Mark MacLeod
The CFOs Corner
Information: the decision-making oxygen for your business
In the movie Wall Street, Gordon Gekko gives one of several timeless speeches on the value of information - “the most valuable commodity I know”. I agree with him. When it comes to growing your business, information is vital oxygen that helps you ascend to great heights.
Darryl Praill
Marketing Mayhem
Why can’t CMO’s keep their jobs?
A recent study tracked CMOs at 100 leading consumer companies and found that the average tenure in 2007 was 26.8 months—compared to 23.2 months in 2006, 23.5 months in 2005 and 23.6 in 2004.
David Wexler
The Business of HR
“It’s The People Of Course”
People are the currency of today’s business. We have, to a large extent, exited businesses where people were simply hands and feet and occasionally asked to think, as they performed their parts.
Francis Moran
In the Media
To whom does your PR function report?
The University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communications recently published the fifth annual edition of its highly authoritative Public Relations Generally Accepted Practices Study, and concluded there is a sharp correlation between where the PR function reports within organizations and its adherence to best practices. The higher up the organizational chart the PR function reported, the better that organization and its PR performed against the 13 best practices the study’s authors identified…
Francis Moran
In the Media
Every story has a natural news value
I thought that for my first real post on DangleTech, I’d begin with the most fundamental of truths in the media relations business. Every company has a story, and every one of those stories has a natural news value…
Francis Moran
In the Media
Welcome to ‘In the media’
When Bob Hebert asked me to contribute a regular blog post to DangleTech, writing about technology marketing issues from my perspective as a seasoned technology PR strategist, I leapt at the chance, particularly when Bob said he was looking for something that challenged conventional wisdom, shattered myths and showcased best practices…
Dave Williamson
In the Field
Calling High and Customer Relationships
Call High. It’s where the finger so often gets pointed when the Account Manager can’t progress an opportunity. "Just get me that CXO meeting and I’ll close the deal…."
Dave Williamson
In the Field
Sales Cycle? What about the Buying Cycle?
Regardless of where I’ve worked - big company, established small company, startup - everyone wants to talk about Sales Cycles, and how we as the vendor can somehow control them and close the deal on our timelines. Everyone has an opinion - from the lonely Sales Manager out there carrying the bag through to the venture capitalist who sits on the Board. They all have a view about the Sales Cycle, how long it is, how long it should be, what the next steps are in the Sales process, who we should be meeting with at this stage, how we can close the deal next week…
Dave Williamson
In the Field
Welcome to “In the Field”
Welcome to In the Field, a forum to discuss the Sales function in the technology arena. What I’ll try to do from week to week is touch on a variety of subjects related to selling in the technology marketplace. I hope to stir up some controversy along the way, maybe bring a little common sense to the forefront (amongst some of the madness I’ve seen through my years in the technology market ups and downs), share my perspectives and observations about what I’ve seen go right and wrong in selling to customers, and reflect on some best and worst practices that I’ve encountered…
Robert Hebert
The Talent Jungle
Entrepreneurial Myth Buster
In a recently published book titled The Illusions of Entrepreneurship, author Scott A. Shane takes aim at the myths surrounding ‘entrepreneurship’ which he defines as ‘the activity of organizing, managing, and assuming the risks of a business or enterprise’. While most of us associate entrepreneurship with the likes of Terry Matthews or Stephen Jobs, or even Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, the Shane reminds us that the category includes infinitely more dry cleaners, variety store owners, cab drivers and even farmers than high profile, tech superstars.