'Your call is important to us.' Yeah, but clearly not important enough to justify hiring enough staff. This drives me crazy!
47 karma · joined December 3, 2010
- Noise-cancelling earphones are a must. I have some expensive cordless Bose headphones that can be worn for hours, even when there's nothing playing. They really make a difference (background roar is more tiring than you realise).
- If you're in economy, don't put anything in the footwell - you will need that space to stretch out. Also, economy headrests have little 'wings' that you can pull out and that you can lean your head against.
- Dress as if you're spending a long day outdoors. For me that's comfortable hiking pants, thin layers, fleece jacket. Wear slip-on shoes that expand, because your feet will swell after hours of sitting. Breast pockets are good to keep boarding passes and passports handy.
- Go into lizard mode. Just accept that it's twelve or fourteen hours and there's nothing you can do about it. This too shall pass.
- Most modern airliners have USB ports at every seat. Bring cables to charge your gadgets.
'A few hundred yards further on Lazy shied again, not from a snake this time but from an unexpected noise. Don pulled him in and spoke severely. "You bird-brained butterball! When are you going to learn not to jump when the telephone rings?"
Lazy twitched his shoulder muscles and snorted. Don reached for the pommel, removed the phone, and answered.'
Nothing unusual there - except that this was published in 1951. Heinlein was extrapolating one particular technology trend and got it spot-on, 60+ years before it happened.
There are so many others - H.G.Wells' 'World Brain' for one (aka the Web)
It's been a very positive experience - working on a different set of financial issues is feeding back into future enhancements for the system. Will probably go back to support/R&D when we get some more sales.
Made full disclosure on all my interests and activities with my employers before I joined a couple of months ago. To my surprise they didn't see a problem. It's understood I cannot take part in anything that might lead to a conflict of interest.
Long story short: it can work fine with good will on both sides. But do be completely open about what you are doing. I got a statement, in writing, that my outside interests would not cause a problem and suggest you do too.
- I will order 'Selling to Big Companies' tonight.
- Will make sure we all have a clear idea of the sales pipeline, targets
- Yes I have looked at the legal and trading issues - am being advised by a 'Big 4' firm who know the pitfalls
- Point about time to sell to large organisations is well taken. In fact part of the appeal of the system is that it gets round many of these problems.
- Am currently in discussion with some much larger established companies re licencing and distribution (one in London, one in Boston). They both love the product but are moving very slowly. I want to have a separate distribution channel as it's not clear at present which is going to succeed. However, having a distributor would certainly be easier than flying Australia-US each time a sales prospect needs me there!
- I really like the idea of low retainer/high commission. The business model is to charge a recurring subscription, so paying a high commission based on the first year's revenue won't impact so much on future cash flow.
- No equity on the table until they have proved themselves! At present I own 100% of the company (bootstrapped), but would consider giving someone with complementary skills in sales a portion of this if they had proved they could boost the company's value.
I have sold related systems quite successfully in the past and will likely continue to do so. My view of the sales-person's role is to get an initial meeting in the door and to close the sale - I certainly expect to be involved at some point. The main problem for me is the time and effort in chasing potential sales leads from the other side of the Pacfic.