3 ms·

Ditto. I would emphasize the second to last one -- sales and marketing are parts of the business stack that I have little experience in, so they are the most da

by shaddi 17y ago

Ditto. I would emphasize the second to last one -- sales and marketing are parts of the business stack that I have little experience in, so they are the most daunting to me. I'd imagine that's the case for a lot of other technical people as well.

jacquesm 17y ago
Excellent sales and marketing applied to a medium product -> microsoft Lousy sales and marketing applied to great stuff -> DEC, SGI and plenty of others, now defunct. The technology is but a very small part of all of this.
- shaddi 17y ago
  That I do not doubt! Hence my desire to learn.
  - jacquesm 17y ago
    I think one of the quickest ways to learn this is to jump in on the 'hard' end of sales, cold calls and approaching strangers. Have a look at this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCUct4NlxE0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCUct4NlxE0 There's a lifetime of experience in there, not quite 'cold calling' but he's got amazing talent.
    - wdewind 17y ago
      I heard one really great line in there "You only want one? Ok you've got no friends. Just like me." after the the whole "buy a bunch for your friends," that line had a nice balance of making people feel like they suddenly needed to show off how many friends they had and yet not making the guy feel so terrible. Other than that I really don't see what makes this guy so special, I just kept waiting to be like "oh wow!"
      - jacquesm 17y ago
        What makes it special to me is this: - the crowd that he draws in on a potato peeler - his continuous performance, not a gap in it, he never loses the attention of the crowd - his salesmanship, indeed, selling a bunch where he should only be selling one, and a few more little instances like that - the fact that the guy made an absolute fortune selling a $5 product to passers by - the fact that in spite of being a street salesman his presentation is impeccable - the fact that you can look at it and it looks so ordinary :) Now try it for yourself... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Ades http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Ades

by shaddi 17y ago

jacquesm 17y ago

Excellent sales and marketing applied to a medium product -> microsoft Lousy sales and marketing applied to great stuff -> DEC, SGI and plenty of others, now defunct. The technology is but a very small part of all of this.

shaddi 17y ago
That I do not doubt! Hence my desire to learn.
- jacquesm 17y ago
  I think one of the quickest ways to learn this is to jump in on the 'hard' end of sales, cold calls and approaching strangers. Have a look at this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCUct4NlxE0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCUct4NlxE0 There's a lifetime of experience in there, not quite 'cold calling' but he's got amazing talent.
  - wdewind 17y ago
    I heard one really great line in there "You only want one? Ok you've got no friends. Just like me." after the the whole "buy a bunch for your friends," that line had a nice balance of making people feel like they suddenly needed to show off how many friends they had and yet not making the guy feel so terrible. Other than that I really don't see what makes this guy so special, I just kept waiting to be like "oh wow!"
    - jacquesm 17y ago
      What makes it special to me is this: - the crowd that he draws in on a potato peeler - his continuous performance, not a gap in it, he never loses the attention of the crowd - his salesmanship, indeed, selling a bunch where he should only be selling one, and a few more little instances like that - the fact that the guy made an absolute fortune selling a $5 product to passers by - the fact that in spite of being a street salesman his presentation is impeccable - the fact that you can look at it and it looks so ordinary :) Now try it for yourself... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Ades http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Ades