The value of a salesperson to their customer is not in what they know about their products, but the questions that they ask. Ask great questions, make your customer think and you will differentiate yourself from all other salespeople... and you will be asked back.
However, to be able to ask great questions, you need a lot of knowledge about your customer, their industry, your products, etc… it’s by asking great questions that you demonstrate what you know rather than tell them!
Lastly… act like a walking talking brochure and you add no value!
Links:
http://www.firstborder.com/sales-blog/
If you are not passionate about what you are selling you will not be successful so rather than take the job with the highest target income, take the job that will excite you on a daily basis
Successful salespeople in B2B listen and hear the needs of the customer. Once you understand the pain points of whomever you are selling too, you can adjust your sales pitch to a conversation that the customer feels comfortable being involved in.
Outstanding sales people use the 7-agreement point approach. Usually, once you get a customer to accept and verbally agree to seven statements or questions, they are then partially conditioned to continue agreeing with you provided you don’t oversell. Note: using more than 7 agreements can backfire if the customer becomes aware of your sales approach; this happens when salespeople start using phrases such as “Wouldn’t you agree………..blah blah……….”.
As Colin mentioned in his earlier response, the quality of your questions determines the quality of your results. Questions are the answer. That's one very good "secret" (it's only a secret because most salespeople are terrible listeners and love to blather on to demonstrate how much knowledge they have).
Another "secret" is to establish strong rapport with your prospect or customer. Connect on their level by finding common ground. I'm a national sales trainer and success coach (SalesAdrenaline.com) and a few hours ago I was doing a book interview with my seatmate on a plane to New York. He mentioned that he'd made a sales call on a prospect the day before -- a "cold fish" prospect. The guy was stand-offish, guarded, and wouldn't open up.
As soon as the salesman took an interest in the prospect's "low rider" car collection in the back of the warehouse, the mask came off, the ice melted, and the prospect invited the salesman to lunch next time he was in town so they could talk business. Sudden interest in the salesman and his product.
Why? The salesman became interested in his prospect as a person, NOT merely how the prospect could benefit him financially by buying. And the prospect could sense it. The natural response was for him to warm up and open up.
Create unshakeable rapport by finding common ground and remembering that people buy from you for two reasons: they like you and trust you. Not because you're the best or offering the lowest price.
I would go so far as to say that if you start focusing on establishing incredible rapport, to the exclusion of any other "technique," your sales could easily double.
Scott Sorrell
"Mr. Charge Higher Prices"
Links:
http://SalesAdrenaline.com
The fine line between being a "Salesman" and an "Order Taker" is a very fine line. Some assume that because they are able to make a sale in any capacity, that they are a salesman. The difference lies in your ability to act as a consultant more than a "Yes" man. You're job is not to get the sale, that's honestly the easy part if you've done your qualifying. The object is to see if it's a win-win for both parties.
By acting as a consultant you will begin to ask questions instead of pitiching "points". The best questions don't have a yes or no answer but instead open the client up to explaining exactly what their expectations are for your product. Your goal is to find more "benefits" of the product or service than "liabilities". A customer has to feel justified in their purchase, no matter what the cost. Body language can not be overlooked in a face to face sale but for phone based sales, listening to key words and terms that the client uses will help guide you as well.
I do my best selling when I feel confident in my product as well. You can know your product inside and out but unless you really know what your prospect actually does in their day to day operations and what their challenges are, you'll never have the confidence to properly align your product or service to their needs.
One word: Attitude
Two words: Listening skills
Three words: Ask them questions
Four words: Why should they bother?
Five words: What's in it for them?
Six words: Walk in their shoes for a day.
Seven words: Never stop learning new skills and techniques
Eight words: Treat others as you want to be treated
Nine words: Selling on value beats selling on price big time
Ten words: A price is to expensive until the value is rekognised.
Links:
http://www.remborpartners.com
This is a big subject.
The sales technique will vary considerably depending on the complexity of the product(s) being sold and the level of responsibility the salesman must take for after sales service and support.
Do not assume professional selling is something that fits onto a page of glib phrases containing implications of celestial guidance. Mostly ( especially at the refined level) it is learned and taught in the field If anything teach your students that first off.
In addition different salesman personalities manifest in a sales situation in different ways. There is rarely just "one way" to sell.
Salesman sophistication increases ( roughly and their will be some exceptions) in line with the value of the items to be sold. So a salesman selling $100 laser printers is typically not as sophisticated( or does not need to be) as one selling multi-million $$$ IT systems.
If there is any "secret" it is to comprehensively understand the customers wants and needs and to satisfy them within time and budgetary limitations.
No magic bullet exists, it is hard work, dogged perserverance and constant learning for most continually succesful salesman.
If you would like to contact me directly with more specifics I am happy to write a short paper on the subject if that will help.
I agree with Trish - you must be passionate about what you are selling. You must beleive in the product/service and it's ability to make a positive contribution to your customers business. Listen to your customer, and provide SOLUTIONS, not just answers. Also - follow up is just as important. You need to establish a relationship with your customer. This not only proves that you are not just "in it for the sale", but you care about your customer and want to help them. This also leads to referrals and future orders.
rearrange the word 'silent' and you have the answer
I am a firm believer in knowing your customers business as much as you can, and providing a solution that will help them earn more revenue, not simply cut costs. If you can be your customers trusted partner, they will buy more and more often from you.
I would tell them the following: smile authentically, have a positive attitude, look to be a servant, learn to ask great questions, learn to listen and take courses in social behavior, psychology and communications. While in school write down the name of everybody they meet, where they are from and communicate with all of them often.
There are no secrets to good salesmanship. There hard and soft skills required to be a good salesperson are well documented in two excellent books -
Strategic Selling
Conceptual Selling
both by Miller Heiman. Nothing else I have read or heard comes remotely close in terms of completeness on the subject. No drivelling hyperbole; just honest facts and methodology
Sales is not synonymous with Marketing, nor is it being a professional visitor. Many non-sales types lump Sales & Marketing together. Also, many well-intentioned salespeople try to visit their way to success. Sales is going out, killing something, and dragging it back to the cave! It is not putting a company message out and hoping that the audience hears and responds.
You better understand the characteristics of a prospect. Otherwise, you’ll spend inordinate time and effort chasing people from whom you have no hope of securing a sale! Identify and secure an audience with qualified prospects. Once in front of them, sales is more about LISTENING than TELLING. A prospect must have a need/problem for which you have a solution. By asking the right questions, you can assist the prospect in recognizing/identifying their problem, along with the cost of not making a change. By assisting (pronounced “leading”) him, you allow the prospect to take ownership of the problem.
If you just tell him he has a problem, he feels no pain. Pain is the motivator for him to exchange money for a solution. Changing suppliers, carriers, homes, cars, jobs, whatever, is uncomfortable and inconvenient. To succeed, you must show that the cost of NOT changing (not buying) is higher than the cost of CHANGING (buying). Use what Zig Ziglar called “emotional logic” to move the prospect to the desired conclusion.
OTHER THOUGHTS:
You’re not there to educate or befriend them. Don’t fail because of ego or trying to impress them with what you know. You’ll starve if you’re easily sidetracked.
From author Dan Kenney: develop a USP (Unique Selling Proposition). “Why would I buy YOUR widget from YOU?” Until you can answer that, stay on the porch! You’re not ready to hunt with the big dogs!
Role-playing (practice) stinks and EVERYbody hates it! It’s “embarrassing” and “SO unrealistic.” Video taping it is even worse, as it captures every stupid mannerism and mistake. That said, IT IS ABSOLUTELY VITAL to success! Why burn a good prospect just to get a little practice and fine tune your presentation?!? Sales is a profession, not a pastime or hobby. Golfers analyze their swings. Lawyers stage, tape, and analyze mock trials to improve themselves. Football teams watch hours of tapes – of themselves and their opponents – looking for weaknesses in both.
That brings me to a final thought – know your competition! Use that knowledge to beat them (without running them down). Know his reputation, guarantee, terms and options, and techniques. Know his strengths and weaknesses. Use his own contract or guarantee to beat him!
We developed the educational component of the Global Sales development Series for the Sales Club at Sloan. I'd be happy to share what some of our students and corporate clients have told us about the secrets to good salesmanship and how they've learned by doing, not just reading.
Please let me know the best way to reach you live.
Links:
http://www.bashostrategies.com
My experience selling software and software services:
1) find out who has the real power to make the decision. Focus your attention on them (fawning a bit). Don't get distracted by non-decision makers unless they will be champions (see below).
2) sell the solution not the technology (what can it do for them personally, not focusing on what the functions are or what the guts of the software are).
3) listen to them. Give them a chance to blather on about personal topics and be a good listener. This will make them feel good about your relationship and give you ammunition to strike up conversations later. (How's the boat treating you? Is your boss still giving you grief for no reason, etc.)
4) find a champion besides the decision maker. If there is a sympathetic ear in the room who isn't the decision maker, take advantage of that and find out why. Use that info as more ammo. They will be your "mole" on the inside who can keep you abreast of progress with the sale and let you know if it is headed south and why and what you can do about it.
5) cut your losses if the prospect looks unwinnable. I called these my "c" prospects (vs. my As and Bs). Walk out as quickly as possible and get on to the As and Bs. There are many fish out there to catch.
6) sell them something small that makes them happy. Once they are used to buying from you, they will buy more. It is easier to sell a $5000 product that you know will run correctly than a $500,000 product that will be rife with user bugs/issues. Once they have implemented the small product, and are happy with it, they are accustomed to your brand (and your user interface if it is software) and will have a halo effect around the rest of your product line and will trust your salesperson as well.
Good luck!
Greg Rose (grose at wsu.edu)
I have sold industrial gases, oriental rugs, and fine craft. It doesn't matter what you are selling. Good salesmanship comes down to the following:
1. Listen.
2. Listen
3. Listen
4. Ask open ended questions.
5. Learn about their needs, in depth before you tell them anything about yours.
6. Listen.
7. Have a deep knowledge of what you are selling. But keep it to yourself unless it is useful to the customer. They don't want to know how smart you are. They want to know if your product or service meets their needs. The best way for you both to know that is to....
8. Listen.
9; Don't be afraid of the silent pauses.
Links:
http://www.judydunn.blogspot.com
Listen...alot. Find out what the problem is. Show them how you can solve it, or recommend someone who can. The latter option generates a lasting relationship, referrals, and sales.
The most important thing to remember, when the client says "yes", the sale for them has just begun. It's what you do after you get the "yes" that defines your success.
(connent with me wsharris1@yahoo.com)
Know your product and your customer. It may say something about that in the book, but the market is made up of living, breathing individuals.
When I was 22 a salesman asked which age group I belonged into, but volunteered 35-50 for me. I shaved the next day, but I was deeply insulted.
For instance, I accidentally listed a book title that offended some of my readers, so they left my list. I instictively knew I shouldn't have listed it, but traditional marketing wisdom says more choice will bring more customers.
But many customers are looking for a buying experience, not just a product. They like buying from a person who has the same taste they do, who knows their stuff.
Sure, we go to Tescos or K-mart or McDonalds for something quick and cheap, but we often prefer to talk to someone who knows what they're selling.
So there's a tradeoff. Expertise? Buying experience? Price?
And another thing not listed in supply and demand is that too cheap scares away customers. The old textbooks I used to see said that cheaper got more people. Simply not true after a certain point. Most people are scepticle of anything that is too far below the market norm.
Knowing a product isn't hard. If I was a homeless man selling the big issue, I'd just look at the table of contents, find an interesting story, read it, and shout out some highlights. Instead they just say "big issue" in monotone.
Knowing the customer requires research, and listening skills. Remember, the individual doesn't almost fit what research suggests. So listen, listen, listen
Everyone has talked about what to do once you get in front of the prospect and I agree with all of it: listen, pain is the motivator, know your product, know your prospect and know your competition.
Two aspects of sales that have been particularly beneficial to me in my success are organization and follow-up. They may appear to be too elementary but have proven to be very important to me. You will have to have both of these to consistently get in front of the prospect and to sell.
First, organization. Whatever your industry and whatever your product, you need to find an existing system or develop a system that will allow you to keep up with your clients, your contacts and your prospects. You need to know when you contacted them last and what you said/did. Then, when do you need to contact them again and with/for what. I used to think I could remember all of this information, however once you get a long list and make many contacts every day (and get older), it gets harder to remember the details - and the devil is in the details.
That leads directly to follow-up. You will have several levels of contacts, potentially as follows: buying, ready to buy, thinking about it, call me in the next cycle, etc. With each level of contact, you will have a different set of follow-up procedures, templates, letters, etc. and you have to be able to keep up with all processes and issue all follow-up appropriately and timely. By the way, a thank-you note is a great way to start that follow-up process. It is so easy, yet so few people do it and it means so much to the prospect.
Happy Selling
Be tenacious. Busy decision making people actually appreciate it when you call and leave messages. They let you know that when you finally reach them. Call at all hours. Call just before you go home.
Keep in mind if you are leaving a message and the message is not getting returned, you need to leave a better message.
Read Jeffrey Gitomer - his books are VERY tactical and very useful
Humanize your web meeting, Show a picture of yourself in slide. Give credit to your team. My third PowerPoint slide in is a picture of my customer support group.
Provide regular updates of products, pricing, being in the news. Be your own marketer by consistently being in front of the person. You can't make a person buy sooner but you can be top of mind when a decision is ready.
Provide proof sources that directly relate to their business and do so on a consistent basis.
Create a distribution list of users/prospects for educational purposes - I work with ever major US newspaper's graphic editor. Examples of our work (oblique aerial images) are published regularly as an "infographic". When my work is published, I send it to show the users "here is how its done" and encourage them to send along their examples. They do so often. We all learn what how to use the product - helps me in my sales to ID new uses and helps my customers/prospects learn the product first hand.
Client gifts - If you can afford it, something other than a card for the holidays. My all-time favorite was Xmas wrapping paper with bows, ribbons, the works and arrived just after Thanksgiving. Lasted for years!
Give them referrals and don't ask for one in return.
Be bold in your love of the product. I use to think that having a famous quote in a signature was just "off". Here's my original "There are two types of people in the world. Those who love Pictometry. And those who will." - Jeffrey Marcus
Since I have added that to my signature, I have got compliments many times over from customers and prospects a like. If you are reading this and use it, I want a royalty!
Be productive during work hours - do not get bogged down in smoke breaks, internet surfing, long lunches (or lunches at all), hallway chit-chat, organizing football pools, non-sales company events. All of this will eat away at your time and it is that time you cannot get back. Time = $$.
Return request for information calls immediately. Don't wait - do it now.
Keep your family happy with the hours you are keeping. If they are happy, you will be productive and successful. If they are not....
If something goes wrong during the presentation, your customer likely does not know it. Don't point it out - just move on.
Be humble. Every day I say or write "Thank you for the opportunity" as we go down the sales path. People appreciate it and I appreciate them letting me be part of the solution.
As a person I greatly admire once said about business in general. "It all starts with sales and ends without them."
Cheers!
Jeffrey Marcus
www.pictometry.com
Oblique aerial imagery that is measurable
Jeffrey Marcus also suggests this expert on this topic:
Everyone here is trying to tell you it is no secret. LISTEN. The problem is new salespeople, or poor salespeople, rant and rave and try and pitch their way to sales.
If you want to let them in on the sauce, send them to my blog.
Karl Goldfield
Coaching Sales Champions
Links:
http://coachingsaleschampions.karlgoldfield.com
Get your client talking, and thus you listen. Your questions should determine three things: (1) An understanding of their problem(s), and the cost of the problem, (2) who is affected the most, and to what degree, and (3) what possible solution are they considering, and its quantitative value or ROI. This helps you determine the cost they are willing to pay, the true stakeholder, and finally the potential cost savings. If you can't sell it after this, then you likely don't deserve it.
Brian,
A great sales person has intrinsic values that can NOT be taught! Most of these posts emphasize "LISTEN". I would also emphasize "TRUST". All of the highly successful sales people have a knack to build TRUST with their clients. They also have the ability to create laughter, which is a vital part in the sales process. I don't need to know squat about the product I am selling, unless it is highly technical, if I can earn your TRUST and place a smile on your face within the first few minutes of being introduced to you.
The highly successful sales people I have witnessed in my career have these intrinsic values. Sorry, these values are not easily taught or trained.
Best of luck!
P.S. - definitely read Jeffrey Gitomer and Earl Nightingale's - The Strangest Secret.
There are three key rules to live by in the sales profession:
1) Smile and maintain eye contact.
2) Ask "pointed" questions that make the prospect think.
3) Listen, Listen, Listen...they will tell you what you need to know directly or indirectly. You will hear it if you are Listening! Most people talk themselves out of a sale by talking of themselves and there services too much. They don't care! But, if you get them to talk and uncover a need you can help them overcome...you are in!
Jeff Owen also suggests this expert on this topic:
Mark Hunter
Friday, January 25, 2008
IT priorities in 2008: A truly new year
That the top two IT budget priorities for 2008 are disaster recovery and server virtualization is no surprise to solution providers.
According to a recent TechTarget survey of 606 North American IT professionals in small, medium-sized and large enterprises, disaster recovery (DR) and server virtualization were the top IT projects across all segments for the coming year.
More on IT budgets
Data center mangers' demands rise faster than budgets
As financial services sector trims IT spending, VARs step in
Selling disaster recovery services to customers with reduced budgets
Asked which projects they will be involved with in the coming year, large companies -- those with over $1 billion in revenue -- cited DR, server virtualization, data governance and compliance. Companies with revenue of $100 million to $999 million ranked DR, server virtualization, business intelligence and compliance as major IT budget priorities, while companies with less than $100 million in revenue added endpoint security and network security to disaster recovery and server virtualization as their top four go-to projects for the year.
The disaster recovery choice is a no-brainer in an era of falling storage area network (SAN) storage costs and stricter data retention and archiving regulations, solution providers said.
The post-Sept. 11 tech shock forced companies and their channel partners to take a hard look at backup and recovery strategies, but since that time, the lessons have taken hold, and companies are being more proactive, solution providers said.
"DR and business continuity planning have been at the forefront since 9/11. But now, I think companies are looking at DR and realizing they can use it to enhance business opportunities and decrease downtime," said Ken Winell, CEO of ExpertCollab, a collaboration specialist based in Florham Park, N.J.
Falling prices in a transition from expensive Fibre Channel to less pricey iSCSI storage are helping drive faster adoption, as are better remote management technologies, solution providers said.
Some storage specialists are seeing customers escalate SAN installations that might have taken longer in the past. A customer who might have put in a single SAN, then another after a break, might now implement both SANs up front and replicate between them, said Scott Winslow, founder and CEO of Winslow Technology Group in Boston.
As managers set their IT budgets for the coming year, virtualization -- specifically server virtualization -- is absolutely top of mind, especially as businesses seek to consolidate expensive server hardware. The hope among solution providers is that money saved on hardware will end up flowing to more "value add" projects like custom application development, project management and collaboration.
"Everybody is either implementing VMware or looking to implement VMware," Winslow said. "Some are looking at Microsoft or Virtual Iron, but VMware has become almost the generic answer. It's almost like Xerox."
Server virtualization, in particular, now appears to be the cost of doing business, several solution providers said. Either it's already there as part of the platform they work on or it's on the short list of new technologies to be deployed in short order.
"That's just blocking and tackling -- you've got to have it," said Lee Blackstone, CEO of Blackstone & Cullen Inc., an Alpharetta, Ga.-based application development, business intelligence and collaboration specialist. "In many accounts, virtualization is already spun up and we work on top of that, or we go back in later to change access codes and do other services."
Microsoft's new and very low-cost Hyper-V hypervisor is due later this year, and many partners expect that entry to spark even more interest in server virtualization among price-conscious smaller companies.
In press briefings this week, Microsoft executives cited IDC findings that just a tiny subset of servers are already virtualized as evidence of a huge partner opportunity. Despite all the hype, "just 5% or less of servers are virtualized today, and even fewer desktops or clients," Larry Orecklin, general manager of Microsoft's System Center, told SearchITChannel.com this week.
Of course, Microsoft is entering this fray in a big way with Windows 2008 and related Hyper-V offerings, and the company wants to play up the positive side of what most see to be growing contention with virtualization leader VMware.
When it came to the third IT budget priority line item, the three business segments diverged. Enterprise IT managers, perhaps still haunted by Sarbanes-Oxley and other regulatory mandates, listed "compliance" as their third top project for the year. Small companies listed network security, and midmarket companies chose business intelligence.
Absent from the top three IT budget priorities across the board were such hyped tech segments as "Web 2.0."
When respondents were asked which "specialty areas" they would put among their top three IT initiatives, 20% of database specialists listed disaster recovery, 14% compliance and 12% data governance.
Among networking specialists, 25% listed DR, 18% compliance and network security and 14% data governance.
According to a recent TechTarget survey of 606 North American IT professionals in small, medium-sized and large enterprises, disaster recovery (DR) and server virtualization were the top IT projects across all segments for the coming year.
More on IT budgets
Data center mangers' demands rise faster than budgets
As financial services sector trims IT spending, VARs step in
Selling disaster recovery services to customers with reduced budgets
Asked which projects they will be involved with in the coming year, large companies -- those with over $1 billion in revenue -- cited DR, server virtualization, data governance and compliance. Companies with revenue of $100 million to $999 million ranked DR, server virtualization, business intelligence and compliance as major IT budget priorities, while companies with less than $100 million in revenue added endpoint security and network security to disaster recovery and server virtualization as their top four go-to projects for the year.
The disaster recovery choice is a no-brainer in an era of falling storage area network (SAN) storage costs and stricter data retention and archiving regulations, solution providers said.
The post-Sept. 11 tech shock forced companies and their channel partners to take a hard look at backup and recovery strategies, but since that time, the lessons have taken hold, and companies are being more proactive, solution providers said.
"DR and business continuity planning have been at the forefront since 9/11. But now, I think companies are looking at DR and realizing they can use it to enhance business opportunities and decrease downtime," said Ken Winell, CEO of ExpertCollab, a collaboration specialist based in Florham Park, N.J.
Falling prices in a transition from expensive Fibre Channel to less pricey iSCSI storage are helping drive faster adoption, as are better remote management technologies, solution providers said.
Some storage specialists are seeing customers escalate SAN installations that might have taken longer in the past. A customer who might have put in a single SAN, then another after a break, might now implement both SANs up front and replicate between them, said Scott Winslow, founder and CEO of Winslow Technology Group in Boston.
As managers set their IT budgets for the coming year, virtualization -- specifically server virtualization -- is absolutely top of mind, especially as businesses seek to consolidate expensive server hardware. The hope among solution providers is that money saved on hardware will end up flowing to more "value add" projects like custom application development, project management and collaboration.
"Everybody is either implementing VMware or looking to implement VMware," Winslow said. "Some are looking at Microsoft or Virtual Iron, but VMware has become almost the generic answer. It's almost like Xerox."
Server virtualization, in particular, now appears to be the cost of doing business, several solution providers said. Either it's already there as part of the platform they work on or it's on the short list of new technologies to be deployed in short order.
"That's just blocking and tackling -- you've got to have it," said Lee Blackstone, CEO of Blackstone & Cullen Inc., an Alpharetta, Ga.-based application development, business intelligence and collaboration specialist. "In many accounts, virtualization is already spun up and we work on top of that, or we go back in later to change access codes and do other services."
Microsoft's new and very low-cost Hyper-V hypervisor is due later this year, and many partners expect that entry to spark even more interest in server virtualization among price-conscious smaller companies.
In press briefings this week, Microsoft executives cited IDC findings that just a tiny subset of servers are already virtualized as evidence of a huge partner opportunity. Despite all the hype, "just 5% or less of servers are virtualized today, and even fewer desktops or clients," Larry Orecklin, general manager of Microsoft's System Center, told SearchITChannel.com this week.
Of course, Microsoft is entering this fray in a big way with Windows 2008 and related Hyper-V offerings, and the company wants to play up the positive side of what most see to be growing contention with virtualization leader VMware.
When it came to the third IT budget priority line item, the three business segments diverged. Enterprise IT managers, perhaps still haunted by Sarbanes-Oxley and other regulatory mandates, listed "compliance" as their third top project for the year. Small companies listed network security, and midmarket companies chose business intelligence.
Absent from the top three IT budget priorities across the board were such hyped tech segments as "Web 2.0."
When respondents were asked which "specialty areas" they would put among their top three IT initiatives, 20% of database specialists listed disaster recovery, 14% compliance and 12% data governance.
Among networking specialists, 25% listed DR, 18% compliance and network security and 14% data governance.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
How to choose a vendor partner program
There's no question that in the best of circumstances, a tension exists between value-added resellers (VARs) and their vendor partners. That doesn't mean, however, that the VAR-vendor relationship has to be an adversarial one. But for it to work, both parties have to understand one another's motivations, and how to work in harmony to their mutual benefit and profit. From the reseller perspective, it all starts with choosing the right vendor partner. Unfortunately, there is no magic formula for analyzing vendor partners and their reseller partner programs. A lot of it boils down to trust, gut feelings and, oh yes, a healthy amount of due diligence.
The following are the most important factors you should weigh in the decision process when
Partner Program Checklists
Peruse our collection of partner program checklists and compare reseller partner programs against a standard list of benefits.
choosing a vendor partner and considering reseller partner programs. Try these out and use what works for you, but keep in mind that these criteria are a moving target. Your own circumstances, the market conditions and a host of other factors will cause your criteria to evolve. Nothing is static for long in the reseller business.
When evaluating vendors and their reseller partner programs, consider whether the vendor has:
An identifiable and verifiable technological advantage or superiority. In other words, they have something new and innovative (a technological breakthrough) that translates into overall product performance and results and the end-user experience -- the "wow" factor!
Three to five easily articulated, demonstrable and believable competitive advantages that translate into compelling customer benefits. These have to set the vendor solution apart from the competition in a way that immediately resonates with customers to such an extent that they want a demonstration or trial evaluation because they cannot imagine existing any longer without this solution or simply because they will be a hero to their higher-ups. That's a factor never to be overlooked!
A product/solution that addresses a timely need, solves a nagging problem or satisfies a pent-up demand. The product should make life easier for someone, improve productivity and generate an acceptable -- no, irresistible -- ROI.
An understanding of the value of the channel and the need to scale resources and expertise the vendor may lack at the moment. This means that the vendor understands the concept of scaling (really "gets it"), and needs you to be where it cannot be (feet on the street) to accelerate growth.
A well-thought-out, written and equitable program for the channel that demonstrates an understanding of the needs of the channel. This should include a description of how the vendor is organized and operates to most effectively motivate and reward reseller partners. Vendor corporate policies, stated channel goals and quotas, and field rep as well as management compensation plans, should all be consistent with the channel recruiting "story." The vendor should have its field reps and its partners joined at the hip with a goal of closing more business faster through the channel than could be done directly, regardless of where the leads come from. Translation: They are channel-friendly … really!
An understanding of its target market(s) and the competition. The vendor should have developed a comprehensive sales and marketing plan to gain visibility, brand recognition, credibility and mind share within the targeted sectors, and to generate qualified leads with which to develop a pipeline. There should also be a team of experienced marketing personnel that implement and manage the marketing program, and sufficient funds to execute to the fullest extent.
A cohesive program for sufficient and ongoing sales, product and technical training, as well as regular contact with the VAR team. Knowledge is power and enables you to competently, confidently and aggressively represent the vendor's products in a professional, credible manner. Reseller resources should be treated as an extension of the vendor's sales and technical staff. What the vendor does for its direct sales and support personnel, it should do for reseller personnel. In reality, many do not, which only results in the resellers not being able to put forth the best possible effort, and worse, it hampers their ability to maintain a strong value proposition with prospects, customers and, most importantly, their vendor partners.
In summary, if individual resellers establish some vendor evaluation guidelines and do their homework, there will be more mutually beneficial and therefore successful VAR-vendor relationships.
About the author
Anthony J. Comazzi has been employed since 2002 with The Newman Group, a VAR headquartered in Dexter, Mich., where he launched and manages the company's first and most successful applications sales team and a number of vendor partnerships. His prior experience involved positions with a number of software vendors, where his responsibilities included worldwide sales, marketing and channel development. The Newman Group's areas of focus include WAN acceleration, networking, disaster recovery, virtualization, email delivery, security and archiving, and network problem identification.
The following are the most important factors you should weigh in the decision process when
Partner Program Checklists
Peruse our collection of partner program checklists and compare reseller partner programs against a standard list of benefits.
choosing a vendor partner and considering reseller partner programs. Try these out and use what works for you, but keep in mind that these criteria are a moving target. Your own circumstances, the market conditions and a host of other factors will cause your criteria to evolve. Nothing is static for long in the reseller business.
When evaluating vendors and their reseller partner programs, consider whether the vendor has:
An identifiable and verifiable technological advantage or superiority. In other words, they have something new and innovative (a technological breakthrough) that translates into overall product performance and results and the end-user experience -- the "wow" factor!
Three to five easily articulated, demonstrable and believable competitive advantages that translate into compelling customer benefits. These have to set the vendor solution apart from the competition in a way that immediately resonates with customers to such an extent that they want a demonstration or trial evaluation because they cannot imagine existing any longer without this solution or simply because they will be a hero to their higher-ups. That's a factor never to be overlooked!
A product/solution that addresses a timely need, solves a nagging problem or satisfies a pent-up demand. The product should make life easier for someone, improve productivity and generate an acceptable -- no, irresistible -- ROI.
An understanding of the value of the channel and the need to scale resources and expertise the vendor may lack at the moment. This means that the vendor understands the concept of scaling (really "gets it"), and needs you to be where it cannot be (feet on the street) to accelerate growth.
A well-thought-out, written and equitable program for the channel that demonstrates an understanding of the needs of the channel. This should include a description of how the vendor is organized and operates to most effectively motivate and reward reseller partners. Vendor corporate policies, stated channel goals and quotas, and field rep as well as management compensation plans, should all be consistent with the channel recruiting "story." The vendor should have its field reps and its partners joined at the hip with a goal of closing more business faster through the channel than could be done directly, regardless of where the leads come from. Translation: They are channel-friendly … really!
An understanding of its target market(s) and the competition. The vendor should have developed a comprehensive sales and marketing plan to gain visibility, brand recognition, credibility and mind share within the targeted sectors, and to generate qualified leads with which to develop a pipeline. There should also be a team of experienced marketing personnel that implement and manage the marketing program, and sufficient funds to execute to the fullest extent.
A cohesive program for sufficient and ongoing sales, product and technical training, as well as regular contact with the VAR team. Knowledge is power and enables you to competently, confidently and aggressively represent the vendor's products in a professional, credible manner. Reseller resources should be treated as an extension of the vendor's sales and technical staff. What the vendor does for its direct sales and support personnel, it should do for reseller personnel. In reality, many do not, which only results in the resellers not being able to put forth the best possible effort, and worse, it hampers their ability to maintain a strong value proposition with prospects, customers and, most importantly, their vendor partners.
In summary, if individual resellers establish some vendor evaluation guidelines and do their homework, there will be more mutually beneficial and therefore successful VAR-vendor relationships.
About the author
Anthony J. Comazzi has been employed since 2002 with The Newman Group, a VAR headquartered in Dexter, Mich., where he launched and manages the company's first and most successful applications sales team and a number of vendor partnerships. His prior experience involved positions with a number of software vendors, where his responsibilities included worldwide sales, marketing and channel development. The Newman Group's areas of focus include WAN acceleration, networking, disaster recovery, virtualization, email delivery, security and archiving, and network problem identification.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
The Awakened Mind™
The Awakened Mind™
For almost three decades we have measured the brainwave patterns of people whose states of consciousness one would emulate – spiritual masters, meditation teachers, and people of optimum creativity in all walks of life. The brainwave pattern that we found, named the Awakened Mind™, is a combination of all four categories – beta, alpha, theta, and delta – in the right relationship and proportion.
Since beta is thinking and the combination of alpha, theta and delta is meditating, you can see that the masters are in a state of thinking and meditating simultaneously, with a flow of connection between the two functions. Someone in the Awakened Mind™ brainwave state has access to the unconscious empathy, intuition, and radar of the delta waves, the subconscious creative storehouse, inspiration and spiritual connection of the theta waves, the bridging capacity, lucidity and vividness of imagery, and relaxed detached awareness of the alpha waves, and the ability to consciously process thoughts in beta – all at the same time!
Brainwaves, like all waves, are measured in two ways. The first is frequency, or speed of the electrical pulses. Frequency is measured in cycles per second (cps or Hz), ranging from .5 cps to 38 cps. The second measurement is amplitude, or how strong the brainwave is. Brainwaves are categorized by frequency into four types: beta, alpha, theta, and delta. Each of these is explained below. The Mind Mirror displays these measurements of the brainwaves of the left and right hemisphere. Each bargraph represents the output of one filter. The bargraphs are centered on the frequencies shown in the diagram. The bottom bargraph, labeled EMG, measures muscle tension on the right and left side of the head. (Relaxation is a key step in creating an awakened mind.)
Above is a freeze-frame of a splayed beta pattern on the Mind Mirror – the brainwaves of normal waking thought. Below are a few seconds of actual brainwaves of someone meditating, as seen on the Mind Mirror (in a continuous loop).
While an entire session with the Mind Mirror III can be saved on a computer, it was not always so. The first incarnations of the Mind Mirror (I and II) did not have any session storage capacity. Therefore, Anna invented a "shorthand" for drawing the patterns that occurred to act as a synopsis of each session. However, while it is often useful to review the recorded sessions, it was soon discovered to be time consuming to review hour-long files from the Mind Mirror III in order to recall the patterns that were generated during a session. So, the use of the "drawing language" for communicating with students what patterns they generated, and to remember quickly what transpired with someone in a previous session continued. Anna teaches her students this technique of drawing patterns, and workshop participants take home a sheet of drawings of the patterns they generated during the meditations. The brainwave descriptions and corresponding drawings follow.
BETA brainwaves are the fastest frequencies ranging from 14 cycles per second up to 38 cycles per second. Beta is your normal thinking state, your active external awareness and thought process. Without beta you would not be able to function in the outside world.
ALPHA brainwaves are the brainwaves of relaxed detached awareness, visualization, sensory imagery and light reverie. Ranging between about 9 cycles per second and 14 cycles per second, alpha is the gateway to meditation and provides a bridge between the conscious and the subconscious mind.
THETA brainwaves are the subconscious mind. Ranging from about 4 cycles per second up to 8 cycles per second, theta is present in dreaming sleep and provides the experience of deep meditation when you meditate. Theta also contains the storehouse of creative inspiration and is where you often have your spiritual connection. Theta provides the peak in the peak experience.
DELTA brainwaves are your unconscious mind, the sleep state, ranging from about 4 cycles per second down to 0.5 cycles per second. But when present in combination with other waves in a waking state, Delta acts as a form of radar – seeking out information – reaching out to understand on the deepest unconscious level things that we can't understand through thought process. Delta provides intuition, empathetic attunement, and instinctual insight.
The MEDITATION brainwave pattern is a combination of alpha and theta where theta provides the depth and profundity of the meditation experience – the subconscious inner space from which creativity, insight, and healing spring – and alpha provides the bridge, or the link, to the conscious thinking mind so that you can actually remember the contents of your meditation.
The AWAKENED MIND™ brainwave pattern combines the intuitive, empathetic radar of the delta waves, the creative inspiration, personal insight, and spiritual awareness of the theta waves, the bridging capacity and relaxed, detached, awareness of the alpha waves, and the external attention and ability to consciously process thought of beta waves, all at the same time. It is a brainwave pattern shared by people in higher states of consciousness regardless of their philosophy, theology or meditation technique. This brainwave pattern can be found during “peak experience” and in all forms of creativity and high performance. The awakened mind is also the “ah-ha,” appearing at the exact instant of solving the problem, or getting the insight.
For almost three decades we have measured the brainwave patterns of people whose states of consciousness one would emulate – spiritual masters, meditation teachers, and people of optimum creativity in all walks of life. The brainwave pattern that we found, named the Awakened Mind™, is a combination of all four categories – beta, alpha, theta, and delta – in the right relationship and proportion.
Since beta is thinking and the combination of alpha, theta and delta is meditating, you can see that the masters are in a state of thinking and meditating simultaneously, with a flow of connection between the two functions. Someone in the Awakened Mind™ brainwave state has access to the unconscious empathy, intuition, and radar of the delta waves, the subconscious creative storehouse, inspiration and spiritual connection of the theta waves, the bridging capacity, lucidity and vividness of imagery, and relaxed detached awareness of the alpha waves, and the ability to consciously process thoughts in beta – all at the same time!
Brainwaves, like all waves, are measured in two ways. The first is frequency, or speed of the electrical pulses. Frequency is measured in cycles per second (cps or Hz), ranging from .5 cps to 38 cps. The second measurement is amplitude, or how strong the brainwave is. Brainwaves are categorized by frequency into four types: beta, alpha, theta, and delta. Each of these is explained below. The Mind Mirror displays these measurements of the brainwaves of the left and right hemisphere. Each bargraph represents the output of one filter. The bargraphs are centered on the frequencies shown in the diagram. The bottom bargraph, labeled EMG, measures muscle tension on the right and left side of the head. (Relaxation is a key step in creating an awakened mind.)
Above is a freeze-frame of a splayed beta pattern on the Mind Mirror – the brainwaves of normal waking thought. Below are a few seconds of actual brainwaves of someone meditating, as seen on the Mind Mirror (in a continuous loop).
While an entire session with the Mind Mirror III can be saved on a computer, it was not always so. The first incarnations of the Mind Mirror (I and II) did not have any session storage capacity. Therefore, Anna invented a "shorthand" for drawing the patterns that occurred to act as a synopsis of each session. However, while it is often useful to review the recorded sessions, it was soon discovered to be time consuming to review hour-long files from the Mind Mirror III in order to recall the patterns that were generated during a session. So, the use of the "drawing language" for communicating with students what patterns they generated, and to remember quickly what transpired with someone in a previous session continued. Anna teaches her students this technique of drawing patterns, and workshop participants take home a sheet of drawings of the patterns they generated during the meditations. The brainwave descriptions and corresponding drawings follow.
BETA brainwaves are the fastest frequencies ranging from 14 cycles per second up to 38 cycles per second. Beta is your normal thinking state, your active external awareness and thought process. Without beta you would not be able to function in the outside world.
ALPHA brainwaves are the brainwaves of relaxed detached awareness, visualization, sensory imagery and light reverie. Ranging between about 9 cycles per second and 14 cycles per second, alpha is the gateway to meditation and provides a bridge between the conscious and the subconscious mind.
THETA brainwaves are the subconscious mind. Ranging from about 4 cycles per second up to 8 cycles per second, theta is present in dreaming sleep and provides the experience of deep meditation when you meditate. Theta also contains the storehouse of creative inspiration and is where you often have your spiritual connection. Theta provides the peak in the peak experience.
DELTA brainwaves are your unconscious mind, the sleep state, ranging from about 4 cycles per second down to 0.5 cycles per second. But when present in combination with other waves in a waking state, Delta acts as a form of radar – seeking out information – reaching out to understand on the deepest unconscious level things that we can't understand through thought process. Delta provides intuition, empathetic attunement, and instinctual insight.
The MEDITATION brainwave pattern is a combination of alpha and theta where theta provides the depth and profundity of the meditation experience – the subconscious inner space from which creativity, insight, and healing spring – and alpha provides the bridge, or the link, to the conscious thinking mind so that you can actually remember the contents of your meditation.
The AWAKENED MIND™ brainwave pattern combines the intuitive, empathetic radar of the delta waves, the creative inspiration, personal insight, and spiritual awareness of the theta waves, the bridging capacity and relaxed, detached, awareness of the alpha waves, and the external attention and ability to consciously process thought of beta waves, all at the same time. It is a brainwave pattern shared by people in higher states of consciousness regardless of their philosophy, theology or meditation technique. This brainwave pattern can be found during “peak experience” and in all forms of creativity and high performance. The awakened mind is also the “ah-ha,” appearing at the exact instant of solving the problem, or getting the insight.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
what is difference between 2 or 3 tier architecture and n tier architecture
2- or 3-tier architecture is specific case of n-tier one ;)
Nowadays approach to IT systems architecture is 4-tier.
1st tier is a Presentation Layer: this is what user sees and clicks.
2nd tier is a Business Logic Layer (BLL): this is a set of rules how system has to behave and process data.
3rd tier is a Data Access Layer (DAL): this is a set of fuctions for retriving and manipulating data in database.
4th tier is a database: it contains data scheme, data itself and (if used) stored procedures.
If you have 2-tier or 3-tier architecure it means that some mentioned above layers are implemented together that borders between them disappeared and can be treated as 1.
In a 2 tier architecture the program (sourcecode and business logic) are separated from the database ( data, tables). Example: a factory application with a server that holds the program, a second server that holds the database and a socalled consol that is use as an interface to users.
In a 3 tier environment there is also a separate program running on the lokal PC. This program performs the local activities and communcates with the program running on the application server.
n- tier add an extra level between the PC and the rest. Using the internet is an example. You explorer is the local program. The server of your provider is the informaten broker. This is the extra level that holds the logic of combining messages and information from diverent sources and systems into 1 HTML page. For example. You're using a google bar. This part of the page get's it information from the main program that runs at the Google server, which in it's turn is connected to the google database.
As others have written, n tier is a generlization of 2 or 3 tier arhictecture.
I look at tiers as isolated software layers that are responsbile for handling specific roles at your software - if you know the OSI 7 layers networking model, then the case is quite similar. Each tier is either using interfaces defined by components from the same tier, or one tear above or under.
Sometimes, even when you think your architecture is closed and that you have all the tiers, if you expose interfaces, another tier may be added in the future to the architecture.
Vivek, in addition to the other answers already given to you.
Layered models emphasize the independence of functionality in a software architecture. In other words, each layer performs a different set of functions, and each layer is independent of other layers. For example, UI logic in the Presentation Layer might depend on data from a business object implemented in the Business Servicing Layer. However the UI logic is not dependent on how the business logic was implemented. The UI logic can be JavaScript code, while the business logic was written in the Progress 4GL. Furthermore, the UI logic might be totally redesigned (or
even implemented through some other technology) without having to change the business logic. The following sections define each layer of a n-tier architecture in more detail.
Data Access Layer
The function of components in the Data Access Layer is to separate data access from data storage. The purpose is to shield the rest of the application from the details of data storage, which makes applications easier to build and to maintain. For example, you might need to
extend an application by changing the data source from a relational database to flat XML files. Such a change can be implemented in a single Data Access component rather than in multiple components throughout the application
Business Servicing Layer
The Business Servicing Layer contains the business logic and the processing components of an application. The components in this layer respond to events by taking certain actions. For example, when a price change occurs, update listings in a product catalog and notify sales reps.
The components in this layer also enforce business rules. For example, do not process an order if balance due is over thirty days old. Furthermore, the components in this layer are structured
to create a workflow among related processes.
Presentation Layer
The Presentation Layer is the user interface component of an application. It is the point where an external user interacts with an application. Interaction can be direct (by data input) or indirect
(by viewing data).
The Presentation Layer consists of three major components:
User interface components (forms, buttons, menus, etc.).
Controller logic that manages the binding between UI components and business logic in the Business Servicing Layer.
Service elements (or models) that define the contract with the Business Servicing and the Data Access Layers.
Integration Layer
The Integration Layer is similar to the Presentation Layer. Where the Presentation Layer exposes the n-tier application to external users, the Integration Layer exposes the application to external systems. Integration can be data-centric, which involves moving data from one application to another. Integration can also be functional, which involves exposing an
application’s business processes and logic as a service that can be used by external systems.
Links:
http://www.psdn.com
Short answer:
A two-tier architecture is where a client talks directly to a server,
with no intervening server. It is typically used in small environments
(less than 50 users).
A three tier is a client-server architecture in which the user interface is the 1st tier, the functional process logic ("business rules") is the second tier, the data storage and data access are the 3rd tier. Each tier is developed and maintained as independent modules, most often on separate servers.
An n-tier architecture is the extension of this concept where finer levels of functionality are distributed across multiple servers.
Long answer:
The answer to this question depends on the context that is being asked.
For example, are you asking from the perspective of software architecture, the design of a new communication protocol, etc? I will assume that you are asking about software architectures, as this is the most common context.
In software engineering, multi-tier architecture (often referred to as n-tier architecture) is a client server architecture in which more than one software agent usually running in different servers does the execution of an application. The reasons for multi-tier architectures are as follows:
1. Performance: allows for scalability by distributing the computation across multiple servers. Of course, a downfall of such strategy is when the communication costs are larger than the computation costs. In the old days, study of the decompositions of architectures was done by using queuing theory. A classic book in this area is the book by Kleinrock, Theory, Volume 1, Queueing Systems;
2. Security: by decomposition, different security strategies can be applied at each level of the hierarchy, and hence, this leads if properly designed to better security; and
3. Reliability and distribution: any layer of the architecture can be run in different servers, and therefore when a failure occurs, if properly designed, then a redirection to another server is possible. Of course for this to work a robust distributed architecture that often includes persistent transactions (a transaction that either completes or is roll back) are needed. If you want to learn more about this go to ACID PROPERTIES of TRANSACTIONS.
Hence, within this context, 2-tier, three-tier, and so for are mainly subsets of the general solution n-tier. The key is how do you separate the different functions most effectively to achieve your desired results. For example, let’s say that you want to implement an airline reservation system. You may select to build a 2-tier architecture whereas:
1. The so called presentation layer (what the user sees) runs on your local PC through a browser agent, and
2. Everything else, business logic, database layer, data base itself runs on a back-end server.
In this example, after you fill out the typical form and submit a request for travel you may get a web answer saying, “you forgot to fill out the destination city”. This happens because the business logic that understands the need for both an origination city and destination city to process a request does not run (execute) on your PC, and therefore, the backend server will not check it until the request is process. Is 5this efficient? Maybe?
Bottom line, decomposition into multiple tiers is good, but.. too much decomposition is bad – leads to performance problems, etc. I hope this helps.
One thing that it appears that the others have missed (although I'll admit that I didn't read them completly) is that there may be more than one data store, increasing the tier structure by at least one layer and possibly two.
One system I worked on had layers in the 4 tiers described by others but also another data access layer for connecting to a PBX. There could be multiple different flavors of PBXs as well, each with seperate access components. Depending on the intrerpretation that would be one or two additional layers per PBX family.
We also had out presentation layer segmented in such a way that that layer can be described as having one plus one for each PBX family which had its own presentation logic which was in fact an extension of main logic but was implemented in such a way that it was a unique layer.
Basically my point with all of this is that n-tier development is basically keeping presentation seperate from logic seperate from data, and that the number of layers it takes is not as important as the fact that it is done.
Tiers relate to layers of the system architecture. Tiers originated with model-view-controller (MVC) pattern many years ago in Smalltalk. This separated what the user sees (the view) from the logic to handle the user's actions (the controller) and the business logic (the model).
From this point, it somewhat depends on your application. For example, if you are targeting a service-oriented architecture (SOA) you will want to focus on creating Web services. Either way, you will want a layer to request functionality (services) from your business logic. I'd suggest a service layer, both interfaces for client code to build to and the actual underlying implementations.
You will certainly want to separate out database access. The "standard" is to use data access objects (DAOs) to manage model state persistence. If you are using Java, this would be through the JDBC standard or a persistence framework such as Hibernate. For .NET, you would use ADO.NET.
So, your tiers would look like this:
- view (or web)
- service
- service implementation
- dao
- dao implementation
This layering facilitates using most (all?) tooling. For example, you could easily use the Spring framework to handle authorization, transactions, AOP, ... with regular POJOs. Or you could use EJBs if you prefer. Or you can use .NET.
Getting back to your original question... 2-tier is an outdated way that systems were once built, usually with a UI interacting directly with an RDB. From there, the industry moved to 3-tier and n-tier. The difference is really what you count as a "tier". Some people consider parts of the system such as messaging (SOA, JMS, SOAP, ...) as a tier and some don't. I wouldn't get too hung up about 3-tier vs. n-tier, just be aware that all well-designed systems today have 3+ tiers. Just be clear what you are counting (e.g. by labeling parts of diagrams and/or including text descriptions) as a tier.
I hope this helps answer your question. Best of luck!
Mark
Clarification added 7 months ago:
Forgot to include some links... :")
One, two, three, or n tiers?
http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-01-2000/jw-01-ssj-tiers.html
Scaling the N-Tier Architecture
http://www.sun.com/software/whitepapers/wp-ntier/wp-ntier.pdf
Multitier architecture
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-tier
Understanding JavaServer Pages Model 2 architecture
http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-12-1999/jw-12-ssj-jspmvc.html
Designing Enterprise Applications
http://java.sun.com/blueprints/guidelines/designing_enterprise_applications_2e/web-tier/web-tier5.html
Web Services and Service-Oriented Architectures
http://www.service-architecture.com/
What is a three-tier architecture?
http://www.jguru.com/faq/view.jsp?EID=125072
Building a 3-Tier Application using ASP.NET
http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/UploadFile/paulabraham/Building3TierAppPA11282005053625AM/Building3TierAppPA.aspx
You know the 'dhabas' in India where you get 'chai' (tea) and food? There's one guy who's running around to the beaton of the customers who're waiting on him. He comes to you to ask you what you want, writes down your order, then tucks into the kitchen, picks up the peeled and finely chopped onions that he'd diced into the morning, places the pan on the gas stove and cooks.
While it's cooking, he gets the next order from the guy behind you.
That is somewhat analogous to how the 'body of a software looked like from the inside' to the programmer, in the very olden days. If programmers in a company were creating software for an oil company to run its business, they wrote everything all in one place. As a result, the program was one monolithic structure that did everything -- got the data input from the user, did all the calculations, checked if he was telling the truth, stored his input in the database and got back some output to him after that. Just like the dhaba owner -- he put the eggs on the pan, took orders from customers, ran around to do a sitting customer's bidding, and yet people yelled at him.
That was the olden day. Today, the tasks performed by one software are divided into many different software programs. One program just displays a neat, click user interface to the user and that's that. It does nothing beyond that. When the user inputs data, the program passes on the data to another program, which in turn checks for the correctness of the data using some rules.
The data is passed to a third program that stores the data nicely so that it can be retrieved easily later on. This division of labour amoung three programs is called a three-tier architecture.
Now, you could employ a fourth program to do something else in between, like, to act as a translator between two of the existing programs. Adding any number of more programs to this division is called having an N-tier architecture.
Watch out - often N tier leads to many tears.
One risk is that people confuse/conflate functional decomposition with physical architecture.
So its an excellent thing to distinguish between user interface, application logic, domain/business logic, persistence at a functional level, and here language features like packages, and distribution jars are a way of enforcing that separation.
This doesn't mean that building an application in four physical tiers (such as the approach recommended in the J2EE Blueprints) is optimal. Most of the time this excessive distribution just adds complexity, latencies, and opportunities for partial failure.
Martin Fowler says that the Golden Rule of Distributed programming is don't distribute logic! There have been many attempts to move away from N tier approaches, because of their scalability limits, and to replace them with simpler, faster architectures such as that made possible with Gigaspace, JavaSpaces, peer to peer, Ruby DRB and Rinda, memcached, and the like.
It's important to distinguish between tiers as physical layer
I wanted to make one general distinction between layers and tiers since these two terms seem to be used interchangeably in many of the answers. These two terms are not interchangeable. A layered architecture is different from a tiered architecture. A tiered architecture consists of multiple processes running on different machines simulatenously. E.g.: The Client tier has client processes or programs running, while the server tier has the server process running. So, client server is an exampe of a 2-tiered architecture. When a single server is not capable or convenient to handle multiple such processes, the architecture has more tiers, like an application server which holds the appliation code and a data tier which holds the database and data access modules. It is important to note that all these are independently running programs (runtime components) usually on different machines. At runtime, there are multiple threads or processes of execution. This is unlike a layered architecture where each layer consists of different modules and modules in an upper layer can call modules (services) at the lower layer. At runtime, a layered architecture boils down to a single thread of execution.
In a very simple way the two-tier architecture:
Client -> User interface and some business logic
Database server -> Data managment and some business logic
The basics for a non partitioned application are:
You control the number of clients (number of transactions)
Work group or in department way
You also control the platform
Client-side business rules and system management logic are part of the visual interface
Some examples are:
Database connection logic written entirely in the event of the visual object, the business rule is in a window function or event
Two-tier partitioned application:
Client-side business rules and system management logic are coded in nonvisual objects
A simple example is that the database connection logic is written in custom class.
It's very easy to maintain, and permits the reuse of the business logic within application, it also enables the reuse of business logic for future applications. You may include some web clients, and you can port to other architectures.
The N-Tier Architecture:
Client -> User Interface
Application Server -> Business logic, transaction management, load balance, caching, data location transparency.
Database Server -> Data managment
It adds an application server between the client and the database server
Business rules are not in the client but are centrally located
You can reuse business logic in future applications
Offload some processing from database server and reduce drastically database connections, you can also enable your application to connect via web clients to access these components or wireless
Nowadays approach to IT systems architecture is 4-tier.
1st tier is a Presentation Layer: this is what user sees and clicks.
2nd tier is a Business Logic Layer (BLL): this is a set of rules how system has to behave and process data.
3rd tier is a Data Access Layer (DAL): this is a set of fuctions for retriving and manipulating data in database.
4th tier is a database: it contains data scheme, data itself and (if used) stored procedures.
If you have 2-tier or 3-tier architecure it means that some mentioned above layers are implemented together that borders between them disappeared and can be treated as 1.
In a 2 tier architecture the program (sourcecode and business logic) are separated from the database ( data, tables). Example: a factory application with a server that holds the program, a second server that holds the database and a socalled consol that is use as an interface to users.
In a 3 tier environment there is also a separate program running on the lokal PC. This program performs the local activities and communcates with the program running on the application server.
n- tier add an extra level between the PC and the rest. Using the internet is an example. You explorer is the local program. The server of your provider is the informaten broker. This is the extra level that holds the logic of combining messages and information from diverent sources and systems into 1 HTML page. For example. You're using a google bar. This part of the page get's it information from the main program that runs at the Google server, which in it's turn is connected to the google database.
As others have written, n tier is a generlization of 2 or 3 tier arhictecture.
I look at tiers as isolated software layers that are responsbile for handling specific roles at your software - if you know the OSI 7 layers networking model, then the case is quite similar. Each tier is either using interfaces defined by components from the same tier, or one tear above or under.
Sometimes, even when you think your architecture is closed and that you have all the tiers, if you expose interfaces, another tier may be added in the future to the architecture.
Vivek, in addition to the other answers already given to you.
Layered models emphasize the independence of functionality in a software architecture. In other words, each layer performs a different set of functions, and each layer is independent of other layers. For example, UI logic in the Presentation Layer might depend on data from a business object implemented in the Business Servicing Layer. However the UI logic is not dependent on how the business logic was implemented. The UI logic can be JavaScript code, while the business logic was written in the Progress 4GL. Furthermore, the UI logic might be totally redesigned (or
even implemented through some other technology) without having to change the business logic. The following sections define each layer of a n-tier architecture in more detail.
Data Access Layer
The function of components in the Data Access Layer is to separate data access from data storage. The purpose is to shield the rest of the application from the details of data storage, which makes applications easier to build and to maintain. For example, you might need to
extend an application by changing the data source from a relational database to flat XML files. Such a change can be implemented in a single Data Access component rather than in multiple components throughout the application
Business Servicing Layer
The Business Servicing Layer contains the business logic and the processing components of an application. The components in this layer respond to events by taking certain actions. For example, when a price change occurs, update listings in a product catalog and notify sales reps.
The components in this layer also enforce business rules. For example, do not process an order if balance due is over thirty days old. Furthermore, the components in this layer are structured
to create a workflow among related processes.
Presentation Layer
The Presentation Layer is the user interface component of an application. It is the point where an external user interacts with an application. Interaction can be direct (by data input) or indirect
(by viewing data).
The Presentation Layer consists of three major components:
User interface components (forms, buttons, menus, etc.).
Controller logic that manages the binding between UI components and business logic in the Business Servicing Layer.
Service elements (or models) that define the contract with the Business Servicing and the Data Access Layers.
Integration Layer
The Integration Layer is similar to the Presentation Layer. Where the Presentation Layer exposes the n-tier application to external users, the Integration Layer exposes the application to external systems. Integration can be data-centric, which involves moving data from one application to another. Integration can also be functional, which involves exposing an
application’s business processes and logic as a service that can be used by external systems.
Links:
http://www.psdn.com
Short answer:
A two-tier architecture is where a client talks directly to a server,
with no intervening server. It is typically used in small environments
(less than 50 users).
A three tier is a client-server architecture in which the user interface is the 1st tier, the functional process logic ("business rules") is the second tier, the data storage and data access are the 3rd tier. Each tier is developed and maintained as independent modules, most often on separate servers.
An n-tier architecture is the extension of this concept where finer levels of functionality are distributed across multiple servers.
Long answer:
The answer to this question depends on the context that is being asked.
For example, are you asking from the perspective of software architecture, the design of a new communication protocol, etc? I will assume that you are asking about software architectures, as this is the most common context.
In software engineering, multi-tier architecture (often referred to as n-tier architecture) is a client server architecture in which more than one software agent usually running in different servers does the execution of an application. The reasons for multi-tier architectures are as follows:
1. Performance: allows for scalability by distributing the computation across multiple servers. Of course, a downfall of such strategy is when the communication costs are larger than the computation costs. In the old days, study of the decompositions of architectures was done by using queuing theory. A classic book in this area is the book by Kleinrock, Theory, Volume 1, Queueing Systems;
2. Security: by decomposition, different security strategies can be applied at each level of the hierarchy, and hence, this leads if properly designed to better security; and
3. Reliability and distribution: any layer of the architecture can be run in different servers, and therefore when a failure occurs, if properly designed, then a redirection to another server is possible. Of course for this to work a robust distributed architecture that often includes persistent transactions (a transaction that either completes or is roll back) are needed. If you want to learn more about this go to ACID PROPERTIES of TRANSACTIONS.
Hence, within this context, 2-tier, three-tier, and so for are mainly subsets of the general solution n-tier. The key is how do you separate the different functions most effectively to achieve your desired results. For example, let’s say that you want to implement an airline reservation system. You may select to build a 2-tier architecture whereas:
1. The so called presentation layer (what the user sees) runs on your local PC through a browser agent, and
2. Everything else, business logic, database layer, data base itself runs on a back-end server.
In this example, after you fill out the typical form and submit a request for travel you may get a web answer saying, “you forgot to fill out the destination city”. This happens because the business logic that understands the need for both an origination city and destination city to process a request does not run (execute) on your PC, and therefore, the backend server will not check it until the request is process. Is 5this efficient? Maybe?
Bottom line, decomposition into multiple tiers is good, but.. too much decomposition is bad – leads to performance problems, etc. I hope this helps.
One thing that it appears that the others have missed (although I'll admit that I didn't read them completly) is that there may be more than one data store, increasing the tier structure by at least one layer and possibly two.
One system I worked on had layers in the 4 tiers described by others but also another data access layer for connecting to a PBX. There could be multiple different flavors of PBXs as well, each with seperate access components. Depending on the intrerpretation that would be one or two additional layers per PBX family.
We also had out presentation layer segmented in such a way that that layer can be described as having one plus one for each PBX family which had its own presentation logic which was in fact an extension of main logic but was implemented in such a way that it was a unique layer.
Basically my point with all of this is that n-tier development is basically keeping presentation seperate from logic seperate from data, and that the number of layers it takes is not as important as the fact that it is done.
Tiers relate to layers of the system architecture. Tiers originated with model-view-controller (MVC) pattern many years ago in Smalltalk. This separated what the user sees (the view) from the logic to handle the user's actions (the controller) and the business logic (the model).
From this point, it somewhat depends on your application. For example, if you are targeting a service-oriented architecture (SOA) you will want to focus on creating Web services. Either way, you will want a layer to request functionality (services) from your business logic. I'd suggest a service layer, both interfaces for client code to build to and the actual underlying implementations.
You will certainly want to separate out database access. The "standard" is to use data access objects (DAOs) to manage model state persistence. If you are using Java, this would be through the JDBC standard or a persistence framework such as Hibernate. For .NET, you would use ADO.NET.
So, your tiers would look like this:
- view (or web)
- service
- service implementation
- dao
- dao implementation
This layering facilitates using most (all?) tooling. For example, you could easily use the Spring framework to handle authorization, transactions, AOP, ... with regular POJOs. Or you could use EJBs if you prefer. Or you can use .NET.
Getting back to your original question... 2-tier is an outdated way that systems were once built, usually with a UI interacting directly with an RDB. From there, the industry moved to 3-tier and n-tier. The difference is really what you count as a "tier". Some people consider parts of the system such as messaging (SOA, JMS, SOAP, ...) as a tier and some don't. I wouldn't get too hung up about 3-tier vs. n-tier, just be aware that all well-designed systems today have 3+ tiers. Just be clear what you are counting (e.g. by labeling parts of diagrams and/or including text descriptions) as a tier.
I hope this helps answer your question. Best of luck!
Mark
Clarification added 7 months ago:
Forgot to include some links... :")
One, two, three, or n tiers?
http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-01-2000/jw-01-ssj-tiers.html
Scaling the N-Tier Architecture
http://www.sun.com/software/whitepapers/wp-ntier/wp-ntier.pdf
Multitier architecture
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-tier
Understanding JavaServer Pages Model 2 architecture
http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-12-1999/jw-12-ssj-jspmvc.html
Designing Enterprise Applications
http://java.sun.com/blueprints/guidelines/designing_enterprise_applications_2e/web-tier/web-tier5.html
Web Services and Service-Oriented Architectures
http://www.service-architecture.com/
What is a three-tier architecture?
http://www.jguru.com/faq/view.jsp?EID=125072
Building a 3-Tier Application using ASP.NET
http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/UploadFile/paulabraham/Building3TierAppPA11282005053625AM/Building3TierAppPA.aspx
You know the 'dhabas' in India where you get 'chai' (tea) and food? There's one guy who's running around to the beaton of the customers who're waiting on him. He comes to you to ask you what you want, writes down your order, then tucks into the kitchen, picks up the peeled and finely chopped onions that he'd diced into the morning, places the pan on the gas stove and cooks.
While it's cooking, he gets the next order from the guy behind you.
That is somewhat analogous to how the 'body of a software looked like from the inside' to the programmer, in the very olden days. If programmers in a company were creating software for an oil company to run its business, they wrote everything all in one place. As a result, the program was one monolithic structure that did everything -- got the data input from the user, did all the calculations, checked if he was telling the truth, stored his input in the database and got back some output to him after that. Just like the dhaba owner -- he put the eggs on the pan, took orders from customers, ran around to do a sitting customer's bidding, and yet people yelled at him.
That was the olden day. Today, the tasks performed by one software are divided into many different software programs. One program just displays a neat, click user interface to the user and that's that. It does nothing beyond that. When the user inputs data, the program passes on the data to another program, which in turn checks for the correctness of the data using some rules.
The data is passed to a third program that stores the data nicely so that it can be retrieved easily later on. This division of labour amoung three programs is called a three-tier architecture.
Now, you could employ a fourth program to do something else in between, like, to act as a translator between two of the existing programs. Adding any number of more programs to this division is called having an N-tier architecture.
Watch out - often N tier leads to many tears.
One risk is that people confuse/conflate functional decomposition with physical architecture.
So its an excellent thing to distinguish between user interface, application logic, domain/business logic, persistence at a functional level, and here language features like packages, and distribution jars are a way of enforcing that separation.
This doesn't mean that building an application in four physical tiers (such as the approach recommended in the J2EE Blueprints) is optimal. Most of the time this excessive distribution just adds complexity, latencies, and opportunities for partial failure.
Martin Fowler says that the Golden Rule of Distributed programming is don't distribute logic! There have been many attempts to move away from N tier approaches, because of their scalability limits, and to replace them with simpler, faster architectures such as that made possible with Gigaspace, JavaSpaces, peer to peer, Ruby DRB and Rinda, memcached, and the like.
It's important to distinguish between tiers as physical layer
I wanted to make one general distinction between layers and tiers since these two terms seem to be used interchangeably in many of the answers. These two terms are not interchangeable. A layered architecture is different from a tiered architecture. A tiered architecture consists of multiple processes running on different machines simulatenously. E.g.: The Client tier has client processes or programs running, while the server tier has the server process running. So, client server is an exampe of a 2-tiered architecture. When a single server is not capable or convenient to handle multiple such processes, the architecture has more tiers, like an application server which holds the appliation code and a data tier which holds the database and data access modules. It is important to note that all these are independently running programs (runtime components) usually on different machines. At runtime, there are multiple threads or processes of execution. This is unlike a layered architecture where each layer consists of different modules and modules in an upper layer can call modules (services) at the lower layer. At runtime, a layered architecture boils down to a single thread of execution.
In a very simple way the two-tier architecture:
Client -> User interface and some business logic
Database server -> Data managment and some business logic
The basics for a non partitioned application are:
You control the number of clients (number of transactions)
Work group or in department way
You also control the platform
Client-side business rules and system management logic are part of the visual interface
Some examples are:
Database connection logic written entirely in the event of the visual object, the business rule is in a window function or event
Two-tier partitioned application:
Client-side business rules and system management logic are coded in nonvisual objects
A simple example is that the database connection logic is written in custom class.
It's very easy to maintain, and permits the reuse of the business logic within application, it also enables the reuse of business logic for future applications. You may include some web clients, and you can port to other architectures.
The N-Tier Architecture:
Client -> User Interface
Application Server -> Business logic, transaction management, load balance, caching, data location transparency.
Database Server -> Data managment
It adds an application server between the client and the database server
Business rules are not in the client but are centrally located
You can reuse business logic in future applications
Offload some processing from database server and reduce drastically database connections, you can also enable your application to connect via web clients to access these components or wireless
Thursday, December 6, 2007
What am I missing?
What am I missing?
I am compiling a list of what I believe are the biggest sales challenges for entrepreneurs and sales people so I can better position how 'Trigger Events' can positively impact sales effectiveness?
I would love to get your input on what I am missing and your perspective on which three you think are the top sales challenges entrepreneurs and sales people face.
So for the challenges I have come up with are how to:
• Earn bigger margins
• Shorten sales cycles
• Increase close ratios
• Increase close ratios
• Find more opportunities
• Capture early customers
• Get in front of more prospects
• Get to motivated prospects first
• Stop the competition from being called
What am I missing and what do you think are the top three?
Any assistance is GREATLY appreciated
I think the biggest challenge is how to come across credibly and differentiated. I'm a champion cold caller who often gets in front of executives and when asked why I was told that it wasn't necessarily what I said but instead how I said it. I've been told that my biggest differentiator is that I'm direct and concise. I would also say that much success depends upon being consistent even when you are succeeding. With everyone being marketed to more and more these days-its critical for sales people to be differentiated and credible and not sound like a junior guy his first year on the phone.
I think that the missing one in the list is how to:
be liked
people will buy from you and work with you because they like you. If that basic criteria is missing then it is a really hard sell.
The way you've stated your challenges focuses more on "things" (sales) than "people" (relationships) in a larger scope. I would add (1) earning repeat customers & (2) maintaining positive customer relationships although you could argue these are embedded in sales cycles to some degree. Of course, my perspective is from my background as an attorney who has dealt with sales-based organizations and my interest in conflict management. As an attorney, from a business perspective, I would much rather have long-term relationships with clients than continually be looking for new business! If you would like to continue the exchange in more detail, please feel free to email.
I've been consulting with start-up broadband and media companies the last few years in legal, business affairs and business development.
Some of the real challenges I've encountered are:
Keeping the sell focused on what the company is offering and really can deliver on now...not he hope of what can be accomplished down the road--
Really listening to the responses and questions you're getting--these reveal what is of interest tothe desired customer/buyer and what he/she is looking to hear--
Being open and flexible in who to approach--sit down, think of what your service or product is and what key points of difference exist with competitors--there may be potential customers who need what you're selling in markets that aren't immediaely apparent--the way consumers find and act on info today is so varied that mulyiple means of outreach are key
Know that closing may not happen today but can happen--tomorrow--getting a good read and feel for he customer is a key--there may be many reasons why a "yes" doesn't come today (pressures, issues you can't know) and be ready to end a conversation on an opening for more--and then send useful follow-up info--become a supportiuve contact and sales can follow.
I think the two biggest challenges are building trust and getting referrals. I've found that the easiest way to build trust is to provide an immediate incentive. This shows that you want the customer to profit, too. Once you've earned the customer's business through an incentive, it becomes easier to get referrals from that person.
Another one to add to your list is getting a clear value statement defined
Your list is looking good (although Increase close ratios is repeated twice). I would also add:
-- Understanding customer requirements (involves asking the right questions and using good listening skills)
-- Building better and long-term relationships
-- Creating and using a Sales Process
-- Selling at higher levels within the organization
-- Finding out who the decision maker is, or decision makers are
-- Patience (often times, a sales cycle will take a long time and you can't rush it)
-- Learning how to better qualify leads and opportunities
-- Walking away from unqualified opportunities
-- Walking away from unprofitable opportunities
There are more, but that's all I can think of for now. I would say the first three on my list are the most important.
Sales Challenges of an Entrepreneur:
They view the interaction as a sale, instead of a relationship
It’s all about them, not about the customer
They aren’t asking nearly as many questions as need to be asked
They are talking about the process of "how to" not the result and outcome benefits
They don’t have the skill set to Keep-in-Touch and Follow-up
I had another one that I believe is critical and it slipped right out of my mind. I will come back and add it, if I can remember. Note to self, write things down.
Let me take a different tack. A CEO buddy of mine once said when looking at ideas or offeres he asked three questions:
1. What is it (what do you do) and why would someone want it?
2. What makes you better than anyone else (why should I be talking to you)?
3. How do we make money with it (you)?
Hitting hot buttons for executives or calling with loaded questions like - do you want to make more profit or do you want to retain more customers always put my guard up.
The sales calls that I listened to started out ... I don't know whether you have need for our services but let me describe what we do and why we think we are better than anyone else then maybe I could get your ideas on how we might be useful to you or get your thoughts on who else might be able to benefit from our product or services.
In that way you are engaging the prospect, providing them information and respecting their judgement. I have found that the respect is a better hook than the come on.
I think two of the biggest challenges even the greatest sales professionals face and v=never think about are:
Following up and through
Listening!
As sales people, we love to hear ourselves talk but too often we are already thinking about what we are going to say next and not just listening but really hearing what are clients are saying.
As for following up, always return phone calls and after you make the sale, ensure that the client is happy and will look to you again in the future, as well as refer you to their contacts.
I am compiling a list of what I believe are the biggest sales challenges for entrepreneurs and sales people so I can better position how 'Trigger Events' can positively impact sales effectiveness?
I would love to get your input on what I am missing and your perspective on which three you think are the top sales challenges entrepreneurs and sales people face.
So for the challenges I have come up with are how to:
• Earn bigger margins
• Shorten sales cycles
• Increase close ratios
• Increase close ratios
• Find more opportunities
• Capture early customers
• Get in front of more prospects
• Get to motivated prospects first
• Stop the competition from being called
What am I missing and what do you think are the top three?
Any assistance is GREATLY appreciated
I think the biggest challenge is how to come across credibly and differentiated. I'm a champion cold caller who often gets in front of executives and when asked why I was told that it wasn't necessarily what I said but instead how I said it. I've been told that my biggest differentiator is that I'm direct and concise. I would also say that much success depends upon being consistent even when you are succeeding. With everyone being marketed to more and more these days-its critical for sales people to be differentiated and credible and not sound like a junior guy his first year on the phone.
I think that the missing one in the list is how to:
be liked
people will buy from you and work with you because they like you. If that basic criteria is missing then it is a really hard sell.
The way you've stated your challenges focuses more on "things" (sales) than "people" (relationships) in a larger scope. I would add (1) earning repeat customers & (2) maintaining positive customer relationships although you could argue these are embedded in sales cycles to some degree. Of course, my perspective is from my background as an attorney who has dealt with sales-based organizations and my interest in conflict management. As an attorney, from a business perspective, I would much rather have long-term relationships with clients than continually be looking for new business! If you would like to continue the exchange in more detail, please feel free to email.
I've been consulting with start-up broadband and media companies the last few years in legal, business affairs and business development.
Some of the real challenges I've encountered are:
Keeping the sell focused on what the company is offering and really can deliver on now...not he hope of what can be accomplished down the road--
Really listening to the responses and questions you're getting--these reveal what is of interest tothe desired customer/buyer and what he/she is looking to hear--
Being open and flexible in who to approach--sit down, think of what your service or product is and what key points of difference exist with competitors--there may be potential customers who need what you're selling in markets that aren't immediaely apparent--the way consumers find and act on info today is so varied that mulyiple means of outreach are key
Know that closing may not happen today but can happen--tomorrow--getting a good read and feel for he customer is a key--there may be many reasons why a "yes" doesn't come today (pressures, issues you can't know) and be ready to end a conversation on an opening for more--and then send useful follow-up info--become a supportiuve contact and sales can follow.
I think the two biggest challenges are building trust and getting referrals. I've found that the easiest way to build trust is to provide an immediate incentive. This shows that you want the customer to profit, too. Once you've earned the customer's business through an incentive, it becomes easier to get referrals from that person.
Another one to add to your list is getting a clear value statement defined
Your list is looking good (although Increase close ratios is repeated twice). I would also add:
-- Understanding customer requirements (involves asking the right questions and using good listening skills)
-- Building better and long-term relationships
-- Creating and using a Sales Process
-- Selling at higher levels within the organization
-- Finding out who the decision maker is, or decision makers are
-- Patience (often times, a sales cycle will take a long time and you can't rush it)
-- Learning how to better qualify leads and opportunities
-- Walking away from unqualified opportunities
-- Walking away from unprofitable opportunities
There are more, but that's all I can think of for now. I would say the first three on my list are the most important.
Sales Challenges of an Entrepreneur:
They view the interaction as a sale, instead of a relationship
It’s all about them, not about the customer
They aren’t asking nearly as many questions as need to be asked
They are talking about the process of "how to" not the result and outcome benefits
They don’t have the skill set to Keep-in-Touch and Follow-up
I had another one that I believe is critical and it slipped right out of my mind. I will come back and add it, if I can remember. Note to self, write things down.
Let me take a different tack. A CEO buddy of mine once said when looking at ideas or offeres he asked three questions:
1. What is it (what do you do) and why would someone want it?
2. What makes you better than anyone else (why should I be talking to you)?
3. How do we make money with it (you)?
Hitting hot buttons for executives or calling with loaded questions like - do you want to make more profit or do you want to retain more customers always put my guard up.
The sales calls that I listened to started out ... I don't know whether you have need for our services but let me describe what we do and why we think we are better than anyone else then maybe I could get your ideas on how we might be useful to you or get your thoughts on who else might be able to benefit from our product or services.
In that way you are engaging the prospect, providing them information and respecting their judgement. I have found that the respect is a better hook than the come on.
I think two of the biggest challenges even the greatest sales professionals face and v=never think about are:
Following up and through
Listening!
As sales people, we love to hear ourselves talk but too often we are already thinking about what we are going to say next and not just listening but really hearing what are clients are saying.
As for following up, always return phone calls and after you make the sale, ensure that the client is happy and will look to you again in the future, as well as refer you to their contacts.
Monday, December 3, 2007
What are the biggest challenges you face with regards to gaining potential customers trust?
What are the biggest challenges you face with regards to gaining potential customers trust?
Is word of mouth the only way to gain trust or would they accept user ratings and comments from an online community and/or directory?
Word of mouth is an excellent way to get through the customers' door, but the onus remain upon you (when you had a chance to meet customer face-to-face) to demonstrate that you can bring value to the customers' business by addressing their needs and/or concerns. Once given the opportunity to conduct any form of business dealing you MUST always win their trust and confidence, so that they believe that you (and your organisation) are dependable and trustworthy of their business.
Another approach is to attract the attention of your target customers through participation in professional conferences and trade exhibitions, writing technical articles about your products (features, quality, functionality, etc) and/or target advertising in professional magazines where you highlight key products / services differentiators.
If all possible, I would advise you to consider positioning your business in a niche market where custmers need your products, at whatever price, as there's (hopefully) hardly any competition.
Word of mouth is always best; testimonials and user ratings are great too.
You can also get a lot of customers from appearing in magazine or newspaper articles as that seems to suggest credibility.
If you offered a 100% money-back guarantee for your product or service that could help too.
I find these are the best ways to gain customers trust:
Be transparent in your dealings with them.
Treat them like a relationship and not a sale.
Be the best resource to them (whether your product/service or another)
Giving a straight answer to such a general Question is not possible.
We need to analyse the following
1. Level of Existence of the Firm in the Market
2. Its Market Share
3. Technical Level of the Product
4. Awareness in customer .....may or may not be target customers
5. Pricing of the product wrt to the competition
Going one by one
If its a new firm in the market place it will have to first create the footfalls at the outlets or Webspace (Whatever may be the platform) for its products. It can never hope to pick up trust from word of mouth .
So, ratings, comments and user guides are the only way out
If the product is old and the market share is less then there is some most likely some serious issue with the product and the company image in the market.......this may or may not be related to trust .....there may be some other issues like supplies and distribution ........for this the company need to set its house in order and look for the loop holes..............
if the product is better than word of mouth will be better option
Technical Level of the product may be out of the reach of the common customers .........here the company need to take advantage of this knowledge gap and take advantage of biased ratings, expert views, polls etc.
It may b possible that the product is priced above or below the market rate significantly ........in such a case the company can take advantage of the ratings better justifying both negative and positive pricings in its campaigns
Every position is different and need to be resolved by taking all the factors together ...........some may be stronger or some may be weaker as the case may be ...............
So, it need to be evaluated case to case basis.
I think a personal referral is always best. And ads/local interest stories may drum up interest but not necessarily clients.
Is word of mouth the only way to gain trust or would they accept user ratings and comments from an online community and/or directory?
Word of mouth is an excellent way to get through the customers' door, but the onus remain upon you (when you had a chance to meet customer face-to-face) to demonstrate that you can bring value to the customers' business by addressing their needs and/or concerns. Once given the opportunity to conduct any form of business dealing you MUST always win their trust and confidence, so that they believe that you (and your organisation) are dependable and trustworthy of their business.
Another approach is to attract the attention of your target customers through participation in professional conferences and trade exhibitions, writing technical articles about your products (features, quality, functionality, etc) and/or target advertising in professional magazines where you highlight key products / services differentiators.
If all possible, I would advise you to consider positioning your business in a niche market where custmers need your products, at whatever price, as there's (hopefully) hardly any competition.
Word of mouth is always best; testimonials and user ratings are great too.
You can also get a lot of customers from appearing in magazine or newspaper articles as that seems to suggest credibility.
If you offered a 100% money-back guarantee for your product or service that could help too.
I find these are the best ways to gain customers trust:
Be transparent in your dealings with them.
Treat them like a relationship and not a sale.
Be the best resource to them (whether your product/service or another)
Giving a straight answer to such a general Question is not possible.
We need to analyse the following
1. Level of Existence of the Firm in the Market
2. Its Market Share
3. Technical Level of the Product
4. Awareness in customer .....may or may not be target customers
5. Pricing of the product wrt to the competition
Going one by one
If its a new firm in the market place it will have to first create the footfalls at the outlets or Webspace (Whatever may be the platform) for its products. It can never hope to pick up trust from word of mouth .
So, ratings, comments and user guides are the only way out
If the product is old and the market share is less then there is some most likely some serious issue with the product and the company image in the market.......this may or may not be related to trust .....there may be some other issues like supplies and distribution ........for this the company need to set its house in order and look for the loop holes..............
if the product is better than word of mouth will be better option
Technical Level of the product may be out of the reach of the common customers .........here the company need to take advantage of this knowledge gap and take advantage of biased ratings, expert views, polls etc.
It may b possible that the product is priced above or below the market rate significantly ........in such a case the company can take advantage of the ratings better justifying both negative and positive pricings in its campaigns
Every position is different and need to be resolved by taking all the factors together ...........some may be stronger or some may be weaker as the case may be ...............
So, it need to be evaluated case to case basis.
I think a personal referral is always best. And ads/local interest stories may drum up interest but not necessarily clients.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Never cold calling again, can you?
Never cold calling again, can you?
It is probably -for the most of us- a necessary evil that is subject to procastination. Please share with me your experience in getting leads (do's and don't, which is the best to call on, etc) and more specifically:
1. What methods proved to be successful for you? How do you break the ice?
2. If you do a lot of telemarketing, your ratio of dials to appointments with a target db?
3. How much time do you spend percentage wise doing cold calling vs the total time on business development?
4. Have you used external agencies to set up appointments?
last but not least: your funniest feedback/anecdotes
I am now doing a go-to-market strategy assessment for an IT consulting boutique and B2B telemarketing is their main instrument for customer acquisition, targeting IT directors and CIOs. We are currently exploring efficient ways to increase customer facing time with prospects, basically getting appointments booked
One of the ten activities to obtain new leads is Cold Calling.
However, I am just now reading a book called "Never Cold Call Again" by Frnak J. Rumbauskas and it's very interesting to read that Frank is absolutely against Cold Calling. Why you may ask, well because Frank says in his book that "Selling is out and Self Marketing is in". If you cold call then you are obviously looking for sales. However if you Market yourself properly then in stead of a Serach Light you become a Light Tower. Any body in business knows that once your potential customers are calling you your marketing efforts have paid off.
A few of the other methods to get traction are:
1) Networking, here Linkedin is a great example but then you can network at places suh as BNI, PowerCore, our own Profit Club platform. and depending on the products you offer some of the Chambers may be the right platform to Network.
2) If you visit your client you may ask your client for referrals
3) You may call clients who you have not had any business from for a period via a survey the why, what and how.
4) Follow up from quotes and/or proposals
5) Telemarketing, use the help from an outsourcing company that concentrates on getting leads for companies.
6) Via regular newsletters
7) Via Seminars
8) Get somebody else to blow your trumpet, very effective
9) With Host Beneficiaries, use somebody else's database to advertise your services.
10) With regular touches to potential clients, telcon, email, phone-mail-phone and via the normal post
You will not believe how important it is to make your clients/customers "Raving Fans" because only then will they become your best sales people. I notice this all the time
Cold calls can be deeply annoying. The main reason why is that they are all about what the cold caller wants (an appointment, a sale, etc) and not about any sort of genuine human contact. I can smell a cold-call in about three seconds just by the tone of the caller's voice.
I've done lots of cold calling over the years (I'm an ex-headhunter) but I never really thought of it as cold calling. Here are a few "perspectives" that keep me on track.
1. Don't B.S. people. When I was doing executive search I'd introduce myself right off the bat as a headhunter. This generally got a few laughs from people who are used to callers trying to schmooze them before getting onto the point. People appreciate brevity over gimmicks.
2. Consider the relationship. When I call someone today, I'm not trying to make an immediate sale or an appointment. I'm just doing a gentle introduction, that way if they can use someone like me down the road they have my name - nothing more. I'm interested in relationships, not speed.
3. Don't waste their time. If someone is busy I just thank them and hang up. Nothing is more annoying than the "oooh.... can I send you my handy trifold brochure?" when you're trying to get to your next meeting. If they're busy, I don't hassle them.
4. Be Human - When I call someone I'm simply myself. You're not going to get a slick marketing pitch and I'm not going to use my "sales voice" on them. Yes, I have something great to offer (or why would I be in this business?) but it's all about being genuine, not a sales robot.
5. Care - If I don't approach our introduction with a genuine curiousity about their business and how I might help, I have no reason to call them. More than that, I never force myself into a situation when I don't fit. If someone tells me about a need but it's not my area of expertise, I refer them to a better match.
I realize that much of this sounds counter to the traditional sales wisdom. But it works for me. More importantly however, it works for my business. How does one cold call effectively? By treating people the way you'd want to be treated on the other end of the line. That's my 2 cents anyway.
I'm not sure you can truly call yourself a salesman until you have done a few months at least of cold calling - either on the road and/or on the phone.
If you can survive a good stint at cold calling then selling from a qualified lead should make things a whole lot easier - I would never employ a sales person who has not cold called at sometime of their career.
For those who hate to receive cold calls I bet they get the bad ones - cold calling is an art form; done well it's not as intrusive as one would imagine. Done badly and the rejection % goes way up.
Rejection: God I used to hate getting a day of rejections - I used to be out on the road 5 days a week - with only the yellow pages and the info gleaned out of local info once i reached one of my towns or cities on my 'patch'. Some days I didn't even get to pitch, some days I got shouted at, some days I got told to F off - to begin with it used to upset me - not because I was offended - but because I didn't know if I was any good, or not.
When you do cold calls - the Churchill mantra helps: never give up, never give up, never give up.....
I never gave up - I just adapted and honed and persevered... and accepted that some days, some weeks even, I wouldn't sell a thing. It happens.
Here's another thing - used to cold calling - bet your 'bar related' pick up rate is higher than anyone who has never cold called! Sorry, a bit sexist maybe but cold calling gives you an element of no-fear. At least it should.
1. Methodology: 3 parts
a. Entry level telesales -just getting info into the proper hands
b. follow up on information by entry level telesales
c. Conference call with manager (expert, closer)
2. using the above method we would send out 100 emails per day per telesales person + 60 calls this turned into roughly 4- 6 conference calls per day, and turned into 2-3 proposals per week, of which we would close 1.5
3. The time you spend on cold calls needs to be constant. One major problem companies have in sales is that the person who calls is also the person who closes is also the person who manages and this produces a wave effect with your sales. To be constant you need people on the phone all the time.
4. I recently joined a new firm and before I took over BIZ Dev they were using a outside sales force to set up meetings. I can talk more about this off line.
I don't now who you are selling to but a quality database is hard to come by. Most companies will hire someone for their connections/database. You can buy them but they are often not up to date or accurate. Jigsaw is a great resource for finding new people. For example I have been in the industry for a long time and pride myself on being a networked individual and I have only built a database of roughly 17k people. It sounds like a lot but when you want to reach a wide variety of people and need to provide a 2-3 people with contacts they can go quickly. Again I can go into this more online if you would like.
I also mentioned this in another post:
“Call the person. Speak to the Administrator a few times, show persistence and value and he/she will get you 10 minutes on the phone with the big dog. If you really have something of value you will get the invite. If you don't, well, find something of value and sell that. Don't go in expecting to sell the client, go in hoping to talk to his administrator. On the next call hope to get your info in his/her hands. And on the third try ask if he/she had the opportunity to review the documents to see if you were a fit. If they say yes ask if they were passed along. If no hold off. If they don't see value now hold off for 2 months and approach them again with new collateral. In the meantime scour the internet for articles about them and their competitors and send them as an FYI one or twice. This shows you are thinking about them and not trying to sell. On the follow up they should be ready to chat. good luck. Also feel free to check out my post "Should you use a net or a hook and worm?"
Cold calling is not evil.
It's a part of any good sales person's tool kit, and a part of any good sales process. One of the problems and main causes of the stigma around cold calling is that it is often performed by entry level, and frankly, not very good sales resources. One of the other key points to keep in mind is expectations. You have to start somewhere in building a relationship with a prospect, and the cold call is just the first step.
I work with companies and indivudals to improve their selling ability via the telephone, and have a lot of experience in this field. So let me address your points, Charles:
1. Do what most sales people do not do - ask for permission with a strong value prop... not enough space here to get into specifics...
2. Success ratios are directly tied to the quality of the lead source. Do the reps need to search for the right contact? Are the right numbers provided? Is this a purchsed set of leads or are they trade show leads?
3. As I said, cold calling is a component of the sales process. Management must decide how they want to allocate time across business development activities. Obviously, the more rocks you throw - the more windows you will break... and it depends on the skill of the team as well.
4. External agencies rarely work well. I would only outsource cld calling for a short term project to follow up on a direct mailer campaign.
I used to manage an outsourced biz dev company in the past and that is what led me to start Direct Contact. The ROI is rarely there in outsourcing this activity and I believe it is dangerous to outsource any contact with your prospects to someone outside your company. By building an effective business development department in-house, you will have control over the activities and can "grow" your front line biz dev reps into your future senior sales resources.
Want help with this project or any other business development plan?
I personally love "Cold Calling" and will never stop, because I do it for fun. The most important advice I can give cold callers is to respect the fact that you are probably interrupting a very busy person who was not sitting around waiting for your call, so the first thing I always ask after introducing myself is to ask the suspect if they have a moment to talk. Kind of a personal challenge and mental exercise to see if I can overcome the normally negative and cynical reception that you encounter when interrupting someone's busy day with an unsolicited pitch. If I can turn the call into a synergistic dialog then I consider the call successful even if it's only to schedule a better time to call back.
Secondly, I believe that we are becoming de-sensitized to verbal and physical interaction by technology and personally, I don't like being invisible behind a computer. I truly enjoy being visible and the inter-relationship of, interaction and stimulating verbal intercourse between two intelligient minds so Video blogging, virtual meetings and Podcasting are distribution channels that I emotionally appreciate very much. My company www.novusinfotech.com (shameless plug) specializes in Internet Marketing so I appreciate and comprehend the capacity of the focused purchasing power of the Internet and I am always learning and searching for more efficient utilization frontiers for that medium. In any sales effort, my experience has been to have a good story.
A razor sharp, crisp clear and compelling marketing awareness and personal understanding of your self, your product or service, your competition, your prospects and your Unique Selling Proposition. After that it's easy. Just tell your story to as many of the right people on a favorable basis. You can do that very efficiently to millions of people utilizing various Internet tools and strategies. So, in the end, I know that I can eliminate Cold Calling. I choose not to because I enjoy hearing your voice.
I hate receiving a cold call. 999 times out of 1000 I will not have even the smallest interest in what they are selling. I have a rule that I will never buy from someone if they cold call me. I feel they are wasting my time.
Good question. We like to use intro emails as a "softening" approach so that when we do call our prospect it is more of a 'warm call'.
Also, we offer sales training for cold calling. Send me a note at ddioso @ rmgmtsolutions.com if you are interested and I can tell you more.
Good Question!!! Well its a fact that most of us hate to receive cold calls, however I always feel that, as long as cold calling is not misused its a good medium to create awareness about you products or services, it makes you aware of many new good things of your own interest also. Even though we hate cold calls, but still I would say that at least I listen to most of the people calling me very patiently and never insult them or humiliate them. I always give respect to others and expect the same from others.
I am also open of all kind of net workings; every one can feel free to email me on shishir.kumar@icmail.net, and am open for all kind of cold calls :-)
I always feel in my industry that if someone is worth calling it makes sense to find something out about them first. Everyone seems to be so pro-networking now that it is easy to gain credibility by showing an effort has been made not to waste anyone's time.
I have spoken to people for the first time knowing anything from what they do and what their company is involved in at that time to where they went to school and what football team they support. It shows a geniune interest rather than just taking 5 seconds to dial a number.
This obviously isn't feasible in high volume industries but can work well in others.
As far as receiving cold calls I have to say I am open to them "as long as they are relevant" and understand my situation. For instance the number of times I have had the simple cold call from a telephone operator asking to switch my mobile network without any questions of understanding my needs is crazy. Half the time I cant help but refer him or her to the scene in the movie "Boiler Room" - Sales 101. Thats funny! Now if I ever did that with CEOs or Senior Managers needless to say there wouldnt be much successful business sold.
I find that cold calling is the best way to facilitate business. The key to success is to know your audience, if your calling a person about IT security and they are a financial analyst, you are wasting your time, and thiers.
Some things that i keep reminding myself before every call:
1. Who am I calling?
2. What types of needs do these types of consumers typically have, this is a great opportunity to mention previous experience in the field, i find that once someone realizes that you are a real company doing real work, they open up.
3. Do not be pushy, the customer ALWAYS comes first, i make it my number one priority to maintain a consultative role, the first thing you have to remember is that it is all about them, not you, what ever your motives are, not every person you call will be the right prospect.
4. Follow up, maintain a relationship, i have had deals on the table with clients that have fallen through, and I still go rock climbing with the customer, because people move around in this industry, and as you meet more professionals, the pool shrinks, so every relationship is critical to maintaining your business.
If you would like more words of wisdom, e-mail me sceracche@icpcorp.com and I do take my fair share of cold calls too :)
I always at least listen to cold callers, since sometimes it is me on the other end making that call. I typically try to interrupt their script and get them off track. However, I am always courteous to them, as I would like those individuals I call to be courteous to me.
I agree with most of the answers previously given. Cold calling is a necessary evil that just can't be avoided.
I have been making cold calls for over 9 years and have received all sorts of rejections. However, their are a few principles I subscribe to and teach others -
Research who you are calling, know their industry, geography and insider information is always useful.
Do not lie to get to the person - Identify yourself as a recruiter
Don't just run through the call, ask if they have a few minutes to talk
Don't sell chicken! Tell them what you do, who your doing it for and find out if this is a need they have. Then speak to them about a real candidate, not a ghost that you made up on the fly.
If someone does not want to work with me, they are not hurting my feelings. I end the call amicably with the hopes that next time we may be a better match for their needs, then I move on to their competitor.
Lots of good advice from others, I'll try not to repeat anyone:
Do your research - I hate getting a loan solicitation when I just refinanced.
Be considerate - ask "is this a good time to talk?" and don't take too much time unless they're truly interested
Don't take it personally - many people hate getting cold calls. That's not your fault.
Consider it an adventure, not a burden - many people I have cold called, are now good friends. The better your attitude, the nicer people will treat you.
I've been in executive search for 12 years, and I still make cold calls. I don't think I would serve my clients as effectively if I didn't consistently do new research. And I truly enjoy meeting new people.
Old school cold calling is truly an art form. And like most forms of art, the great artists are few compared to the many. There is one other disturbing characteristic about great artists. They gain their fame after they are dead, thereby missing most of their fortune.
If you want an effective telephone prospecting system you should look at High Probability Selling. (http://www.highprobsell.com) With this system, you remove the “art” factor and replace it with science. It may sound a little stark and cold when you are used to the idea of “warming up” the cold call and building relationships and all the other warm and fuzzies that are touted and preached in conjunction with traditional cold calling and direct sales. (I think of those as the doggie treats for doing dumb tricks) These are the things that used to keep us going. The dogma of “Never quit, never give in, never die!” does stir emotion and helps to motivate, it ultimately doesn’t change the results. Remove all the smoke and mirrors and work with a system that is effective.
Check out this system and decide for yourself.
We never do a really cold-call. Our calling plan is specifically targeted and is addressing a specific requirement we have of the potential lead, their business and their potential needs.
So most of our calls can start with something like "I say in the press that ....", "We thought it might be a good idea to introduce Mr. AAAA who has a significant amount of expertise in this area" etc.
Since the aim is to establish a relationship, not complete the sale on the first call. And from all the answers so far i think that could be the crux of the matter. The initial aim and expectation of the cold call.
If the aim is to get, progress and complete the sale of a specific product or service on the first call, then you probably deserve to be cut-off.
if the aim is to establish a new relationship, by offering an idea, resource or opportunity which has been well-thought out to target the specific business, then you should get a better hit rate.
Real (good) networkers never use the email, they call. They make it at personal as possible. They try to know each other, they don't just forward introductions or recommend someone. They also need to be able to assess the communication styles of people in their network. See who is who, using what style so that you know how to best interact with that person or company. It makes it much more efficient.
In my profile there are some hyperlinks leading to more information about this subject.
In many industries, cold calling is indeed necessary and is an art in and of itself. In my industry (advertising), it is common although our small agency has chosen to go a different route, and the reason for this is that with all the new communications platforms available to us, there are a variety of ways to reach people in a more creative and aspirational way. What's most important, is that when we reach prospective clients using these methods, they get a clear picture of how we can reach their consumers and are inclined to use our services.
In your case, I would think about using platforms specific to the verticals you are representing; for example, perhaps there is an enterprise solution that schedules appointments you can send virally to prospective IT clients; this can be done in lieu of, or in addtion, to a cold call.
Many people feel outsourcing this approach is the best solution. In my humble opinion, I believe you can still get the same ROI through internal training. Through my own experience "cold calling" prospective clients, I've found the best way to "get in the door" is through preparation. I always followed the old fashion formula before I took on a cold calling campaign:
-Research audience.
-Script out a clear and effective intro statement. Memorize
-Organize anticipated objections and formulate rebuttals. Memorize
-Adopt a professional, yet down-to-earth character that helps get the prospect to think "this guy is different but I'm intrigued" (attention getter)
-Never "hard-sell" on the first call. Always keep it simple but forward thinking.
-Send an email, mail a packet, and follow-up with a second call without giving a specific date or time.
-Gain commitment on the second call
Hope this helps. I'm sure if you take something from each response you will have gained enough information to ensure a successful campaign (not to mention saved yourself thousands of dollars in consulting fees.)
It is probably -for the most of us- a necessary evil that is subject to procastination. Please share with me your experience in getting leads (do's and don't, which is the best to call on, etc) and more specifically:
1. What methods proved to be successful for you? How do you break the ice?
2. If you do a lot of telemarketing, your ratio of dials to appointments with a target db?
3. How much time do you spend percentage wise doing cold calling vs the total time on business development?
4. Have you used external agencies to set up appointments?
last but not least: your funniest feedback/anecdotes
I am now doing a go-to-market strategy assessment for an IT consulting boutique and B2B telemarketing is their main instrument for customer acquisition, targeting IT directors and CIOs. We are currently exploring efficient ways to increase customer facing time with prospects, basically getting appointments booked
One of the ten activities to obtain new leads is Cold Calling.
However, I am just now reading a book called "Never Cold Call Again" by Frnak J. Rumbauskas and it's very interesting to read that Frank is absolutely against Cold Calling. Why you may ask, well because Frank says in his book that "Selling is out and Self Marketing is in". If you cold call then you are obviously looking for sales. However if you Market yourself properly then in stead of a Serach Light you become a Light Tower. Any body in business knows that once your potential customers are calling you your marketing efforts have paid off.
A few of the other methods to get traction are:
1) Networking, here Linkedin is a great example but then you can network at places suh as BNI, PowerCore, our own Profit Club platform. and depending on the products you offer some of the Chambers may be the right platform to Network.
2) If you visit your client you may ask your client for referrals
3) You may call clients who you have not had any business from for a period via a survey the why, what and how.
4) Follow up from quotes and/or proposals
5) Telemarketing, use the help from an outsourcing company that concentrates on getting leads for companies.
6) Via regular newsletters
7) Via Seminars
8) Get somebody else to blow your trumpet, very effective
9) With Host Beneficiaries, use somebody else's database to advertise your services.
10) With regular touches to potential clients, telcon, email, phone-mail-phone and via the normal post
You will not believe how important it is to make your clients/customers "Raving Fans" because only then will they become your best sales people. I notice this all the time
Cold calls can be deeply annoying. The main reason why is that they are all about what the cold caller wants (an appointment, a sale, etc) and not about any sort of genuine human contact. I can smell a cold-call in about three seconds just by the tone of the caller's voice.
I've done lots of cold calling over the years (I'm an ex-headhunter) but I never really thought of it as cold calling. Here are a few "perspectives" that keep me on track.
1. Don't B.S. people. When I was doing executive search I'd introduce myself right off the bat as a headhunter. This generally got a few laughs from people who are used to callers trying to schmooze them before getting onto the point. People appreciate brevity over gimmicks.
2. Consider the relationship. When I call someone today, I'm not trying to make an immediate sale or an appointment. I'm just doing a gentle introduction, that way if they can use someone like me down the road they have my name - nothing more. I'm interested in relationships, not speed.
3. Don't waste their time. If someone is busy I just thank them and hang up. Nothing is more annoying than the "oooh.... can I send you my handy trifold brochure?" when you're trying to get to your next meeting. If they're busy, I don't hassle them.
4. Be Human - When I call someone I'm simply myself. You're not going to get a slick marketing pitch and I'm not going to use my "sales voice" on them. Yes, I have something great to offer (or why would I be in this business?) but it's all about being genuine, not a sales robot.
5. Care - If I don't approach our introduction with a genuine curiousity about their business and how I might help, I have no reason to call them. More than that, I never force myself into a situation when I don't fit. If someone tells me about a need but it's not my area of expertise, I refer them to a better match.
I realize that much of this sounds counter to the traditional sales wisdom. But it works for me. More importantly however, it works for my business. How does one cold call effectively? By treating people the way you'd want to be treated on the other end of the line. That's my 2 cents anyway.
I'm not sure you can truly call yourself a salesman until you have done a few months at least of cold calling - either on the road and/or on the phone.
If you can survive a good stint at cold calling then selling from a qualified lead should make things a whole lot easier - I would never employ a sales person who has not cold called at sometime of their career.
For those who hate to receive cold calls I bet they get the bad ones - cold calling is an art form; done well it's not as intrusive as one would imagine. Done badly and the rejection % goes way up.
Rejection: God I used to hate getting a day of rejections - I used to be out on the road 5 days a week - with only the yellow pages and the info gleaned out of local info once i reached one of my towns or cities on my 'patch'. Some days I didn't even get to pitch, some days I got shouted at, some days I got told to F off - to begin with it used to upset me - not because I was offended - but because I didn't know if I was any good, or not.
When you do cold calls - the Churchill mantra helps: never give up, never give up, never give up.....
I never gave up - I just adapted and honed and persevered... and accepted that some days, some weeks even, I wouldn't sell a thing. It happens.
Here's another thing - used to cold calling - bet your 'bar related' pick up rate is higher than anyone who has never cold called! Sorry, a bit sexist maybe but cold calling gives you an element of no-fear. At least it should.
1. Methodology: 3 parts
a. Entry level telesales -just getting info into the proper hands
b. follow up on information by entry level telesales
c. Conference call with manager (expert, closer)
2. using the above method we would send out 100 emails per day per telesales person + 60 calls this turned into roughly 4- 6 conference calls per day, and turned into 2-3 proposals per week, of which we would close 1.5
3. The time you spend on cold calls needs to be constant. One major problem companies have in sales is that the person who calls is also the person who closes is also the person who manages and this produces a wave effect with your sales. To be constant you need people on the phone all the time.
4. I recently joined a new firm and before I took over BIZ Dev they were using a outside sales force to set up meetings. I can talk more about this off line.
I don't now who you are selling to but a quality database is hard to come by. Most companies will hire someone for their connections/database. You can buy them but they are often not up to date or accurate. Jigsaw is a great resource for finding new people. For example I have been in the industry for a long time and pride myself on being a networked individual and I have only built a database of roughly 17k people. It sounds like a lot but when you want to reach a wide variety of people and need to provide a 2-3 people with contacts they can go quickly. Again I can go into this more online if you would like.
I also mentioned this in another post:
“Call the person. Speak to the Administrator a few times, show persistence and value and he/she will get you 10 minutes on the phone with the big dog. If you really have something of value you will get the invite. If you don't, well, find something of value and sell that. Don't go in expecting to sell the client, go in hoping to talk to his administrator. On the next call hope to get your info in his/her hands. And on the third try ask if he/she had the opportunity to review the documents to see if you were a fit. If they say yes ask if they were passed along. If no hold off. If they don't see value now hold off for 2 months and approach them again with new collateral. In the meantime scour the internet for articles about them and their competitors and send them as an FYI one or twice. This shows you are thinking about them and not trying to sell. On the follow up they should be ready to chat. good luck. Also feel free to check out my post "Should you use a net or a hook and worm?"
Cold calling is not evil.
It's a part of any good sales person's tool kit, and a part of any good sales process. One of the problems and main causes of the stigma around cold calling is that it is often performed by entry level, and frankly, not very good sales resources. One of the other key points to keep in mind is expectations. You have to start somewhere in building a relationship with a prospect, and the cold call is just the first step.
I work with companies and indivudals to improve their selling ability via the telephone, and have a lot of experience in this field. So let me address your points, Charles:
1. Do what most sales people do not do - ask for permission with a strong value prop... not enough space here to get into specifics...
2. Success ratios are directly tied to the quality of the lead source. Do the reps need to search for the right contact? Are the right numbers provided? Is this a purchsed set of leads or are they trade show leads?
3. As I said, cold calling is a component of the sales process. Management must decide how they want to allocate time across business development activities. Obviously, the more rocks you throw - the more windows you will break... and it depends on the skill of the team as well.
4. External agencies rarely work well. I would only outsource cld calling for a short term project to follow up on a direct mailer campaign.
I used to manage an outsourced biz dev company in the past and that is what led me to start Direct Contact. The ROI is rarely there in outsourcing this activity and I believe it is dangerous to outsource any contact with your prospects to someone outside your company. By building an effective business development department in-house, you will have control over the activities and can "grow" your front line biz dev reps into your future senior sales resources.
Want help with this project or any other business development plan?
I personally love "Cold Calling" and will never stop, because I do it for fun. The most important advice I can give cold callers is to respect the fact that you are probably interrupting a very busy person who was not sitting around waiting for your call, so the first thing I always ask after introducing myself is to ask the suspect if they have a moment to talk. Kind of a personal challenge and mental exercise to see if I can overcome the normally negative and cynical reception that you encounter when interrupting someone's busy day with an unsolicited pitch. If I can turn the call into a synergistic dialog then I consider the call successful even if it's only to schedule a better time to call back.
Secondly, I believe that we are becoming de-sensitized to verbal and physical interaction by technology and personally, I don't like being invisible behind a computer. I truly enjoy being visible and the inter-relationship of, interaction and stimulating verbal intercourse between two intelligient minds so Video blogging, virtual meetings and Podcasting are distribution channels that I emotionally appreciate very much. My company www.novusinfotech.com (shameless plug) specializes in Internet Marketing so I appreciate and comprehend the capacity of the focused purchasing power of the Internet and I am always learning and searching for more efficient utilization frontiers for that medium. In any sales effort, my experience has been to have a good story.
A razor sharp, crisp clear and compelling marketing awareness and personal understanding of your self, your product or service, your competition, your prospects and your Unique Selling Proposition. After that it's easy. Just tell your story to as many of the right people on a favorable basis. You can do that very efficiently to millions of people utilizing various Internet tools and strategies. So, in the end, I know that I can eliminate Cold Calling. I choose not to because I enjoy hearing your voice.
I hate receiving a cold call. 999 times out of 1000 I will not have even the smallest interest in what they are selling. I have a rule that I will never buy from someone if they cold call me. I feel they are wasting my time.
Good question. We like to use intro emails as a "softening" approach so that when we do call our prospect it is more of a 'warm call'.
Also, we offer sales training for cold calling. Send me a note at ddioso @ rmgmtsolutions.com if you are interested and I can tell you more.
Good Question!!! Well its a fact that most of us hate to receive cold calls, however I always feel that, as long as cold calling is not misused its a good medium to create awareness about you products or services, it makes you aware of many new good things of your own interest also. Even though we hate cold calls, but still I would say that at least I listen to most of the people calling me very patiently and never insult them or humiliate them. I always give respect to others and expect the same from others.
I am also open of all kind of net workings; every one can feel free to email me on shishir.kumar@icmail.net, and am open for all kind of cold calls :-)
I always feel in my industry that if someone is worth calling it makes sense to find something out about them first. Everyone seems to be so pro-networking now that it is easy to gain credibility by showing an effort has been made not to waste anyone's time.
I have spoken to people for the first time knowing anything from what they do and what their company is involved in at that time to where they went to school and what football team they support. It shows a geniune interest rather than just taking 5 seconds to dial a number.
This obviously isn't feasible in high volume industries but can work well in others.
As far as receiving cold calls I have to say I am open to them "as long as they are relevant" and understand my situation. For instance the number of times I have had the simple cold call from a telephone operator asking to switch my mobile network without any questions of understanding my needs is crazy. Half the time I cant help but refer him or her to the scene in the movie "Boiler Room" - Sales 101. Thats funny! Now if I ever did that with CEOs or Senior Managers needless to say there wouldnt be much successful business sold.
I find that cold calling is the best way to facilitate business. The key to success is to know your audience, if your calling a person about IT security and they are a financial analyst, you are wasting your time, and thiers.
Some things that i keep reminding myself before every call:
1. Who am I calling?
2. What types of needs do these types of consumers typically have, this is a great opportunity to mention previous experience in the field, i find that once someone realizes that you are a real company doing real work, they open up.
3. Do not be pushy, the customer ALWAYS comes first, i make it my number one priority to maintain a consultative role, the first thing you have to remember is that it is all about them, not you, what ever your motives are, not every person you call will be the right prospect.
4. Follow up, maintain a relationship, i have had deals on the table with clients that have fallen through, and I still go rock climbing with the customer, because people move around in this industry, and as you meet more professionals, the pool shrinks, so every relationship is critical to maintaining your business.
If you would like more words of wisdom, e-mail me sceracche@icpcorp.com and I do take my fair share of cold calls too :)
I always at least listen to cold callers, since sometimes it is me on the other end making that call. I typically try to interrupt their script and get them off track. However, I am always courteous to them, as I would like those individuals I call to be courteous to me.
I agree with most of the answers previously given. Cold calling is a necessary evil that just can't be avoided.
I have been making cold calls for over 9 years and have received all sorts of rejections. However, their are a few principles I subscribe to and teach others -
Research who you are calling, know their industry, geography and insider information is always useful.
Do not lie to get to the person - Identify yourself as a recruiter
Don't just run through the call, ask if they have a few minutes to talk
Don't sell chicken! Tell them what you do, who your doing it for and find out if this is a need they have. Then speak to them about a real candidate, not a ghost that you made up on the fly.
If someone does not want to work with me, they are not hurting my feelings. I end the call amicably with the hopes that next time we may be a better match for their needs, then I move on to their competitor.
Lots of good advice from others, I'll try not to repeat anyone:
Do your research - I hate getting a loan solicitation when I just refinanced.
Be considerate - ask "is this a good time to talk?" and don't take too much time unless they're truly interested
Don't take it personally - many people hate getting cold calls. That's not your fault.
Consider it an adventure, not a burden - many people I have cold called, are now good friends. The better your attitude, the nicer people will treat you.
I've been in executive search for 12 years, and I still make cold calls. I don't think I would serve my clients as effectively if I didn't consistently do new research. And I truly enjoy meeting new people.
Old school cold calling is truly an art form. And like most forms of art, the great artists are few compared to the many. There is one other disturbing characteristic about great artists. They gain their fame after they are dead, thereby missing most of their fortune.
If you want an effective telephone prospecting system you should look at High Probability Selling. (http://www.highprobsell.com) With this system, you remove the “art” factor and replace it with science. It may sound a little stark and cold when you are used to the idea of “warming up” the cold call and building relationships and all the other warm and fuzzies that are touted and preached in conjunction with traditional cold calling and direct sales. (I think of those as the doggie treats for doing dumb tricks) These are the things that used to keep us going. The dogma of “Never quit, never give in, never die!” does stir emotion and helps to motivate, it ultimately doesn’t change the results. Remove all the smoke and mirrors and work with a system that is effective.
Check out this system and decide for yourself.
We never do a really cold-call. Our calling plan is specifically targeted and is addressing a specific requirement we have of the potential lead, their business and their potential needs.
So most of our calls can start with something like "I say in the press that ....", "We thought it might be a good idea to introduce Mr. AAAA who has a significant amount of expertise in this area" etc.
Since the aim is to establish a relationship, not complete the sale on the first call. And from all the answers so far i think that could be the crux of the matter. The initial aim and expectation of the cold call.
If the aim is to get, progress and complete the sale of a specific product or service on the first call, then you probably deserve to be cut-off.
if the aim is to establish a new relationship, by offering an idea, resource or opportunity which has been well-thought out to target the specific business, then you should get a better hit rate.
Real (good) networkers never use the email, they call. They make it at personal as possible. They try to know each other, they don't just forward introductions or recommend someone. They also need to be able to assess the communication styles of people in their network. See who is who, using what style so that you know how to best interact with that person or company. It makes it much more efficient.
In my profile there are some hyperlinks leading to more information about this subject.
In many industries, cold calling is indeed necessary and is an art in and of itself. In my industry (advertising), it is common although our small agency has chosen to go a different route, and the reason for this is that with all the new communications platforms available to us, there are a variety of ways to reach people in a more creative and aspirational way. What's most important, is that when we reach prospective clients using these methods, they get a clear picture of how we can reach their consumers and are inclined to use our services.
In your case, I would think about using platforms specific to the verticals you are representing; for example, perhaps there is an enterprise solution that schedules appointments you can send virally to prospective IT clients; this can be done in lieu of, or in addtion, to a cold call.
Many people feel outsourcing this approach is the best solution. In my humble opinion, I believe you can still get the same ROI through internal training. Through my own experience "cold calling" prospective clients, I've found the best way to "get in the door" is through preparation. I always followed the old fashion formula before I took on a cold calling campaign:
-Research audience.
-Script out a clear and effective intro statement. Memorize
-Organize anticipated objections and formulate rebuttals. Memorize
-Adopt a professional, yet down-to-earth character that helps get the prospect to think "this guy is different but I'm intrigued" (attention getter)
-Never "hard-sell" on the first call. Always keep it simple but forward thinking.
-Send an email, mail a packet, and follow-up with a second call without giving a specific date or time.
-Gain commitment on the second call
Hope this helps. I'm sure if you take something from each response you will have gained enough information to ensure a successful campaign (not to mention saved yourself thousands of dollars in consulting fees.)
Monday, November 19, 2007
Hi..I am trying to setup the data center for my company. It is a startup company and will scale to around 150 employees.
Hi..I am trying to setup the data center for my company. It is a startup company and will scale to around 150 employees. My question is what all components i should look at ? Is there any ready reckoner or something which i can refer to the same.
What all server components to look at eg Domain controller, file server, email server etc.?
What all Data center management tools to look at?
Some good points where already made, will you be a Windows or Linux shop... I mean, you should choose which is closest to your skill to insure adequate control and independance in regards to management of your technology infrastructure.
Then, here are some of the key elements you absolutly need as a minimum:
- network switches should be of the manageable type
- a segmented network for users
- a segmented network for servers
- a segmented network for development servers or staging
- a DMZ network
- if you are publishing web apps as a living, then you need a coporate DMZ, an application server DMZ and a data DMZ + an adequate load balancing environment
- a pair of redundant firewalls
- an email server
- a file server
- a file/application server dedicated to HR and accounting
- an identity management/access control server (such has a domain controller)
- a VPN server
- a web server
- an antispam gateway
- an anti-virus management server
- a user web filtering gateway
- a backup/archiving server
- an audit & log centralization server
- adequate UPS (N+1)
- adequate and redundant AC
- All of this should be composed of rackable equipement obviously
Useful options often needs even at early stage:
- Timesheet application
- a CRM (saleforce.com for example or Symantec ACT!)
- an helpdesk application (Numara Software -Track It v.8)
When making decision, just remember that data storage needs constantly expands, make sure that your email server and file servers use exapandable network storage such has NAS, disk array or even a small SAN if you can afford it.
And the best data center management is probably Visio :) eheh I mean, you don't and won't need an HP Openview so if you can spare the expense, at least use Visio do document schematics and insure adequate architectural (both physical and logical) documentation.
I hope this will help you make your decisions, contact me if you need clarifications, have a great day!
SInce your company is going to be a new startup, besides desktop infrastructure, you can think of a single good config server along with virtualization solution like Vmware Infrastructure starter. this would allow you to run and provision multiple virtual machines on a single physical h/w, thus keeping the spread of H/W to minimal and so the cost for ongoing AMC. These virtual machines may include domain controller for authentication, File server, Antivirus & WSUS server for pushing AV updates & security patches etc..
For your size of organization, instead of hosting an internal mail server, it would be cost effective to go with externally hosted solution like "rediff Professional hosting services" they offer a easy, simple yet reliable mail service at a good cost advantage compared to what you will spend hosting internally ( considering implementation and ongoing maintenence cost)
On network front, you would require atleast a router (could be with built in firewall option) for terminating your internet connection and further switch and cabling infrastructure.
I hope you would be keen on license compliance, in such case work out a good deal with MS under MOLP (Open licensing program) for your desktop licenses and Windows CALS.
For AV, there are some cheap options like quickheal serving SMB market but it is good to have a reliable product like MCAfee who have a quick turn around time for any new breeds of viruses and trojans.
I hope my one doller worth comments come to your use.
Let me offer an answer by re-writing your question:
I'm trying to build a house. I expect it to have 10 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms and cable throughout. What sort of filtering system should I use for the pool? Do I need a video surveillance system?
Does that scare you just a little bit?
I'm not a home builder, and would never try to build one without the help of a competent architect and building crew - there's just too much involved, and getting it wrong is a waste of resources.
Find a competent systems infrastructure professional to help you with this.
Certainly they should consult with you as they work - what portions start out small and expand as the company expands, what portions do you need to build out initially, how's the budget look, etc.
Every company is different and while past experience helps guide things, cookie cutter environments generally don't work.
Use LinkedIn to ask your local connections who they've had good experiences with and then talk to a couple of them.
Hope things work out for you,
You should focus in the services you're plannig to give to this users and plan for your foreseen growth.
I can assume that you'll be needing some Directory Service, mail, groupware, file sharing, some database, some intranet web servers and a firewall. These days you can provide all of this services with one server computer or two (for a workload of 150 users) but it's better to split the services in two or three computers. I don't think you need a DataCenter Management tool for that.
Don't over look the infrastructure. Calculate current and future requirements for rack space, power and kvm switches. The latter two come in manageable flavors.
Power devices from APC, CyberPower are cost efficient and even kvm vendor centric solutions are available for remote power control at a premium.
KVM is a different story. KVMoIP is the industry's favorite but it falls short of user throughput and real time control for local use. Think about scalability now so you don't have to replace or compensate later. The lattest Cat 5 switches provide it all - user throughput, scalability and enough user data paths for real time local access and remote access using a KVMoIP appliance. You can start with a 2 or 4 x 16 or 32 matrix depending on how fast you expect to grow in support personnel and servers. Managed KVM devices of the cat 5 type include Avocent's AMX and Rose Electronics Xtensys at about half the price. These switching solutions can also be used for hardware security and remote desktop support services if you're limited on manpower and can budget for the hardware.
would start the other way around:
what do you and your (future) employees need to be able to do your primary jobs?
Something a lot of people, not only IT specialists forget: IT is _just_ a tool to do your job (hopefully) more efficiently. In most businesses it shouldn't be the technology itself that is fascinating, but what you can do with it.
Don't lose sight of that.
Second thing: How many people work there now, and how quickly will that number realistically grow?
Because planning/investing for growth that will never occur is much more expansive then redesigning for growth that was larger then expected (even though the dollar amount will be higher). Although sometimes the cost comes before the benefit, I'm old-school: you shouldn't spend money you have earned yet.
From you're job description you're in the insurance business.
I know very little of your business, but as far is I understand life insurance either you'll try to sell directly to the policy owners, or use brokers as intermediaries. You can be your own isurance company or just be a reseller for even larger insurance companies.
In most starting companies there are two important things (besides getting investor money and/or loans): generating sales, and sending out bills and actually collecting money.
You know best what tools you need for that.
You may have a number of people doing call center work, answering questions from customers or your brokers. That setup can be simple, just a telephone and semi knowledgeable person with a computer. Or you can have intelligent switch boards which will allow callers to enter their customer number and have their details appear on-screen when their call is transfered to your staff.
You may have a large number of sales people in the field visting potential clients. Each with their own laptop. Will they need to be in touch with your main office continuously, or daily and what kind of information will they need to exchange.
Will you lose revenue when your sales people can't connect for 1 hour, half or maybe a whole day? Or do they just upload their leads and filled-in forms at a later point in time and will it make little difference when your (new) customers will receive their printed offers a day later then usual?
Or your sales people may just work from their own offices with a desktop computer and their phone and fax machines. Or will they walk down from their office to meeting rooms to meet up with new/existing clients and carry a laptop computer. Can they work from their laptop computers or is a live network connection essential.
You may use specialized software. If well designed for a multi-user environment it will rely on a server. Whatever you do have back-ups of that data!
Will you need to send out large numbers of bills every month? High volume printing is an art in itself, especially when you need to fold the bills and wrap them in envelopes.
Will multiple people work from the same desk/workstation or will it just be one person one desk, one computer? Do your staff need to be able to log on from a different desk and still get all their personal files and settings?
Now this day and age you can't do without IT. When IT doesn't work it will cost you revenue. How much is one measure to decide how to invest in your IT.
You know best what _you_ need for _your_ business. From your needs will follow a set of required and usefull tools. E-mail, worstations, laptops, remote-access, a website, coffe vending machine, printers, a "build-your-policy-online" web application, telephone switchboard, a toll free number, file server(s), database server(s) firewalls, internet access or not etc. etc. Start with your needs not with tools and technology.
From there you can decide if it will be worthwhile to hire an IT specialist now, or real soon or outsource everything to (small) local service company with in-house specialists for office automation and the works.
I think you need to start with your mission critical or core application. This will give you a starting for the servers that you need to install. Don't want to start with Windows Servers if you need AS400s.
What all server components to look at eg Domain controller, file server, email server etc.?
What all Data center management tools to look at?
Some good points where already made, will you be a Windows or Linux shop... I mean, you should choose which is closest to your skill to insure adequate control and independance in regards to management of your technology infrastructure.
Then, here are some of the key elements you absolutly need as a minimum:
- network switches should be of the manageable type
- a segmented network for users
- a segmented network for servers
- a segmented network for development servers or staging
- a DMZ network
- if you are publishing web apps as a living, then you need a coporate DMZ, an application server DMZ and a data DMZ + an adequate load balancing environment
- a pair of redundant firewalls
- an email server
- a file server
- a file/application server dedicated to HR and accounting
- an identity management/access control server (such has a domain controller)
- a VPN server
- a web server
- an antispam gateway
- an anti-virus management server
- a user web filtering gateway
- a backup/archiving server
- an audit & log centralization server
- adequate UPS (N+1)
- adequate and redundant AC
- All of this should be composed of rackable equipement obviously
Useful options often needs even at early stage:
- Timesheet application
- a CRM (saleforce.com for example or Symantec ACT!)
- an helpdesk application (Numara Software -Track It v.8)
When making decision, just remember that data storage needs constantly expands, make sure that your email server and file servers use exapandable network storage such has NAS, disk array or even a small SAN if you can afford it.
And the best data center management is probably Visio :) eheh I mean, you don't and won't need an HP Openview so if you can spare the expense, at least use Visio do document schematics and insure adequate architectural (both physical and logical) documentation.
I hope this will help you make your decisions, contact me if you need clarifications, have a great day!
SInce your company is going to be a new startup, besides desktop infrastructure, you can think of a single good config server along with virtualization solution like Vmware Infrastructure starter. this would allow you to run and provision multiple virtual machines on a single physical h/w, thus keeping the spread of H/W to minimal and so the cost for ongoing AMC. These virtual machines may include domain controller for authentication, File server, Antivirus & WSUS server for pushing AV updates & security patches etc..
For your size of organization, instead of hosting an internal mail server, it would be cost effective to go with externally hosted solution like "rediff Professional hosting services" they offer a easy, simple yet reliable mail service at a good cost advantage compared to what you will spend hosting internally ( considering implementation and ongoing maintenence cost)
On network front, you would require atleast a router (could be with built in firewall option) for terminating your internet connection and further switch and cabling infrastructure.
I hope you would be keen on license compliance, in such case work out a good deal with MS under MOLP (Open licensing program) for your desktop licenses and Windows CALS.
For AV, there are some cheap options like quickheal serving SMB market but it is good to have a reliable product like MCAfee who have a quick turn around time for any new breeds of viruses and trojans.
I hope my one doller worth comments come to your use.
Let me offer an answer by re-writing your question:
I'm trying to build a house. I expect it to have 10 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms and cable throughout. What sort of filtering system should I use for the pool? Do I need a video surveillance system?
Does that scare you just a little bit?
I'm not a home builder, and would never try to build one without the help of a competent architect and building crew - there's just too much involved, and getting it wrong is a waste of resources.
Find a competent systems infrastructure professional to help you with this.
Certainly they should consult with you as they work - what portions start out small and expand as the company expands, what portions do you need to build out initially, how's the budget look, etc.
Every company is different and while past experience helps guide things, cookie cutter environments generally don't work.
Use LinkedIn to ask your local connections who they've had good experiences with and then talk to a couple of them.
Hope things work out for you,
You should focus in the services you're plannig to give to this users and plan for your foreseen growth.
I can assume that you'll be needing some Directory Service, mail, groupware, file sharing, some database, some intranet web servers and a firewall. These days you can provide all of this services with one server computer or two (for a workload of 150 users) but it's better to split the services in two or three computers. I don't think you need a DataCenter Management tool for that.
Don't over look the infrastructure. Calculate current and future requirements for rack space, power and kvm switches. The latter two come in manageable flavors.
Power devices from APC, CyberPower are cost efficient and even kvm vendor centric solutions are available for remote power control at a premium.
KVM is a different story. KVMoIP is the industry's favorite but it falls short of user throughput and real time control for local use. Think about scalability now so you don't have to replace or compensate later. The lattest Cat 5 switches provide it all - user throughput, scalability and enough user data paths for real time local access and remote access using a KVMoIP appliance. You can start with a 2 or 4 x 16 or 32 matrix depending on how fast you expect to grow in support personnel and servers. Managed KVM devices of the cat 5 type include Avocent's AMX and Rose Electronics Xtensys at about half the price. These switching solutions can also be used for hardware security and remote desktop support services if you're limited on manpower and can budget for the hardware.
would start the other way around:
what do you and your (future) employees need to be able to do your primary jobs?
Something a lot of people, not only IT specialists forget: IT is _just_ a tool to do your job (hopefully) more efficiently. In most businesses it shouldn't be the technology itself that is fascinating, but what you can do with it.
Don't lose sight of that.
Second thing: How many people work there now, and how quickly will that number realistically grow?
Because planning/investing for growth that will never occur is much more expansive then redesigning for growth that was larger then expected (even though the dollar amount will be higher). Although sometimes the cost comes before the benefit, I'm old-school: you shouldn't spend money you have earned yet.
From you're job description you're in the insurance business.
I know very little of your business, but as far is I understand life insurance either you'll try to sell directly to the policy owners, or use brokers as intermediaries. You can be your own isurance company or just be a reseller for even larger insurance companies.
In most starting companies there are two important things (besides getting investor money and/or loans): generating sales, and sending out bills and actually collecting money.
You know best what tools you need for that.
You may have a number of people doing call center work, answering questions from customers or your brokers. That setup can be simple, just a telephone and semi knowledgeable person with a computer. Or you can have intelligent switch boards which will allow callers to enter their customer number and have their details appear on-screen when their call is transfered to your staff.
You may have a large number of sales people in the field visting potential clients. Each with their own laptop. Will they need to be in touch with your main office continuously, or daily and what kind of information will they need to exchange.
Will you lose revenue when your sales people can't connect for 1 hour, half or maybe a whole day? Or do they just upload their leads and filled-in forms at a later point in time and will it make little difference when your (new) customers will receive their printed offers a day later then usual?
Or your sales people may just work from their own offices with a desktop computer and their phone and fax machines. Or will they walk down from their office to meeting rooms to meet up with new/existing clients and carry a laptop computer. Can they work from their laptop computers or is a live network connection essential.
You may use specialized software. If well designed for a multi-user environment it will rely on a server. Whatever you do have back-ups of that data!
Will you need to send out large numbers of bills every month? High volume printing is an art in itself, especially when you need to fold the bills and wrap them in envelopes.
Will multiple people work from the same desk/workstation or will it just be one person one desk, one computer? Do your staff need to be able to log on from a different desk and still get all their personal files and settings?
Now this day and age you can't do without IT. When IT doesn't work it will cost you revenue. How much is one measure to decide how to invest in your IT.
You know best what _you_ need for _your_ business. From your needs will follow a set of required and usefull tools. E-mail, worstations, laptops, remote-access, a website, coffe vending machine, printers, a "build-your-policy-online" web application, telephone switchboard, a toll free number, file server(s), database server(s) firewalls, internet access or not etc. etc. Start with your needs not with tools and technology.
From there you can decide if it will be worthwhile to hire an IT specialist now, or real soon or outsource everything to (small) local service company with in-house specialists for office automation and the works.
I think you need to start with your mission critical or core application. This will give you a starting for the servers that you need to install. Don't want to start with Windows Servers if you need AS400s.
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