ATCP, LLC

The IT Manager has no clothes!

If you want to know what a company sells, ask to see their comp plan. If your sales managers are compensated to sell a product/service that the one they are selling can’t be sold under, guess what? Thats right! It fails. This is the primary reason for companies not being able to move their wares.

But not just any comp plan will do. And that is the rub.

Companies today are in a financial bind. They need to spend less and save more. Do more with what they have, and all that. But how do you do this with a strategic product? You know, strategic, one of dozens of words and phrases we throw about as if we know what they mean, and assuming that they mean the same thing to everyone. Wrong.

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I bought a Slingbox Pro on August 24th, 2007, at Best Buy. I have used it with my PDA (long since gone), which amazed everyone I showed it to, as well as on the road in hotel rooms and even from different parts of the house. Neat idea, and way ahead of Hava at the time. Still no support for my Dish Network VIP 612 DVR (HD) yet, but good enough.

I did a firmware update the other day, long after the 1 year warranty was up. It bricked my box, along with hundreds or even thousands of others.

My initial email:

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I got a nice email from PacSafe, and thought I’d share it with you all:

personal stuff to me mercifully removed

We are developing a whole range of products only dedicated to photography. The Camera Shoulder Bag (handy camera bag) easily accommodates your SLR camera, and the multiple pockets ensure all your small and delicate accessories are well protected and organized. I’ve attached a picture of it.

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Note: Not all pictures for tutorial are shown here. For all pictures (in high resolution), see our picture gallery here

This is how you fix the Naneu Pro Tango bag to get rid of the ridiculous shoulder strap thing that nobody can figure out. It is a waste of weight, makes the bag thicker for no reason, and is built too cheaply to use even if it was a useful design.

You’ll need:

• Sharp knife
• Lighter
• Seam ripper (ask your wife)
• Pliers
• Wire Cutters (heavy duty)
• About 15 minutes

Start with your new Naneu Pro Tango bag:

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Sales Engineers often need to enforce a little order into the chaotic and disorderly world of the sales rep. If we do it without impeding the sales rep’s progress, we are successful. I have worked with many talented sales reps ni my time-some of them truly inspirational and visionary. Others had no idea why they were there, or what they were doing.

I started compiling many of my methodologies (one of which is described in this article) after working with one such visionary sales rep, Godfrey Unaka. I worked as a consultant in Boston in the late 90s, and back then a consultant had to act as Sales Engineer. He inspired me to look at sales as just another process, like a technical process. He gave me the idea for the 5 (6, really) Ds in the first place, and I owe him for that. I haven’t been able to locate him since, but I hope he is successful-wherever he is. Thanks, Godfrey!

Why have methodologies?

They work. Countless times I have gotten the sale with methodologies and a clear-cut plan when a cheaper bid was present. It is true-no matter what your prospect tells you-that quality can win over price. Price is the worst differentiator. If you are in a price battle, then you have failed to illuminate a differentiator that will put you in a different, better class than your competition. This is the stuff of solution, or relationship selling. Some call it enterprise, or strategic sales, but to a Sales Engineer it is all the same.

So lets take a look at my million dollar methodology for getting the big money.
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