Hi there,
I saw this great movie the other night...I'm sure many of you know it. It's called Glengarry Glen Ross (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104348/). Great cast, great story and superb additional features.
It's about a real estate agency and its group of salesmen...the ABC rule, although tough, is of great importance in any business....
Elius
PS: I've closed my first deal last week....uff!
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Friday, October 22, 2004
Leading the Computing Industry and Signing NDAs
Hi
I found this BusinessWeek article about a great story of the early developments of the computing history.
It's a great story about software pioneer Gary Kildall, who missed out on the opportunity to supply IBM with the operating system for its first PC - essentially handing the chance of a lifetime, and control of tech's future, to rival Bill Gates and Microsoft Corp.
There is everything you can imagine, small things that occur daily in business life (signing NDA, attending or not a meeting, decide about the pricing of a product, deciding when to go on holiday, respecting a deadline) that may seem irrelevant when they happen, but then, in a broader perspective, they can define a business.
Found the article at http://in.us.biz.yahoo.com/bizwk/041015/b3905109mz063_1.html
Enjoy
Elius
I found this BusinessWeek article about a great story of the early developments of the computing history.
It's a great story about software pioneer Gary Kildall, who missed out on the opportunity to supply IBM with the operating system for its first PC - essentially handing the chance of a lifetime, and control of tech's future, to rival Bill Gates and Microsoft Corp.
There is everything you can imagine, small things that occur daily in business life (signing NDA, attending or not a meeting, decide about the pricing of a product, deciding when to go on holiday, respecting a deadline) that may seem irrelevant when they happen, but then, in a broader perspective, they can define a business.
Found the article at http://in.us.biz.yahoo.com/bizwk/041015/b3905109mz063_1.html
Enjoy
Elius
Saturday, October 16, 2004
Closing a sale
Tough week, this one that just ended...why? because I experience first hand how tough is to CLOSE A SALE!
Maybe you have read the comment posted by a friend of mine (grande Nacho!) who drew a parallelism between starting up a company and "picking up" a nice woman (ok, or man, if you are woman, it's just that it seems easier for women to pick up men...). You need to have a plan; you certainly need to generate leads; follow up and maintain your contacts; be sure that you have something interesting to offer and that can be different from other competitors; prepare to present what you have in a good manner; generate a sense of urgency in that a "deal" needs to go through; and.... then it comes a moment, the last moment, when you think your chances are high, you think you have done everything right, and still..."te quedas a dos velas" (literally "you are left with two candles") it seems that the opportunity evaporates just before your eyes.
Why? Well I guess that nobody really knows what happens, but closing a deal has an "immaterial" touch, which few people can really grasp. There is no standard way to do it I guess, but there are things that I believe you should NOT do. For example: look desperate (but still, you want to push a little bit). Another example could be bring it to a point where the answer is only yes or no (so, it's not "do you want to go home with me?", but "shall we go home or you prefer to take a walk, or shall we go and have something to eat?").
Do you have other examples of things not to do (or to do) to close a sale (or conquer somebody)?
Let me know. In the meanwhile, two blogs that I think could be interesting for you:
Maybe you have read the comment posted by a friend of mine (grande Nacho!) who drew a parallelism between starting up a company and "picking up" a nice woman (ok, or man, if you are woman, it's just that it seems easier for women to pick up men...). You need to have a plan; you certainly need to generate leads; follow up and maintain your contacts; be sure that you have something interesting to offer and that can be different from other competitors; prepare to present what you have in a good manner; generate a sense of urgency in that a "deal" needs to go through; and.... then it comes a moment, the last moment, when you think your chances are high, you think you have done everything right, and still..."te quedas a dos velas" (literally "you are left with two candles") it seems that the opportunity evaporates just before your eyes.
Why? Well I guess that nobody really knows what happens, but closing a deal has an "immaterial" touch, which few people can really grasp. There is no standard way to do it I guess, but there are things that I believe you should NOT do. For example: look desperate (but still, you want to push a little bit). Another example could be bring it to a point where the answer is only yes or no (so, it's not "do you want to go home with me?", but "shall we go home or you prefer to take a walk, or shall we go and have something to eat?").
Do you have other examples of things not to do (or to do) to close a sale (or conquer somebody)?
Let me know. In the meanwhile, two blogs that I think could be interesting for you:
- http://www.iltrafficante.blogspot.com if you are interested in Italy, speak Italian and like to know more about what's going on there
- http://merodeando.com/ great title (Merodeando por la enredadera), if you speak spanish and are a supertechie, as Julio....
Ciao
Elio
Monday, October 11, 2004
My business: wireless content (www.zero9.tv)
Hi - happy Columbus Day.
I thought that to start, I should give you a quick description of my business. The company name is Zero9 (www.zero9group.com) and what we do is to sell content for wireless phones to consumer. Pretty hot business in Europe (I am from Italy), still nascent here in US. We do everything from ringtones, trutones, logos, java games, to mobile marketing, to SMS chat community. Very interesting industry, where telecom, media and entertainment converge to form a market that is still difficult to decipher, but that offers great opportunities.
The company was founded almost 3 years ago by a friend of mine, and what we are trying to do now is to expand it internationally. That is why we have just launched a new site, www.zero9.tv which will be the platform to launch content in English-speaking countries. So far we have opened UK and Australia (in parallel to the already existing business in South Africa) and soon we will launch also the US. Check my websites if you have some time...feedback appreciated, as well as business opportunities (of course).
Ciao
Elius
I thought that to start, I should give you a quick description of my business. The company name is Zero9 (www.zero9group.com) and what we do is to sell content for wireless phones to consumer. Pretty hot business in Europe (I am from Italy), still nascent here in US. We do everything from ringtones, trutones, logos, java games, to mobile marketing, to SMS chat community. Very interesting industry, where telecom, media and entertainment converge to form a market that is still difficult to decipher, but that offers great opportunities.
The company was founded almost 3 years ago by a friend of mine, and what we are trying to do now is to expand it internationally. That is why we have just launched a new site, www.zero9.tv which will be the platform to launch content in English-speaking countries. So far we have opened UK and Australia (in parallel to the already existing business in South Africa) and soon we will launch also the US. Check my websites if you have some time...feedback appreciated, as well as business opportunities (of course).
Ciao
Elius
Saturday, October 09, 2004
Maybe you are interested
Today, Saturday, I had a good relaxing day. I cannot quite manage not to touch my laptop or not to think about work, but at least I didn't work! This is one of the first things you notice when you have your own company...you always think about it!!!
Tonight I went to see this movie:
http://www.goingupriver.com/
Ok, he's one of the presidential candidates, but suppose he is a man that after 20 year in the Senate decided to go back to his private life...and this is his story...it's a pretty remarkable one, I enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed "Platoon" or "Apocalypse Now". If you like movies, like me, go watch it.
See you
Tonight I went to see this movie:
http://www.goingupriver.com/
Ok, he's one of the presidential candidates, but suppose he is a man that after 20 year in the Senate decided to go back to his private life...and this is his story...it's a pretty remarkable one, I enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed "Platoon" or "Apocalypse Now". If you like movies, like me, go watch it.
See you
Friday, October 08, 2004
Welcome
Hi everybody, welcome to my blog.
After few years in corporate business, I decided to make a big change and starting up my own company.
Since it has been already few months since I started this, and having being through ups and downs of all kind, I think it's a very interesting experience, with impact in all aspects of a person's life. Thoughts, experiences, learning is what I want to share with those of u who are maybe involved in a similar adventure of creating a new business, or are just interested in the subject, and perhaps want to exchange views on it.
Don't forget to check my business website www.zero9.tv and I hope you will find this blog interesting enough to keep coming. In any other case, thank you for stopping by...
Ciao
Elius
After few years in corporate business, I decided to make a big change and starting up my own company.
Since it has been already few months since I started this, and having being through ups and downs of all kind, I think it's a very interesting experience, with impact in all aspects of a person's life. Thoughts, experiences, learning is what I want to share with those of u who are maybe involved in a similar adventure of creating a new business, or are just interested in the subject, and perhaps want to exchange views on it.
Don't forget to check my business website www.zero9.tv and I hope you will find this blog interesting enough to keep coming. In any other case, thank you for stopping by...
Ciao
Elius
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