Following the steps of Microsoft, Google continues it's expansion through acquisitions.
The NY Times report: "Google reached an agreement today to acquire DoubleClick, the online advertising company, from two private equity firms for $3.1 billion in cash, the companies announced, an amount that was almost double the $1.65 billion in stock that Google paid for YouTube late last year.
The sale offers Google access to DoubleClick's advertisement software and, more importantly, its relationships with Web publishers, advertisers and advertising agencies." (full story)
The reactions so far?
BusinessWeek agrees: "DoubleClick has something that Google, for all its money and smarts, doesn't: a vibrant advertising business for banners, videos, and other so-called display ads often intended more to promote brands than to generate immediate sales" (full story)
Look closely at the photo. When I first saw this picture last week, and I thought it's a nice view... of north pole, perhaps. My mind would never go that it is a place named Pamukkale, which means cotton castle, which is a natural site and attraction in south-western Turkey in the Denizli Province. The ancient city of Hierapolis was built on top of the white "castle" which is in total about 2700 meters long and 160m high. It can be seen from a great distance, eg. when driving down the hills on the opposite side of the valley to the town of Denizli, which is 20 km away.
The tectonic movements that took place in the fault depression of the Menderes river basin did not only cause frequent earthquakes, but also gave rise to the emergence of a number of very hot springs, and it is the water from one of these springs, with its large mineral content — chalk in particular — that created Pamukkale. Apart from some radioactive material, the water contains large amounts of hydrogen carbonate and calcium, which leads to the precipitation of calcium bi-carbonate. The effect of this natural phenomenon leaves thick white layers of limestone and travertine cascading down the mountain slope resembling a frozen waterfall... (Ref: Wikipedia)
Without knowledge, which actually is information, we are leading in assumptions that may not reflect reality. The way that we present things should well defined. We are focusing on Search Engine Optimization (Ref: Wikipedia SEO) without even understanding the value of our products, of our business image and our sector. There is a simple way to define it. Take a piece of paper,
step 1: write down ten words describing (but ten...)
your business
your sector
your product
your expectations
step 2: strike through 7
step 3: voila!
This is what you want to do, this is what you want to sell, these are your META-DATA (Ref: W3C Metadata) of your actual business.
Recently I am reading allot of views and articles about Internet Marketing. First of all "Internet marketing, also referred to as online marketing or Emarketing, is marketing that uses the Internet. The Internet has brought many unique benefits to marketing including low costs in distributing information and media to a global audience. The interactive nature of Internet media, both in terms of instant response, and in eliciting response at all, are both unique qualities of Internet marketing". But how can somebody achieve a prosper M@rketing. There are three basic methods:
create a nice website with an affective design reflecting your company identity (I am not going to start again commenting how important this is),
send periodically targeted newsletters to your subscribed users (NO SPAM!!!) that will inform them about your products and services.
Now, just think of the last moment you spent on these three points. How did you feel? Was it a moment of enthusiasm or just a moment that you were thinking: "Oh my God... thousands of companies before me do the same thing... what am I going to do? How am I going to sell???". Now lets go back to the previous question... You could think that the kitty is a big company and the rabbit is you (nothing personal!) ... who is scared?
Have a look at this picture... it does give you the feeling that you would like to go there! Try booking a hotel and a flight with orbitz or expedia (my favorites) or some of your choice. But, where is this place? Assume now that you are in a business fare or a conference, that is exactly what you ever wanted to be in order to meet important persons for your business or even to sell. Which are your weapons? Your smile, your non smelly breath, your nice suite... everybody has that. But then what? ... Your business card... Without this, that important person for you, will simply forget you after one hour or five minutes, and never reach you. In order to persuade though with your business card, it should have the following characteristics:
clean (yes... clean!)
provide immediately information such us:
Company name, logo and moto!(I can't make it blink...)
LAST NAME, First name
Position in the company (if not managerial)
Address
Telephone
Website
nice design
not simple 3mm paper, but something that will be noticed by the sense of touch (one of the five senses)
not blank on behind
Now to solve the mystery, the photo is taken from the Menara Gardens, a paradise on earth...
Wednesday, 10/10/2007. Only a few weeks before 2008. Do you remember the business targets you had the first day of this year? Which where they? Let's see:
more customers
more sales
more revenues
more projects
But if you take a closer look you may find that the basic factor of all is "money" ... call it euro, dollars, yen... money. But this is not a target that will bring you results! I know it sounds strange, but thinking of money wont bring you customers. On the contrary! It will make them go away, since they will feel threaten that you are after their wallet. Especially in IT, where customers will say "why does it cost so much and I should pay you?!?!" before even making an analysis of the benefits that your service/product will give, they will not even let you demonstrate your offerings! Let's now alter these targets just for the remaining weeks of this year and let target for:
Workflow: buy milk - give milk to Mewo (the kitty) - have a happy Mewo!
Sometimes, being a project manager, you will either get bored or tired with the progress of your project. There is like a white or black situation (no gray). The problem is that the white is when you are getting tired (which means the projects goes fine) and the black is when you get bored (which again means that you might have your head on a plate soon!).
So, you go at work the morning (around 10h00 just to tease the rest that are going maximum at 09h15), you say "good morning" to everybody (which means you check who is there or not) and then you ask "how is it going" (which means you check the status of the daily tasks of your project). Then you smile or make some nasty comments, and off to your computer checking emails, news, blogs and so on. This is a nice job!!!
But then, what happens is that one day, your head (there is always one), will come and say "I need to see the progress now". If that person is not satisfied for about two to three times... you would have to check for a new project on monster.com wondering what is missing to you and you can't complete a project.
Actually there are two major things missing:
gain appreciation from your colleagues
be the project!
You may have as many certifications as you want and a CV of more than ten pages, but making happen the two abovementioned values, will bring the project and you on top!
Since I was a kid I loved lemon but never ate it, till the day I was in Napoli, and a friend of mine threaten me that either I will eat it ... or there would have been no nice Cucina Italiana that day... I was sure that you can only eat orange, but I finally I tasted it. It was a special selection of lemons that are those that they create lemoncello. Delicious!
Let's now consider of two major values: time and quality. It is said, that you need allot of time in order to achieve quality. Doesn't it sound like an excuse? There are certain quality patterns that by following them it can be assured that a) the expected quality will be achieved and b) the project will be on time. Let's see a nice method:
Planning
Doing
Checking
Acting
This is also referred as the Shewhart Cycle or the PDCA. Sounds simple? Let's start it!
A: finally I like them both, specially with hot chocolate on top!
White hot Chocolate with fruits (specially dedicated)
It's the end of the day... and suddenly I realized that I am going through many... but many websites, each day, mainly for information recall and business related websites. So I did an analysis to myself on what and how I spend my e-web-day.
My theory, the more you click ...in conscious ... the more you get information which means knowledge about your work and how you will improve it. Internet is a place that if you don't get better each day, then you will not get more benefits, and actually in small period of time your % incomes will decrease.
I found a nice recipe for white chocolate tart... click here
There is always a bright Sun behind the dark clouds!
Some months ago, we got a telephone from a customer saying: "Hello, I would like to get a price for registering a DNS through your company, could you give me a price?". He didn't want a web hosting, he didn't want a website project... just a name registration. The policy we follow is that we don't charge anything more than the nominal price, to our customers or sometimes we even do it for free when it's included in a project. The new customer was happy not because he didn't spend $10 more than the other companies asked, but because he understood that we are honest.
After twenty days, we closed a deal with the customer ... for $20,000.00
What matters in sales is:
Belief in your products
Accurate, Sincere and a nice designed marketing plan
I had an interesting lunch with a Public Relations master (lets call him StA) this week [Link: I - II ], discussing on how we are approaching and finally penetrating the market and also how we intend to expand Apogee's brand recognition. As I have already stated my three fundamental pillars are:
After a couple of minutes of silence StA told me, "you know what you miss? a clear and focused plan on how you will approach a targeted market. This will guide your marketing efforts not assist them". It took me some minutes to realize what he is saying... But it's true.
In a competitive world and e-world were many companies are desperate for our attention, there are only some minor details that define who is the best. Electronic and traditional Media exposure delivers credibility. But even more, consider who is accepting the information and then the value is increasing only if that person will be in a decision making position.
PR is one of the most highly effective ways to establish your business in a market. Placing articles in trade, business, and special- interest publications is an easy way to begin your targeted (?) PR efforts.
Being in IT I know that when you are dealing with large amounts of data you will tend to have some bizzare issues from time to time. Still, it seems that of all industries, credit card departments of banks are hitting me with the worst ways to present themselves as organized companies that a customer can trust. That bad thing is that with the explosion of services that one gets to use online these days I tend to use credit cards a lot.
Scene #1: The Reproducible Card I used to have a "regular" MasterCard. One day, I get a call being told that I'm a great customer and thus I'm going to be upgraded to a "gold mastercard" with a higer limit (almost double than the previous one). I would also get to keep my old card until it expired. Time went by, I got the "gold" card. Then my original expired. And then it was renewed. So now I have two MasterCards from the same company with a combined limit of over 3 times of what I had six months ago. A month after I got the new card I got call asking me if I received the new card and was happy with it. Meanwhile, another department is calling me from time to time asking me if I want a MasterCard.
Scene #2: The Card We Dont Want You To Use My father works at a bank (different from the one in scene #1, these issues tend to be affecting the entire industry) which entered the credit card market rather late. So they came out with a card having some excellent rates and my father convinced me to get one (as a banker, he hates any kind of debt!) So I got it. And used it to buy online some airline tickets for a family trip. After spending 200 euros for the first ticket, I tried to buy the second one. I then discovered there was some daily online spending limit. How convenient. And secure (you cant steal a credit card that is not used). A couple of months of barely using the card a bill comes and around 30 euros is the minimum required amount. With the usual speed of today's life I didnt get to pay it on time. So I try to make a purchase with it only to find out that despite having almost 2000 euros of credit, I cant use the card because I didnt pay 30 euros. At that point I put the card away for good...
What happens when you search for your company's name on Google? If you were used to having to worry only on what is being said about you in the real world, you now need to take a look on what's happening in the virtual one!
A few weeks ago a client faced this exact issue. A blog was writing about his company in a not very cuddly manner (to say the least). His initial response was "We're doomed!". This was partially true. Visitors of the blog had read the story and already commenting on it. In a couple of days after the next Googlebot pass the bog entry could show in search results for the company's name. And you cant change the page or have it removed. After all, it's content was somewhat valid.
The only choice was to respond. A mail was written and sent to the blogger explaining the other side. But more importantly, an official response was posted on the blog. Without even going into the content of the post, this move showed to visitors that the company cared about it's customers and valued every possible feedback. The blogger didnt make any comment about the official reply. Other visitors did though (and in a positive manner) and more importantly, the official reply is now there for anyone that stumbles on the page. The effect of the article has been greatly reduced.
Of course this is a continuing process. Do a Google on your company every couple of weeks. Check your stats for any referrers that you wouldnt expect. Be on alert and ready to respond!
When you started your business activity, the first thing that you checked was your competition. Actually what you did was trying to "imitate" your biggest competitor (I did...). So finally if you observe it in a different angle, that competitor, which you hated so much being the best and also many years in business before you... is your best business consultant! Why? Because when you started you didn't know :
the market
your products
your potential
they did though, and you learned from them. Also now, let's say that you are ready to start a business perhaps in Knowledge Management then check: Autonomy.
I feel that the main question of the majority of sales and business men is: how can I get this big project? In this process the only enemy you have is you. Consider this, a dog would byte you only if it would feel fear from your side. Let's bring this now in the sales situation. If your customer or partner would feel fear, then you loose the case because it means that you don't trust either your company or your products. And finally you don't trust yourself.
I will give you now two choices: change attitude or change job... you decide. Now if you decided to change attitude I would propose to follow this road-map:
Read what you sell and "feel" it!
Identify the key elements of your business and your products.
Identify your customers need (why else would they pay you?).
Be honest.
Think big and smile! :)
Today instead of flavor of the day I would like to share a certain emotion: Love. You can measure everything in this life, but this emotion! So, put some love in your sales recipes!
Yesterday was a nice day. I got to one of our customers, and I heard the following: you are great on support! I always smile, but that moment I felt proud of my partners, and I got a bigger smile!
Of course there is a special trick. We never leave more than 12h to respond to a case. We are not many (we will in time), but we are all more than able to be there, to understand and to control situations and bring the best outcome for both parties. Plus, we learn from our mistakes by first of all admitting that we do mistakes! There is a certain procedure that we follow on mistakes:
we identify the reason for that mistake
why we didn't see it
why we didn't avoid it (yeap it's different than the above)
what are the impacts - act!
what would be the best solution not to repeat it
And then after, we apologize to the customer/partner while we have already fixed (maybe spend a night) on it. I have been in situations that IT companies are trying to "blame" the customer somehow, that it was their (the customer's) mistake! Finally, those companies lost many of their customers.
So... be sincere, to yourself (company) and then to the customer and everything will run smoothly even in a crisis situation!
We always talk about business and how to expand it, create more revenues and so on. But who does the job? Simple answer... not you! Your employees, those that you staff or you order contracting. But what are the principles on how to treat them:
Be Flexible and understand. There are rules to respect and rules to bypass... a good manager should know how to act on them!
Treat employees like adults. Employees want to be treated as unique, mature individuals. Don't you want the same?
Convince them by actions of your understanding but define also their position and their limits. It's always hard keeping balance, but that's the beauty of HR!
In case you havent heard until now, Amazon has developed an e-reader device, named Amazon Kindle.
The $399 device allows you to read books, newspapers and blogs in an 6" e-paper screen. You can buy content by using the device itself which connects to Amazon through a wireless network. You can also access Google and Wikipedia (but just that) to lookup information and even read your documents (but you have to mail them to a special account and get charged a few cents per document).
Now Amazon is trying to create a lot of buzz on the Kindle, with CEO Jeff Bezos going on the front cover of NewsWeek, adding a personal note on the Amazon.com page, and apparently keeping a very low production schedule in order to produce the "we are so successful we have sold out" news headlines. The bad thing is that Amazon underestimated it's success. This created the ridiculous headline "Amazon Kindle sells out in 5.5 hours".
I'm not suggesting that the idea of playing with the availability of your product is bad, but 5.5 hours is so low it is actually negative. Companies are still supposed to have good estimation on their products' success. I wouldn't trust a company that failed in it's estimations so badly. Would you?
[which is the information and which the communication part?]
Yesterday it was a nice day. I participated in a conference for communication. No actually it was about disseminating information. No no ... wait... it was about communication. Or... Communi-rmation?
Information is the result of processing, gathering, manipulating and organizing data in a way that adds to the knowledge of the receiver. In other words, it is the context in which data is taken.
Communication is a process that allows organisms to exchange information by several methods. Communication requires that all parties understand a common language that is exchanged with each other.
I think the difference is obvious and simple. Communication is using Information and actually enhance it. But communication would be useless if there is no productive dialogue. It is noted that only 5% of all readers are going through the total of documents/articles and only 3% is absorves the information. What can we do to make it better? Dialogues! And internet is here to support it either by Fora or Blogs or even Chat.
It's a common conclusion, things are not as they seem to be! OR at least with marketing they seem better. Like the Bananoctopus, a used banana (Chiquita are my favorites) that you would throw it away, suddenly it has new meaning, because it has an unusual shape, an octopus (20000 leagues under the sea - The Legend of the Giant Octopus by Jules Verne), so it attracts your attention. But still, it's an almost worthless eaten banana. Great marketing for a bad product!
Now, talking about products, you, have a product. What are the values of this product? Forget about competition. Competition will always exist to make you work harder in order to enhance first yourself and then your company. Forget about taking euros, dollars, yens, pounds or name whatever else! That's not how business is done. Your product has ONE value and based on this value you can base your marketing and communication to the targeted niche and get results by providing this value to your customers. Simple isn't it?
Do you say no? No? Why not? Yes? How often? Most people just don’t say no. Why? Because they want others to like them! And they think that’s the way. But how about business and companies? How about your company? Do YOU say no? Do you say no to colleagues, to partners, to your boss or (even worse) to customers?
Admittedly, it's tough to say no to any customer, especially when your company is young. "What if there isn't a next sale?" But all sales are not equal. It's good business to turn away sales that aren't profitable, for example, or those that conflict with long-term goals. How about those that don’t really make money for you, or those that exhaust all your resources. Do you really have to take them? In some business, 20% of the customers provide 80% of the sales. Why not spend your time and resources chasing and satisfying those customers and not every customer? In INC.com you can find a sampling of “no-stories” by successful chief executives who said no and managed not to loose money, time, and reputation.
"The truth was, we were too small to fulfill that contract." "We probably know just enough about that kind of a sale to be dangerous." "The customer couldn't focus on anything but 'Do it, do it, do it.'" "I don't want to commit a project manager to something that might become a heartache."
But is it always a “yes or no”? How about alternatives? Ok, you don’t want to say no, then don’t say yes! Try to find an alternative solution. Something that will take the “burden” off of you but it will still satisfy your costumer. Be smart! Be creative! And most of all, stay on top of it!
A friend of mine from New York, called some hours ago telling me that she is having a really difficult presentation in front of the board of directors of an international company. The outcome of that presentation will determine if they will sign a contract with her company. Their are few tips that came to my mind:
Create a powerpoint presentation with four slides and only! Don't use not even one word, just images and arrows. You will find that it will assist you more than just reading.
Don't present yourself make a small introduction and get to the point, "we are here to discuss a)... b)... c)...".
Try to maintain eye contact. Not to just one of them, but all.
NEVER say mmm, aha. Use positive words and take small gaps if you need to think. Thinking is not a crime. On the contrary, they will appreciate it.
When you say something, you better mean it. Otherwise, it's better not to commit on something you can't fulfill.
Give room for questions. Dialogue is better than monologue.
Often, I get questions about the quality of websites. Most of the times I reply it's quite good. But... you don't follow some principles:
First of all, Quality means: Act + Plan + Do + Check (APDC) with the mentioned order. Most of the websites don't have a serious plan and they are not thourougly checked.
What I mean in plan is the WWW questions: "Why - Who - What" . Why you publish the website, Who is your audience / niche, What is your target. You don't just need to sell and provide your products / services but reassure that those will be of value to the public.
Now check is having three dimensions and you should put same gravity on each:
marketing
content
technology
Next one is the content and actually how direct you are. Take this an example, before we had:
Apogee is an innovative software applications development company. Based on the maximum utilization of the web platform, Apogee focuses on Intranet and Extranet modeling and enhancement. It was formulated and established in the middle of 2002 by distinctive and experienced Information Technology Professionals and distinguished Marketing and Sales Executives.
Now we have... At Apogee, we develop software solutions and provide services with a focus on covering the actual needs of medium/large sized companies and organizations. Since 2002, we expanded our provision of services in the majority of countries across Europe.
Finally... Gautama Buddha - Siddhartha said that "All that we are is a result of what we have thought". If you think that you are small, then you will be. But if you think you are big... then you will!
I was a kid, admiring my grandfather for his ability to create a perfect full Winsor knot. Of course, while trying that I was just destroying his ties... but again he taught me that a tie on me would be the reflection of my emotions, because it's in front of my heart! Today, I was to a customer's premises, and suddenly a person came by to let an invoice to be paid. He was a typical accountant! Thin and tight knot! Let's see some examples
well... thin tight accountant
thin loose, reporter
big tight, stressed to organize and disciplined manager
big loose, fearless manager
straight knot, trustworthy person
not straight to the left, a person that is always willing to help others
not straight to the right, a person that will take advantage even of himself!
Mostly what I do, is make without a mirror my knot, in order to check my emotional status before an upcoming meeting. In times that it's not successful, I revise my plan and strategy. It means that deep inside, there is something that holds me of being confident. So, I change it! By deciding to change it! And of course, always the full Winsor (loose) knot...
In Apogee my policy on sales is based on the fact that I trust that there is no limit. Each day to set targets and challenges and try to bypass the limits that even my mind sets, not to mention those of the market. It is also necessary to find people that share a common philosophy. People, that you can see in their eyes the fire! It's not that it's missing but it needs some more woods!
In sales it's important to feel proud and strong!
Try to remember when you are in front of a customer. Do you remember your posture? You should give importance to the following things:
tie in combination to shirt (don't wear red! it's provocative and not enthusiastic... who got that idea anyway.... My adorable combination is black and white or blue white or blue black.
sit comfortable as you have been there many times
don't be three dimensional! try to think also the past (your accomplishments and clients nature) and the future (the contract you will have!).
look straight and smile! Most of the sales persons look the client with fear, if they look at him/her and never smile!
Let's play a game. Take a post-it, write one sales target on it (not two...just one), and stick it behind your screen. After a week check what happened.
This time I was the one to buy! As you might have understood, mobility in Apogee is something like air for fire. Therefore, we need to arrange accommodation for our partners/staff across Europe. Of course we have an agency that we cooperate. After some calls of our administration, for a specific need of an apartment we had, and their let's say not-on-time-return-call, I called them.
10h30
Hello Mr. X, this is Mr. N. calling, how are you? I am calling for an apartment we need immediately and Mrs. M. told me that you don't have one.
Hello Mr. N. Yes we don't have one, but I can give you Mr. Y phone number, he also have an agency, and he might be able to help you.
10h32
Hello Mr. Y this is Mr. N. I got your phone number from Mr X. and I need an apartmnet
Could we meet at 11h30 ?
11h35
deal! I got the apartment
13h30
Hello Mr. N. this is Mr. X (the first one) I called you because I do have an apartment for you!!!
...
This is the perfect example of not calculating / understanding correctly your resources / capacity and furthermore giving your customer to a "friend".
Olga insisted that I give some tips on interviews. Let's see...
First of all, you need to understand for whom you apply for a position. It is actually for your benefit since you will work there, and if you don't like it, it will mean that at the beginning you didn't observe small things that would have annoyed you.
Who is the person that you are going to meet? Do you have some information about him/her? Do you know his/her position in the company? I remember long time ago I had an interview in front of a panel of five managers of an International company and I was prepared to answer with specific words to each one of them that they would expect to hear in order to be sutisfied.
Think: you don't have a second chance to make a good first impression.
Smile always. Have in mind your values, and how these values will contribute to the company. Never say negative comments about previous companies that you have been employed.
Be confident but not arrogant! I remember that many arrogant people left my office with the head down, because they didn't realize that are not perfect, and someone can spot those tiny details that will expose you!!!
By the way... I have failed in two job interviews and I tell you... I became a better person after that. It always matters how you will treat a failure. My choice was to become better as a person and as a professional and I thank those people for their behavior. What was yours?
There are fights that you will always remember! In sales, in management, in negotiations. In every aspect of your business life. I trust though that you remember more those that you lost more. Have you ever considered why is that happening? "My God! I won $1.000.000". "What was I saying?" "Oh yes... remember that time I lost $1.000??? That @!$%&# made a better offer than me and tricked us!" Yeap! that's exactly how you treat yourself! It is said that a miracle can remain in your memory alive only for three days. A sad situation maybe even for a life time! But why? Any thoughts? It's really simple!
Today is Wednesday. What do you remember of last Wednesday? It's only seven days away! I remember that we were not accurate in one offer we did. Nothing else. Then I search my calendar and I see that I signed two important contracts! No it was not Thursday but Wednesday!
The answer: When you loose... your ego is hurt! And our ego status is not under negotiation! Nobody is able even to touch it. Though! To loose is also a part of the game, but to loose means that your tactic and strategy was not correct. You may use such situation as a paradigm to avoid. Actually a path to win! What was your greater loss? Do you remember how you felt? Scary ha? In business there are only two options. Quit... or Conquer! What is your choice?
Hi! We again started re-designing our re-designed brochures! Yeap. Almost each year we change design. It's not because we like selling. It's just because we like creating! Yes we do have a lot of running projects. Yes we are close to deadlines. But what should we do? Not express our creativity for Apogee? But if we will not, who is going to buy our services? Who is going to say "ok, they care about their image, it's also nice , so I will have a contract with them! (repeat please)".
There is no discussion about changing logo or business moto. If you do it after four years of your business existence then you are out of business. But, to change design in brochure it's just ideal especially for potential customers that they come to your website, they download your brochure, they store it, they totally forget about you ... and then they return to your website and so on.
So, when exactly your last time that you spend on re-designing your brochure? And finally when you do that, don't use just some standard templates. Create!
Following the steps of Microsoft, Google continues it's expansion through acquisitions.
