Top sales guys as seen from top IT guys

Gary Beach of CIO.com writes about top 10 characteristics of Sales people as viewed by senior level IT folks. Here is the list
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10. Understand your business.
9. Possess competitive intelligence/knowledge.
8. Provide ongoing support after the sale.
7. Have a strong technical background.
6. Are aware of business trends.
5. Offer solutions to problems rather than meet sales quotas.
4. Provide a high level of service.
3. Are honest and trustworthy.
2. Can think long term.
And most important,
1. Deliver on their promises."

I have been always fascinated by sales and marketing. As a matter of fact, selling PBX systems in Delhi was my first job right after college. And throughout my career, I "lived" close to sales people in every organizations I was a part of. By the way, I even took sales into my own hands occasionally when it became necessary. Of course, these experiences do not make me an expert in sales but I feel like someone who can somewhat understand the list and express my opinion on the same.

Even with all the 9 qualities, I have seen sales people failing to “Deliver on their promises". In my experience the main reason is, failure to represent the organization based on the true capabilities due to either (a) mostly, lack of solid understanding of the true capabilities (b)sometimes, intentional falsification of the true capabilities. Of course, second one can be classified as "greedy" sales approach. However, the first one stems from the sales guy who often does not take time to understand the production arm of the organization. In other words, the sales guy try to live in the penthouse and does not attempt "live" close by production people who lives on the first floor. Please note that in IT centric organizations, where IT and operations are separated but both play vital part in the delivery, sales tend to "live" even farther from IT. And therefore the problem is more prevalent in those organizations where IT is plays a critical role in the final delivery of the product. I have seen this problem even with sales persons who seems to "understand the business" and appears to have a "strong technical background".

May be, a solution can be found in thoroughly engaging a representative of IT in the entire sales process along with representatives from other departments. I know, I am not offering a solution that is unknown or earth-shattering. However, how many organizations you know that has an IT rep from "the first floor" engaged in the sales process along with sales guys from penthouses?
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GigiJK, A Techie for life.
http://gigijk.com/.
http://www.linkedin.com/in/gigijk

Digital (Natives & Immigrants) & State of Vermont

Now –a –days, there are a lot of discussions around the gap between “Digital Natives” and “Digital Immigrants” (Mark Prensky, http://tinyurl.com/28ggmy).

In a recent CIO.com article, Abbie Lundberg wrote (http://tinyurl.com/6pyhfc) about how this “digital” divide get played in our work environment.

If we extend this “digital” measure beyond Homo Sapiens, to institutions and processes around us , it is interesting to see how far off some of these entities and processes are and how some of these entities trying to catch up with the times even couple decades after the invention of Internet (not by Al Gore, by ARPANET in 1969).

As an example, take the incorporation processes in any state. To begin with, incorporation is a cumbersome, lengthy process itself even with e-filings etc. Maintaining the status of a company is another time-consuming ,daunting task for an entrepreneur who is trying to get the company up and running on a tight budget and time . This is even true for a “digital immigrant” like me. Who has time to think about company filings, minutes, board-meetings and yada yada… when you are trying to grow your customer base or trying to figure out how to stay above the competition.

Finally, one of the states, Vermont is trying to be a pioneer in this arena by allowing the formation of Virtual companies. Inc.com speculates (http://tinyurl.com/567mc8 ) that, “…would allow any private company to register in Vermont without opening a physical office, holding an in-person meeting, or filing a single sheet of paper. Companies could meet these requirements -- which are mandated by most states in order to legally register or open a bank account -- by using e-mail, instant messaging, or other software programs”.

Whether this law gets established or not I am very excited to see Vermont a “Digital Immigrant” trying to look forward and change the status-quo in favor of “Digital Natives”. Currently it is correct to say that decision making power in our society rests with “Digital Immigrants”. Members of “Digital Immigrants” do have a social responsibility to take closer look at the processes and institutions around us and make bold movements like this to prepare the grounds for “Digital Natives” to operate and thrive. Congratulations Vermont in being a leader!!! I hope this is a start and many more to come and without much wait.

You can track the status of this bill by visiting http://tinyurl.com/6btqke
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GigiJK, A Techie for life.
http://gigijk.com/.
http://www.linkedin.com/in/gigijk

IT Staff Retention, my $0.02

As per Robert Half Technologies survey of CIO's (from June 1, 2008, CIO Magazine), here are the couple of key tools for employee retention. Increased Compensation (27%), Training & Professional development (21%), Flexible Schedules (18%), Extra Paid Time Off( 6%), Telecommuting(7%). The rest is comprised of "other", stock options etc...

In my experience, there is another important one that kind of falls in professional development (but inexpensive in terms of direct $$$ spent) which always worked for me: I make sure each of my team members works on at least one project in parallel to what is expected of their normal responsibilities. This project should be of more interest to him\her but at the same time should also help the organization to move forward by at least an inch and often will have a relaxed schedule. It is kind of a Google model but made to fit within the walls of a smaller organization.

This strategy has helped me in more than one occasion to keep things interesting among team members and thus increasing retention and loyalty.
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GigiJK, A Techie for life.
http://gigijk.com/.
http://www.linkedin.com/in/gigijk

Software Developers & Left Brain vs Right Brain

A small observation from my own life experiences as a developer and a manager in the software development industry. How can you stand above the crowd as a developer even if your left brain (logical side) is not that great? Exercise the skills of your right brain(creative side,especially usability side of the application)!. And you do not have to be good at UI (User Interface) and its aesthetics to achieve this either. After you exercise the left brain and develop a solution, take a deep breath and look at your solution from a user's point of view. Yeah, forget about every thing you did so far and use the application\feature as if you are using it as a user. It is a bit hard to develop in the beginning, but practicing will make it easy.

Even though, it is a simple,not new concept, I think it is an important one. I see the lack of it in many software developers who I have been working with through many years. I can definitely say that the geeks who have it make me happy as a project owner in every case since these guys tend produce what I am looking for exactly or so close to it.
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Gigi J Kizhakkechethipuzha, A Techie for life
http://www.linkedin.com/in/gigijk
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