Learning & Practicing: Before The Gold

The popular trend and technique books, and popular publications (even blogs) seem to focus on big picture topics. Can you really learn a skill and practice it from Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers? You not only can, but in some cases you must. Maybe a few of us who think that all financial learning is done in New York or London, and technology work in Sunnyvale or Palo Alto can get to these global centers to learn a new skill (or profession). Yet most of us still need to learn and practice new skills in other places. Then demonstrate them to others to get a job, or simply do them to sell our services. We may even learn enough to build a product (not just a web site) and sell that. That to some would be the ultimate of learning and practicing. This brings up a point: how do you learn new skills from non-self-help books? This is not a new problem. A classic example is how Warren Buffett learned from "The Intelligent Investor" - which was not really written to teach professional investors like Buffett. Well, it can be done and actually this could be the key to success in many new skills and professions today.

Do Internet Skills Matter? After The Gold Rush

How crucial are skills to the internet professional? WOW, hold on! What are we talking about? Is there such a thing and an internet professional ? ? ? This question kind of sneaks up on people. Since the internet profession has evolved and grown so quickly, it seems like experience or "showing up for work" at a successful company is enough to qualify as a professional. That's the nature of fast growing professions. Even in the software industry, where professional skills pioneer like Steve McConnell have been preaching for over a decade, professional qualification, certification and skill assessment is not an industry standard practice. Yet, for the customers, especially the ones starting out with new internet projects (without experience) the qualification and skill level of their employees is crucial. In general, the world of software development and content management, are mysterious and vague. This state of affair has not changed in a long time. As far back as 1974 Brooks' The Mythical Man-Monthdescribed in details the follies IBM in his biggest project to date, the IBM System/360, and how difficult estimation, development, testing and maintenance of large software projects. Much has changed since the early days of software development, yet we are still in an era where it is difficult to manage and therefore describe to outsiders the work of technologists in software. This is even more true today with different aspects of content and application use on the internet.

Is WEB2.0 Dead?

Tim O'Reilly's WEB 2.0 meme map

Tim O'Reilly, the technical book publisher (see O'Reilly), introduced the term WEB2.0 (Web two point oh). O'Reilly, a sensitive trend observer, was a veteran technology writer and publisher. With his wide range of contacts and constant contact, O'Reilly was told time and time again about the shift in how the internet (at the time web, short for World Wide Web, WWW) was being used. The technical people were becoming less crucial and the users were starting to take over. What he saw as a pattern was the sites with "user contributed content". The kind of content not created by the site designers, but by the people using the site.

Are 7 Thousand Clicks Enough To Sell?

Marketers for over a century developed creative techniques to lure sales  from potential buyers. LL Bean catalog is a great example of sophisticated sales techniques. 

The blog is slowly taking shape. I started out with the introduction of 7 Thousand Clicks. Then I added a few book posts just to get going and grease the skids. The new blogger design seems like a simplification and upgrade to the one from two years ago. That's good news for me. Now for the subject at hand. If you were given 7 Thousand clicks, would you be able to sell product? tell a story? or influence someone to "vote" or "contribute" to your cause? The question came up recently with an old client. He was frustrated with insufficient sales from his blog I wrote. He was also frustrated that the early burst in activity a few months ago, which fizzled out recently. Today's blogs, social media sites, traditional sites and newsletters are expected to replace advertising. If not bringing in ready buyers with money in their hands, at least starting the buying process (funnel). Yet a buying process, even for a simple IT service needs more then just interesting blog articles and a list of features.

Adapt: Harford's Prescription For Organizational Change

The last post described Seth Godin's prescription for individual's success during change (in organizations.) Tim Harford in Adapt:deals with changes of the organization itself. He gives dozens of examples, one describes how US troops in Iraq adapted to the situation time and time again. If you are somewhat familiar with military operations, you can appreciate the story. If you are not, maybe Harford (with a few deaths) can put the fear of life in you. Maybe that's not enough for some corporate and government managers. If you have not been in an organization that faces a life or death situation, this is a good introduction. If you see this kind of situation in your company, than this is a good way to start thinking and acting before it's too late. Harford gives dozens of examples covering many different scenarios. This is almost an example book of fail first then succeed.

Seth Godin: Linchpin, Individuals Count Today

When we talk about all the big changes in today's marketing, communication and even work habits, there is a tendency to focus on applications, companies and leaders (especially CEOS like Steve Jobs.) Yet we all know real people working every day to create something from nothing. These people keep the big ideas from staying just ideas. Seth Godin wrote a sort of manual explaining what he sees as the key to development in today's world from an individual's perspective. Godin is a new age pied piper, leading the charge into the digital publishing age. His background is reporting, most notably at Wire magazine and San Francisco newspapers. While reporting on the changes in publishing with the digital age he has published a series of books chronicling the changes.

Retail Sales Techniques: Will They Help You?

Editor: The title of this post "retail sales techniques" is used as a general term. Some ideas here relate to corporate and other sales practices. In internet lingo B2B and B2C.

In reality, sales roles in most companies are not a valued position. In some business sectors, sales people are downright badmouthed and ridiculed. I have been at both sides of the fence, neither one is pretty. In the traditional corporate management world, the headquarters and regional offices, sales people are not always understood. Most are seen as slick (i.e. slippery) deal makers, ready to "bomb the price" to close a deal. In general, very few corporate managers without direct sales experience understand the intricacies and subtleties of a sales process. That said, there is awareness in most senior executive circles of the role sales plays in the success of the company. While it is simplistic to say that "without sales you don't have a company", the concept goes beyond simply stating this fact. Why is this an issue to address in this blog? Because I see gaps in the understanding of what it takes to sell on the internet. Real gaps in effective internet sales, lead generation and attractive offers. Many real gaps in sales operations. Real gaps in actually running a sales effort on company web sites or sales portals (online shops). So while you may have a good design and bring people to the site with SEO or fantastic writing... if you want to sell, you need to do more than that.