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Blogging – How it paid off for me!

Well, I’d love to say that my blog is directly driven thousands of dollars in sales to me…  it hasn’t happened, yet.  However, what my blog did for me was provide me a bunch of useful information that needed.  You know how I keep telling you that I use my blog is my digital notebook?  Well, that’s exactly how I used it this past week.

Yet again, I needed to build another SAP system, so that I have a place for contractors to develop.  Well, once again, I needed to build a system from scratch because the one I have is “quirky” to say the least.  If I hadn’t done so much development and master data loads, I’d probably scrap it and use a copy of the new system I just built…  but oh well.

Building a new system meant that I needed to start from scratch.  That meant installing a printer (I had a blog post on that), seeing what files I needed to do the install (I had a post on that), generating a solution manager key (I did a post on that too), configuring STMS (you guessed it)…

So, all my blogging directly benefited me.  I didn’t have to dig through cryptic notebooks.  Since I write for you guys, it forces me to document my thoughts properly…  not in my half awake code language that I tend to use for taking notes.  Great for 30 mins for now, any longer, and I have to stare at it for an hour to figure what on earth I was even writing about.

So, no money yet, but it saved me a ton of time.  If you haven’t already, start your digital notebook today.

thanks for reading,

Mike

All I want for my Birthday is another Sale!

So if I just wish hard enough, will it happen?  How does the old saying go, wish in one hand, S*#t in the other, see which one fills up first.  🙂

the answer to that is obviously no, so what do you do to get that next sale.  Since I’m no expert, I just keep doing what other successful people are doing.  the first thing we are focusing on this year is trade shows.  There is a big SAP MFG conference in March this year that we are shelling out big bucks to be a part of.  We’re investing a lot in this because this is where our potential customers will be.  So if we can showcase what we have, we stand to collect a lot of business.

The second thing, invest in our product offering.  I’ve been spending a crazy amount of time building our super production application.  this is where I have to trust my partner.  I’m not a production guy, but he is.  He says, if we build this, they will come (and spend a lot of money on it).  In addition, I’m upgrading my original application to Web Dynpro.  Even if people don’t need it, they love the latest and greatest.  While Web Dynpro has been around for a while, it’s still relatively new for many customers.  So why not try to wow them with fancy buzz words 🙂

Finally, keep on keeping on…  I’ll continue to write my blog posts, I’ll continue sending out emails, I’ll continue building bigger and better auto-responders to find more 2nd customers.  And most of all, I’ll keep working…  So while I might take tonight off to enjoy time with friends, rest assured, I won’t be taking many nights off for a while.  If want to make it, you gotta work your ass off for a while…  then you can relax (just a little).

Thanks for reading,

Mike

Marketing – The Second Customer

Since it’s a new year, I need to start looking at my marketing plan.  One of the big things I need to begin doing is better utilizing my “second customer”.  What is the “Second Customer”?  this is someone that will recommend me to someone that may buy my products.  In a nutshell, it’s you…  my blog readers.

So, let’s start simple.  How do you get a Second Customer?  In my case, these are often friends, fellow consultants, and even previous clients I consulted for.  That’s a great start, but let’s be honest, it’s not enough people.  This is why I started the blog.  I’ve been working at posting pretty much 5 days a week in order to try to attract new potential second customers.  The big thing with the blog is that you need to provide value.  While I admit, not all of my posts fit for everyone.  I can be a bit all over the place, but I’m hoping it’s part of my charm =).  I write about Service Management, Variant Configuration, Basis, running your small business, marketing, and anything else that I do to launch my software business.  My goal is simply to pass along the lessons I’ve learned.  This does 2 things.  First, it shows that I have actual knowledge that can be useful to other people.  Second, it builds a connection to everyone that reads my ramblings.  My auto-responder is the same deal.  It’s all about making a connection with anyone I can.  Blind marketing is very expensive, very time consuming, and there is no guarantee you’ll get any sales.

Only after you have a connection, can you ever expect anyone to recommend you.  My goal is connect with all of you.  If you’re doing anything similar to me,  you need to connect with everyone you can.  Start a blog, an auto-responder, spend time on forums answering questions.  The short story is that you need to provide value early and often.  You don’t need to write a novel every day, but you need to keep delivering “cookie” content.  Eventually, one of your readers will provide you with the lead for your next sale (hint, hint)

Thanks for reading,

Mike

Interested in earning $12,500?

Ok, while normally I spend my time giving you tidbits of useful business or SAP information, today I’m going to offer a big chunk of cash, in exchange for a little help.  In case you haven’t figured it out, I’m trying to launch a software business so I can slide out of the consulting world.  I have several products available right now, and with the new year, I’m trying to drum up some new sales.

So, here’ the deal.  If you provide me with a lead that turns into a sale, I send you $12,500.  That’s it.  You don’t need to do any selling, you don’t need to be an expert about my products.  You just need to provide me a contact (name, email, phone #, etc.), and if you want to increase your chances, it wouldn’t hurt to pass along the websites below.

Today, I’m going to do a brief commercial in hopes that you may know someone that can use this.
Broadsword: Service Management Dashboard – exactly what it sounds like.  This is a full featured, out of the box SM dashboard that gives you metrics on notifications, in-house repairs, repair sales orders, service orders, and even return orders.

Rapier:  SM Customer Self-Service: This is an out of the box BSP web application that allows your customer to register their products, submit an RMA or repair request, and allow them to track their open notifications.  It uses all standard SAP functionality and takes the burden off your call center.

WMigo: Warehouse Management + Inventory Management:  This application behaves like the standard MIGO transaction, but will automatically convert TR’s to TO’s and confirm those TO’s.  this is especially useful when you are moving materials from quality to unrestricted, or bin to bin movements when the same person is conducting all of the SAP transactions.

Proximity: Production Operations:  This product tool includes a super transaction for Production Supervisors, Production Execution, MRP Controllers & Production Schedulers.  In addition, it includes a transaction to easily reprint a production order, it includes 2 smartforms for the shop floor papers and the programs that allow you to use a smartform in production orders and many other things.

We also have a couple other smaller items, and I would love to have you check out everything we have at

http://javellinsolutions.com/sm-products/

 

Marketing – Blogging, why you should stick with it

For the past 5 months or so, I start blogging, and I have managed to put out 5 posts a week since I started.  Now when I started doing this, the first thing I thought was “how can I come up with enough to talk about?”.  I have to confess, I’ve surprised myself.  I discovered a few things, and I wanted to share those with you.

1.  You know more than you think – If you consider yourself an expert at anything, then there’s an audience out there that wants to hear what you have to say.  Now, you may not consider yourself an “expert”, but a famous quote I heard is that “In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king”.  What does that mean?  it means that in your subject you know a lot more than someone just learning.  So you might not have every answer, but you have a lot of answers the average person has no clue about.  This was a tough one for me.  I’ve been doing a lot of these things for so long that I assume it’s common knowledge.  Well, I’ve learned that what I think is common knowledge, is actually only common among other experts, but not to the average person.

2.  Writing is too much work – this one plagued me for a while until I learned a simple concept.  Write like you’re talking to someone over coffee or drinks.  Don’t try to write a masterpiece, rather just write like you would talk.  While this won’t win you a Pulitzer, it strikes the average person as a “real”.  If you write like you’re having a conversation with someone you don’t come across as an arrogant expert, rather it brings a feeling of familiarity, comfort.  Strangely enough, I’ve discovered that a lot of people are actually reading what I consider ramblings.  Sometime I feel like I’m just babbling on, but then I’ll get a comment from an old friend, or someone that I’ve never met before, and it gives me a renewed effort to keep blogging.

3. Be consistent – this one has been tough for me.  To do this right, you really need to post consistently every week.  I decided I’d do every weekday.  The problem with this is that I don’t feel like writing every night.  So for that, I discovered an awesome trick.  I write when I’m in the mood.  This means I might be writing 2 or 3 posts a night, then I schedule them to run in the future.  I’ve done my best to keep a 2 week buffer of posts.  Now this might not work for everyone, but my stuff isn’t tied to current events, so for me I can write down somehting I do today, and post it next week and no one cares.  This allows me to write when I’m in the zone, and not panic when suddenly I haven’t blogged in 3 days.

I hope this helps.  Just remember, stick with it.  You probably won’t see any results for weeks or even months, but if you stick with it, you’ll surprise yourself at the readers you’re accumulated.

Thanks for reading,

Mike

Marketing – Never Miss an Opportunity

Well, in this new year I thought I’d just put a little piece of helpful sales information, coming from a sales person in training =)

The simple information is to never miss an opportunity.  For example, my main business is still consulting (not for long, I hope, but still for now), so that means interviews.  As it turns out, a job interview is actually a great place to pitch your stuff.  It’s simple, during an interview you need to prove that you know your stuff.  What better way to prove your knowledge than by showing off an application you have developed.  This ends up being a double win.  It shows your skill and knowledge, and could lead to a sale.

Now you still need to remember during an interview you need to focus on selling yourself, and not your products.  Like everything I’ve been learning lately, it’s  fine line between in the sales process between pushing your stuff and presenting an opportunity.  I took an approach in my last interview that I hope will work for me.  I did my interview and subtly mentioned that I designed applications for SM.  I left it at that.  Then, after the interview I sent a Thank-You email, and included a pitch for my products.  It remains to be seen if I was successful, but I’m hoping it at least sparks some interest.

Anyway, it’s just another step in my development to learn sales.
I hope your new year will be as great as mine…

Thanks for reading,

Mike

Getting Some Help – When is it the right time?

Being a small company, it’s a big deal whenever you start thinking about bringing in more help.  Right now, I’m the only developer for a small software company.  that means, I have a limitless amount of work that I can do, and since I’m still doing consulting, my time isn’t limitless 🙂  So, how do you fix this issue…

1.  Space the work out, and prioritize!!!
2.  Bring in some additional help

Recently, my partner found someone interested in working with us…  but are we ready for it?  Since I am admittedly a bit of a control freak when it comes the software, I’m naturally resistant to the idea.  Do we need it?  can we afford it? How do I know he’s any good? etc.

So this post is going to be about all the things to consider when you start to think about bringing in some help.

1.  Financial:  We’re small, so we can’t afford to pay someone by the hour, especially for something that “may” sell, but we don’t have any orders for it.  that pretty much leaves paying a percentage of sales on the product.  Even this is hard because our margins are still tight.  We’re offering big money for anyone that can get us a lead (FYI.  $10,000 is still out there if you connect us with a lead that brings in a sales.  No selling, just give us the lead).  On the flip side, 100% of 0, is still 0.  So it’s better to get a some of something, than get nothing…  you get the idea.  Plus, it may help open new markets/prospects.

2.  The application:  It must be designed as a standalone application, but still be easy to integrate with our existing offerings.  Sounds easy, but since I’ve done all the development, I haven’t really documented my standards.  So having someone new comes in would force me to figure out what I want.  While I am the CTO of this venture, I haven’t really acted like one up till now.  I’d still need to review the code, but this would give me a chance to learn some new techniques.  Never a bad thing. finally, is there a market for the new product?  Is it really important enough to bring in someone new?

3.  Legal:  This is the tough part.  We need Non disclosure agreements, as well as documents that give our company complete ownership of this stuff, and still provide the % to the developer.  We need to expressly state that no money changes hands until we get paid.  Plus, there is the whole issue of developer license.  We only have one currently, but I’ll talk more about that in section 4.

4.  Technical:  How will he develop?  I’d have to set up a system for him to create everything in and provide access to that system.  Not impossible, but certainly one more challenge to deal with.  The developer license is an issue.  We only have one, so do we need to buy another, or can we find an alternative?

Anyway, these are the angles to consider.  I think I’ve made my choice… but I’ll talk more about that in the future =)

thanks for reading,

Mike

Making a Sales is a Lot Like Dating

I heard this statement in one my marketing lessons, and it really struck me as an interesting analogy.  When I stopped to think about it, it really is more true than I imagined.  So let’s look at this, you’re looking to make a sale, what’s the first thing you need, you need a customer.  The customer is key to everything, without them, you have nothing.  I know what you’re thinking, duh!!!  But bear with me as I get to my point 🙂

A customer is a lot like looking for husband/wife.  You may go to a bar, or meet someone in a public place.  Do you see someone, and just walk up to a stranger and ask them to marry you???  Of course not.  But why?  because you don’t know if they are a fit for you, or vice versa.  Plus, what person in their right mind would say yes.  So how do you figure out if you’re “right” for each other.  You take small steps.  How about going out for coffee to talk?  Well, in the business world this is a lot like checking out your website or blog.  It gives your prospect the chance to get to know you slowly.  By putting out a blog, you let the prospect see that you know what you’re talking about and figure out if there’s any reason to go further.  So, you’ve gone for “coffee” and kinda like what you see.  So you move to the next level, how about a real date…  in the business world, this would be some form of opt-in, like an auto-responder, a mailing list, or a newsletter.  This says I’m interested enough to get free info from you…  but nothing more.  Ok…  now you’re dating…  but it’s still early stages.  It doesn’t mean you’re exclusive or invested…  just interested.  Now if you have enough qualities your customer likes, they may buy something small from you… a sort of trial thing.  This could be like meeting hte parents, or going on vacation together.  It’s still not marriage, but it’s pretty serious.  If the customer likes the small thing they bought, they may finally invest in your big offering…

Now of course marriage isn’t a perfect analogy, since you want as many customers as possible (well, unless you live in Utah).  But you get the idea.  You need to present enough value to get the customer interested in you.  They aren’t just gonna give you their money until they know you can provide the value you claim.  Plus, if you follow the idea of the “Ideal Customer”, you want to check out the customer too and see if they fit for you.  This is a two way street (of course, in my case, I’m early on, so my ideal customer is anyone that will buy from me.  ha ha ha).  but I look forward to becoming more exclusive in the coming year.

anyway, thanks for reading,

Mike

Challenges of the First Sale

Hi again,

For those of you that follow me, you know that I’m trying to launch my SAP Add-on Applications business.  Well, if you remember, several months ago I announced that my first sale was pending.  Well, it is still pending, and I just wanted to relay some of the challenges I’ve encountered, and some lessons I’ve learned based on my experiences over the past few months (I know, crazy the amount of time it can take for customers to truly decide to buy).

Everything started a couple years ago when I worked at a client, and the need for a service dashboard first popped into my head.  As it turns out, one my clients that consulted for was interested in my dashboard.  Imagine my excitement.  Someone wants to buy what I’ve put nearly 6 months of work into (at that time, since it’s been even more.  lol).  Sweet…  so I scheduled a demo, everyone liked it…  then I waited…  I emailed to check in to see if there were questions I could answer.  I always tried to not pressure my prospect, so I’d just drop an email every 2 weeks or so to see if there were questions i could answer, or anything that would help them decide if my dashboard would be a fit.

Eventually, I get an email that says my prospect is interested…  Now I’m really excited.  So next begins the negotiations on price.  Well, my first piece of advise, set your bottom price you will accept, AND STICK TO IT.  I failed this first test.  When the prospect came back and gave me the price they thought was fair, it was $5000 less than my bottom line.  What did I say?  “OK”.  What should I have said…  “I’m sorry, but for we can’t possibly sell something for less than X”.  Ok…  so I dropped the first ball, but whatever, I got my first sale, and I just need them to sign my paperwork.  Oops.  I don’t have any paperwork.

So, next mission is come up with all of the terms and conditions.  Luckily for me, I at least had the legal portions of this that I got done a while ago.  But, I still needed the specific purchase agreement document.  Lucky for me, I’ve been a consultant for a while, so I know all about contracts.  I also had my SAP paperwork that had the agreement for my partnership.  This made a perfect starting point, so I quickly put it together, ran it past my partner.  We hashed out the details we could live with and quickly sent it over to my customer.  I’m giddy as a school girl.  I can see my first payday for all the effort that I’ve put into this venture.  I’m already planning my next product that I’m going to sell to this prospect…  it’s awesome.

Well, more waiting…  roughly ever other week, I’d finally get some feedback from the prospect.  The first round was a lot of changes, to both the legal document and purchase document.  So, first order of business is getting my lawyer to look at it and make sure I’m still protected, and won’t lose my software based on the wording from the prospect.  Within a week, I hear back and have my answers.  So I do my markups.  Now the purchase agreement is where the trouble came in…

Now, keep in mind, I’m still excited, this is my first sale, and I can’t wait to make it happen.  But, I start reading the markups and I get a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.  I vent for a few minutes to my partner, and then calm down.  The prospect is now requiring free training.  Well, it’s a report…  who needs to be trained on a report???  anyway, we decide that training isn’t being given for free.  We’re already selling this at a 60% discount (a  lot lower than I wanted).  Then, the payment terms are suddenly 1/2 now, 1/2 after implementation.  the problem is that implementation from our side is a 1 day event.  But, suddenly 1/2 of the money would be withheld until the prospect decided to implement and receive their free training…  Ugh… Then to top it all off, our business model (and everyone that I’ve talked to who does similar software) charges a yearly software maintenance agreement or licensing for a number of users.  Either way, it’s residual income year after year.  The prospect said no… we don’t want that.

So, I start with my first round of compromises (all of which benefit the prospect).  I did hold firm on no free training.  But I gave in, and say 1/2 up front, 1/2 after 2 weeks…  I made the SMA optional, and I even discounted it… something we originally agreed we wouldn’t do.  And we gave in on most of the legal points…

Two more weeks go by, and we get the next revision…  pretty much asking for more.  Training is required.  and the payment schedule of 1/2 up front, 1/2 after 2 weeks wasn’t acceptable.  We compromised again.  We gave in the training, and said 1/2 up front, 1/2 after a month.  It’s a report, takes 5 minutes to install.  No configuration is required…  so anything more than a week…

Still not good enough…  at this point, I have stopped compromising.  I’ve already agreed to more than I should have, and the possibility of getting the 2nd half at some arbitrary date in the future, was more than I could accept.  So I sent the paperwork back one last time, nothing additional offered.

So, after all this… what did I learn above all else?  Be willing to walk away.  If you keep giving in, the customer is going to keep asking for more.  It’s no one’s fault but my own.  I don’t know if my prospect will sign or not.  And I’m ok with it.    Don’t get me wrong.  I really want the sale, but I’ve already got to a point where making this sale is no longer a financial win for me.  I know this was long winded… but I wanted to let you know that the sale isn’t everything.  Even if it isn’t a physical product, there is still a point where the sale isn’t worth what you’ve given up.  So, stay firm, and don’t get too attached to that sale.

As always, learning things the hard way so you don’t have to =)

thanks for reading,

Mike

 

Putting together my first Autoresponder

For those of you that know me, you know that I am far from a sales/marketing type person.  I’m an engineer/computer programmer.  So this journey of sales and marketing has been a challenging.  My friend Justin and I have been doing this on-line program called the remarkable marketing blueprint.  All of the information is solid, and useful.  The hard part as been trying to apply it to what I do.  I’m not really a writer, or a hard-core blogger.  I don’t sell small products or services for the masses.  I do highly specialized service and applications for a LARGE computer program.  What I have found is that there is more in common than I ever expected.

Because of that course, I actually took the time to put together my first auto-responder course.  Sounds easy right?  just spew out stuff that know by heart, and drop it into mail program.  Well, for me, that was hardly the case.  In order to try to make the content worthwhile, I spent a lot of time coming up with the topics to talk about, getting screen shots and collecting all the relevant data to the subject.  In short, I spent about 10 times longer building this than I expected.  Don’t get me wrong, I would do it again.  Even sharpening my skills (and like so much of this blog) it’s a notebook to remind me how to do things if I forget =)

Well, I’ll touch a little on the technical side as well.  I chose to build a web page for each of my E-Course Lessons.  I then did a small email with the first paragraph or two from the auto-responder with a link to the page.  I did this for 2 reasons, and my thinking may have been flawed.  So if anyone reading this actually knows how to do this stuff, please feel free to give me some constructive criticism (go easy on me…  it’s my first time).  First, I wanted to get people to my website, so they could see everything I had to offer, including the blog, newsletters, and of course my products.  Second, Mailchimp has this really cool feature that tells me if anyone clicks on a link from my email.  This gives me a heads up if anyone is actually reading the stuff, or if just getting the emails.

So far, I have about 4 people that signed up.  You have to start somewhere 🙂  if you’re interested in learning how to improve your SAP SM, give it a read.  You might just learn something,

thanks for reading,

Mike