by Bruce Newman

   This article was originally published in The Productivity Institute (PI) Newsletter

There are currently over 200 million blogs on the Internet.  54% of all bloggers post content or tweet daily.  34% of bloggers post opinions about products or brands.  The highest percentage of new bloggers are people in the 55-65 years old range.

These are amazing numbers and statistics.  They indicate the importance of blogging for both business and personal reasons. Blogging for business allows companies to gain attention, enhance market share, announce new products and be branded as an industry leader.  Positive buzz is extremely important, particularly since so many bloggers will readily post their opinions about a product or brand (which also denotes the need for a solid social media policy).  Conversely, blogging for personal reasons is often simply because people feel the need to write or to be heard.

With this huge number of blogs and new content, it is becoming increasingly difficult to stand out from the din.  Increasingly, a strategy must be employed for a blog to be successful.  Being a very good writer is no longer sufficient – unless you work for the New York Times or are very famous.  If you’re not in these categories, here are five important keys that will help your blog be successful.

1. Know your goals and target market

Determine the goals of your blog.  Is it to generate attention for your website or brand you as an industry leader?  Is it mainly to communicate with others?  Do you just want to provide information or use it as a political platform?  There are many different goals.  Select only one as your main goal and if applicable, several secondary goals which, when achieved will help you reach your main goal.

You must also know your target market – including your competition.  The more you know about how people are reacting to other blogs and what is triggering their reactions, the better idea you will have concerning what actions you must take to achieve your goals.

Knowing your target market also includes determining the keywords that you should scatter in all your posts and include in your titles.

2. Plan a mix of posts

Just straight text is not sufficient.  Augmenting your posts with videos or pictures will enhance their value.  It will also provide a basis for content distribution (as discussed in point 4, below). What is most important, however, is that you supply excellent content, for it is this content that will continue to drive people to your site and follow you.

Writing great headlines will also attract attention.  Since searches by keyword are extremely important, make sure to include them in both your headline and content.

3. Publish regularly

You must publish regularly.  If you stop publishing, the world will go on without you and you will be quickly forgotten.  No matter how loyal your readers or followers are, unless you write regularly, you will lose them.  The best solution is to establish a writing schedule. Twice a week is good, three times is even better.

4. Spread it around

Remember, your world does not revolve only around blog and maybe a handful of social media platforms.  Twitter and Facebook are important, but so are many other relevant blogs and sites - particularly if the target market of your article matches their specific niche.

5. Listen

Comments that reflect your article content are great. Definitely respond to them.  It will help develop a dialog that will attract more subscribers and attention.  Unfortunately, too many people respond with inane comments such as, “I learned a lot” in order so they can generate back links to their websites.  You can ignore them, set a no-follow flag so they don’t get credit for their links or review all the comments before allowing them to display.  My personal preference is that people who provide thoughtful feedback should get back links (if they want them).  They should be rewarded for their thoughts and I enjoy read and responding to their comments.  I’ve started some great dialogs and made some good friends as a result.  But, because I do allow back links, I must approve (or ignore or spam) each comment first before I allow it to be published.

Blogging is an important part of any social media campaign.  By following these five steps, you significantly enhance its success.

Bruce Newman is the Vice President at The Productivity Institute, LLC, a leader in locating, evaluating and matching the specific areas of expertise of consultants to the needs of its clients.  An expert on social media, Bruce constantly writes and gives talks on many facets of social media including branding, social media strategies and policy.  He has also developed several social media training courses. In addition, Bruce is the editor of the Productivity Institute Newsletter, a free content-is-king newsletter and thought leader.  Follow him on LinkedIn, Twitter and the Productivity Institute blog.

by Norman Levine

   This article was published in The Productivity Institute (PI) Newsletter

In the Depression decade when breadlines were the headlines we had up to three mail deliveries a day but no telephone. Instead most people depended on “runners” who hung around the drugstore hoping to make a nickel tip, They would dash up the stairs of our four story walk-up to convey messages or summon people to the community phone.

During the war there were none available so I was fourteen before we had a phone in our apartment; a party line, of course. With all these impediments I’m not so sure it wasn’t a better system than what we have today. Fewer digits to dial, friendlier operators to whom you might ask the meaning of life (on a dare) and phone booths where Clark Kent shed his merely mortal self.

Over the years we’ve witnessed one innovation after another from colored phones to match the bedspread to push-button to answering machines along with a monthly bill higher than our old rent.

Answering machines are a symbol of our age; a soliloquy addressing the elongated silence. First it’s just you and the beep. And now it’s your turn to grab the open mike without Interruption and say your piece, or burst into song, wax poetic or rant.

If you are calling a large company you are generally told how important your call is. This is what goes through my mind while on hold:

I’m glad you have a chance to get away from your desk. May I ask why you change your menu more often than my local deli? I’m sure you’re experiencing a high call volume. No, I can’t call back between mid-night and three. You’ve put me on an elevator with your music. Perhaps I was abandoned as a child and you have just opened up the wound. Is it my numb ear you are monitoring for quality assurance or my withered arm? Seasons have passed; my arm is in its foliage. I’ve finished the newspaper, the police blotter, weather reports in Asia and the obits. I’m almost mentioned. The grandchildren have grown. Life is slipping away. There’s no one left but that great operator in the sky and all humanity is on hold with faith that their call will be answered in the order received.

Instead, this could be an occasion for retreat and contemplation rather than reaction, a time to reconnect with a more elemental sense of who we are away from the buzz. Might it be that we are too connected and at some level crave the aloneness?

Norm Levine is a happily retired pharmacist. After reading doctor’s chicken scratch hand-writing for 53 years he has taken to prose and poetry writing himself. He has published two books of poetry along with his wife, Peggy Aylsworth and one work of his own. Some of his poems are available on http://poetsplace.blogspot.com. He claims to have found his calling in creative idleness, thinking great thoughts which he tosses off the Santa Monica in a bottle.  

by Greg Chartier, Ph.D, SPHR

   This article was originally published in The Productivity Institute (PI) Newsletter

One of the key challenges in enacting a health care reform plan is how to finance it among government, employers, and individuals.  Of particular concern to policymakers is what effect a health reform plan would have on government spending and the federal budget.  President Obama and Congressional leaders have said that any health reform plan should not add to the budget deficit over a 10 year period.  This means that the added federal budget spending that resulted from any reform efforts would be fully offset by new revenues or savings in existing government programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

For employers, however, the primary concern is; “Will there by new taxes?”  The answer is not clear.

By far, the largest component of the new health care plans is subsidies to the uninsured.  These could be provided through coverage expansion of Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance programs.  While they would add to the federal budget, there would be some presumed savings in transferring costs to these individuals.

What should concern us, however, is the Congressional Budget Office predictions that any new health plan would cost “on the order of $100 billion” per year in current dollars.  Where will the money come to pay for these programs, especially in light of the administration’s claims that there must be no additional budget impact.

The plans approach these costs in three ways: 

1. Savings from existing programs.  This would mean reduced Medicare payments, almost certainly.
2. New revenues from business and the insurance industry.  For example, a “pay-for play”requirement on employers to either provide health coverage or pay a fee to help government pay for it.
3. New revenues from changes in the tax code. Two possibilities are a “lifestyle” tax on alcoholic beverages and an excise tax on incomes over $280,000 for single taxpayers and $350,000 for families.

There are two key issues that we should be concerned about:

1. How sustainable are these new sources of financing? And
2. What is the balance of financing among individuals, employers and the government?

The answers to these questions will only be answered as we get closer to some definitive plan.

The Kaiser Foundation provides a side-by-side comparison of the major health care proposals.  It is an interesting exercise, especially if you are concerned about the impact of these proposals on your own health care costs.

The interactive side-by-side compares the leading comprehensive reform proposals by the President and members of Congress across a number of key characteristics and plan components.  The Foundation also has prepared summaries comparing the Medicaid and Medicare provisions in the House Tri-Committee bill and the proposal before the Senate Finance Committee. Follow the link:   www.kff.org/healthreform/sidebyside.cfm .

Greg Chartier is Principal of The Office of Gregory J Chartier, a Human Resources Consulting firm and is a well-known management consultant, educator and speaker.  His practice consists of two broad areas:  Human Resources management and outsourcing for firms of less than 100 employees and Management Training. His business experience includes management positions with Pfizer, The Chase Manhattan Bank, The Bank of New York and Johnson and Johnson.  He is also a Board Member of the Job Service Employers Council (JSEC) of the New York State Department of Labor.  Greg can be reached at greg.chartier@att.net and by phone at 914-548-1689.

by Patrick Seaton

   This article was originally published in The Productivity Institute (PI) Newsletter

Many managers face open resistance to changes taking place in their organization.  What is most important to understand is whether the resistance is based in a positive or negative spirit.

For those readers who recall my prior column where I talked about How to Change People.  In that column, the first thing to do when trying to change people is to let them change themselves.  The second bit of advice I gave was to focus on the processes so that people would truly understand what an upcoming change means to them and their daily workflow.

As managers, supervisors, leaders, change agents, change sponsors, or change champions, we really can’t force anybody to change their ways.  What we can do is inspire the people to want to adapt their mindset and actions to reach the goals and promises that come from an improvement.  We can provide a safe, open communication-friendly, no-blame culture where people are encouraged to ask any and all questions they have about a change or improvement.

Most people react to change with very simple questions about how their work will be affected and how their world will be impacted.  While they don’t use these exact words, they really are most interested in knowing if their work space is going to turn upside down, or not.  I view these types of questions as positive.  I would even go so far as to say that employees have a right to pose questions like this before they are expected to jump on the support bandwagon for a change.  Even those who have been burned again and again by poor change implementation are not mean spirited.  They are simple very skeptical and need more convincing and information to counter their previous experiences.

There is a small percentage of people who will try to sabotage efforts and resist change efforts in a negative fashion.  Find these people and make sure they do not influence others in the department or company.  However, I caution not to be too quick to judge people as negative unless you have ample information to come to this conclusion.

When I’ve come across change initiatives that have stagnated, I like to bring in the people responsible for effecting the change and have an open dialog with them.  I first review the current state of the situation.  Sometimes I’ll go back to a previous state and show the group how they have grown/changed to get to the current state.  I then flesh out the desired future state with the group.  Once I get everybody to agree on the benefits of the future state, understanding how their jobs will change, I then probe into the obstacles that are keeping them from reaching the future state.

Once the obstacles are identified, I ask the people to provide solutions for removing the obstacles.  Getting their ideas on how an obstacle is “removed” from their perspective and yours may be totally different.  Don’t assume your way is their way.

Now I can tell you that if a future state involves downsizing people and those people are present, don’t expect them to jump on the bandwagon.  While you may not be able to change what will happen to them down the road, you can always coach them for the future and ask them if they want to be part of the change process, knowing their future state.

And if the proposed change will indeed make their life chaotic, unstable, and frustrating, then why would they support the initiative?  Your responsibility at that point is to work through the chaos, instability, and frustration to help them find a calm, stable, pleasing environment.  This may need to be done one-on-one.

So let’s put this into perspective with a very simple example.  Let’s say you wanted to reorganize your office layout three months ago.  Not a huge, life-shattering event to you, but the project has stagnated and nobody has taken the initiative to start the shifting around process.  What could come out of a simple group barrier analysis session is that one key person in the chain of dominoes moving around is unhappy with his/her new location but wasn’t asked for input before the plans were finalized.  While in group session, if that person does not bring up his/her discontent with the new location, then shame on him/her.  If he/she does, then find out what the solution is and see how the request can be accommodated.

The answer should not be to let the project stagnate.  Define the problems, generate solutions, and implement the solutions.

Yes, this was probably a simple example for you.  However, simple changes like this can get very emotional and personal for some people.  What’s a non-issue to you may be a huge issue to them.  Dig in, explore the reasons, and get people aligned to the goal as quickly as possible.

Until next month!

Patrick Seaton
Innovative Management Tools LLC
www.innovmgmt.com
pdseaton@innovmgmt.com
715-340-9606

by Melanie DePaoli

   This article was originally published in The Productivity Institute (PI) Newsletter

Developing your culture is a lot like putting together a puzzle without knowing what the final image will look like. Just because you have all the pieces, doesn’t mean you know what the final outcome will be. The key is putting the pieces together—it takes time, patience and a willingness to make mistakes.

There are tips and tricks to putting a puzzle together such as, starting with the edges and dividing the remaining pieces up by color or pattern.  Starting with the edges allows you to create the boundaries or the framework. By defining the boundaries upfront, you have a starting point and a point of reference to go back to when the rest of the pieces do not make sense.  Every remaining piece will now go within that boundary—or so you think.

Completing the boundaries is quite an accomplishment, but it is not the goal. Stopping here or only focusing on the boundaries is what gets a lot of companies into trouble. Just because there is a physical boundary between the internal workings of your company and the marketplace, does not mean that the two never interact or that one is protected from the other. In fact it is the exact opposite; because there is a boundary the two areas directly influence each other.

The boundary subconsciously signifies there are secrets on the other side. No one likes to feel left out, that is why gossip spreads so quickly. Your employees want to know how your customers think and feel about your product, company or service so they are able to create better marketing, improve the offerings, increase sales, and create loyalty— the list goes on and on. The market wants to know the dirt about your company—do you really make a good product or offer the best service: how do you treat your employees, after all it may be a good place to work: is there some inside information that will get them a better deal—again the list goes on and on.

While this boundary looks pretty straight forward there is another element to consider, your employees. They go home every night and become a part of the market. “Great” you think, as you are running through all of the free information they can obtain for you. “Great” you think, as you run through all of the ways they will implement the new free information. “Great” you think, as your pride builds up because your employees are working around the clock to build and improve your company and its brand.

A friend of mine once said, “They pay me to come back the next day; they have to give me a reason to allow my work to influence my personal life.” What your employees say or how they represent your company in their personal time is going to be a reflection of how they experience working for your company. An employee’s perception of your company carries far more weight than any marketing campaign you will ever run—because they know the dirt.

So think of the ‘edges’ of your company as a flexible and transparent boundary.  Every action or reaction your company takes, both internally and externally affects what is on the other side. These transparent boarders are a great checks-and-balances point, but remember that it goes both ways: a change inside is always reflected outside and outside impacts are always reflected inside.

Mel DePaoli is the president and founder of Omicle located in Seattle, WA. She helps companies create a contagious culture by connecting the way the business is operated with how the business is marketed. Please visit Omicle for more information about how Omicle can become your Catalyst for Discovery. She is also interviewing companies for her upcoming book series, Brand or Culture: Which Comes First. Please visit Brand or Culture.com to get involved in the Brand or Culture Debate today! You may follow her on Twitter @MelDePaoli or become a fan of Omicle on Facebook.

by Tim Nuckles

   This article was originally published in The Productivity Institute (PI) Newsletter

Part One – Recommendations for Leveling the Software Negotiations Playing Field
Part Two - Future Proofing Contracts by Maximizing Flexibility 
Part Three – The Software Maintenance Game 

PART THREE – The Software Maintenance Game 

As we all know, there’s a lot of buzz these days about inflated maintenance charges.  Frankly, I think users of commercial software are moving beyond frustration and on to anger, and reading articles about the 85% profit margin that Oracle enjoys on its maintenance fees, for example, only fuels the fire.

In addition to introducing flexibility on maintenance terms (Part 2), software buyers should keep the following points in mind when negotiating maintenance terms and options.

First, there’s the notion that a chunk of software may be entirely new to a buying organization, but the software itself may be old.  Buyers need to gauge where a software product is in its lifecycle, and react to maintenance options accordingly.  Naturally, if the software has a grey beard, there probably won’t be another major release.  So, why pay for something that you’re never going to receive?

Second, most of my clients pay maintenance on most of their applications, but they rarely install updates (everything works fine for them and they don’t want to risk an adverse event that might result from installing an update).  This makes no sense to me (the paying for maintenance part).  If your organization never installs updates, then why ever sign on for maintenance at time of acquisition?  The same is true if you updated for some time period, but haven’t in recent years.  Drop the maintenance!  You may not be eligible for support at some point after going naked on maintenance, but that is not an issue for many organizations, especially for mature deployments.

Third, software buyers need to stop being angry about maintenance costs and doing nothing about it, in my opinion.  Some new concepts are gaining traction and may eventually change the nature of software maintenance permanently.  But software buyers must start demanding alternative maintenance options in order for these new concepts to take hold.

One new concept is “reverse maintenance”, and the notion is this.  Instead of paying up front for something that I may never receive (or not want if I do receive it), why can’t I pay later for the something; that is, when I receive it and if I want it?  Seems fairer to me, and it would actually incent software vendors to create and improve their products.  Under the current model, software vendors take in the same amount of maintenance fees regardless of whether they deliver anything (of value) in return.

The other new concept is “pay for performance”, and one version of it works like this.  You pay your maintenance fees up front, but you are entitled to reimbursement depending on what your vendor actually produced during the prior maintenance revenue period.  One obvious shortcoming of this approach is that it incents your software vendor to produce something during a maintenance revenue period, but not necessarily something that is of value to users.  Should the reimbursement metric be based on volume of stuff produced, value of stuff produced, or both?  If value figures into the equation, how are we to measure value?

In all events, software buyers want and deserve better (more realistic) maintenance options.  If software vendors don’t respond with a better maintenance model, more and more software buyers will opt for no maintenance—whether at time of acquisition, or perhaps sooner in an application’s lifecycle.

Just to clarify, when a software buyer chooses not to buy maintenance at time of acquisition, or should a buyer attempt a reverse maintenance or similar concept, the buyer can expect to pay a higher license fee.  This is to be expected, and it will vary across acquisitions, but the hike in the license fee will usually be much less than the sum of (normal) annual maintenance fees paid out over the life of the application. 

Timothy Nuckles is the principal in Nuckles Technology Law Firm, a business law firm specializing in information technology transactions that offers a process-driven approach for the acquisition of commercial information technology products and services.  You can learn more about him at www.nuckleslaw.com.

by Bruce Newman

   This article was originally published in The Productivity Institute (PI) Newsletter

The lure of social media is very strong.  Every day, we hear new statistics about its growing popularity, some YouTube video going viral or someone’s tweet (or response). Social media is now the most popular activity on the Internet and its appeal crosses all age and gender demographics. But that doesn’t mean that we should assume it’s the wherewithal for everything.

People used to believe that all they needed to create an Internet business was a website and that prospective customers would be automatically drawn to it.  That turned out to be untrue.  Today, many companies utilize advertising, search engine optimization and campaign planning to help generate Internet business.  “Build it and they will come”, is certainly not a winning mantra.

Social media falls in that same category.  Just because you may have a Twitter or Facebook account does not mean that you will become a social leader or even that people will follow you.  It’s not automatic and it won’t happen overnight.

When using social media, it is very important to create realistic social media goals.  If you’re Oprah, having a million twitter followers is realistic.  If you’re Bruce Newman, it’s not.  (In fact, I wouldn’t even want one million followers but that’s for another article when I discuss quantity vs. quality.)

Rules to live by:

1. Set realistic goals. They can be as simple as writing two articles a week or achieving 150 first level contacts in LinkedIn.  How you reach these 150 contacts, how frequently and to what extent you communicate with them and the building of the relationships is crucial.

2. Create a feasible social media strategy. Depending on your goals, this strategy may be simple or complex but it must be reasonable.  Of key importance is the realistic determination of the amount of time – usually on a daily basis depending on your goals – that it will require.

3. Do not be enticed by large numbers of followers.  It’s easy to generate large numbers of followers.  Along with the development of many social media sites has come the onslaught of automatic marketing programs designed to increase the number of followers.  Interestingly, what these programs don’t tell you is that a smaller number of active people in your network (i.e. followers, true friends, etc.) will provide a far superior response than a much larger number of random people who you count as contacts or followers. 

4. Realize that it takes months to generate a sizeable following.  Building relationships takes time; it doesn’t happen overnight.  As an analogy, think of meeting someone new at a party.  You like them and want to become friends (or more).  It may happen, but will take both time and effort to occur.  The same holds true for social media except that these relationships are instead, digital.

5. Follow the rules of proper social etiquette – be respectful, helpful and authentic.  In short, be yourself.  And be helpful.  

6. Don’t get frustrated. Social media is not a race. Ever hear baseball players say that the baseball season is not a sprint, but a marathon?  Think of social media in a similar fashion, though maybe as a half-marathon.  If your goals are realistic and you don’t reach them, fine.  Adjust them.  That’s the normal sequence of any plan – create and constantly adjust as you move forward.  The key thing here is to not get frustrated and stray from your original goals and plans (provided they were indeed realistic).  Many potentially successful social media campaigns have been prematurely cancelled or extensively re-worked because of insufficient time constraints or frustration.

Social media has opened the world to a tremendously exciting and interactive means of communication.  By properly abiding by its rules, understanding its strengths and limitations and by setting realistic goals, you too can benefit from its enormous potential.

Bruce Newman is the Vice President at The Productivity Institute, LLC, a leader in locating, evaluating and matching the specific areas of expertise of consultants to the needs of its clients.  An expert on social media, Bruce constantly writes and gives talks on many facets of social media including branding, social media strategies and policy.  He has also developed several social media training courses. In addition, Bruce is the editor of the Productivity Institute Newsletter, a free content-is-king newsletter and thought leader.  Follow him on LinkedIn, Twitter and the Productivity Institute blog.

by Katie Mead

   This article was originally published in The Productivity Institute (PI) Newsletter

Regardless of your message, every great leader knows the power of a good story.  While facts and figures are essential, it’s in crafting that information into a compelling, inspiring narrative that will inspire in your audience everything from deep understanding to action.  As a leadership tool, storytelling can be a powerful, persuasive technique to capture your audiences’ attention and bring home your meaning.  It’s important to match the type of story to the occasion, and once mastered, these techniques are powerful tools.

Here are five kinds of stories guaranteed to get your point across:

1. ‘I Am’ Stories
Make things personal.  When striving to lead a team one of the greatest challenges may be getting everyone on your side.  Revealing who you are and what motivates you may go a long way to building trust among your team members.  Presenting yourself as fallible by offering a humorous anecdote can help break down any defensive walls or perceived barriers, as well as make you seem more approachable.  Explaining your motivation, the ‘why you’re here’, helps assure your team that you’re not interested in hidden agendas but simply want to work well together.

2. Teaching Stories
Demonstrations are some of the most effective teaching tools.  Think of parables or morality tales – how many fables can you remember?  Use teaching stories to illustrate examples; this demonstration of your point helps people learn and remember your message.  A simple narrative clarifies your meaning and makes it much more memorable.  Your audience may be more sophisticated than most children but the learning principle is the same.  Drive a good story home by using a relevant example and your audience will get the point.

3. Value Stories
What’s in a word?  When talking about values it’s important to remember that esoteric concepts may mean different things to different people.  How do you define integrity or authenticity?  In wanting to ensure clarity and avoid inaccurate assumptions, tell a story illustrating this value in action.  Your team can’t know what a particular value means to you (or how to satisfy your expectations) unless you guarantee that you’re all on the same page.  If great customer service is important in your business then tell a story that exemplifies this.  Using a value story can help guarantee that you’re all starting from the same place, right from the get-go.

4. Doubt Stories
At some point you’ll have to persuade your audience.  Whether you’re pitching a service or outlining a new business practice, your audience will have doubts.  If you can respectfully head them off by indicating that you ‘know what they’re thinking’ and respect their thoughts, you’ll be much closer to getting your point across and convincing them that you’re right.  Anticipate what the objections might be, and provide descriptive examples of how this objection doesn’t apply or might be transformed.  Use the story to show that you are actively listening and are committed to creatively meeting your audience’s needs.

5. Vision Stories
Everyone needs inspiration.  Use a vision story to remind your team of why they’re doing what they’re doing, and to give them a lift.  If you all share a common goal, choose a story that illustrates this and helps everyone envision success.  It will help renew their commitment levels and boost morale.  Be authentic – tell the story with conviction and emotion and you’ll be sure to enhance your audience’s buy-in.  A well delivered story can be the ultimate pep talk.

Some last words
Regardless of which type of story best communicates your message, keeping these tips in mind will be sure to enhance your effectiveness:

Make the story an experience.  Try to appeal to as many of your listener’s senses as possible.  Don’t just tell the story – paint the picture and show them what you mean.
Never forget to practice.   Like any performance, good story-telling is an art.  Hone your craft by practicing – not only will this allow you to pay more attention to your audience, but you will be much more effective if you come across as confident and knowledgeable. 

And lastly,
Always be authentic.  Everyone can spot a faker.  Choose your stories wisely and tell them truthfully with real emotion. If your audience thinks you’re lying to them, your story will undermine your integrity.  Tell it with authenticity and you’ll move and inspire.

Katie Mead is the co-founder of Springboard Consulting, Katie is a passionate about good communication.  From a diverse background in the fine arts, she has developed a proven track record of success working in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors. Her particular areas of expertise include marketing, grant writing, non-profit resource building and management, fundraising, and the design and launch of various keynote projects and events.  Katie serves as a founding member of RECREATURA_Arts & Culture, an international arts organization.  Read more from Katie on her blog site: A Love of Art.

By Carl E. Reid

     This article was originally published in The Productivity Institute (PI) Newsletter

In another life hot summer days provided an opportunity for a few enterprising young children to increase their allowance [aka, income]. As a child growing up in the New City Edenwald housing projects, I innately developed a knack for meeting people at their needs. When other kids sold their lemonade for 5 cents a glass, I sold more lemonade at 10 cents a glass. Mind you, Country Time Lemonade wasn’t around. My mother funded my lemonade operation, which consisted of 2 choices; some inexpensive lemonade like packet and fresh lemons. I chose fresh lemons. The pulp in the pitcher was the sales clincher. What is your sales clincher?

So a passerby walked by my lemonade stand. I capture their attention with “how about cooling off with a little ice cold lemonade”. They respond “how much is your lemonade”? My response was “have a taste first”. I pour a little sample. They taste it. I watch their facial response. I say “a full glass is 10 cents”. Sold and sometimes a request for second glass . . . next. It was usually a good $2 day when the competition made 60 cents.

When selling ideas or marketing your services, you must meet people at their needs. What you want is of little consequence to another person. People do not care what you want.

That’s why asking questions during an interview is crucial. You’re not just showing an interest in the job. You’re gathering intelligence to see what is of interest to the interviewer. What motivates them? What are their “hot buttons”? What is going to make them buy into your skills?

Do your homework before an interview. Review the company web site and Google the person you are going to meet. Know about the person to interject how your skill offering is within what makes the interviewer tick. If you find nothing about the person, make sure your questions are pointed in a manner that gives you the information you need to sell yourself.

What are the company mission and vision statements? What is the company culture like? The web site will usually provide this information. Use Google to get recent news items about the company.

Do your homework before you step on the invisible interview red carpet. The goal is to make a personal connection with the person interviewing you. It makes all the difference with the next step, salary offer and what you want as an end result.

Carl Reid landed his first managerial position at age 16. Mr. Reid has over 40 years of business experience, including 26 years as an information technology expert. He is CEO of NetTECH Systems Reid & Associates, Inc..  Carl has been a professional blogger and social media expert since 2004. In addition to being a sought after speaker, he publishes Library of Congress recognized newsletter blogs www.SavvyIntrapreneur.com and www.iTechSpeak.com . Carl is Chief Operations Officer for Empowering Today’s (ETP) Network. Email: Carl@etpnetwork.com - Tel: 201-222-5390.

by Tim Nuckles

   This article was originally published in The Productivity Institute (PI) Newsletter

Part One – Recommendations for Leveling the Software Negotiations Playing Field
Part Two - Future Proofing Contracts by Maximizing Flexibility
Part Three – The Software Maintenance Game 

Part Two – Future Proofing Contracts by Maximizing Flexibility

Flexibility is a really important issue within software deals, and one that is under-appreciated by software buyers, in my opinion.  Among even my more sophisticated clients (those having been through relatively more deals over time), on flexibility issues I often hear, “That’s a great idea, and quite honestly, that has never occurred to me.”  Flexibility issues simply are not on the minds of most software buyers.
 
So, what are we talking about in terms of flexibility within a software deal?  Well, for me, flexibility centers mainly around expense items, license and service fees (maintenance and support).  The goal is to create as much flexibility as possible for things like the base license structure, user license structure, and maintenance and support options.
 
For example, instead of checking the “single server” box in a schedule to denote the base license structure, and then checking the box for “100 to 300 users” to denote the tiered user license structure, and calling it done, we can accomplish a lot more.  These should be regarded merely as the choices made at time of purchase.  We want to create ability in the buyer to switch among all base and user license options available now, as well as those made available by the software vendor in the future, at any time and without penalty.  In other words, this should not be, and does not have to be, a one-time, live-with-it-forever selection.  Let’s call this side of the flexibility ledger the “buyer options” side.
 
The other side of the flexibility ledger is called “vendor obligations”.  These are affirmative duties we create for the software vendor, and they feed into the buyer options and drive toward cost containment.  For example, we want a software vendor to tell us whenever it introduces a new base or user license structure (or associated fee structure) during the life of deployment (because that may be the thriftier choice for us going forward).  The new license or fee structure should be made known to us, on the one hand, and made available to us without a penalty for switching over to it, on the other.  “We’re tiered now, but we want to be on that new Flexi-Seat option.”
 
Flexibility within software deals serves many purposes for software buyers, but cost containment is probably the main goal.  On cost containment specifically, a strong and meaningful “most favored nations” provision (MFNP), and one that ties back to all flexibility issues, is critical.  Have you ever known anyone who, if they managed to get one into their software deal, has ever benefitted from or enforced a traditional (impotent) MFNP?  Personally, I do not.  There’s a lot of hay that can be made with this type of provision, and software buyers need to start to realize that.  Think of an MFNP as the mirror image of a vendor’s audit rights.  Upon the occurrence of each license and compliance audit, you as a buyer get to do your MFNP audit, part of which requires your vendor to certify that you have gotten at least as good a deal as the best deal made available to the vendor’s new and deployed users over the last revenue period, and if not, it’s payback time.  Now, isn’t that a refreshing idea?
 
As a software buyer, you want to give yourself rights and avoid what I call the “Cable TV syndrome”, where a new neighbor moves in, and you find she is paying less than a third of what you pay for the same Cable TV channel selection.  And you have been a loyal cable subscriber for 8 years!  That angers you, and software buyers are angered when they find out others are paying a third of what they pay for the same software.  You may not have much ability to negotiate terms with your Cable TV provider before you sign on as a customer, but you have lots of ability to negotiate terms with your software vendor before you sign on as a customer. 

Timothy Nuckles is the principal in Nuckles Technology Law Firm, a business law firm specializing in information technology transactions that offers a process-driven approach for the acquisition of commercial information technology products and services.  You can learn more about him at www.nuckleslaw.com.