As you know I’ve had a few meetings as of recent with members of our team whom I had never met before. One of the meetings was with our designer, we spent an entire day in the office - honestly, most of it we just goofed off.

There was not a single thing we discussed regarding business that we could not have just as easily done via the net, but as you remember, “business talk” was not the point of the meeting. The point was to meet face to face and get to know each other better…in that case, mission accomplished

The meeting with the designer turned out to be exactly what I had expected it to, an entrepreneurial session with tons of great ideas. He has actually created some very interesting technology that backs a very smart business that he gave us a live demo of. And as good of a sales person as he is, he may have just sold the office here on using it

In the end, it was a great meeting, tons of fun and we all got to know each other better.

===

My next meeting I had to actually fly out. The manager of that office I have met before, however, I had never visited the office. This meeting went amazingly well. We only spent little time in the office itself, but still had adequate time to meet all the team members and get a chance to see what they were working on.

On a personal level, I got to do some great sight-seeing there and just overall had a blast (I did get a bit sick though - have been pushing pretty hard with all the travel).

Before I left, the manager of that office asked me to make an “inspirational speech” to the group - this 100% caught me off guard! It’s not that I’m not used to public speaking, but all of a sudden to be put on the spot and asked to “motivate the group so they never leave the company” - that’s quite a bit of pressure!

I did fight it a bit, but in the end, I realized that if you think about it - motivating and inspiring your team is pretty much one of the main roles of a CEO. So, I took it as a personal challenge and sprang in-front of everyone.

I think I did OK, definitely have some areas I need to work on. Our CTO was with us and he made some great suggestions afterwards of what to say the next time I need to do this…I’ll write a full review tomorrow of how to make inspirational “CEO” level speeches tomorrow…

For now, I have yet again proven to myself that “face to face” relationships are critical.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Ok, time for me to rant now because there is one thing I see entrepreneurs and business owners do that is just out-right stupid.

Naming the company after themselves.

There are times when this fits and other times when it’s just out-right idiotic. Here is a bottom-line rule to follow, if you ever want to be able to SELL your company, don’t brand your name (or you better be ready to get sold with the company).

Also, if you’re branding your name to the general consumer public, you want to stick to a name that will not likely change. It’s much harder to re-brand a name when there are millions of people that know it, rather than when only a few clients know it (or a smaller market knows it).

Here is an example of when it’s ok to brand your own name:

A legal or accounting practice where your name is what people really look for. In a case like this, it’s un-likely that you’ll sell. You’ll probably “merge” and add more names to your name. Or even if you did sell, it would only require you to alert your clients. There would be little branding

Here is an example of when it doesn’t make sense and it makes me want to slap someone:

A company that sells computers called “Daniel K. Smith Computers” - what the hell is that? First of all, it’s a stupid name. Second of all, it’s going to be hard as hell to sell that to another company unless you agree to go with it - the consumers are used to YOU and that’s what they want to find when they walk into a store.

If you really do want to brand your name, go with just the last name like “Smith Computers” - that can still be neutral.

When deciding the name you want to throw your branding power behind, just think about one question:

“Do you want to sell this company one day?”

If you do, then please, don’t brand yourself or your name - brand the company.

====

On a seperate note, many times you have a neutral company name, but you still choose to brand yourself. You’re always in the store, you sign every e-mail to customers from yourself, you make all the public appearances, etc…

This is a bad idea - it centralizes the company around YOU too much and it makes it hard to delegate work and not have your hands in everything. If the company grows with your hand in everything, your life is going to suck and the business will eventually suffer.

Here is an example of how it should work:

All your customer e-mails, have your “support director” sign off.
All your marketing matters, have your VP of Marketing sign off.
All your financial matters, have your CFO sign off.
All your HR matters, have that department head sign off.

The only time I think a CEO should be specifically signing his/her name should be on MAJOR matters, investor related matters or any major announcements to the industry.

I work very hard to hide myself as much as possible so that I can be considered ‘despensable” when it comes time to sell. I didn’t always do this, as of now the company still has my name linked to it, but I’ve started working hard to disconnect and it seems to be working.

When I sell this company, I don’t want to go with it (not for long at least). The less the company needs me to run properly, the easier it is to sell the company without my neck attached to it.

The next time you sign-off on something public, think twice if it’s really your name that should show up there.     

Popularity: 13% [?]

Thanks to technology, we can do business across the world and always feel 100% connected. Video conference calls, computer sharing technology for presentations, inexpensive international calling, even GTalk & Skype which can connect you for free…

As helpful as these technologies are, I believe they are doing some damage in the world of business as well. How?

They’re helping eliminate the most important element of human interaction - a “face to face” relationship.

Nothing, not even free video conferencing, can replace the value of a physical hand-shake, a beer or a good smile.

As you know, I’m currently traveling internationally to my secret “bat cave” location where we have an entire development team, customer support team and now even a team doing all of our U.I. design.

As I write this, I’m waiting to have a day long “face to face” meeting with our new designer. He also has traveled quite a distance to be here just for the weekend for this meeting.

So, why are we meeting?

- Do I need to be here to review design? Absolutely not.
- Do I need to be here to sign a contract? Certainly not.
- Talk about a future project? Nope.

I’m only here so I can get to know him better and he can do the same. And, in all honesty, he’s a pretty smart and fun person (we share the same zest for entrepreneurship, so I think this meeting will just be a good time).

I’m only here to meet him, to shake his hand and tell him in person how much we really appreciate what he’s doing for us.

What will this do for us?

I’m not sure, I don’t really have any expectations (his work is already kick-butt). But…

Once you meet someone, once you REALLY get to know them, it’s only human nature for both sides to give each other that much more importance.

After our meeting, after we become friends, do you think even a cheaper quote from another designer would “wooo” me away? Heck no.

The other side of the scope, do you think another client would be able to pay the designer a bit more and get higher up on the priority list? Probably not…but I can’t speak for others (however my experience tells me that it would not).

Tomorrow (from the day I write this), I’m jumping on a 1 hour flight to visit another office where we have a team working on our customer support and site maintenance . They’ve been with us for over a year now and I’ve never met the entire team. So, do I really *need* to go? No, I have no doubt the work will continue to be as good as it is if I don’t go.

I’m actually even taking another team member from the current office I am at so that our two teams can themselves develop a relationship.

The moral of this story? I’m sure you are outsourcing some work outside of the country (in today’s market you almost have to). Put some importance on a personal relationship - hop on a plane and go spend some time with the person/team.

It may not pay off in “numbers” directly on your accounting right away, but trust me it will pay off 10 times what it costs in your overall business development.

Another side tip: Make sure to promote relationships intra-team members too. Don’t be selfish and just go yourself, take others.

Build a family, don’t just build work.

Popularity: 13% [?]

I’ll make a public confession today…

“I’m an extremely lazy person.” There I said it.

So lazy actually that I never took the few minutes to just add my “mileage” number to all the flying I do. Even with hotels, I would never take the time to sign-up for their loyalty club.

Here’s what changed me one day…

The backstory is that I use the Delta AMEX credit card ever since we started the company, why? I have no idea, I don’t really like Delta. So, in other words, because of the credit card I’ve been accumulating hundreds of thousands of miles over years and barely ever used them.

I have not flown Delta in over 5 years, I just recently used some miles to send my parents on a vacation (that was the only time I used the points).

Anyways, recently I had to take a trip and Delta came out to really be the only flight that was available so I booked it. Well, a day before the flight, I stepped out of my lazy mode and decided to take a minute to add my “mileage number” to get whatever credit I could get.

I logged into Delta and put the mileage number in on the net and all of a sudden the page refreshed and it showed that I had automatically been upgraded to first class. I actually freaked out thinking that they had just charged me some rediculous money (traveling first class within US is retarded, it’s too expensive)!

I called them up and the support rep says: “No sir, we just upgraded you for free because you are a Silver Medallion level flyer.” Basically my “credit card miles” had given me some elite status with Delta.

I was ecstatic! Thank god I took a few minutes to do this - my 5 hour flight across country would be so much more comfortable now.

Ok, so that was win #1.

Next, the day of my flight I went to check-in only to find out that the flight was delayed. Typically that is OK, but this time it meant that I would miss my connecting flight to Vegas, which would in-turn mean that I could not reach Vegas in time to MC an event our company was holding (uh oh, now I’m in trouble!)

To make matters worst, the only flight available was fully booked with almost 17 people on the stand-by list - in other words, I had NO chance of getting on it. Here’s where things take a turn…

I happen to mention to the lady (as I’m trying to sweet talk any way to get their on time) that Delta had recently upgraded me to first and now that would go to waste.

She proceeds to ask “Why did we do that?”
My answer: “I don’t know, some silver medallion thing…”

She gives me a big smile and says, “Oh! You’re Silver Medallion? <type type type> Done! You’re on the next flight sir…”

You can imagine my confusion and reaction - I went on to learn that because of my Silver Medallion level, they had just bumped me to #1 on the standby list (over 17 people) and that pretty much guaranteed me a seat!

I was able to get to Vegas on time and in class with a big fat comfortable first class seat.

Moral of the story? Take the points and mileage seriously - do dedicate yourself to one airline and try to use them as often as possible, same with hotels. To give yourself a boost, also get that airline or hotel’s credit card.

Do this and you too can travel like a king without having to PAY for it!

Popularity: 17% [?]

So I know I’ve been a bit “all over the place” recently, but what can I say - SUE ME! I got a lot to say and my head is running all over the place. Today, I thought I’d talk a bit about “traveling like a CEO.”

As you know I’m somewhere “international” in the world right now and of course I had to fly here. The last time I flew here I came via British Airways and just did the “Economy Premium” - which is nice, but not that much better than regular Economy.

As nice of a flight as British Airways is, I gotta say - it was one tough flight, I felt like a sardine and my body hurt after the long flight (no, I won’t tell you how long the flight was).

This time when I was coming, my travel agent really started to push “Qatar Airways” onto me and I really didn’t know what to think at first - had never heard of it. Also, honestly, the thought of going through an Islamic country scared me. No, I’m not racist or anything, but just with everything going on … it was really me just being naive.

I heard some good feedback from others and decided to try it and yes, I was decided to do Business Class this time. I couldn’t face the thought of being crammed in again.

I checked all the major airlines, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Delta, United, Air Emirates and others even - Qatar came out to being almost 40% less in cost!

It’s not “cheap” for business class, just far more reasonable than the others.

I did it, I landed here on the 12th and let me just sum up my entire trip in 1 word - “WOW!”

Let me describe my trip the best I can.

First, I reached the airport, there were no lines, I went straight to the desk and got checked in. Then, I was escorted to the “Virgin Atlantic” lounge (their partners) where I had a full meal, wine and a great couch with very friendly service.

Now for the flight…

I walked on and the leg room was un-heard of, the seats very comfortable and even a 13″ on-demand entertainment center (remember, this is business class, not economy - but even economy was nice). Their entertainment center (flight wide) is the best I have ever seen, they easily have over 100 movies including many languages, tv shows, games, even satellite tv coming!

The flight attendents are very courteous, nice and fast in getting you anything you want…yes, they’re also beautiful (hey, a little eye candy never hurt anyone). Overall my experience was amazing on the flight.

The seats go 160 degrees, which is basically a full flat bed, so for the first time I actually slept.

My only complaint on the flight? The food could have been better. But, they made up for it here…

The Most Amazing Flying Experience I’ve Ever Had…

The 5 hour layover lounge/terminal…again…WOW! They have a seperate terminal for their business/first class passengers and it’s literally like walking into a Ritz Carlton.

Here are all the amenities they offered in combination with amazing service and eye-candy

1. A video game room with PS3, PS2, foozball table - tons of fun to pass time.
2. A nursery - great for you parents with little ones.
3. A full “business center” - free internet, computers and even conference rooms at no charge.
4. A beautiful and comfortable lounge - free buffet, multiple free open bars, server service, smoking room - everything you really want.
5. Prayer rooms - in case you sinned on the flight, you can ask for forgiveness here

Tie that all together with the fact that you never have to wait in line and are always greeted my people in red suits who are just itching to assist you.

The second leg of the flight was just as comfortable and even had great food (indian food this time).

If you decide to use Qatar Airways, you can actually also get miles on United, US Airways and a few others. However, after doing tons of research, they have the best integration and relationship with US Airways (which is where I am now accruing my miles). I’ll talk about the importance of points tomorrow (I’ve learned you should not ignore them)!

Bottomline, Qatar Airways goes to many international destinations and is absolutely the best airline I have see thus far. Close your eyes and book them.

Popularity: 34% [?]

Honestly, I have stayed away from “social networks” except for “Facebook.com” which I use just for my college friends. As far as “business” goes, I always thought that these social networks were complete B.S.

However, recently we had a few positions we needed to fill and someone new on our management team asked me to PDF and send the job description to her, so I did. Little did I know, she blasted out the offer to her LinkedIn network and we filled one of the key positions in less than 1 day! Not just “filled it” - we filled with a GREAT fit for the job.

Linkedin.com has now become the absolute first place we go with a new job opening. The great thing about it is that you can blast out to your entire contact network with the click of a button and your network starts to SPREAD the offer around to others (so your job offer actually becomes viral). By the way, all of this is FREE to do, we’ve been cheap.

But if we actually PAY linkedin, we can even access thousands more that would fit the job but may not be in our personal network.

My tip for the day is to definitely start a profile on LinkedIn, and try to get your job network as big as godly possible - it’ll be a heaven for hiring!

Popularity: 19% [?]

This is more of an issue for a new business than it is for an existing business, the good question of “should you bring on contractors or hire full-time employees?”

Everyone has their own opinion on this topic - here is mine (that I stand by adamantly).

Any chance you get, you should HIRE employees rather than just contractors.

Why?

Because as a company, your value is much higher if you’ve been able to build a TEAM that is 100% dedicated to your company rather than easily distracted by a wide-range of products. Of course, however, hiring talent full-time is easier said than done (especially for new businesses tight on cash).

Hiring full-time has two main hurdles involved:

1. Finding the talent and then convincing that talent to work FOR you.
2. Affording the talent

Of course #2 is not as big of an issue if you’re running a $100M+ a year company, but since I’m not - I’ve faced issue #2 with every major hire. With some of our key hires, we’ve had very creative packages (for example, tying compensation to projects they lead and offering a combination of a modest salary with a good revenue share program).

Problem #1 is all about being networked in your industry and having a great idea that others can get excited about. There are many ways to build a list of good talent to hire, I will share them with you periodically in the coming days.

INTERESTING NOTE: Hiring someone means you can add instantly add about 17% to their base salary in other costs such as benefits, taxes, etc…

Right off of that note, you can understand why small businesses may choose to contract more work than hire it in. However, never forget that someone who works ONLY for you may actually produce more efficiently (hence covering that extra cost).

If you’re looking to build a $100 Million+ company that you one day sell - start thinking about making your talent IN-HOUSE. Your valuation when it comes time to sell will be much greater if you have a talented team that works very well together.

Another Tip: If you’re very strapped for cash, never reject talent because you have to bring them on as a contractor - go for it and test them on projects. During the testing time, re-work your financials to make room for that person. This is also a great way to avoid getting “burned” by acting too quickly to hire someone.

Remember, it IS much easier to “let go” of a contractor than it is of an employee.

Popularity: 21% [?]

Have you gotten into the blackberry craze yet?

Since the Treo 600 came out, I’ve been a Treo 600 user and I finally switched to the Blackberry 8830 World Edition a couple of months back. Honestly, I didn’t understand what the big deal was. It seemed that most of what the Blackberry could do, the Treo could do (except the Treo is fatter than the Blackberry).

My attitude completely changed now that I’ve been using the Blackberry more and more and I can proudly say that “Yes! I am officially a Crackberry!” 

Here are some things that I can now do with my Blackberry that I either had a hard time doing or could not do with my Treo:

1. Integrate easily with Gmail.
2. Integrate with Google Calendar <– LOVE this.
3. Use my phone internationally on local networks (by replacing the SIM card).
4. Have much better navigation of the internet
5. Have seemless integration with my work mail server.
6. Use many social networking applications on my Blackberry (they have special software for Blackberry).

However, there are some things I miss about a Treo, the most of which is the TOUCH screen. At the same time, I’m very surprised at how easily I’ve adapted to surfing the net withOUT the touch screen.

One major tip if you’re thinking about using a blackberry: You better be VERY disciplined with yourself about NOT consistently checking your e-mail. It will consume your life if you are not careful!

Popularity: 18% [?]

Isn’t blogging great? I’m actually on a plane right now (traveling Internationally, yet I just pre-set this post to show up!)

Since we’ve been talking about sales the last couple of days, I thought I’d keep the trend going by discussing “pricing” - obviously a highly influential matter when you’re trying to sell someone.

One of the problems I used to have was that my initial reaction to an objection was to think about reducing the price - as a matter of fact, I would reduce the price sometimes before even talking to the prospect!

What I have learned and you better learn is that price is not always the biggest deal - I’ve found that if you can sell someone at $10,000, you could have sold them at $15,000 (most likely). An objection (most of the time) won’t go away just because you drop the price, you have to get to the root of it using the 3 sales techniques I revealed a couple of days back - listening can really help.

The other problem that seems to happen a lot is what I call the “price war.”

The price war takes place between companies that are fighting for the same customer with similar products. Bottom line, it can get rediculous.

Should you be irrational in your pricing? No, of course you have to price competitively, but there are ways to get a customer rather than price (and they are far more beneficial).

Think about this for a minute… 

Starbucks…you and I both know that you can get coffee TONS cheaper at dozens of places (they are probably much closer to you too), but you still go to Starbucks, why?
* Had Starbucks tried to compete of pricing, they wouldn’t exist today.

Mercedes/BMW - Honestly, half of the features that are “premium,” you never use and you know that when you’re buying the car. There are tons of cars that can perform the same or better and are half the price, then why?

Coke/Pepsi - Are you telling me that just because one is 10 cents cheaper, you’ll buy that one? I doubt it, by now I am positive you have your preference of which one you buy.

Pricing can only take you so far - if your entire business is based on price war, you’re going to go out of business soon. Find something else to hook your customers in, here are some ideas…

- Customer Service (ex/ Nordstrom)
- Quality
- Customer Experience
- Product Variety
- etc…

Think about your business right now and figure out what unique aspect you can focus on.

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Popularity: 15% [?]

Depending on who your target market is, the process used for sales can be very different. As I mentioned yesterday, after 4 years, we have just now launched the first product that requires sales to large corporations. Having no experience with corporate sales, I’ve learned quite a bit.

Luckily for us, our recently hired VP of Marketing comes with over 10 years experience of selling to corporations in our industry. Here is key difference I have noted:

TIME TO SALE

When you sell to consumers, you typically put together a “mass sales” strategy and put that strategy into action…

- Marketing
- P.R.
- Vendor/Distributor Relationships
- Good location for stores, etc…

However, when you’re selling to corporations, the process is very different and far more “personal.” A sale to a corporation typically requires a sales “team” that is very good at following up and answering multiple questions.

Any time there are multiple people involved in a sale, you have to be prepared for a lengthier process and also many “custom” proposals and “per case” pricing.

In a large corporation, there are many layers to the sales process - you have to find your way through the gatekeepers in order to get to the main decision-maker. Even after you find the main decision-maker (let’s assume you’re selling to the CEO), in larger corporations, that CEO will then want to have a meeting with the appropriate manager of the department to which you’re selling.

Some advice if you’re selling to large corporations:

1. Prepare to wait for the sale to close.
2. Assign a “sales agent” and make sure there is a close follow-up process.
3. Prepare for multiple sales calls/e-mails.
4. Pre-sales, ensure there is strong brand.
5. Hire as many “well networked” individuals as you can into your company.

The best way to decrease the sales time is to be heavily networked - the higher up the totem pole you start the sales process, the quicker the process will be!

The biggest piece of advice I have with corporate sales is that PATIENCE is key.

Popularity: 20% [?]