As a sales manager for a document output distributor, I spend much of my time evaluating prospective sales to plan our pricing, equipment configuration, and service strategy with the salesperson. The process is valuable because it gives both the salesperson and I a chance to ‘think out loud’ about the deal. We explore potential objections, consider the best pricing model to fit the customer’s needs, and discuss the deal overall. It normally ends with an ‘ah-ha’ moment where we both realize that the best way to approach the next meeting with the customer, and how best to position our solution.

Although every customer is different, each sale has several common elements. I realized this the other day that despite these commonalities, I had been handling these meetings differently with each salesperson. More specifically, when evaluating costs some sales people would write out their customer’s details on a nice worksheet, while others would scribble it on a post-it note. It occurred to me that I had been doing this strategery for a long time, but had never reviewed it or thought through how I could standardize it to ensure that we were covering all our bases when evaluating a deal. At a minimum, I could create a spreadsheet that would automatically calculate costs so that we were not relying on our chicken-scratch & calculator.

So in my own private ‘ah-ha’ moment, I realized that I had to review what I was doing periodically. I resolved to evaluate this process and others in hopes to make them more effective. I would start by creating a template to evaluate deals that leveraged the tools we have at our disposal. As encouragement to you, take a minute to think about what you do each day. Review it and see if you can streamline it, make it better, or simply make it more accurate.

Jeff Pitney is a long time veteran of the document imaging industry and has worked in both sales and sales management capacities for manufacturers and independent dealers alike. Jeff also runs Pitney Application Design, building websites and custom integrations for web-based solutions.

If it weren’t for the fact that everyone loves seeing my happy and smiling face at work I think I could really get into telecommuting - well except for the fact that my daughter seems to think the world lives to give her attention…

That aside, where else can you work in PJ’s, wear bedroom slippers, and sip on a latte while relaxing from your arm chair? I don’t have bedroom slippers, so I suppose I would have to expense those. But other than that - I got this gig down:

I have remote software on all of the servers, remote software to access any desktop or notebook I need, a VoIP handset to talk, e-mail for managing the tasks, instant messenger (IM) to chat, and a BlackBerry for errands. I’m all set.

Seeing is Believing:

People don’t see me, and what most people don’t see they don’t believe. Sure, many of us ‘technologists’ get it. We are mobile professionals on the road - and we judge performance based upon the results - right!?

Do the Benefits Outweigh the Perception?

Many organizations, including government, has turned to telecommuting as a cost-friendly way to maintain increasing demand for results. The benefits of telecommuting are wonderful:

1. Higher productivity: More relaxed attitude and less office distractions.
2. Lower overhead: lower expenses related to facilities costs.
3. Other perks: lower fuel costs for the employees can equate to a raise for a creative manager.
4. The list goes on…

The perception, however, can be a much different thing.

Perception is Reality:

I would venture a guess that most of you reading this blog are technologically - well, shall we say - progressive. You thirst for knowledge, to connect, to create… Sadly, you make up a smaller percentage of the workforce.

Thus toots the train of thought many executives travel upon.

“It is not the spoon that bends …

… but you that bends around the spoon,” as the quote goes. In essence, you have to see your way around the wall that is common misperception regarding telecommuters: that is they are hard to manage, hard to communicate with, and can be lazy.

I like to think of myself as a progressive leader, and make no mistake, that is what it takes to buy into a modern day vision of the mobile worker. However, I was recently bitten by a telecommuter for a SharePoint project I am working on that had the makings of a nightmare.

At the outset of the project, I had spent over a week trying to connect, but due to schedules it took us quite some time. Then there was the business of setting access and signing contracts. After these items were settled in, it took us another few days to connect - and to my dismay we only connected via IM - well after business hours?

Well, we discussed this and that, and this developer had a seemingly wonderful grasp upon some of the nuances of SharePoint development. I was promised a statement/estimate of work, and thus we were off.

Then a week came and went - no statement of work - no visible results. Then another week began to pass, and I initiated contact only to find no response, no work, nothing.

So it is that I, the progressively-minded leader, was bitten. I should’ve heard the alarm-bells, no the sirens, of project mismanagement missteps across the board - but I allowed myself to deviate from my standard management practices - all in the name of telecommuting.

So, there is a lesson somewhere inside, or else I will just feel miserable having wasted 4 weeks of my project portfolio’s time.

Telecommuting; the Brutal Truth:

What was my mistake? Not remembering that telecommuting is no different than comparing wired to wireless networks. Both have their places, but telecommuting is simply a medium of transport. Have some faith in the fact that belief does not have to be determined by sight alone.

The one consistent thing in life is change. If that is the case, and we know it, why do we resist change so?

The “forge” portion of my blogs name came from the realization several years ago that you have to commit to change and “break on through to the other side” (to quote Jim Morrison). Often through what feels like fire nipping at your heels, whipping at your face, and eating at your gut, you must fight your way through our primal instinct to resist change!

Change is not easy, but it is expected and can be managed.

So it is change, my friends, that helps us interact with one another. Without change, there would be no need for community, no need to interact with one another. Change, indeed, is the catalyst by which we are forced to react, to interact and decide a direction. This ripples out into an eventual realization that all things are finite, and must be replenished.

In this way, change becomes a compelling force bringing us together.

Build Community

Our lives can be akin to a piece of thread - by itself it really has very little value. Sure it has some use, but ultimately there is no strength or greater purpose to it. No two pieces of thread are exactly the same in length, density, or composition… yet in finding a way to mold them through careful exercise into a functional whole - a blanket of community is born.

This collection of threads creates a useful and beautiful whole; not organs alone does a body make, but the sum of its parts with such wonderful form and function do we celebrate.

With these threads as a metaphor to our individual existences, each place we overlap another thread represents a point of impact in another’s life. Some will be large and some will be small, but it is these cross-patterns, these overlays in the knitting, if you will, that are so wonderful - that you must relish.

The Lesson

So it is that we learn from each other, by depending upon one another; it is at these “touch-points” where interaction and stimulation occur. A synergy of thoughts or actions coming together as a collective whole.

We are touched each and every day by those around us, and must decide how to act, react, and interact. We take away from each experience a lesson: that lesson, however is ours to decide. It is up to you how you perceive change when it is all around you. It is up to you whether you will step through the fire of change or allow your spirit to wither in its intensity.

image credit: Lee Towndrow

With the prevalence of the mobile phone market domestically and abroad, I think it is safe to say we are a media hungry world. With MP3’s for ring tones, e-mail and text messaging blitzing in and out of your phone, and real-time video streaming to and from that little gadget in your hand - mobile media (media accessible through handheld devices) is now the rule, not the exception.

At what point do we see the commercial space cross over into the realm of enterprise? In decades past, it has been the enterprise that has paved the way for mass consumption of many things electronic - even the lucrative commercial offerings mobile phone providers now tout had their origins in Corporate America. Maybe it is time the commercial / retail space gave a little back.

Mobile media’s place in the enterprise is under discussion in many offices across the U.S. Arguably, there are key areas in the company which may be dramatically impacted through mobile media, but many executives still contend this medium of delivery as largely youth driven.

While mobile-media isn’t a favorite topic of those in the corner office, mobile media has really caught the eye of corporate IT, whose key responsibilities are generally keeping the network operational and ensuring overall security. Quite frankly, mobile media potentially threatens both.

With corporations overly-crowded ‘tubes’, companies are pushing more bandwidth down their pipes than ever. Sure server space and network speeds are to be had at a cheaper rate, but toss in the CFO’s command to control costs, and now you have a genuine recipe for a witch-hunt on your hands -with IT hold the pitch-forks and torches.

From personal experience in managing a mid-sized, privately held company’s infrastructure, it is a tough road to walk. Well, if you are in IT - you may think it very cut and dry, but how to you reconcile the bleeding-effect occurring between knowledge workers’ work and personal life?

Many times, today’s workers’ are working towards and being measured on results, not hours worked. These workers seek a streamlined life as well as consistent and constant access to data. In other words, they want always on connections that synchronize amongst themselves - digital on-ramps and off-ramps, and a key one of these being a handheld device.

Richer user experiences will continue to be a demand touted by skilled workers, and employers will have to find a way to deal with the expectations of fringe benefits such as a corporate handheld device that also doubles as a personal MP3 player - as in the case of the illustrious iPhone. If you think this is a fad, I would suggest not; it is a trend that appears to be increasing in frequency.

1. What challenges have you and your company run into with regards to mobile media?
2. Do you allow your mobile workforce to blur the lines between work and personal content?

Photo credit: Sanja Gjenero

We all love making exceptions to our processes. Sure we know there are going to be exceptions to our rules, but to work in a role supporting a high-touch organization might be so much so that I might liken it to an exercise in continually asking asking someone to stop kicking you in the backside only to find out after the 20th time you’ve been sporting a “Kick Me I’m Stupid!” sign on your back.

Wow, that was a bit harsh… but let me draw a parallel here from the industry within which I work: Does it not strike you that just about every sales person in the copier industry is wildly egotistical - at least the good ones are, don’t you think? It’s not like they are mean people, nor are they out to get everyone. No, it is just a simple matter of forgetting the sun, moon, and stars don’t really revolve around them - or did the rest of us just miss something?

A Moment of Truth:

I tried my hand at sales many years ago, selling timeshares with the Marriott of all things. Not only was I not enamored with my product and felt about as slimy as a slug in the dead of summer, but I found out I couldn’t stomach all of the “No’s”. You know, it wasn’t even all of the “No’s” either - it was the vitriol that spewed out of people’s mouths… like some busted pipe of venom. It was not a fun job and I knew that industry and sales was not for me.

So it takes a certain bravado, I suppose, to get through all of the objections customers may try and throw at you. I give you that.

But what I don’t get is how a simple process that has been proven to make your sale go smoother, make the the customer happy, and keep everyone sane can prove to be such dramatic show-stopper month-in-and-month-out?

Do you live in a high-touch environment where you service customers that are high-touch? It might not be sales people - it might be lawyers, doctors, or Ph. D.’s at a university. In other words, do you work in a place where “the talent” has to be coddled and pampered to maintain a certain order of things?

Balanced Chaos:

There has to be balance. In my previous post, Meet Me at the Intersection of Passion and Process, I waxed poetically about the fact that organizations need both passion and process. I used to believe only process was needed, but found that the coin of business had 2 sides.

It can be a death knell for a company to have all process and no passion. This leads to the company becoming disconnected to its lifeblood - the customer.

What is arguably more dangerous is to allow passion to override logic and a proven process and forge ahead on bravado and testosterone alone. The all too familiar syndrome of “over-promising and under-delivering” is the hallmark of this corporate culture.

In a high-touch environment, exceptions are the norm. However, you must have a system in place to allow for certain deviations from the critical path, but not allowing for wild variations that might cause the company, customer, or associates harm.

In other words, exceptions can be allowed to become the rule only when there is a culture of understanding when passion is warranted and when it must be reigned in, when process is needed and when it becomes stifling.

What are some of your thoughts on exception handling? How do you and your company deal with exceptions?

Walking a tightrope over a pit of hungry alligators while juggling flaming torches.

I work in a high-touch, sales-driven, customer-centric industry, company and position. This is the image that sums up my day on average.

How do you deal with a change of direction?

• Are you the type who quickly loses their temper when the “plan” quickly jumps the tracks, or do you find yourself knuckling down and rowing the rapids?

• Are you the kind of person who enjoys systems and processes, seeking order in the chaos?

• Do you look for the edges of the puzzle first and work your way in?

The job is not for everyone, that is for sure. It almost wasn’t for me; Let me tell you, it almost got me.

I spent the formative years of my career in very large organizations - the United States Marine Corps and a manufacturing division of a worldwide company with offices in the US and UK. So one of my employers was the 911 force of the world; I supported a 2000-Marine air group. The other was publicly traded company focused more on providing a 25 cent dividend to its shareholders each quarter than trying to increase revenue. Both were large, impersonal, and riddled with systems and processes just for their own sake.

The owner of my current company hired me some 5 years ago to bring focus to a group in  a company that had been successful “doing it the old school way”. My job was to seed in new ways of doing business while trying to work within the boundaries of almighty “culture”.

My job was to seed in systems and process in a company that ran by the seat of its pants: very little formalized process with lots of gusto and bravado.

I began by trying to hit the wall full-steam-ahead, and got one nasty concussion after another. After 2 years of hitting my head against the wall, and gaining inches not yards, I sat down. I opened my eyes, ears, and mind to some key mentors and learned how to work within the system.

It began working so well that something odd happened - the fire started to go out. The process began to take over and - where was the passion? Where was the fire in the belly I had loved about the company when I first started? In those years, I discovered that systems and process have their place, but not without passion and commitment to the people around you. In the Marine Corps, we had a saying,

It’s not the Corps that takes care of Marines, it’s the Marine standing next to you that takes care of you - and you that takes care of him.

And then it all began to click…

• Process is to bring sanity to the confusion, and offer consistency to your customers.

• Passion is to connect you with each other, and breeds loyalty from customers.

… and it is there where the magic is found - for me - for my company. Each of you may have your own recipe for success, but success for me is at the intersection of passion and process.

Ken Stewart’s blog, ChangeForge.com, focuses on the collision between the constantly changing worlds of business and technology. Ken is also the Director of Technology at Kearns Business Solutions.

We round out our discussion focusing upon Microsoft’s SharePoint offerings. Here are 6 takeaways from this series to date:

1. Microsoft has sold over $1 billion dollars in SharePoint 2007 (MOSS) licensing to date. This figure is not inclusive of 3rd party add-on solutions.
2. Microsoft creates a huge wake of awareness for all players. The choice of what to do with the awareness is up to you.
3. What Microsoft lacks in depth, it makes up for in breadth of offerings. Additionally, the SharePoint solution is really a platform to enable collaboration.
4. Review how SharePoint aligns with your current offerings. Seek clarification from your partners on how they intend to work with SharePoint’s presence.
5. If you have not yet begun seeding in various business-problem-solving solutions into your bag of tricks, this should serve as a wake-up call to do something - even if its retire early.
6. There are options, and if you are already seeding in solutions - choose your course carefully so that you do not disrupt your ’success engine’.

These 6 observations may or may not sway your judgment towards the raw potential this one technology has created. It is not fully baked nor mature, and it should not be thought of to solve every business problem. It has its own problems for sure.

However, this offering should engage the gears in your head - to at least consider what stance you will take.

Any clearly defined strategy has a strong potential of success so long as you approach it with honesty, passion, and commitment. Do you have to have SharePoint to be successful? Surely not.
However, I would submit those dealers who embrace what this offering represents, educates themselves - openly and honestly - on the benefits and drawbacks of SharePoint technology, and creates a differentiation strategy will prevail.

There is no silver bullet to save the day, but there are silver linings to be had. Whether SharePoint is your friend or foe get out your umbrella because we are in for a storm.

Read this series here.

We continue to discuss Microsoft’s SharePoint in this 4 part series, and whether SharePoint 2007 is a friend or foe of the independent dealer.

With the growing market for SharePoint, businesses will be forced to make a decision about whether to play with or against Microsoft SharePoint. Given over $1 Billion in licensing was sold within the last year, Microsoft has a potential slumbering giant quickly coming to its senses. What is perhaps most interesting to the independent dealer channel is the visibility SharePoint brings to the Document Management space.

Wait, just what is SharePoint?

If you haven’t been exposed to it, it’s a little tough to wrap your mind around. One of my friends described it as “network Play-Doh“. That’s interesting, but what does it do for me?

Microsoft SharePoint 2007 comes in 2 flavors: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) and Windows SharePoint Services (WSS). SMB’s will traditionally be able to rapidly deploy WSS, and not hassle with expensive licensing in MOSS. However, at certain levels, MOSS offers some higher level functionality that you just can’t beat.

SharePoint Technology is presented as a website. What is unique about SharePoint is that it allows for customization of the content on that web page by enabling drag-and-drop and point-and-click editing of the content.

The way this is accomplished is by use webparts. Think of webparts like bricks used in building a wall. Each brick has its purpose in the scheme, but imagine, if you will, you decide you would like some of your bricks to be purple, or green, or yellow. With modular webparts, you can define various content types within the SharePoint site.

Let’s say you want a picture gallery, or a small document library, or even a sales forecast tool. All of these are either built-in options, or quickly available through point-and-click interfaces. You don’t have to be a web programmer to manage your SharePoint site.

The real power of SharePoint comes with its tight integration with the Microsoft Office Suite and Microsoft Exchange Server (Microsoft’s own e-mail platform). Rather than e-mailing a copy of an Excel file around and getting lost in which version you are looking at, you can simply use a web browser, navigate to the document, and check it out - much like a library book. Now you know who has the document and can even view the document while it is in its “checked-out” state without deleting the other person’s changes.

With all of that power and flexibility under the hood, it sounds very complex to implement. Is it?

There is some truth in this statement, because it’s not yet just a point-and-click install. There are, indeed, several other components that will need to be operational first. However, most companies already have these things in place, and to get started there is no charge for the software. Compared to most software suites, WSS can be installed and lightly configured in hours and not days.

Microsoft SharePoint is truly network Play-Doh. It is a web-based platform that I can shape and mold into just about anything I want. For instance, here are a few things I’m using it for:

1. Corporate Intranet
2. Sales Forecast Dashboard
3. Document Library (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.)
4. Company News
5. Company Associate Forms
6. Customer Project Management
7. Document Collaboration
8. Departmental Workflow

SharePoint Technology can be bent to many different uses, and it is generally very easy for people to adopt basic use because they are already navigating the web.

less training needed = higher adoption curve

Now that you see how beneficial SharePoint Technology can be, the real question is, “where to start?”

Make no mistake, While SharePoint is fairly easy to install, it is like any other solution you propose. You, as your clients’ consultant, must draw upon the appropriate resources to determine if this solution is a good fit for your clients’ needs.

Does that sound hard? Doesn’t asking the correct questions equal uncovering the real problem to solve?

The point here is that SharePoint is flexible enough that it can solve many business problems and help you seed in growth opportunities within the account and secure your position as your clients’ valued partner.

Coming Up: In our next article we will look at how Microsoft SharePoint interacts with your Document Management strategies and offerings, as well as some thoughts on potential business plans.

Read this series here.

Ken Stewart’s blog, ChangeForge.com, focuses on the collision between the constantly changing worlds of business and technology. Ken is also the Director of Technology at Kearns Business Solutions.

In the world of business, SharePoint is becoming a topic hotly discussed. According to the March 31, 2008 issue of NetworkWorld, Microsoft quietly sold over $1 billion dollars in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS). This number didn’t even include the integration dollars behind roll outs of MOSS 2007 or its SMB counterpart, Windows SharePoint Server (WSS), which comes as a free download from Microsoft or as part of the core operating system.

Did that $1 billion (with a “B”) perk your ears?

Well it should.

What does that mean to the independant dealer channel, and just about every other consultant out there?

This technology is not only hear to stay, it has rightly achieved a position within the Enterprise Content Management (ECM) space as a tipping point. Many experts are exclaiming that SharePoint has surprised everyone in how it has offered a wide-reaching solution to previously unmanaged information, and can scale from very small businesses up to large, worldwide organizations.

What is perhaps of most interest to the independant dealer is how SharePoint 2007 accelerates the talk track regarding managing a company’s documents and their workflow, overlays existing Document Management Systems (DMS) offerings, and has the potential to shift balances quite radically.

In this 4 part series, we will examine whether SharePoint 2007 is a friend or foe of the independent dealer; whether it should be embraced or exorcised will be a decision ultimately left to you, but this exploding market offers compelling evidence that you will indeed have to befriend this behemoth - or take it on head to head.

Read this series here. 

Ken Stewart’s blog, ChangeForge.com, focuses on the collision between the constantly changing worlds of business and technology. Ken is also the Director of Technology at Kearns Business Solutions.

Randy Pausch, the professor at Carnegie Mellon University who inspired countless students in the classroom and others worldwide through his highly acclaimed last lecture, has died of complications from pancreatic cancer. He was 47.

You may read the full article on CMU’s website.

My thoughts and prayers go to the Pausch family.

Even though I never met Randy, he was truly an humbling inspiration to me.