A few days ago, the news came out that an airline (ATA) had just randomly one morning woken up and canceled all their flights, released all their employees and pretty much vanished from existence.

Let’s make a list of all the people the CEO screwed over because he was too much of a “wussey” to step and do this the right way…

1. Left THOUSANDS of passengers stranded.
2. All the people who were expecting those passengers (whether for a birthday party or a critical business meeting - thanks ATA).
3. Their OWN employees - no notice, no income - nothing.
4. Their partners - Southwest is a route sharing partner and had no idea, they were left blind-sided and had to scramble to cover the slack.
5. Airport officials - Can you imagine what the stranded passengers did to these people?
…the list goes on.

I know that I’m probably making it sound easier than it is, but I don’t care if you lose your pants (literally) - for a company this big, you see it coming. A fear of investors and your “reputation” can NEVER lead you to “screw over” those very people who are loyal to you and depend on you.

I want to apologize for my tone here, but I’m fuming upset since I read this…how can anyone be so irresponsible and selfish?

Some of the employees didn’t even find out from their bosses, they heard it on the NEWS or from a family friend who heard it on the news.

Well, This DID Present An Opportunity For Southwest…

As tough as this was on Southwest, it presented a serious opportunity for the airline. Southwest scrambled last minute and did everything they could to pick up the slack of their ex-partner. You think those stranded passengers may fly Southwest next time? You bet your 2 cheeks they will.

Hats off to you Southwest - stepping up to solve a problem that truly isn’t even yours, it’s admirable and it’s how a customer should be treated.

ATA - I never flew you, I never cared and never knew what you were and now I’m da** glad of it. Going out of business is fine, it happens - doing it overnight and flicking off everyone around you is just jaw-dropping. 

Popularity: 56% [?]

The more we get into corporate sales the more shocked I get about how SLLLOOOOWWW these big companies are! Even the smallest decision has multiple layers of approval. Even after the leading manager/director approves the project, then there is an entire new approval process through the financial department for the actual invoice!

I definitely understand the need for structure and organization, the larger you get, the more people you have to watch and the more systems you need. Obviously, the more systems you put into place, the more “red-tape” there is…etc…etc…that all makes everything slower.

I get it.

But, is there seriously no better way?

I see this as one of the biggest advantages that smaller businesses or start-ups have over big companies - they are nimble; only a few people need to make the decision and they need to get it done fast (they’re busy doing 10 other things too).

The more I experience this, the more I believe that keeping our organization nimble and allowing the right managers the RIGHTS to make quick decisions is critical. Some ideas I have to put this into place…

1. Every department head and sub-manager should have a “no question” budget or range within which they can approve.
2. There should be a central system for proposals and approvals that all department heads check at least weekly (rather than a string of emails that get lost).
3. Just say “no.” I’ve noticed that the bigger they are, the harder it is for them to just say no - but, stop wasting everyone’s time - if you don’t want it, just say no!

My Personal Experience With Microsoft… 

For example, I was dealing with Microsoft on a deal once. After wasting weeks of my time in trying to set-up a call (btw, THEY were hunting ME down), we finally got on a call. We were on that call for 1 hour with me explaining what we could do for them (btw, this is over a year ago). Finally, the Microsoft rep basically tells me in his own words…

“Well, we want you to do this and that for us - all customized just for Microsoft, but we’re not going to pay you for it. No, you can’t co-brand it and no, you can’t even tell people that Microsoft is your client.”

I’m sorry, what the hell do “I” get then? He went on to tell me that they had no “budget” for what we were offering.

My question … why did YOU hunt ME down?

So, basically, they were not able to just say “no, we don’t want this service” but instead they wanted the highest version of our service for free, just because they were Microsoft - no thanks.

The best example of a nimble big company I have seen…

Google - I think the main reason they are continuing to grow so fast and are destroying Microsoft and Yahoo is that no matter how big they get, they remain nimble.

They are constantly launching new services, new products, hiring new people, going into new international markets - yet, they make decisions and they trust their employees and managers with a certain “room” for self-monitoring and decision-making.

I have personally had an experience with Google as well and the entire process lasted only one week. We had an “offer” for them, we wrote it to the right person in a department. He was interested, set-up a call a week later - we did a 1 hour call where we went through a lot of Q&A. A few days later he wrote to us saying he was not interested…a NO! Or better yet, a FAST NO!

Sure, I didn’t sell them - but I still love them for respecting my time and just going one way or the other.

Moral of the story? I don’t care how big you get, you should monitor how long it’s taking people to make decisions in your company. Make sure you remain nimble.

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Just to put this out there, if you feel like I’m bouncing around everywhere from topic to topic, that’s really the point.

A) I haven’t exactly found my “groove” - the more readers and feedback we get, the better I’ll know what to talk about.

B) I think the entire point of this “blog” is that I pretty much talk about what’s on my mind that day - I have 2 major things on my mind today, the first one…

Vaporware…

I first heard this term about 3 weeks ago from our VP of Marketing who was hired just months ago. Basically, we were in the middle of launching a product/service and she goes to say: “why aren’t we selling this already?”

My answer was: “because it’s not ready!”

Her reply: “Haven’t you ever heard of vaporware”

Obviously I had not, so she went on to educate me. Once I learned about it, I thought it was a very sneaky and slick concept, almost down right deceptive if used improperly.

Honestly, I didn’t make much of it at all until I heard it AGAIN a few days ago from another major “corporate” person who is on our board of advisors. STILL, I did not think much of it - I almost felt like it’s “wrong.”

That was all over the minute I heard my very own mentor use those words saying: “We can sell it as vaporware, just so long as we know we can definitely deliver the promise…” NOW, you have my attention.

So what is vaporware? From my understanding, it’s basically a software/service/program/product that you start selling but it’s not complete! You actually make FAKE demos (maybe just screenshots or even just HTML pages that LOOK like they are coding).

Vaporware is commonly sold to companies and even INVESTORS. The whole point is that you need the money from the investors to actually build the damn thing, so you make it look like you’re a lot further along.

The more I think about it, I’m starting to think it’s a very smart concept (of course given that you KNOW you will be able to deliver otherwise it’s just deception and fraud).

The reasons are as follows:

1. You can start selling soon so revenue comes in faster.
2. You have customers to launch with from DAY 1.
3. You get money to help you invest in actually building it.
4. You get a level of interest - if there is none, you don’t have to waste time and money making it!

Our next product/service, I’m definitely going to try this concept.

Just a word of advice, yes, everyone in corporate knows about this - but still, no one wants to BUY it - so never say the word vaporware during a presentation!

Lastly… wikipedia defines this word a bit differently from what I’ve learned. But seriously, who’s word are you going to take? Mine or Wikipedia?

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