techslog

I am currently reading a great book that focus's on intense listening. While intense listening is vital in my coaching practise, good solid listening skills are an important skill for any sales rep. Look at it this way-
Better listening skills = higher earning potential.

The book is called "Time to Think" written by Nancy Kline. I wanted to share with you some "pearls" from this in- depth book that can perhaps help you to be a better listener in your sales calls, thus increasing your earning potential.

Why you might ask should you be a better listener?

Simple grasshopper, because listening has been squeezed out of our lives both in our personal and professional spaces. If you create an environement in your sales call that offers the ability for your customer to speak freely, you are doing more for them than even perhaps their families allow.

Here are some important things to consider, listening involves at first thinking. As Nancy relates- everything we do depends for it's quality on the thinking we do first. Preperation for the sales call is important- knowing the company, their goals, their competiters etc , shows your knowledge of their organization and that you are not on the call for them to educate you in the basics. However, you are there to learn their needs, their wants and their desires. Ironically active listening can sometimes expose the real needs that even your client did not realize- as they are buried underneath "requirements" and other corporate stuff.

Listening- active listening can ignite their mind and allow them to see more of the potential of what they are trying to accomplish. I think we all have an example of a bad sales rep that comes into a sales call; vomits feature, function's and benefits onto their client and subsequently leaves the client with a puzzled look on their face and then tries to close for the next step in their sales process.

As the buyer, they see just another sales rep doing their "sales thing", and dotting the i's and crossing the t's. They are nothing but a live power point slide; presenting their bulleted points and asking what they think are good questions.

Now let's imagine the sales rep that comes into the call with the goal of establishing what Nancly calls a "Thinking environment" Where the thinking depends on the quality of our attention for each other. This sales rep is not "thinking ahead" in their mind, but engaged in the present- both physically and mentally. Your focus is on the buyer, hearing what they have to say and asking to clarify anything that you might not know. Asking to clarify does not mean you are not listening or stupid, but shows that you ARE listening and want to better understand the point your buyer is trying to convey.

This "Thinking enviroment" offers a place where good ideas can be produced, by BOTH parties, and the actions that come out of this environment are beneficial to both organizations, and as such the people involved flourish. This is the process of developing a partnership, a relationship that benefits both parties.

Again, why should we produce this environment for our customers? Because change is the nature of the beast these days in organizations, and the susequent fear that comes from these changes constricts our vision. Because this out-of-control chaos permeates our clients lives, it is really hard for people to have an enviroment that supports listening and subsequently thinking. Organizations are doing more with less, and frankly they don't take the time to think, they just do it.

While that slogan worked well for Nike; your tool for life is the mastery of the art of listening. It can be your silver bullet, golden egg and magic key all wrapped up in one. Your competitors maybe to busy chasing the next holy grail, but the ability to provide this environment will be priceless to you and to your clients.

Below please find some good articles that highlight listening skills and the value they can bring to your sales calls.

Give it a try on your next sales call, and be surpirised by the results. Happy Listening!

Hope Blaythorne

Better listening skills equal more money

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Despite recent improvements in the economy, the outlook for IT spending in 2007 calls for slower growth, particularly as it relates to investments in hardware. What's a hardware rep to do?

Forrester Research reports that overall tech spending will grow only 2 percent next year, compared with an estimated 6 percent this year and 7 percent in 2005. Capital spending, which Forrester is forecasting to be up 3 percent totaling $354 billion this year, will decline by 1 percent in 2007.

If you work in the hardware space, a new strategy might be in order, or a tweaking of your value statement to reflect your customers refocused IT vision.

If you are in the services arena, that is the area they peg for growth in the coming year. Solution Providors and integrators are looking at a 25 percent growth.

The reasons for the decline in hardware spending has more to do with lower costs for commodities and the current volatile energy costs.

Forrester predicts a slowing US economy that also transfers to the cutbacks slowing down spending.

Software sales are expected to continue to grow but computing hardware sales will essentially be flat. This forecast is the opposite to what market leader Cisco Systems is telling Wall Street: that it expects growth for the 2007 fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, to be in the range of 15 to 20 percent.

While there are always reports of declines and increases in sales, overall what I have seen over the past 10 years is that it can be regionally based as well as limited to certain vertical markets. Five years ago, I had some manufacturing firms that were frozen in their IT spending, while some services organizations were on a spending spree. Know thy territory and you can adopt your sales strategy to accomodate any bump in the road.

IT capital spending slow down

Hope Blaythorne

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Companies with the most effective and efficient IT organizations spend about 7% more on IT than median-performing companies, according to a new report from advisory and consulting firm Hackett Group. This is GREAT information for technology sales reps. Face it, there ain't no easy way to "cut corners" on technology and still expect to be competitive.

The study found that top-performing IT organizations spend more per end-user, but reap the benefits in reduced operational costs. This is a tremendous value statement if I ever heard one.

Hackett's study says that while the top IT organizations have 24% fewer full-time employees than median organizations, those smaller staffs are generally paid about 24% more than IT professionals at the other companies. So essentially those organizations that spend more money on IT, also budget IT dollars in labor to support their investments. Top-performing IT organizations also tend to outsource more than their peers, especially technology infrastructure and applications management, including development and maintenance- which would fall in line with focusing their IT staff on a core competency within their organization and outsourcing those labor or technology intensive initiatives.

Other benefits that these world-class IT organizations experience over the median performers are the advantages of efficiencies and effectiveness that tech-enabled automation and integration provide in other areas of the business. So not only is the impact felt in IT but also other business lines? Not a bad place for you to be supporting your position within an organization is it?

For more please read the entire article

Most Effective IT Organizations

Hope Blaythorne

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Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell on Wednesday said the world's largest software company is still expected to grow revenue 13 percent to 15 percent for the current fiscal year. With a sales force of over 16,000 people what will that mean?

Liddell, in comments at a CSFB technology conference, also said that he saw no reason the world's largest software maker would not continue aggressive stock buybacks. Currently Microsoft is ranked #2 by Selling Power Magazine in the top 500 largest sales forces with 16,000 sale reps, trailing only behind Pepsi (which has 36,000). But this ain't cola, this is technology, and with 39 billion in revenue Microsoft is now predicting another $5 billion for 2007?

Will there be more sales people added or will the existing 16,000 fork up the 5 billion by increased quota's? While Microsoft currently has over 31 account manager positions all over the country listed on their website, they also have 13 sales manager openings as well. But heck for a sales force the size of Microsoft- if they experience a 6% turnover in their force every year (average) your looking at replacing 960 sales people every year, PLUS the 2080 people they might need to support a 13 percent revenue growth.

In slides accompanying the presentation, Liddell also forecast fiscal 2007 operating earnings growth of 9 percent to 11 percent and earnings per share growth of 13 percent to 15 percent.

Shares of Microsoft rose nearly 1 percent, or 28 cents, to $29.67 in morning Nasdaq trade.

Microsoft CFO Forecast

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A recent poll of HR Executives conducted by Human Resource Executive magazine was quite revealing. Why is this important to sales people?

Human Resources is hot, and as such technology providers are responding with more and more solutions. And just in time, as the need for technology solutions in some organizations can impact the overall health and wealth of that organization.
As a salesperson, you might be selling into this marketplace. Knowing your buyer’s priorities can help you to better understand where your solution might work. Also, your technology might be able to address some of the top issues HR executives have on their plate.

Another perspective is that this information can be vital to how you may want to navigate your career right now, or better position yourself in the future. Know thy marketplace!

In any event the top 4 rated categories ranked by HR executives in terms of importance to their organizations success in the next 24 months are:

1) Talent Retention
2) Performance Management
3) Leadership Development
4) Talent Acquisition

When asked if these executives believe there is a “War for Talent” 60 % said yes.
45% of those polled said that they felt it would become slightly more difficult to attract and retain talent in the next 12 months- with 34% stating they plan to add 5% or less more employees. 67% also felt that they were somewhat effective in planning for future workforce needs.

The entire article poll is in the “Forecast 2007” edition of Human Resource Executive Magazine.

www.hreonline.com

Great resource for HR information!

Hope Blaythorne

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There's so much talk about emotional intelligence and how it can promote personal and business success. What is it really? What are its basic tenets?

Emotional intelligence is the capacity to recognize, understand, and manage one's emotions and that of others. This intelligentia concept focuses on the role of emotion in our daily lives and how it affects our perception, reasoning, and behavior.
Emotions are pervasive in our daily existence. From the time we wake up to the time we retire to bed, we experience emotions. We can get excited by the news of economic recovery, or we feel upset when our favorite team loses a championship game.

Moreover, we can get lonely when our friend of many years decides to look for greener pastures and we can feel anxious when our child does not get home on time after class.

So really, emotions happen everywhere and anytime. There is no day that passes by without emotions being involved. We experience emotions when; we win or lose, receive phone calls from long lost friends, greet our children good morning, say hello to our neighbors, prepare meals for our spouses, or ride the subway train.

Emotions are just as normal as the rising of the sun.

However, there are times when our emotions can become overwhelming and can negatively affect our functioning. For instance, anger is normal. However, the inappropriate display of uncontrolled anger can be destructive.

Let me clarify this point with a hypothetical situation. Richard, a relatively nice guy who works as a salesman, is married for 5 years with Cynthia. For the past few years, his sales have plummeted due to some unknown reasons. He used to be mild-mannered but lately he hasn't been the same.

When he gets angry, he just can't control himself. He yells, bangs the door, throws fits, and punches the wall. In addition, he calls his wife names and puts her down. Eventually, he has physically harmed Cynthia. Due to his uncontrollable anger and physically abusive behavior, Cynthia has decided to file a divorce.

In this example, Richard has failed to recognize his ongoing anger and its associated behavioral consequences. Because of his inability to recognize his anger and consequent behavior, he has failed miserably to contain his anger despite signs that his wife doesn't want to put up with it. In addition, he has failed miserably to recognize and understand the feelings of Cynthia. How could he? He can't even recognize his own.

Emotional intelligence can therefore become an important tool at home and at work. By learning its basic tenets of self awareness (knowing one's emotions), self management (controlling one's emotions), social awareness (recognizing the emotions of others), and relationship management (social skills), people can make use of the emotion to advance the positive cause of our families and communities.

emotional intelligence article

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This is a good article I found on the Brazen Careerist Blog. * While this article was written for corporate America in general, I will comment on areas I think could aid a sales person in gaining the job they desire.

Hiring managers don’t hire the most qualified person. They hire the person they want to work with the most. Whether this is fair is not up for discussion, because the philosophical and de facto practices of corporate hiring aren’t going to change any time soon. However, we can discuss how to get hired when being qualified is a small factor in the decision. * While what you just read may pertain to corporate citizens, sales people are hired because they can sell, and the more qualified and proven; the better. However, sales managers do hire the person they want to work with, and also who would be best on their team.*

Too many people have had slews of interviews with no offers. To be sure, you need to work at getting interviews, but you also need to work hard at turning an interview into a job. (Closing the sale) The skills to turn an interview into a job have little to do with having the skills to do the job, * UNLESS YOU ARE A SALES PERSON. If you can't sell yourself, than how will you possibly sell their product or service? This is your "test sales call" and how you handle this process will demonstrate your salesmanship and charisma.* People use resumes and phone screens to make sure someone has the skills to do the job. When you get to the interview, it’s usually about other things — such as the unquantifiable but all-important likability factor.

Here are six steps between landing the interview and actually doing it that will help you get an offer.

1. Research the company. * Research their Competition*. Comb through every section of the company’s site and memorize it as if you were cramming for a test. Unlike a test, though, you won’t have a chance to spout the six facts you learned about the company during the interview. * as a Sales Person you might want to develop a value statement to throw out there to show that you understand the company and the value they have in the marketplace*

Rather, there will be a random, fleeting second when a relevant fact you gained from the site will be the perfect answer to something the interviewer says. To find the right comment for that fleeting moment, you’ll need wide knowledge and good judgment. * as a sales person you will be impacting the bottom line, so learn more about their the finances of the company, as well as their past sales figures and their projected sales figures. Also learn more about their sales goals, and how the CEO wants to grow thier business.
The overall goal is to seem as though you are intimately aquainted with their area of business and you monitor the company independently of your desperate need for a job.

Favorite places to do reasearch about companies: TechCrunch (for startups), TechDirt (gossip for intellectuals), Fortune (to know what everyone else knows).
* also Information week, Computer week, and Techslog of course!*

*BEFORE THE INTERVIEW- Prepare your past financials- W-2's, Quotas etc. Companies are checking these like never before, hiring private investigators and other services to verify information. Be clear and concise and honest, as you maybe eliminated based on false information. *

2. Get the right outfit. Corporate America has a uniform; wear it. People like to hire people who look like them, and clothing is the easiest way to make this impression. An interview is not the time to dress to express your true self. In fact, no one needs to know your true self at the office. You will fit in and work best with others by keeping eccentricities to a minimum. Each company has a variation on “the uniform,” so loiter near the office ahead of time and spy on its workers to get a sense of the corporate dress code.

3. Prepare stock answers. Most interview questions are standard, and surprisingly enough, have standard answers. Take the question, “Why did you want to leave your current job?” The correct answer incorporates phrases like, “I am looking for a company like this one,” and “Your company offers a unique opportunity that is a perfect fit for me.” Learn these answers before the interview and be prepared to deliver them with a special flair, so they don’t seem rehearsed. *Practise answers to questions that might raise concern- quota issues, etc. Rehearse how you might answer having a job for less than a year issue etc*

There are three or four good books that list interview questions and how you should answer them. The one I have used successfully is, The Complete Q&A Job Interview Book, by Jeffrey B. Allen. Also, Perri Capell points out that your aswers should always be on message — speaking to most important points you want to make about yourself.

4. Go to the gym. Taking charge of the first 15 seconds of an interview is critical. An interviewer will judge you first and most significantly on non-verbal cues, and having a great interview outfit alone may not be enough to make the best impression. This is because thin, good-looking people are more likely to get hired than overweight, less attractive people. *Heck as a sales person your being judged the minute you get in the door. Treat everyone there with respect, from the janitor to the CEO- everyone loves a charming sales person.*

If you have scheduled the interview already, it’s probably too late to drop forty pounds. But go to the gym anyway. By using your chest and back muscles to life weights, you’ll stand up straighter in the interview - which shows poise and self-confidence. Also take a ride on the treadmill. The more energy you expend now the more relaxed you’ll be at the interview, and being calm will help you seem more confident.

5. Prepare to close the deal. Leave nothing open-ended when you walk out of the interview. This means saying at the end, “I would really like this job. Do you have any reservations about hiring me?” This is scary to say because the interviewer might have reservations you can’t overcome. But closers get the contracts, and you need to be a closer in interviews. Risk hearing any reservations about hiring you because it’s better to confront them and fail than to never try. You have nothing to lose. * This is a given in a sales interview- always be closing, even through the interview- even if you don't want the job. You can always decline later. Also confirm with them the hiring process- is there a background check, drug test etc. Set it up that day or ask to meet with the person responsible.*

When I tried this, the hiring manager told me her reservations (which were large). After I countered them one by one, she was so impressed that she offered me a job on the spot. But I also had done my homework. I knew what I wanted from a job and what were dealbreakers. And I had prepared extensively for the interview. Which leads me to my last point….

6. Practice, practice, practice. Maybe your friends will be helpful in a mock interview situation. Even if your friend does a terrible job pretending to be an interviewer, you get practice interviewing with someone who doesn’t know how to do their job. You can bet, though, that someone in the career counseling office of your college knows what they are doing in this regard. Career centers are evaluated based on the career success of their graduates, so most centers are happy to field your phone calls, no matter how long ago you graduated. Ask someone there to do a mock interview with you. The feedback you get will probably be very useful. *Also have someone work with you on objections and issues that you know you might have to address. Handle them cooly and calmly and keep closing.

*One more item I might add is follow up. A proper thank you is always in order. While you might not take this position, you never know where this sales manager will end up in the future and can be of service to you later. *

Brazen Careerist article

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IT must gain user buy-in, expand capabilities of tools, panel says

November 13, 2006 (Computerworld) -- SAN FRANCISCO -- Business intelligence technology is evolving from a tactical tool to a strategic asset as many companies look to it to help bolster enterprise operations, according to a panel of users at the Business Objects SA user conference here last week.

But making that shift requires user buy-in and an ability to offer BI capabilities to growing numbers of workers, the panel members agreed.

Jim Young, director of the information services group at Allstate Insurance Co. in Northbrook, Ill., said his company is looking to expand its use of BI to employees who work directly with customers.

About 33,000 Allstate workers already use BI tools from Business Objects to detect and analyze fraud, determine prices, process claims and manage the insurer’s adjuster workforce, he said.

Now, Allstate is working to incorporate BI data into the business processes of employees who communicate with customers through telephone or online call centers or in person, Young said.

“We’ve got the data, [and] we need to mine that data and get it into the hands of people who can make some good decisions about how to cross-sell our products,” he said. “Historically, we have done a great job of implementing BI somewhat tactically. Now, the opportunity is to start to bring together data from all the disparate parts of the company.”

Allstate gained user buy-in for its new BI plan after putting together a “road show” to let key IT and business users know how it would work.

“We needed to make sure there weren’t other initiatives going on in the company that would be derailed by our project,” Young said. “We started to bring in key contacts from different development groups and negotiate timelines.”

Douglas Chambers, administrator of the Office of IT Applications in the Georgia Department of Transportation in Atlanta, said 200 workers and managers at the agency are currently using Business Objects dashboards to monitor ongoing projects.

During the first part of 2007, the department will roll out the dashboards to an additional 2,500 users, he added.

“The dashboards allow upper management to drill down and see if a project is in trouble,” Chambers said. “They can see exactly what is holding that project up. [The BI tools] have made the folks at the DOT much more aware of how ... they directly affect those projects being delivered.”

Jonathan Rothman, director of data management at Emergency Medical Associates in Livingston, N.J., said the group practice of 250 emergency room physicians invested in BI tools after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The company uses the tools to identify potential disease outbreaks based on the symptoms of patients who come into hospital emergency rooms where members of the group practice. “Without BI, we couldn’t have done it,” Rothman said.

Nicholas Berg, senior manager of global business intelligence at Seagate Technology LLC in Scotts Valley, Calif., said his company now has three separate global production versions of Business Objects software in place — including a system used at Maxtor Corp. prior to its acquisition by Seagate in May.

The company plans to replace the separate versions and run the new Release 2 of Business Objects XI throughout the company sometime next year, he said.

Berg did suggest that Business Objects add guided analy?sis tools in a future version of the BI tool set. Such tools suggest solutions for problems that the BI software discovers — an important feature for companies such as Seagate, whose user base includes power users and novices.

“We need tools [for] that user who doesn’t know what the next step is ... to be able to guide them through to some recommended actions,” Berg said.
BI article

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SAP AG said today it is launching a new business unit that targets small and medium-sized firms.

Traditionally, the German firm sold its back-office software solely to large "enterprise" businesses. But in recent years SAP and competitors such as Oracle Corp. have expanded their market to include smaller companies in order to facilitate growth.

Today's announcement formalized that strategy, with the company appointing Hans-Peter Klaey as president of the new unit, Global SME (small and medium enterprises). Signaling the importance of the position, Klaey will report to Léo Apotheker, president of customer solutions and operations and SAP AG executive board member.

SAP Americas, the company division serving the United States, Canada and Latin America, has its headquarters in Newtown Square.

SAP's American depositary receipts, its U.S.-listed shares, traded at $50.67, up 7 cents, on the New York Stock Exchange.

Inquirer article

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Sometime soon you will be attending some training. It may be a one hour tele-seminar, a one day class, professional conference, or a weekend retreat. It may be something that you are paying for, or it may be something your organization is investing in. Whether you are paying the bill or not, you are making a significant investment of your time, energy and attention to participate.

Many people approach training as an adult much like they approached classes when they were in school - and those strategies aren't always the best ones to maximize the value from a learning experience. Regardless of the length, situation or topic, there are some very specific things that you can do to convert the experience into useful learning you can apply in your work and life.

Following are seven strategies that you can apply to convert your time and energy spent in training into real useful learning.

1. Have a goal. Been signed up for some training at work? Decided to attend a seminar on a topic you are interested in? Great! The first thing you should do in any case is set a learning goal. If you are already knowledgeable about the topic and have specific things you want to improve, setting your goal or goals should be easy. If this is training you are less excited about attending, or are unclear about, you can still set a goal like: "Learn one new thing I can apply at work," or "Meet one person I can add to my network." Having a goal and writing it down focuses your mind and will help you gain real practical value from any learning situation.

2. Take personal responsibility. Take responsibility for your own learning experience. The training may not be the most dynamic or engaging you've ever been to, but that is ok, because you have a goal. Make that your focus. Perhaps the trainer isn't going to cover that topic exactly. That's ok - use their expertise. Ask them at a break, probe for other resources. Stay focused on your goal. Your learning is in your control. Take responsibility for getting from the experience what you want and need.

3. Ask questions. Don't understand something? Ask for clarification. Want a little more information? Ask for it. A big part of being responsible for your on learning is asking question to get what you need.

4. Ask the Golden Question. The most important question is the one you won't likely ask out loud. "How can I use what I am learning?" This is the golden question because it helps us translate the learning to real life. Ask this question of yourself through the training experience. I keep a separate place to keep notes on the application ideas I get from asking myself this question when I am in training. This truly is the golden question. Ask it of yourself when you start to get distracted, ask it of yourself at breaks. Soon it will become a natural response and an amazingly valuable habit.

5. Learn from everyone. There are more people to learn from than just the speaker/trainer. The other people in the room can be a great way to learn. Tap into their experience and knowledge. Talk to the people at your table or around you. Think of them as peer coaches. These people can help you learn during the session and might become great people in your network after you leave. Be involved, participate and allow yourself to learn from everyone, not just the person in the front of the room.

6. Build an action plan. At the end of the training, build an action plan. Review your goal(s) and build a plan to implement what you have learned. Reflect on your answers to the golden question and resolve that you will apply those ideas too. If the training has been really valuable, you may have several ideas. This is great, but be realistic on how much you can apply at a time. Build your plan recognizing that you ay be able to implement some things tomorrow, but that other things might need to be spread out over the next week or more.

7. Teach someone else. If you want to really lock in what you have learned, share what you have learned with someone else. Talk to a colleague back in the office. Share the concepts with a friend. Not only have you helped the other person, but you have increased your mastery and clarity of the ideas in your own mind.

Bonus tip # 8 - Review your notes. If you want to really retain what you have learned for the long term, set up a process to review your notes. Review them the evening after the event. Review them the next day, and the next day. Then put a note in your to-do list to review them one week later and one month later. Each review only needs to be five minutes long. You are simply trying to build the concepts in your mind through repetition and giving your mind a chance to spark new connections and new ideas.

As you can see, these strategies don't require any additional monetary investment, just an investment of your focus and approach. Applying just one of these strategies can have a major impact on your results. Applying them collectively will put you among the learning elite.

Put these strategies some where so that you can review them before you attend any training event. Over time the reminders will turn these strategies into your own habits -habits that will help you move towards your goals and potential.

Lucy Doss
Manager - Training Coordination (Singapore) Oscar Murphy Life Strategists P Ltd 772, 10th Cross, 10th Main, Indira Nagar 2nd Stage Bangalore - 560038, India
Phone: 91 80 5116 1534 / 35
Email: omls@oscarmurphy.com

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SAN FRANCISCO - Cisco Systems Inc., the world's largest networking equipment maker, said Wednesday its first-quarter earnings surged 28 percent over last year as customers spent gingerly to upgrade their networks to accommodate faster Internet traffic.

Cisco also profited from its recent $6.9 billion acquisition of Scientific-Atlanta Inc., the world's second-largest cable television box seller, which added $584 million to Cisco's sales during the quarter. The deal closed in February.

Cisco's net income for the quarter ending Oct. 28 was $1.61 billion, or 26 cents per share, compared with $1.26 billion, or 20 cents per share, in the same period last year.

Quarterly sales for the San Jose-based company, which makes the routers, switches and other devices used to link networks and direct traffic on the Internet, were $8.18 billion, compared with $6.55 billion last year. Cisco also produces digital subscriber line and cable broadband equipment, Voice over Internet Protocol telephone service products and network management software.

Excluding one-time charges, Cisco would have earned $1.9 billion, or 31 cents per share.

The company was expected to earn, on average, 29 cents per share on $7.9 billion in revenue, according to analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

John Chambers, Cisco's chief executive officer, said in a conference call that Cisco is succeeding in convincing customers to think of the network as the central platform for communications and IT needs.

"The balance was amazingly good everywhere," Chambers said. "All elements of our vision have evolved as we thought."

Sales increased across the company's core line of products. Growth was particularly strong in emerging markets such as Eastern Europe, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, where orders were up over 40 percent, and the commercial and service provider markets, said Dennis Powell, Cisco's chief financial officer.

"It wasn't just one area that drove this," Powell said in an interview with The Associated Press. "We were hitting on all cylinders. Every product and every geography was performing extremely well for us."

Cisco expects the momentum to help drive 24 to 25 percent year-over-year revenue growth in the fiscal second quarter, which would translate to about $8.2 billion or $8.3 billion in quarterly revenue, Powell said.

Analysts said Cisco's broad-based growth reflected a general strengthening in the networking industry, as customers scramble to upgrade outdated gear and accommodate growing bandwidth demands.

"It's not quite the perfect storm, but a lot of things aligned nicely for them to be able to put these numbers up," said Zeus Kerravala, an analyst with the Yankee Group. "There was strength all over the place."

The results were announced after the market closed. The company's stock price gained as much as 9 percent in after-hours trading, rising $2.26 to $27.36. Cisco's stock closed up 26 cents, or about 1 percent, to $25.10 on the Nasdaq Stock Market

Cisco Article

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Business Intelligence Work Recognized

McLean, Va., October 23, 2006 – BearingPoint, Inc. (NYSE: BE), one of the world’s largest management and technology consulting firms, today announced it received the Oracle® North America Titan Partner Award 2006 in the category of Business Intelligence Solution for solutions BearingPoint has provided to clients over the last year.

The Oracle North America Oracle Titan Awards are awarded to a partner recognized as the leader in providing Oracle-based solutions and business practices developed or delivered during Oracle fiscal 2006. These awards recognize partner excellence in a number of categories, including sales, marketing and solution development.

“We’re very pleased to be honored for our work on innovative Business Intelligence Solutions leveraging Oracle applications and technologies as proven by our deep industry expertise to provide successful business intelligence projects,” said Robert Hershey, senior vice president and managing director, BearingPoint Global Oracle Solutions Practice. “We’ve strategically aligned our resources with the Oracle Sales, Strategy and Development teams to optimize our ability to collaborate in the development and delivery of innovative business transformation solutions. Our cross-competency teams have been working with Oracle extensively, giving us more experience on Oracle technologies, and helping our clients greatly reduce their risk. We’re in step with Oracle’s development processes and are a significant contributor to the development and roll-out of upgrades and Oracle’s Fusion Application strategy and business intelligence solutions leveraging Oracle SOA.”

BearingPoint’s Corporate Performance Management and Business Intelligence solution focuses on creating virtually seamless links from the dashboard to analytical tools; using intuitive role-based reporting, causal analysis and exception alerts; as well as generating standard static reports, real-time updates and links to email and other communications. As a result, an entire organization - from its chief executive officer on down - has a single point of access to an integrated dashboard of financial, operational and competitive performance metrics for its business. The solution also provides virtually seamless access to a range of management tools – all based on a consistent set of fully integrated enterprise performance data from all key transaction systems. With this capability, managers can readily measure and manage the key performance drivers needed to make coordinated decisions, support enterprise strategy and generate valuable operational efficiencies across the company.

“BearingPoint has been a solid partner, working closely with Oracle and our customers to improve access to data, develop insights from that data and to leverage results to create, sustain and build value – they impress us time and again with intelligent, innovative and out-of-the-box solutions,” said Rauline Ochs, group vice president of North America Channels at Oracle.

To deliver an integrated BI solution, BearingPoint took the lead in consolidating its Oracle, Peoplesoft and Siebel practices to create cross-competency teams to leverage deep industry expertise and further align itself with Oracle’s next generation solution set. The company has also worked with multiple clients to leverage required investments in compliance solutions to create competitive advantage. As a result, BearingPoint can deliver a highly customized solution, designed to meet varying business intelligence requirements. For example, Basel II compliance is particularly critical for today’s large investment banks in the financial services sector. BearingPoint combines its deep industry, business process, technology and implementation expertise to deliver an integrated solution designed specifically to meet the challenging requirements of this mandate, while delivering business value on an accelerated timeline.

About Oracle PartnerNetwork
Oracle PartnerNetwork is a global business network of 17,700 companies who deliver innovative software solutions based on Oracle software. Through access to Oracle’s premier products, education, technical services, marketing and sales support, the Oracle PartnerNetwork program provides partners with the resources they need to be successful in today’s global economy. Oracle partners are able to offer their customers leading-edge solutions backed by Oracle’s position as the world's largest enterprise software company. Partners who are able to demonstrate superior product knowledge, technical expertise and a commitment to doing business with Oracle qualify for the Oracle Certified Partner levels. Partners who are able to demonstrate the highest level of product knowledge, technical expertise and a commitment to business with Oracle qualify for the Oracle Certified Advantage Partner level. http://oraclepartnernetwork.oracle.com

Bearinpoint Oracle article

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The Brazen Careerist, Penelope Trunk, who writes a career column for the Boston Globe, has a new article out that offers some interesting tactics for job hunting. Here's a brief list:

1. Hire a cold-caller
2. Use proactive recommendations
3. Use job hunting software
4. Turn a nonjob into a job
5. Use social networking sites
6. Date someone with a network
7. Try U.S. Mail
8. Write a blog
9. Comment on blogs
10. Be nice

1. Hire a cold caller.
Cold calling to get a job really works–if you’re good at it. Your ability to sell yourself on the phone shows exceptional sales skills, self-confidence, drive, and commitment. But most cold calls are executed poorly.

Debra Feldman is a professional cold caller at Job Whiz; you hire her to get you a job, and she can do it. By cold calling CEOs. What’s the catch? She costs thousands of dollars. So consider teaching yourself the skill well enough to talk your way into a job where you can afford Feldman.

2. Use proactive recommendations.
Instead of waiting for a hiring manager to ask for references, have your reference call immediately. This works well if you have a heavy-weight reference, like a well-known CEO or someone who knows the hiring manager. But it also works well if you have little professional experience.

“The good employers have relationships with professors and they forward students who seem exceptional,” says Joel Spolsky, chief executive of Fog Creek Software and author of the blog Joel on Software.

Also tap your coaches. They tend to know students well after meeting daily for practice over the course of a few years. “A coach has extended knowledge of the students’ personalities,” says Tom Carmean, head lacrosse coach at Amherst University, who has given many references to employers.

3. Stay organized with job hunt software.
How many times have you put the wrong name on a cover letter? Forgotten where you applied? Forgotten what the job was? You need to be organized right off the bat – maintain an Excel spreadsheet with all your contacts.

For a serious job hunter who recognizes that a hunt never ends, you could try JibberJobber, which not only helps you organize your information, but can bug you about the things you should be doing but might not be, such as following-up with a phone call.

4. Turn a non-job into a job.
Many companies use temp agencies as recruiting firms. Instead of going through the interview process, companies sift through temp workers until they find one they like. So when you find yourself temping at a company you like, give a star performance; even if the work doesn’t require much skill, personality matters a lot in this sort of situation, so be fun and charming. And don’t be shy about asking for full-time work.

Note that this tactic will work for an internship as well. Matt Himler, a student at Amherst College, started out looking for an internship, and shifted his focus when he saw an actual job was a possibility. He now gets paid to blog for AOL Money & Finance.

5. Use social networking sites.
Some, like LinkedIn, are full of professionals who understand that a good job hunt is not an event but a way of life. Most of these people are good networkers and emphatic about making sure they are in a job they love; definitely the types you should be hanging out with, so sign up and create your own profile.

“Ninety percent of jobs posted at LinkedIn are associated with a profile,” says Konstantin Guericke, co-founder of LinkedIn. So you can find a job you want, then find a way to connect with the hiring manager through people you know, and you’ll have a leg up on the competition because – as if you haven’t heard this a thousand times – most people get their job by networking.

6. Date someone with a network.
Ubiquitous job hunting question: What if I don’t have a good network? Match with someone who does and use theirs. Kay Luo works in corporate communications and has an extensive network that she just forked over to her boyfriend, a software engineer. His LinkedIn network: seven people, including Luo. Her network: More than 100.

7. Use U.S. mail.
You’re probably not going to get past the automated resume scanner at a big corporation. Even qualified candidates don’t get through. So don’t even think about getting through if you’re not a perfect match.

Instead, circumvent the system with snail mail. That’s right. Go to Kinkos and buy some of that bonded resume paper that you always wondered who was using. Find the name of the hiring manager and send the letter directly to her. Chances are she receives 200 emails a day and one or two pieces of physical mail a day. So at least you know she’ll see what you sent.

Chris Russell, who blogs at Secrets of the Job Hunt, says this tactic also works well at a small company where you can target the CEO.

8. Write a blog.
Don’t tell yourself that blogs are for kids. They’re not. They’re for professionals to get noticed.

Himler, the Amherst student and AOL blogger, points out that blogging is very time-consuming, even for a college student. “College students are really into MySpace and Facebook. Blogging hasn’t taken off. But in five years my friends will go into a profession and they will want to get their name out there, and the best way to do that is with a blog.”

Himler fits in blogging with his full-time job of being a student and a lacrosse player, so consider that you might be able to tackle a blog as well.

9. Comment on blogs.
Realistically, most people don’t have the time or mental energy to maintain a blog. But you can target people you would like to work for and start commenting on their blog. Bloggers notice the people who regularly send great comments. This is a way to enter into a conversation with someone you want to notice you.

This is a good tactic for not just hiring managers but also a person in your industry who is well-connected and could help you if he knew you.

Michael Keleman, who blogs at Recruiting Animal, says that recruiters who blog regularly turn their commenters into job candidates.

10. Be nice.
People who are perceived as nice get hired more frequently,” says Robin Koval, co-author of The Power of Nice: How to Conquer the Business World with Kindness.

But you probably already think you’re nice. Most people do. If you get jobs easily, then chances are you probably are nice. Or so talented you can get away with being only moderately nice. But if your job hunting is strained, check out this test to see how nice you really are.

The good news is that just taking the test could make you a little closer to getting that dream job; Harvard professor Tiziana Casciaro reports that just caring more about being nice will make you a little nicer.

Job Hunting article

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ERP budgets are predicted to grow by 12.3 percent as we saw in the AMR Research article outlining their findings. While we would all love to see 50% growth, let’s put this into a different perspective and see how this growth trickles down the IT food chain.

Frankly when I see predicted growth in the ERP space, I realize the impact that growth has on all the technology sectors. Let’s take a simplistic look at the areas it can impact and the players in those categories-

Hardware - to host and support the applications.- Sun, Intel, Cisco, Dell, HP, EMC, IBM

Operating Systems/Database - upgrades might be in order to support the newer applications- Oracle, Microsoft, Red Hat Linux

Security - to allow the applications to run safely- McAfee, Symantec, Microsoft

Internet Infrastrucure - as more organizations want web applications Google, Microsoft, Mozilla. Core is strong, but last mile beckons for updating

Industry tools - cause as we know, one size does not fit all (To many to name)

Outsourcing - not all work will be conducted in the US on site, IBM, TATA, Cap Gemini

Consulting/Professional services - Accenture, IBM, BearingPoint

Training - transferring the knowledge of the applications IBM, HP,

Business Intelligence- metrics from these new ERP applications- Cognos, Business Objects, Hyperion

CRM - improving the customer experience- Oracle, SAP, Amdocs

The net/net out of any announcement regarding ERP growth is that it benefits everyone; from the recruiting agency that finds the talent necessary to implement the applications, to the hardware company and application provider, right down to the customer - who experiences the value in their investment.
As Sales Reps we know they would not be investing the money unless it gave them some “return”. Whether that return is aiding in their globalization or making their manufacturing “smarter” or just offering them more information, faster, so they can make the necessary decisions to run their business more efficiently.
What’s the old saying “Time is money?”

Hope Blaythorne
Techslog editor

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The new software lets bank managers tap into customer information to analyze behavior, revenue streams, and profitability by customer or groups of customers.

By Antone Gonsalves
InformationWeek

Nov 6, 2006 05:15 PM

Cognos Inc. has unveiled business performance software that the company says helps retail and corporate banks get the most out of their customer data.

The new Customer Segment Performance Blueprint, released Monday, lets business managers tap into customer information to analyze behavior, revenue streams, and profitability by customer or groups of customers. The analytics can then be used to target, plan, track, and measure new sales and marketing initiatives.

Cognos has a variety of blueprints targeting several industries, including banking and financial services, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and life sciences, the public sector, and retail. The vertical-focused software leverages Cognos 8 Planning and Cognos 8 Business Intelligence technology.

The latest blueprint provides bank managers with dashboards and reports to monitor performance, and analytics to help forecast profits and losses across customer segments. In addition, the software's initiative planning capabilities can help managers choose the most profitable products to promote within a customer segment, identify effective means of reaching customers, and provide simulations across multiple marketing initiatives to help choose the one with the highest predicted success.

Corporate and retail versions of Customer Segment Performance Blueprint are currently available. The new product follows by about six months the launch of the Branch Performance Blueprint, which helps banks optimize revenue and expense planning and reporting for bank branches.

Cognos is one of a handful of vendors that are providing a common platform to base their operational and financial planning, Ventana Research says. Those vendors also include Applix, Extensity, and Hyperion.

Cognos article

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Budgets will grow by 12.3 percent next year, thanks to factors like healthy IT spending, enhanced functionality, and continued interest from SMBs and midmarket companies.

U.S. companies will up ERP budgets by 12.3 percent in 2007, according to the "Enterprise Resource Planning Spending Report, 2006-2007," unveiled by AMR Research this week. The report is based on findings from 175 interviews with IT decision makers (predominately manufacturers) in U.S. based companies with more than 1,000 employees, according to the report. While ERP funding is expected to maintain its run of solid uptake, 2007's forecasted budget increase is slightly lower than 2006's expected budget growth of 14.6 percent.
Even so, Eric Klein, AMR research analyst and report coauthor, says that for the past few years the ERP space has been healthy. As for what's fueling growth in ERP budgets, he attributes it to several factors, including enhanced product functionality and solid interest from SMBs and midmarket companies. "IT spending as a whole is healthy right now," he says. "When IT spending is healthy you're going to see applications growth up and down the IT stack." He adds, "The two areas where we're seeing real movement and growth are manufacturing and supply chain and in those two areas specifically, ERP vendors are broadening their functionality there."

Purchasing (61 percent), inventory management (60 percent), order management (57 percent), financial management (53 percent), and human resources (46 percent) are the top five functional areas that are currently covered by survey respondents' ERP software. In the next 12 months, however, BI/analytics (25 percent), financial management (21 percent), and order management, manufacturing, and CRM from an ERP vendor (each with 20 percent) are the top five new functional areas that respondents contend will be covered by ERP software. It should be noted, however, that the remaining functional categories were each separated by no more than two percentage points from the next closest functional area. Companies designated BI/analytics as their most strategically important 2007 ERP software investment and the ERP software investment where they'll spend the most in 2007 (15 percent, 20 percent), followed by manufacturing (14 percent, 10 percent), and customer management (13 percent, 9 percent).

Globalization (15 percent) and lean manufacturing (14 percent) are the two most important business issues survey respondents intend to address with their largest ERP investments, just slightly edging past business intelligence and visibility and control, both with 13 percent. Companies tagged e-business as the next most important business issue they plan on addressing by leveraging ERP (10 percent), followed by consolidation (8 percent), supplier collaboration (7 percent), and shared services, outsourcing, new customer requirements, and regulatory compliance, each with 5 percent.

The report also examines companies' ERP vendors of choice. Unsurprisingly SAP and Oracle top the list. Fifty-three percent of respondents are using SAP and in the next 12 months 55 percent will be considering them, while 51 percent are currently running Oracle (including PeopleSoft and Siebel Systems) ERP offerings and 43 percent are considering them. Other vendors included in the report are (first number represents percentage currently using and the second is the percent that are considering the vendor):

Lawson Software (including Intentia): 11 percent, 10 percent

Microsoft Dynamics: 11 percent, 17 percent

Infor (including Geac and SSA Global): 10 percent, 17 percent

QAD: 7 percent, 6 percent

IFS: 5 percent, 7 percent

Epicor: 3 percent, 5 percent

Other vendor: 3 percent, 5 percent

Activant Solutions: 2 percent, 3 percent

Sage Group: 2 percent, 6 percent

While just 17 percent of respondents noted that they currently use a best-of-breed vendor, "best-of-breed vendors definitely still serve a purpose and they make sense for a certain type of company," Klein says. "It's not just SMB, it is enterprise in some cases. There are very specific needs that some companies have that aren't met by their ERP vendor, so the best-of-breed player will remain. The question is, will there be more acquisitions and consolidation in this space and that's something we always watch as well."

ERP Growth Article

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Skill level is dwindling and now this labor lake must be stocked through a better human capital investment, according to a new study from PricewaterhouseCoopers.

A good tech man or woman is hard to find, according to "Technology Executive Connections: Successful Strategies for Talent Management," a report released today from PricewaterhouseCoopers. The study finds that competition for highly skilled employees in the technology industry has never been fiercer, and most executives believe that this crisis is only going to become more severe in the coming years. As it is impossible for technology companies to create a larger supply of talented prospects, it is important for companies to better manage, retain, and nurture existing in-house talent.
The report states, "It's too simple to say that competition for talent is intensifying. It's not purely a numbers game today, but a contest for quality. Executives today are beginning to experience a painful scarcity for the essential employee: that talented, technically-savvy individual who can collaborate and manage change."

Scott Pollak, a director at PricewaterhouseCoopers, sites heavy growth in hiring in the tech industry over the past three years as a large contributor to the new talent drought. Additionally, he believes the shortage is happening to some extent in every industry. "There is an underlying need to determine how to better leverage workforce investment." Of the 153 technology executives surveyed for the report, 71 percent believed competition for talent to be more challenging in their industry than others. About half (45 percent) of executives reported tech talent to be either scarce or very scarce. In recent years many have looked to offshoring and outsourcing to fill in this gap, but those choices have not eased the shortage, according to the respondents. Forty-one percent of reported having difficulty finding tech talent in emerging markets, and 48 percent said that they ran into problems retaining this talent.

Although technology executives argued for the importance of investing in ways to harvest better technology talent, most execs professed an inadequacy in this investment company-wide. Eight percent of respondents said their companies' programs "very adequately" provide training for senior executives, 11 percent gave their companies high marks for addressing quality collaboration, and 14 percent said their companies did a good job at providing career development to all levels of the organization. The report asserts that the establishment of these career development practices must come from a managerial level.

Companies will put more resources into getting the best out of existing employees to best combat the skill level shortage, according to the study. Three-quarters of respondents said that this would be their top strategy, followed by recruitment from competitors (50 percent), outsourcing (49 percent), and recruitment from top schools (48 percent). The report finds that more companies are using tools like talent maps to properly answer the call for in-house investment. "The [marketing] idea that it's cheaper to keep a customer than to get a new customer--we see that type of thinking happening in the workforce itself," Pollack says. Becoming smarter and more metrics-based about employee management and quality will be crucial for the technology industry in the upcoming years, argues the report, which provides a final warning to all technology executives: "It is a near certainty that one or more of your competitors is spending large amounts of money, time and effort to enhance their human capital management."

Tech talent article

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The tool targets power business intelligence users, enabling them to view departmental data and write the business rules for linking intersecting data. The company has also licensed technology from Informatica to connect System 9.3 to transactional systems.

Hyperion Solutions Corp. on Monday said it has upgraded its System 9 performance management and analytics software with better integration tools and the ability to share data across departments.

Hyperion System 9 Release 9.3 also includes the option of delivering analytics through Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, and offers integration with Google's enterprise search appliance.

In bridging the BI gap between departments, such as financial, marketing, sales and product development, Santa Clara, Calif.-based Hyperion has introduced what it calls the BPM Architect. BPM stands for business performance management.

The tool enables business analysts, usually the power user of BI software in an organization, to get a view of departments' plans, reports and other artifacts and write the business rules for linking intersecting data. For example, marketing information could be synchronized with sales data, so both sides could get a view of information that affects both.

"You have a much more aligned view of performance," Srikant Gokulnatha, senior director of product marketing, said.

On the integration side, Hyperion has licensed technology from Informatica to connect System 9.3 to transactional systems, such as customer relationship management and enterprise resource planning software. As a result, Hyperion can offer tighter integration with products from SAP and Oracle.

Hyperion calls its new integration module Data Integration Management, which complements its master data management and financial data quality products. Collectively, the modules comprise Hyperion's Data Management Services.

Finally, Hyperion is giving users more options in how they receive analytics. Rather than requiring users to learn its Web-based UI, System 9.3 can deliver data to Microsoft Word, PowerPoint or Excel environments. In addition, strings of numbers can be dropped from Word or PowerPoint into an Excel document for further analysis. Word and PowerPoint are frequently used for regulatory and management reporting, respectively.

In addition, the upgrade provides integration with Google's enterprise appliance for searching reports and other information. For companies that have bought Google's product, the integration means Hyperion users won't have to learn the company's business intelligence query tool to find information. Instead, they can use the familiar Google search engine for any data source.

"This is how you make BI easier for the end user," Gokulnatha said.

Besides improvement to System 9, Hyperion also unveiled planning software for capital expenditures. The launch is the second product Hyperion has released as it expands its product line beyond financial planning and reporting. Hyperion also offers workforce-planning software.

Hyperion System 9 Release 9.3 is scheduled to be generally available in mid-November. Pricing starts between $10,000 and $15,000, which cover about 25 users.

Hyperion article

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Building off the Salesforce.com model, Workday aims to provide business software as a service.

People have been hearing tidbits about PeopleSoft founder Dave Duffield's next company for months. Now he's made it official. Duffield announced his new company, Workday, with a goal of replacing traditional ERP platforms with software-as-a-service tools.

Workday will take on the ERP market with hosted applications using a subscription-based licensing model. It will offer human-capital management applications initially, with finance management tools due next year and resource management and supply-chain apps to follow. It's a business model that Salesforce.com turned into a fast-growth strategy in CRM, and that major software vendors such as Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP have only selectively employed. But the complexity of ERP will likely make this area a tougher sell than sales force management and customer information apps.

"Not many people in this conservative technology environment dream of starting the next big ERP company," says Bruce Richardson, chief research officer at AMR Research.

Duffield, who describes the hosted applications suite as a "modern-day ERP system" isn't your typical startup CEO. The 66-year-old already made his fortune with PeopleSoft, which Oracle bought for $10.3 billion, so he was able to invest in the new company alongside $15 million in venture capital when he founded it with Aneel Bhusri. For talent, Duffield tapped some PeopleSoft refugees, basing his 65-employee company in Walnut Creek, Calif. The basic technology to build and run Workday's object-oriented business services was acquired from former PeopleSoft chief architect John Malatesta, who left the software company in 2000 to build the platform.

But the technology couldn't have been more complicated, Duffield says. That's where Ken Morris comes in. Morris joined Workday as VP and chief technology strategist in March 2005, and product development began that November. "I knew the technology because [Duffield] had started a similar project at PeopleSoft known as PeopleTools," Morris says. Though Duffield champions the software-as-a-service vision, he says bringing together people like Morris and Bhusri has been his main contribution. "I believe in people, and I'm willing to take risks," Duffield says. "Ken is the technology visionary, and Aneel the true market and business visionary."

The object-oriented software, which will be hosted in a third-party data center Workday manages, incorporates entities such as "employee" and business services such as "hire," which are managed by an object management server. That gives the apps flexibility and allows companies to customize them--something that's been difficult to do with many software-as-a-service applications. Companies will also be able to integrate Workday apps with other IT systems using XML and Web services, and they'll have built-in data encryption for data privacy and security. An Ajax-based user interface will be more interactive than other on-demand apps, Duffield promises.

Workday will also look to key partners for support. It will launch with integration to Automated Data Processing's payroll service. And next year, customers can expect Workday applications to integrate into Microsoft Office 2007 for Outlook and SharePoint portal.

Workday will build and market the Microsoft integration feature using Visual Studio to connect processes and information with SharePoint server, enabling various human-resource scenarios such as performance reviews, says Chris Caren, Microsoft general manager for office business applications. "These scenarios might involve Excel or Word, where you might want to manage and collaborate in SharePoint, and eventually write something back to Workday such as pay-raise information," he says. "You can also integrate via Exchange Server with Outlook so you can send tasks and alerts to individuals that Workday initiates." Workday expects to have the integration complete sometime next year.

Workday faces big challenges. This isn't a brand-new market like it was when Duffield helped to pioneer the rise of human-resource applications with PeopleSoft. It's mostly a replacement market--companies giving up packaged apps or programs developed in-house.

Workday won't have a problem securing the first 100 customers because some will want to become part of the new technology, says AMR's Richardson. But will Workday be a $500 million a year company in five years? "It seems like a stretch," he says. "Yet at the same time, look at what Salesforce has done with a much simpler application, CRM, and it now has 500,000 users."

It's too early to tell how the vision of Duffield and Bhusri will resonate with companies. So far, Workday has two customers: Biosite, a 1,500-employee company that develops diagnostic equipment for laboratories; and Kana Software, which provides managed services

workday article

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It’s the age-old question in sales: Are great salespeople born or made? Toss that question into a roomful of sales executives and you’re guaranteed to get some lively discussion on the issue. And for good reason: the question has implications for everything from hiring to training to coaching – in short, everything within the purview of the sales manager hinges on the answer to this single question.

Historically, executives have been split about the answer, but that’s starting to shift. According to Proudfoot Consulting’s 2006 Proudfoot Productivity Report, 63 percent of executives polled now believe that a good salesperson is made. And that conviction puts some real pressure on the shoulders of sales managers, who have first-line responsibility for making great sales reps.

If you’re not among the 63 percent who believe good salespeople are made, it may be because you aren’t giving enough attention to the three things that build a rep’s performance: training, coaching, and a defined sales process with metrics and standards. Don Hammalian, head of sales effectiveness practice at Proudfoot (and a confirmed member of the 63 percent club) says the biggest gap he finds, and finds consistently, is in coaching. How big is the gap? In roughly 85 percent of the companies with which Proudfoot works, sales managers are spending just 2 to 3 percent of their time coaching. Furthermore, company leaders are unaware of the gap. CEOs assure Hammalian all the time that their reps are “absolutely being coached by their managers,” but when Hammalian asks the reps whether they are coached, he usually gets a blank stare.

One of the key implications of the born-versus-made question is that managers need to spend more time coaching their people. While there’s no magic formula, Hammalian says he advocates devoting one full day a month to coaching each rep. That means if you have 10 reps, you should be spending 50 percent of your time coaching, assuming a 20-day work month. Think that’s a lot? Hammalian once met a district sales manager who bragged that he was the best manager; that no one in the company came close to the results he and his team achieved. A skeptical Hammalian asked the manager what set him apart and why he thought he was so much better than his peers. The manager’s answer: he spends 75 percent of his time coaching his people and as a result their performance is unmatched.

Still, coaching is just one piece of the puzzle when you buy into the view that good salespeople are made. Another piece is training, and Hammalian says the born-versus-made question puts the spotlight on the need for good, consistent, and reinforced training. The third piece is having a sales process and a management operating system (MOS) in place to measure progress. An MOS, explains Hammalian, is a combination of reports, controls, metrics, and standards that support the sales process. It’s a system that measures key performance ratios such as the number of phone calls you need to make to get a prospect, the number of appointments you need to get a presentation, the number of presentations you need to make to close a sale, and so on. “It’s about converting a company’s goal into numbers, then measuring progress along the way,” says Hammalian.

Three-quarters of companies don’t do a good job of managing in this proactive way. They get close to the end of the quarter, realize they’re 10 percent behind their goal and urge everyone to “get moving!” Instead, Hammalian says that if your goal is $100 million in revenues this year, you should know from your MOS that you’ll need, say, $500 million in your funnel, then you need to manage that funnel and manage your people on a daily and weekly basis so that activity targets are reached.

When you combine this kind of management of targeted activity with consistent coaching and regular training, you’ll see – as Hammalian has with his clients – revenue improvements of up to 40 percent in a year. And you’ll soon find yourself siding with the 63 percent of executives who believe good salespeople are made.

For a complete copy of the Proudfoot Productivity Study, visit www.proudfootconsulting.com.

Best Reps Born great article

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Gartner, the world’s largest high tech analysis firm, is a cheerleader for high tech, so when Gartner starts saying that C-level executives are getting fed up with IT, software sales reps need to take notice. For years, high tech (in general) and software (in particular) have enjoyed extremely good reputations as valid corporate expenses. If that’s changing (and evidence suggests it is) you may need to help your customers conduct some damage control and help them reposition IT for future growth.

Here’s the background. Gartner recently issued two separate reports that question the reputation of IT as a major contributor to corporate success. The first report determined that 80 percent of what companies spend on IT doesn’t directly contribute to business growth or enhance competitive advantage, and is therefore “expendable.” The second report pointed out that IT is seen as a waster of electrical power – a perception that would have been impossible in the heyday of the dot-com years.

In the first study, Gartner’s research indicated that at least two-thirds of all IT spending is just to sustain the business rather than to change or transform the business. In most companies, the investments allocated to do new things and to change the business were typically no more than 20 percent. Even worse, the investment in innovations which could transform the business turned out to be even less.

If that’s true (and it probably is), it could spell bad news for software sales, because the purchase of software has always been based on the idea that innovation provides competitive advantage. If C-level executives start believing that IT expenditures simply allow their companies to “run in place,” there’s a strong likelihood that IT groups could experience budget cuts that would damage future software sales.

Gartner IT Backlash article

In the second study, Gartner discovered a growing perception that IT centers waste electricity. Turns out that the benefits IT equipment provide to companies are outweighed by its power consumption. Gartner said two factors in this controversy are particularly visible to policymakers; the direct issue of electronic waste and the potential impact - caused by the electricity that computers consume - on global warming.

According to Gartner chief of research Steve Prentice, “Technology's clean and friendly ‘weightless economy’ image is being challenged by its growing environmental footprint…IT also has to face mounting concerns over spiraling electrical power consumption.” Now, that’s a pretty big change in perception from the 1990s, when IT was universally perceived as a surefire investment with extraordinary ROI.

In other words, if you think selling software is hard today compared to the dot-com days, it’s likely to become even more difficult in years to come. It is therefore in your best interest to help your customer contacts in the IT group better position themselves and better target their software investments. Gartner recommends three approaches:

Intelligent Reinvestment. When IT leaders save money, encourage your contacts to immediately tag that application area for future investment in order to achieve a particular strategic business goal. In other words, don’t think that merely cutting costs will be enough to justify future investment.
Seize the Day. You should help your IT contacts identify key business initiatives and provide them with the expertise they’ll need to achieve them.
Make the Connection. Always make sure the value that your software provides to the customer is measured, discussed, and managed – not in discrete project packets such as return on investment (ROI), but with an eye on linking and integrating the technological past, present, and future for your enterprise.
In short, you must help your IT customers demonstrate that the IT organization is managing its assets well and helping the business provide more effective oversight and allocation of IT resources.

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REDWOOD SHORES, Calif. 01-NOV-2006 Oracle today announced that finalists in the Gartner CRM Excellence Awards are Oracle(r) Siebel CRM customers. Oracle customer BNSF Railway was awarded top honors for demonstrating excellence in the CRM initiative for "Excellence in Enterprise CRM." Winner BNSF was presented their award during Gartner's CRM Summit, held September 11-13 in Chicago.

Finalists for the "Excellence in Enterprise CRM" award were selected based on the performance and results generated from a CRM initiative that spanned multiple functions of the organization. The three finalists honored in this category included Siebel customers AIS, BNSF and HP.

"The Gartner CRM Excellence Awards are a benchmark for success in the CRM industry," said Oracle Senior Vice President of CRM Products Ed Abbo. "We believe Gartner's acknowledgment underscores how Oracle Siebel CRM enables companies to adapt to the constantly evolving needs of their customers. Our customers can rely on us as we enhance and evolve their software investments so they may continue to implement innovative, customer-centric strategies."

Gartner CRM Excellence Award candidates were evaluated on their ability to demonstrate excellence in CRM implementations as well as execution and support for using CRM applications and strategies to deliver a dramatically improved customer experience, while powering growth in both revenue and the customer base.

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Oracle CRM awards article

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