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    Best posts made by Deleted74295

    • How to make a techie buy your brand/product/service.

      At Dara IT, we are constantly researching new products, seeing what is available for our clients and also finding solutions for problems we have in house. You might have a brand, a product, a service whatever that thing is, there is a good chance we want to deploy it in house or for our clients.

      We consistently have mixed experiences when trying to learn a new product, speaking to sales teams or hearing horror stories from clients about how much of a night mare it was to deal with brand x. At the same time we might discover a company or a product that is so amazing, we want to tell everyone about it, we use it internally, we recommend it to our clients and we really stand by it with a positive recommendation.

      The techie in any company acts as a very powerful filter for business decision makers in choosing the right product or service, why would you not want to have a marketing plan in place to reach this influencer? How powerful an ally would you have if they were in your corner championing the product inside their own organisations?

      How to make a techie buy _______? Fill in the gap with what you have to offer. Let me play out 1 scenario for you below.

      ** A live chat entry appears on your website **
      Potential client: “Hello I’m hoping to learn more about product X”
      Sales: “Hello, yes my name is Bob, what specifically would you like to learn?”
      Potential client: “Well I was wondering if you did trials of product X so I could get a feel for it”
      Sales: “Yes that’s certainly something we can talk about, can you give me your contact details and I can have one of our team book a call with you so we can discuss your needs?”
      ** Chat disconnects **
      Can you spot the mistake?
      Two lines into the conversation, you’ve asked me to commit to an ask, you want me to give up my details and in return, I need to book out a slot of time when I can talk to someone in sales. Key suggestions would be:

      • The customer chose to talk to you via email/chat/phone – Moving them from their preferred choice of communication to another is already working against what they want on a subconscious level.
      • At this point, they might know nothing about your product but you are already asking them to find the time to listen to a sales pitch, why would they give up what is likely 30 minutes of their time, just to get what they wanted initially which was a product trial?
      • Tech guys tend to be detail focused people, they could have easily read reviews, looked over the website, even watched videos which you have on the product, so if they are close enough to saying they want to actually test it, you are already ahead of other competitors but if you put a roadblock in the way, they’ll go somewhere else.

      Remove the roadblocks! Don’t lose out on a sale to a competitor

      This week I received a mass mail out from a business which stated that they had produced a personalised e-book tailored just for me. It sounded awfully nice of them but when I clicked on the link I was taken to something which can only be described as an info wall.

      The basic principle, you have something people want and for them to get that something, they give you their contact details and you then give them the prize behind the wall. On paper this works brilliantly for sales teams, you get to harvest all these contact details just for giving away something you already have.

      That something could be, here is a trial of our software, here is a PDF about the product. Perhaps you even have a video which is going to sell the product to a potential client and all it takes for the client to get it is to fill in a simple web form, easy trade right?

      What every technical person out there expects to happen in 2016, after years of this happening, is for their details to go onto a list of “leads” probably 1 of hundreds of names and we’re going to be fielding emails/phone calls chasing us and trying to “help” us into a buy.

      So what we’ll do instead, they might look at the form and skip the product and move onto a competitor, who bizarrely has every piece of content they have available for instant download and usage, yet they seem to be making money.

      Then there is the sad truth that a lot of people will lie on these forms and fill them in with bogus details. Sure you could put in systems to verify it is a genuine lead but are you just putting in more road-blocks?

      The best way I can describe to win over a techie can be summed up in 3 easy rules.

      • Help them get what they want, as quickly as possible. Roadblocks are bad. We feel the jaws of the sales funnel closing and we’ll simply break sideways out of it and do something else, leaving you wondering where that promising new client went.

      • Be honest, be open, if you are asked questions and you don’t know the answers, get someone who does but don’t lie/bluff about the product, we’ll find out sooner or later and when we do, we will never trust you or your company again.

      • Forget the client in front of you now. Don’t think about the size of the order in front of you, think about where that relationship might lead to, if you leave such a good impression on someone, if ever they get asked in the future “We have 3 products to pick from, who should we go for” wouldn’t you love to be the product they recommend and talk about?

      Finally and this is a very controversial biggie. Give frank guidelines about pricing. If I have to go through a 2 hour process to discover that your product is a 500K completely out of my SMB budget product, you’ve wasted time for both parties. At the same time if I hear that your product is in the price range, I’m more likely to want to spend time on a possibility.

      I’m Breffni, I run Dara IT, I’ve been a techie for years and years constantly trying out new products and researching new ways of doing things. In my mind I have a select few companies who I would completely recommend to clients in a heartbeat as a sure thing. Do you want me and other tech guys to be that ambassador for you?

      The market is getting more competitive, don’t wait until it is too late. You’ll notice the title says how to “make a techie buy” – That’s not a mistake or a typo, that is how quite a few companies are going about it “How do we MAKE this happen” when actually, re-read the article, think about what happens when you remove the roadblocks, listen and respond honestly, instead of “making” someone do something, the story is very different.

      posted in Self Promotion
      Deleted74295
      Deleted74295
    • RE: Why I Love Hiring Those that Teach Themselves

      @scottalanmiller said:

      Self learning is the best way to prove to employers and to yourself how ready to you are to tackle the ongoing growth and educational demands of the industry.

      And yet this is the single biggest problem in the industry, many employers don't understand this as a concept so we have the certification/degree game still being played.

      posted in IT Careers
      Deleted74295
      Deleted74295
    • RE: Follow me on the NTG LAB Epic Minion ROAD TRIP

      This reminds me of this.

      http://starecat.com/content/wp-content/uploads/musician-someone-who-loads-5000-worth-of-gear-into-500-car-to-drive-100-miles-to-a-50-gig.jpg

      You guys are way braver than me transporting all that gear in a mini van rather than insured courier 😛

      posted in Water Closet
      Deleted74295
      Deleted74295
    • Spend 1 minute, learn what I do.

      This is Dara IT. This is what I do.

      https://vimeo.com/185023708

      posted in Self Promotion
      Deleted74295
      Deleted74295
    • I've lost all hope in Education.

      Three different examples.

      Someone in my family is at school, parents received a report which is laid out like this.

      Current Progress = B
      Current Progress = 2
      Current Progress = F
      Current Progress = 6

      They use numbers and letters interchangeably to grade performance, an entire page of the 2 page report is to explain an arbitrary and overly convoluted system. Busy work for the sake of appearing productive.


      Someone I know who is doing an IT course, is assigned a project to design a system for a retail store, he has been assigned a budget of (fake numbers) 10 dollars but MUST spend at least 8 dollars otherwise the virtual businesses won't give as much money on the next project.

      So people are paying to learn how to do IT properly for a business but are being trained and taught how to aggravate the business and work against it. The businesses are trying to hire candidates to help them but have a pool of people who are taught to work against the business.


      Putting aside the colossal levels of bureaucracy, politician decisions and bad leadership. Which undermines some of the amazing work I've seen happen in education environments. Businesses across the world are unhappy with the education system, yet the system has shown no desire or willingness to change, they are still selling the idea and concept and have not changed the pitch.

      Come here, learn this, get a job because of this.

      It's a bit of a rant/vent but I can't understand this. Where is the sanity?

      posted in Water Closet
      Deleted74295
      Deleted74295
    • RE: Let's all get blindsided together!

      I'll rent you pop3 email services from a VM under my desk if you like.

      posted in IT Discussion
      Deleted74295
      Deleted74295
    • RE: Webroot in Massive Failure with Monday Update

      I have but one word:

      0_1493114980437_upload-0a234a75-c28f-4489-879a-e1ae142e5362

      posted in News
      Deleted74295
      Deleted74295
    • RE: Would You Hire Someone in IT Who Does Not Have a Home Lab

      @DustinB3403 said

      In business administration....

      No in computer science...because that's so helpful.

      posted in IT Careers
      Deleted74295
      Deleted74295
    • RE: Windows 10 to come with Candy Crush pre-installed

      We're going Mac Or Linux. Windows 10 is banned as a time-wasting product from this moment on.

      posted in Water Closet
      Deleted74295
      Deleted74295
    • RE: VMware Support Sucks

      @aaronstuder said in VMware Support Sucks:

      Does anyone know if I pay for a higher level of support, will I get better support? Maybe talk to someone in the United States?

      Alternatively, work with a VMWare partner. Sometimes the best support does not come from the vendor directly.

      posted in IT Discussion
      Deleted74295
      Deleted74295
    • RE: Would You Hire Someone in IT Who Does Not Have a Home Lab

      @david.wiese said

      This is my opinion. You absolutely shouldn't need to have a home lab to get into IT and to make your way up the ladder and shouldn't be considered when hiring. Those that can afford to great, the more power to you. But those that cannot (me) shouldn't be ruled out just because we don't fit the "ideal candidate" that the company has set forth.

      Should you be excluded from jobs because you lack

      • A degree
      • A certification
      • A zip code

      Companies get to pick and choose their candidates for a number of reasons, NTG has made a choice that those with a home lab are more likely to be the ideal candidate same way another company will say those with whatever magical quality they seek, will be the ideal candidate.

      I would say you ABSOLUTELY should not have to get a degree to get a job in IT but look at the number of jobs that explicitly require it before they will even touch you.

      Just my 2 cents.

      posted in IT Careers
      Deleted74295
      Deleted74295
    • RE: Does SAM work?

      I promise it has nothing to do with my latest question
      http://community.spiceworks.com/topic/1424967-how-would-you-stop-a-sentient-ai

      posted in Water Closet
      Deleted74295
      Deleted74295
    • RE: Spear Phishing Defenses

      SPF record with hard fails.

      posted in IT Discussion
      Deleted74295
      Deleted74295
    • RE: Is it right or is it theft/fraud?

      It's not theft or fraud at all.

      Your obligations as a customer ended with the quotation and the proposed solution, if they as a vendor randomly give you a gift, why turn it down?

      Where it would be fraudulent is if you screwed over your business by picking their solution purely because they gave you some free candy compared with the other guys.

      The right thing to do is to say, we're probably going with the other solution in advance. If they withdraw the invitation no harm done but if they still want to get you in a room to persuade you then that's entirely their choice, enjoy the evening.

      posted in IT Business
      Deleted74295
      Deleted74295
    • No Vacancies? But the person occupying the role is dead.

      0_1470998036563_upload-fff4e836-2c75-4f0c-99b5-f91b7f14c755

      It's a creative attempt....crazy but creative.

      posted in Water Closet
      Deleted74295
      Deleted74295
    • RE: Seize ownership of a network folder - Dumb people

      Assuming Windows and NTFS right?

      You should be able to break the permissions, right click folder, properties, security, jump through a few menus, eventually you'll get something that looks like this:

      0_1467839179061_upload-dded60eb-d66e-484f-855e-473543ad8258

      posted in IT Discussion
      Deleted74295
      Deleted74295
    • You don't have to be stupid to work here, but it helps

      Smart young things joining the workforce soon discover that, although they have been selected for their intelligence, they are not expected to use it. They will be assigned routine tasks that they will consider stupid. If they happen to make the mistake of actually using their intelligence, they will be met with pained groans from colleagues and polite warnings from their bosses. After a few years of experience, they will find that the people who get ahead are the stellar practitioners of corporate mindlessness.

      https://aeon.co/essays/you-don-t-have-to-be-stupid-to-work-here-but-it-helps

      This is a really good article. Sadly the people who need to read it will be busy on a leadership training program.

      posted in Water Closet
      Deleted74295
      Deleted74295
    • Who here plays Pokemon Go?

      http://money.cnn.com/2016/07/11/technology/pokemon-go-coding-error-emails/index.html

      You gave the company unrestricted access to your gmail account if you signed in with Google. Slow clap

      posted in IT Discussion
      Deleted74295
      Deleted74295
    • Breaking up with Apple, Hello OnePlus 3

      It's time to say goodbye.

      I've had an IPhone 3Gs and had a 4s and 5s respectively.

      You are uninspiring
      Dull
      Over-priced hunk of electronics.

      Having read reviews of alternatives:
      https://oneplus.net/uk/3

      I'm settling on this. The reviews basically say it has almost all the specs of the Note 7 and Iphone 7 but is half the price, amazing reviews of a good company with good support, so a good move across to Android. It'll be here later in the month, will post my thoughts on it.

      posted in Water Closet
      Deleted74295
      Deleted74295
    • RE: The Inverted Pyramid of Doom Challenge

      @hobbit666 said in The Inverted Pyramid of Doom Challenge:

      Give us 3-4 months and i'll put you in contact with our MSP as they will be trying to sell us some hardware and SAN with a refresh, even after i've suggested better like Scale 😄

      Might be suggesting a 3rd party review of the solution so look out for an E-mail NTG 😄

      There are other service providers...hint hint, nudge nudge....

      posted in IT Discussion
      Deleted74295
      Deleted74295