wow nothing like a little wind to make the snow move and to help with the wind chill (as if it wasn't cold enough outside)

bring on this short week!

I am willing this week to be a great week! Whatever it takes!

anyone get the license plate of that tuck that hit me, oh wait - that was just Thursday...

5 days to my youngest's 2nd birthday. Where does the time go? Certainly not to sleep!

is it just me or is it getting cold in here?

holy cow - another snow day. we WILL have a white Christmas this year!

WOW awesome snow. A little chilly but this is awesome.

it's monday and its winning but i am not going down without a good fight!

Are there many things better than your kids climbing up on your lap and falling asleep?

@ home with a sick little boy today

having coffee @ starbucks of course :)

nothing says Christmas more than watching it through your kids eyes - it truly is priceless!

wow what if this were snow???

short week - need to run hard today

ah back in the office to finish the week with a bang!

finishing up paperwork with client meetings starting soon - love to be busy!!!

having lunch with the wife - another POF moment!

starting another monday on the right foot - should be a great week!

living the dream!

Xerox training on thier new PagePack program. New opportunities to help clients!

ready for the weekend! should be beautiful and have football tix!

in the office trying to get paperwork done - boring but necessary

Enjoying security seminar with clients with kevin from sonicwall presenting now

missing my HTG3 buddies - hope Orlando is fun!

ready to carve pumpkins with the kids tonight and wait for the Great Pumpkin to appear...

another friday - sales meeting and then working on paperwork that collected all week

wow will it ever stop raining?

Kids a sleep, wife traveling - time for daddy tv? No think I will just go to bed...

football for noah is over, but now he wants to try his hand at wrestling - I know nothing about wrestling but guess i will learn soon

getting ready to start a great friday with an awesome sales meeting and then on to a great end of the week!

working in the office for another day - have lots to catch up on

First dance with Taryn then a day at the apple orchard / pumpkin patch - long but fulfilling day!

well it turned out Noah has pnemonia... at least it isn't n1h1 i guess

Sitting in the doc office with Noah waiting to see why he stll has a fever

Lunch in DM @ Court Ave Brewery with a client - good times!

Starting another day with a sick kid who is starting to feel better but will stay home one more day.

great Friday morning - sales meeting is over and now ready to hit the day running (that entails getting paperwork done)

being a single parent today (started at about 4 this morning with my wife flying out to NY). so far a little bumpy, but better than it could be

much better (except the golf game is stiill missing)

Getting ready for a great chamber after hour (which HTS is helping to host). Beautiful night, great food, awesome drink and great grouup of people - can't get

lunch with wife and heading out of the office to meet with existing and new clients for the rest of the day - only thing that could make today better is a round of golf

So another overcast day, but that is OK because need to be in the office for most of the day today catching up on paperwork. It seems that no matter what I get done, there is always more paperwork that needs to be done (I think it is like rabbits and it multiplies quickly when left alone). I have come to the basic thought though that paperwork can always wait, but the customer can't. Not only that but I love working with the customer and not so much with the paperwork. I don't think I am out of the ordinary for a sales person - am I?

trying to feel my way through office 2010...

hitting the ground running hard this morning and it feels great! also it is finally raining!

sitting in the weekly sales meeting ready to get rolling for the day!

at least my Raiders looked respectable last night - it has been a while

starting a beautiful day in south dakota - helping a client and getting some refreshing "thinking time" while seeing great landscape

Heading to lunch at the club with dirk - good times

wow seems like there are a lot of projects that are needing scoping all of a sudden - i like being busy!

Working on helping my clients, while enjoying this beautiful weather (and maybe enjoy a little golf along the way).

a beautful day - 70 degrees and overcast. anyone else ready for football and chili?

The Customer

Starting the day in Huron, SD. Beautiful weather, but pretty cool. Helping a good client with some staff and technology items for a couple days. It is great to get out of the office for a couple of days and get in touch with customers and engineers from HTS. How often do we get stuck in the office with paperwork and forget about our bosses - the customer. We should never forget them. Forget them and you can just close the door now.

Sales 101

Selling is just as much a skill as an art. A person must be able to read people, understand their needs, be able to communicate with the customer (and the technical resources you have), negotiate, and be detail orientated enough to get the paperwork done to get the order placed. Sure it may look like it is easy - why don't you try it and tell me who it goes?
As a side note, we do all this and continue to build the relationship with the customer to make sure there is repeat business also.
I do love my job, but it is not as easy as it looks.

Enough is Enough

I hate conflict. To me no one usually wins and sometimes a bridge is burnt, so it takes a lot for me to vent. Well there are a few things going on that are causing the steam to start. I try to think things through and keep my emotions in check - but let's face it I am an emotional creature. I wear my emotions on my sleeve. Let me be clear, I know I am wired that way so I don't try to change it or apologize for it. (Tried to change it once and was miserable so realized I have to be me.) I will try to slowly deal with the issues and make sure I do it as nicely as possible - but I can't promise anything.
I will keep you posted.

Ending a great day. Zoo, shopping, church then dinner out. Daddy is pretty tired

The News

OK I know the last few weeks have been very sad with the passing of many well known people. My heart goes out to their family and friends for the difficult times they have experienced and will have to endure in the future. That being said - enough already. Can we focus on the economy, foreign affairs and general overall business already?

This rant was brought to you by your friendly neighborhood salesperson.

Customer Loyalty

So another interesting day in store - any more aren't they all? Client issues seem to come in phases. There aren't any for weeks and then you are attacked by a herd of them. At least that is how it seems. My attitude has changed (at least a little) after reading Jeffrey Gittomer's book "Customer Satisfaction is Useless, Customer Loyalty is Everything" that really opened my eyes. The customer came to you with a problem and needed your help and now they need it again.. How are you going to help? How would you want to be helped? It makes one think. How are you helping your customers?

ready for a great week!

A Great Weekend

Wow what a great weekend. Great time with the family swimming, walking and just playing. Although I just got back from vacation I needed to recharge my battery (I am sure most of you understand). This week will be a busy, short week and am ready to hit the ground running.

a friday with much to do, clients to see and projects to organize - love what I do!

another day another puddle of sweat

What's Important to a Salesperson

I have been doing a lot of reading lately and have a question that I am working on. What is more impoortant, a new client or an existing one? Currently there is a lot of pressure to obtain new - but is it coswting people existing ones? My belief is new are good, but you have to make SURE your relationships with existing is awesome (not just good) and that it always is priority one. What are your thoughts?

Get It On Your Calendar

Join Microsoft partners and employees from around the worldfor a time of fellowship and prayerat the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference
New Orleans Marriott at the Convention Center859 Convention Center BoulevardNew Orleans, Louisiana 70130 Wednesday, July 15, 20097:00 - 8:00 a.m.
Click Here to Register Today!
Boyd Bailey has accepted our invitation to come to New Orleans to be our speaker for the 2009 Partners in Christ prayer breakfast!

Boyd is founder and Chairman of Wisdom Hunters, LLC and is the author of two devotional books, Infusion and Seeking Daily the Heart of God; Boyd is also founder of Ministry Ventures, a venture capital firm for early stage ministries which has helped 45 start-up ministries raise over $15.5 million and impact over 35,000 people for Christ. Prior to Ministry Ventures, Bailey was the National Director for Crown Financial Ministries. He was instrumental in the expansion of Crown into 30 major markets across the U.S. He was a key facilitator in the 25 million dollar merger between Christian Financial Concepts and Crown Ministries. Before Crown he and Andy Stanley started First Baptist Atlanta’s north campus; and as an Elder, Boyd assisted Andy in the start of North Point Community Church. In college he bought a service business with five employees. This business endeavor financed his education and the equity from its sale was the economic launching pad for his graduate school experience.

Boyd Bailey was born in Huntsville, Alabama and received his Bachelor of Arts from Jacksonville State University and his Masters of Divinity from Southwestern Seminary in FT. Worth, Texas. Boyd and his wife Rita live in Roswell, GA. They have been married 30 years and are blessed with four daughters and two son-in-laws who love Jesus!

Again this year we will be providing all attendees a free book, Boyd’s Infusion devotional.
We also will be having prayer time on Mon, Tues, Thur and Fri mornings at 6:30 AM. It will be held at the Residence Inn New Orleans Convention Center at 345 St. Joseph Street. Exact room location will be in the daily update where we will count down the days to WPC and the Partners in Christ breakfast. If you won’t be in New Orleans, or aren’t in the technology business, we ask you join us in praying for our industry and the marketplace ministry we are working to establish. We need God’s touch to make things happen for His glory and honor and praise. Hope to see many of you in NOLA.
Questions? Contact info@partnersinchrist.net

Trying to stay dry - which is impossible today

Day Two

Well day one ended good at work but, sucked at home. Need to find a way to get balance in goodness :). Family is good (although tired) but garage door broke last night as well as something is wrong with the air conditioner - oh well it is only money.

getting ready to go home to see the family :)

taking client to lunch and then have client meetings - need to get out of the office (feels like 105 outside)

back in the office making IT happen!

Good Morning

After an extended absence I am back. Worked out this morning and ready to hit it hard. Hopefully the energy will stay with me. Life is dragging my energy down and need to get it back up again. I will keep you posted.

short week - heading to Vegas this week - yeah baby!

back in the office and working on paperwork

Back at ICIT conference - day #2.

At the ICIT conference in West Des Moines

had a great peer group meeting this morning - now off to making some sales

so far a great start to a great week (glass is half full mentality going on here!)

back in the saddle and sitting in on a great sales conference call

Have you ever had one of those days that you work hard on something, everything looks great and then someone comes along and just rips everything apart? Well I feel today is one of those days...

Enjoying a wonderful cup of coffee and getting some work done at Starbucks before my next meeting. What did we do before we had wireless connections? How in the world did we get anything done?

Enjoy Life

What a fabulous weekend! The weather was great and got to spend lots of time outside with the kids (I am not sure if my wife and I wife them out or they wore us out). It is great to take time and spend with those that we work hard for - so why do we feel guilty doing it? I think a friend of mine up north, Mike, figured it out last week and helped open my eyes. It was how we were raised. Nothing wrong with it but times have changed. I was raised thinking you should work all the time - once the work was over then you could enjoy. Now I am not saying be lazy, but you should enjoy the trip as much as the destination!

Wow another night

Well another rough night of sleep at the household. Not sure if it is the 5 teeth the 1 year old is getting or the weather - but he was up again 2 hours. Makes it difficult to get out of bed, but have a really full day. Meeting on managed services, Microsoft Unified Communications, Windows 7 and more today. It is fun to have so many different topics each day - now if I can just stay awake...
Have a good day!

HTG Follow Up

Another great HTG meeting is over. Back to normal life. When I get back from these meetings I always have a list of things to do. The other group members always have great ideas for me to do. It is a lot of work usually, but at the end of the day they are usually things I need to do. Luckily not only are there great ideas from these meetings - but they come from great friends. I am very lucky to have meet my HTG buddies!

Life

I heard a person that I enjoy listening to (Glenn Beck) talk a while back about a balanced life. His statement was that there is no such thing. One should really strive for an integrated life. I think this is a real eye opener. For so long I have strived for a balanced life but at the end of the day would get down on myself for not achieving it. Now I think that balance is achieved by having all areas of your life mingle together and coexist at all time!

Personal Responsibility

When did it become OK to not worry about personal responsibility? I am trying to teach my 12 year old these things and then you watch the news and no one cares - no one is doing it themselves. Now don't get me wrong, I will still teach him and expect it of him, but it will be interesting. What has happened and what will it take to turn things around? I think it is up to us...

twitter

http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/03/the-ultimate-guide-for-everything-twitter/

Customer Service

Do you give good customer service or great? There is a difference. Good customer service meets the client's expectations, while great blows it away. How do you get to great? First discuss with each client on their expectations, make notes of it and then under promise and over deliver to them. Why do this? If you don't someone else will. It is all about the relationships and this helps build that trust they can have in you. Like I said if you don't do this someone else will (like me). One last thought - do you tell your clients thank you? Maybe send them a personal note? Might want to try it. The small amount of time it takes is a great investment.

Friday's

It use to be Friday's were a day to kick back, relax and work for half the day. No more - these are a great day to meet with clients. Are you keeping your calendar full? I work on having at least 2 meetings a day. Clients in this climate want to personally meet - email and phone calls won't do. It's a new economy and things that we did in the past won't do. Build the relationships (actually they should already be there) and give excellant customer service and clients will buy - we just have to give them a reason to!

Morning with the Kids

So my wife has an early morning meeting this morning and so I am getting them ready for the day. Once they are awake they are great but sometimes getting them up can be quite a job. I love my kids and enjoy almost every minute with them and mornings are one of those times. Do you make sure you are spending good time with your family? They will be gone way too fast.

Windows 7

Last week was an incredible week. It is the first time I have been directly involved in a Microsoft beta roll out (Windows 7). Not only was the week full of great information but I meet great people to boot. Now I get the fun of playing, I mean working with the new OS along with rolling it out at a client of mine. It is so cool to be involved with shaping the direction of the future of technology.

Miami on Tuesday

Well posting this morning from Miami and the Windows 7 Ignite Program. Very excited to see the beta program and what that means for the client that HTS has in the program will enjoy. Last night was a little meet and greet with other that are involved, either from the partner side or Microsoft's side. It is amazing that no matter where I go the executive team at HTS, and in particular Arlin Sorensen, Jane Cage and Larry Hedin, are so well known in the industry. All I have to say is HTS and people know who I am and the quality of people that I work for, and therefore the quality of person that I am. It is very powerful.
My only regret is that I had to leave my family. It seems the kids are changing and their personalities are coming out into full view. It is great and I miss them (and of course my better half and best friend - my wife). I do have to say though that my good friend, Stuart Crawford has given me the love for travel - I love seeing the country and hopefully the world - but hopefully my beautiful wife will be by my side for it in the future.
Make it a great day!

What a Weekend

Wow what a great weekend! I had a large amount of family time. You can tell i have been gone - either physically or mentally a lot lately. The kids really wanted to just be next to me - Taryn would just come over and put her arm around my leg and rest her head on me. Really spent a lot of time just chasing them, tickling them and reading books. They slept great at night, which gave Christina and I some time for us also. Batteries recharged for the week and ready to go - hope you all had a good week also!

Communicating with Clients

Have you noticed that when you email or call a client they answer your questions but leave it at that, but when you personally visit there is a plethora of items they want to discuss. I meet with 4 clients yesterday that had nothing really going on, but when I left I have 6 different projects to work on. Another reason to get off our butts and get in front of our clients!!!

Selling Time

So the economy may be slow - so what are you doing about it? Are you sitting around worring about it or are you busting your butt getting in front of your clients. Worring will not help anything - it only takes up a lot of time and slows you down. Now is the time to hit the road and talk to your clients and get new ones. Things don't look as bad when you have no time to sit and analyze everything to the nth degree. So how are you spending your time?

Off to ABQ

Well am flying down to see my son Noah who lives in Albuquerque. I always get excited to see him (it has been about a month and a half since I have seen him). This time i have an extra reason to go (and be nervous). My exwife, son and I are going to discuss having him moved up with us. I am excited and hoping it will happen, but know it will be difficult onn his mom. I am hopeful we can work something out though. I do miss seeing him daily since for the last 8 years they have lived down south. Wish me luck.

Thank You

When was the last time you told your good clients thank you? For 2009 one of our big goals is to get out there and tell our clients thanks. Too often we are running around so fast trying to get everything done we don't slow down and remember to do the things our mothers told us to do. Say please, say thank you and always wear clean underwear in case you are in an accident (OK this last one I just threw in there to make sure you were paying attention). Think of the last time someone told you thanks for doing business with them. How did it make you feel? I will tell you one thing, I will bet you continued doing business with them, and maybe even told some others about them. It is amazing what a simple little word can do. Try it.
By the way - thanks for reading this blog.

Monday is Here

Another Monday is here again - are you ready? Do you love your job? Do you enjoy going to work on Monday? If not why the heck are you doing it? Life is way too short. It took me 8 times but I finally found something I enjoy (usually). Like Zig says, anyone who is on 100% is on something!

Home on the Farm

Well a 3 hour drive only took 6 tonight, but finally made it to my parents house. Life always seems easier on the farm. The slower pass feels nice for a change and being able to enjoy the simple things makes one appreciate how you were raised. My kids love coming out to the farm - whether it is playing with the farm cats, seeing the wild animals (including lots of deer) or playing in the snow, they just can never get enough. After these trips it always reminds me how thankful I am for my parents, family and my childhood on the farm.

Slave of the Process

What a couple of great days I have had this week. Going out and saying thank you to our good clients. The one thing I have lost in the last couple of years is spending a lot of time in front of the client. That is where my time is the most valuable. Usually when I am there I also find many other pains that I can help them with. Too often I become a slave of the process and loss site of the big picture. Luckily I have friends that are there to help me straighten out the ship!

Yesterday - What a Great Day!

We had a company retreat this weekend and what a great event it was. One of the biggest take aways was that we need to get in front of the client more often and say thanks. How often do we take our good clients, and friends, for granted? They usually don't complain, they don't ask for much, they are just always there. These are the people that we should spend most of our time with (read 80 / 20 rule here - will blog about this at another time). But we instead spend the time with the people that are difficult (squeeky wheel gets the grease) and who are always going to be the problem child.
I had a great day going out and visiting clients yesterday to say thanks for being such a great customer (they hardly ever hear that) and we appreciate you. I also had a great meeting with a new client that will become one of those great clients. It was a great day.

Economy

When in the world did the government (either Republican or Democrat) getting involved in something fix it? I know we elect these people to represent us in DC, but I think they forget what real life is lke once they get there. Power corrupts everyone to some extent. Bottom line is let me run my own life and I will do a much better job than anyonce else can. OK venting over, time to go back to work.

Business Plan

Have you written a business plan for your business? If you have you know how powerful of a document it is. If not - why? Maybe you are not the boss - so, neither am I but as I write one for my location I realize where I need to focus my energies. Maybe I don't control the decision making for everything (yet) I still have a vision of where I want the company to go. It is an amazingly powerful document.

Traveling Fun

Well is seems that winter traveling has taken its toll again. A massive sinus infection has slowed me down quite a bit. My body tries to tell me to slow down, but I need to listen to it and that doesn't always happen. I need to slow down today and get some rest for this weekend's company retreat.

Monday and Lots to Do

Well after a very busy week with my brothers and sisters at HTG. While there was a lot of great ideas discussed, now comes the big job - execution. I am notorious for great notes but then getting busy with the day to day. My peanut butter buddies (skippy and peter pan) will make sure that doesn't happen. If things are going to be different this year I can't expect to do the same thing as last year and get new resilts.

Dallas and HTG - Here I Come!

What would cause me to get up at 3 am so I can catch a 5:30 flight? OK my family would be one reason but another would be to go to my quarterly butt kicking peer group meeting (HTG3). I know I have blogged a lot about my HTG brethren (Erin - we know you are a brother even though you are a a female). It will be (how is that for positive thinking) a great meeting to share ideas, strengthen relationships, and get my butt kicked to keep me focused. Do you have a person that can help you do that? I am lucky enough to not only have a couple that I can trust and respect in the company I work for (even own the company) but there are another 12 that I meet with quarterly from all over North America. Trust me I need as many as I can get (my wife can't do it all alone it is a big job). I know I will be running on pure caffeine later, but it will be worth it!

No Sleep

Between work on the mind and a back that is hurting there has not been a lot of sleep tonight. The work I can push out of my mind but the hurting back I can't. I know what I need to do, but have not been able to get my butt in gear to do it. We all know what it is - GET IN SHAPE. I like getting up in the morning and working out, but where I am right now I would have to get up at 5 am and just haven't been able to do it for a while. How do you motivate yourself? I need some help.

HTG Week

It is hard to believe but it is HTG time already. Don't get me wrong I love my HTG family and the time and ideas we share, it just seemed to have come VERY EARLY. I am busy working on my items to share (trying not to wait too late) but am having a hard time being too motivated. I am not one to wait till the last minute, but it has happened this time. I PROMISE BRAD IT WON'T HAPPEN AGAIN!

National Security

So what do you think about President Obama's Blackberry? Should he have it or not? I know I would have a hard time giving up my smart phone, but shouldn't the most powerful person in the world have people to handle things? Also it is a little dangerous to have on him due to GPS tracking abilities and hacking opportunities. What do you think?

The Next Day

So the 44th President is now in office. No matter what you think of him he has a big job in front of him. Not sure why anyone would want the job. First of all they don't make much money. Second they get blamed for everything. Last they are watched 24 x 7. Not a job that I would enjoy. I didn't vote for President Obama but I pray for him and his staff and hope that they deliver on the items that got them elected.

Microsoft's Great Sales Tools

OK so it has been a while, but I am back at full power. One of the things I have been working on while away is a presentation with some of my HTG3 brothers and sisters on the Assessment Toolikit by Microsoft. It has helped me land some great opportunities with new clients as well as helping me strenthen my relationship with existing clients. For more information see below and take time to log in and listen. HAVE A GREAT DAY!

Microsoft has recently updated the Business and Technology Assessment Toolkit to version 4. Been quite a few years since we originally rolled out the initial version. On Friday July 23, four HTG members will be discussing how to use assessments to drive business. Hear Joddey Hicks, Aaron Booker, Brent Morris and Erin Arnold as they share their wisdom about BTAT. There is no better time than now to focus on going deeper with clients, and no better tool than the assessment process to dig deep, peel the onion and find opportunities to serve your clients. Here are the details:The Microsoft Business and Technology Assessment Toolkit V4 - How Partners are Using It to Generate Real Revenue and Profit. This webcast will review how MS Partners use the Microsoft Business and Technology toolkit to generate revenue and drive a long lasting client relationship that continues to provide opportunity for years to come. These veteran Microsoft partners will share their secret sauce on how they use the assessment process and the data collected to build long term IT plans and strategies for their clients and then use those to get their clients to open their wallets and continually make purchases of technology and services. We’ll also discuss the new and enhanced features of the new toolkit, including SBS/EBS updates and a new proposal generator.January 23 at 9:00 Pacific time.Register at http://www.mssmallbiz.com/training/. The session is down toward the bottom in teh Growing your Business section.

Economy

I had a great weekend. Between football and my family I was able to get a lot of each. The one thing I did hear a lot about was the economy. I know it is not great out there, but I find it hard to believe it is as bad as is reported. At the end of the day I think it does a lot it do with your attitude. Maybe I am a little native about this, but I am OK with that. So until further noticed go on with the bad economy without me, I guess I will not participate at this time. If you want to join me email me and we can start a club. One item will be not listening to the media nor the negative people, but that would be good fo us anyway. HAVE AN AWESOME DAY AND LET'S SELL SOMETHING!

Another Long Night

Well the kids had a long night again last night. I think my wif and I got about 4 hours of sleep. Not sure what is up, but it makes it a little difficult to get going in the morning. I love my kids but sometimes they do make life trying. How can they be in such good moods with so little sleep with NO COFFEE?

Managed Services

Today I am going to meet with a couple great managed services clients that we have worked with for years. I try to touch base with them at least monthly to see how things are going. With managed services, if done correctly, they should never see us, nor should they ever need to. This is difficult because then the client may think they have no problems, so they don't need us anymore. My job is to educate the client on what we do and why he doesn't see us. The easiest way to do this is, as I was taught at K-Mart, document, document, document. Once this is done it is my job to show what other ways we can help them be able to focus more on their business and less on their technology. I love my job and helping do that!

Accountability

So how is 2009 going so far? The last family Christmas is over at our house and now it is time to get down to business. It is January 5th and how do you feel so far? Well the good thing is, if you don't feel that it is going well yet, you have a lot of time yet to right the ship. You also need to remember that to slip off the course is normal and nothing to beat yourself up over. The best thing you can do, if you are having problems or not, is to find someone who can keep you accountable, someone to kick your butt if necessary. It isn't fun, but it helps you grow and become the person you want to be. Try it and see 2009 be the best year yet!