idea to blog about falsehoods working in sales. He suggested that “most geeks don’t like sales folk.” So in the interest of better sales/delivery relationships everywhere here are a few of my thoughts.

All sales do is drink wine and coffee

OK, its true, we do drink more than the average bear. But it is not all we do - what delivery don’t always see is the hours spent on proposals, all the customer meetings, time spent learning about customers, prospecting, writing/updating account plans, call plans (planning for customer meetings), training…..

Sales people aren’t as smart as delivery

Sales people wouldn’t always know how to do delivery’s job - granted, but it doesn’t mean we lack brain capacity. Sales people have to be able to think on there feet, have a breadth of knowledge of the product/service they are selling, and be able to communicate with people on all different levels. We are not dumb, just different

“We are honest, and you are in sales”

There is a perception that sales people are dishonest. I concede that in some cases this may be true - but good sales people, working for forward thinking companies are not dishonest. In fact, honesty goes a very long way in sales, helping build long term relationships with customers that creates value for both sides (this is the ultimate in sales). In fact if you are a dishonest sales person, or someone from delivery who doesn’t believe what they are reading, check out this great blog posting I stumbled across recently.

Sales never cost properly

Sales costing to “win the work” is something that is often complained about. This is a half truth, but I think that the point has been missed. Often sales is in the privileged position of knowing the customers budget. If the budget is fixed, then there is no point going in unrealistically high - you need to meet your customers needs within the budget available. This can be met by ensuring that scope is fixed, and can realistically fit into the budget, offering “good, better, best” options can also help.

Sales don’t care about delivery

This is one of the silliest things that I have ever heard. In sales, our job is to sell delivery. We therefore have a strong interest in deliveries success, and the individuals that ensure that success. And even more than that if delivery focus on customers, network, build themselves professionally and do a kick ar$e job, then sales jobs are so much easier. So smart sales people care a lot about delivery.

Sales don’t work as hard as delivery

Having once been in delivery I remember feeling this one myself (it would be honest to say that it even played a small role in the move into a sales roll). I know that it can sometimes seem that sales “clocks out at 5″ even if delivery are working late getting something finished. What delivery don’t always see is the late nights finishing a proposal because we have been meetings all day. Or the nights away from home on sales trips. Or the late nights out with customers (yes - this is still work!).

Filed under: Sales> Ramblings by Louie Date 23 October, 2007
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I just read a great article on “how to accept criticism with grace“. The article made a number of good points including stopping your first reaction, thinking before you jump into defend yourself.

I encourage everyone to read this article, I think that the lessons are good to review, we can all get better at receiving criticism. And everyone knows that without constructive criticism, we are unable to grow and develop.

Filed under: This is cool> Ramblings by Louie Date 4 October, 2007
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Day one is now over and I am pausing to “reflect” on how it went (that’s one crossed off the list already!)

Control distractions - relatively successful I would say - 5/10. Room for improvement but still started something and it was surprisingly liberating letting people know in a polite way that I was concentrating on something else, and I would come and see them when I had finished. Was better with emails. I am in sales so phone calls (and customers) will always take priority.

Avoid multitasking like the plague it is - failed 0/10 - will try better tomorrow

Pay attention to your attention - passed 7/10. I had a good awareness today. But always room for improvement.

Set priorities and stick to them - failed 3/10 but better than normal. First day back all priorities were “A’s” I am hoping to do better tomorrow.
 
Schedule time for thinking and reflection - that is what I am doing now so must have passed this one

Filed under: Ramblings> Work by Louie Date 1 October, 2007
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Talk to anyone who knows me, and I am sure that one of the things that they will tell you is that I am easily distracted. It is true, I am easily distracted, I would even go so far as to say that I like distractions. But the more that I read, the more I am starting to see that this is not a good way to get where I want to go.

Slow Leadership had a great post on attention, and how important attention is to achieving great things

“Control distractions.

Avoid multitasking like the plague it is.

Pay attention to your attention.

Set priorities and stick to them.
 
Schedule time for thinking and reflection. “ 

 None of this is rocket science. I am probably the worst at taking this advice so I am going to try it for a week and see how it goes Will let you all know!

Filed under: This is cool> Work by Louie Date 30 September, 2007
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The bogan in me was let free on Friday night. Jeff came and picked me up driving a Porsche! Not only was it a very sexy car, it made a great “VROOM.” We plugged in the iPod, cranked the tunes, and went cruising. In true bogan style, we went to Waikanae, got fish and chips for dinner and ate it on the beach.

Jeff “won” the use of the Porsche for the weekend in a workplace competition at Xero. Very cool!

The bogan in me has been satisfied

Filed under: Ramblings> Life by Louie Date 29 September, 2007
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I was lucky enough to attend Microsoft’s first local partner conference in Auckland this week with a team from Provoke. The two day conference was a good mix of sessions and networking.

My favourite sessions were delivered by Bruce Rasmussen (owner of Carpe Diem Consulting in Australia.) He delivered very common sense sessions about sales and marketing. Its always good pulling things back to first principles. Other sessions I enjoyed included 30 demos in 60 minutes (showcasing lots of “Microsoft bling” including heaps of cool silverlight demos), Microsoft’s partnership with the public sector and a session delivered by Gartner about IT trends around the world.

The hands down highlight of the conference was the black tie awards dinner, and Provoke winning the Partner Solution of the Year award (as well as an award for business productivity solution of the year). It was awesome gaining recognition from Microsoft for all of the amazing work that the Provoke team have done over the last year. Congratulations to Provoke, and of course all of the other award winners on the night

Filed under: Work by Louie Date 22 September, 2007
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I just returned home from Provoke Conference 2007. As always Provoke pulled off perfectly the balance between the serious stuff and the fun stuff.

This year the team leads each presented. I have to admit I was a little unsure how this would turn out (last year everyone presented) but it was awesome! Masons (2 hour) presentation on “looking forward” started the day and  the theme carried through all the presentations. I learnt heaps, got a great shot of motivation, laughed so hard that I cried, and took lots of great stuff away to think about.

I think the best way to describe Saturday night is to say that everyone did a great job upholding the Provoke “lifestyle” value. Everyone had a great time and there were more than a few hangovers this morning. Despite the hangovers though Sarah and Kate pulled off a great presentation focused primarily on the vision and values of Provoke - including lots of great team building activities (my favourite was clay bird shooting, I wouldn’t say its my strength, but I did hit one!)

Now for a couple of days recovery before Microsoft Partner Conference….

Filed under: Work by Louie Date 16 September, 2007
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Provoke are on fire at the moment. The opening of the Auckland office has created a bit of a stir in the media:

 Auckland call spurs Provoke into expansion

Provoke moves into Auckland SharePoint market

And Mase (our esteemed leader) was in the news recently for winning NZIM’s Young Executive of the Year for the Central Region.

Filed under: Work by Louie Date 10 September, 2007
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If you have been in a cave for the last couple of months you might have missed all the fuss about the new “anti-spam” law. For those of you not yet in the know, very simply put you cant send email/phone spam without someone “opting in” and you have to give them the option to “opt out” on all the spam you send.

The law officially began on the 5th of September and for the last week or so I have been spammed by anyone and everyone who has my email address. Some organisations are offering me the option of opting out. Some are trying to seduce me with prizes to officially opt in (magazine subscriptions, ipods, accommodation for two…). On the 5th of September alone I got 7 “anti-spam” emails.

The upside is that I have probably dropped about 50% of that annoying spam I regularly get but cant be bothered unsubscribing to. The sad thing is that I have opted in to a couple just cause I want the prize!

Filed under: Ramblings> Work by Louie Date 9 September, 2007
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I am sure that I read somewhere years ago that software development was like building a house. You get an architect to design it based on your needs (2, 3 or 4 bedrooms, lounge here, indoor outdoor flow etc…). At this stage you can be agile, change things around to suit you better, change your mind on things. You talk with an interior designer to help you choose the right colour scheme, kitchen and other bits and pieces so that the style fits with what you want. If they are good, they will offer advice about the architecture to make sure it is usable. I liken this to the job of a BA and the Designers (not an exact match but you get where I am going…)

Next you hire experts (builders, plumbers, painters…or developers and integrators in the case of a website) to build the house based on your designs. This is how I see the build process of a project. You have  a project manager, you are the tester (making sure things are built how you expected) and then you have a house.

You move in and it doesn’t stop there. You keep it clean, repaint when it needs it, fix the taps when they start dripping. Just like you need to support an application. If your needs change (for example you have another child) you enhance the house by adding another bedroom. Eventually the house will no longer fit your needs, so you buy a new one.

So, I understand this metaphor well. But how does agile software development fit? I’m not sure, and no one has ever explained this to me using a metaphor that makes sense to me. I am sure there is one out there some where. Does agile development work for all projects, or just some and not for building houses?

I will do a little research over the next wee while and see if I can answer any of my own questions. If you have any great metaphors, I would love if you could point them out to me

Filed under: Ramblings> Work by Louie Date 31 August, 2007
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