Atlanta, GA: (678) 389-6929, Asheville, NC: (828) 254-0892
   Follow jaymunda on Twitter

Jay’s Blog

Turning a New Leaf

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

I have to admit, it’s a little scary to build a sales team AND transition the company’s business model. For the last few months, I’ve been knee-deep in building a 15-person sales force across Atlanta, Asheville and Central Tennessee, developing Online Marketing Products to our portfolio, and continuing to run operations in the Website Design area of the business.

What’s scary about building a sales team is that I know most people are not like me. What I mean by that is, I own the company and I jump out of bed in the morning thinking about what will make the company last in the long-term. I have experience across many different subjects, from cold-call telemarketing and door-to-door sales, to referral-based word of mouth marketing, to accounting, website design… you name it, I’ve probably done it. I’m also aware of every little facet of the business so that when I make decisions, I’m thinking of the whole picture- and I have the knowledge to do so.

When a salesperson (aptly called “Online Marketing Consultant“) applies for the position, they are often thinking something along the lines of “how much can I make per week” and “how hard will it be to make a sale.” (Note: this may not be #1 on their list, but it’s usually toward the top.) So I not only have to find out if they will make a good addition to the team, but I also have to convince them that the job is worth their time. Then, once I hire the person, I have to keep them interested or they’ll quit.

I tend to think of Jaymunda as a really nice company, centererd around the people who interact with us. The people are the Team, our Clients and our Vendors. I used to think that just being nice was enough (a wholly good trait in a company), but I have become wiser through the years. You also have to show them the money- it’s just a fact of life. That brings me to the transition in our business model that is taking place right now.

Website design is a great business. We were founded by building websites. Over the years our clients needed results. I needed to hire salespeople.

It’s hard to hire commissioned salespeople when it takes so much training before you can adequately represent website design to your potential clientele.

So we started testing products that could give our clients results. We set them up in such a way that they could be understood easily by both clients and salespeople. We minimized risk to both parties and created a way for our sales team to hit the ground running right after the hire. (i.e. Week 1 = Sales) We also set it up so that if a particular salesperson decided to leave the company suddenly, it would minimize and almost eliminate our potential loss.

Overall, I’ve never been more excited about Jaymunda and our growth potential. I’m a little nervous about building the team, but I guess that’s to be expected. I’ll let you know how it goes over the next few months and I quite expect to be able to write that it worked out beautifully! :-)

Axelrod’s Rules

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

Thurman Williams enlightened me with these rules for management, from Axelrod…

1. Be Nice.

2. Punish, but not vengefully.

3. Don’t worry about what others are doing.

4. Don’t be too clever.

Why I love networking!

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

I love the referral business! It gives me a chance to network and develop relationships with people while enjoying the ambience of a nice cafe during the middle of the weekday. I get to meet new people and expand my horizons- which otherwise would stay limited to the perspective of myself by sitting in front of a computer all day. A lot of the people I network with are valued colleagues and it feels like I have more coworkers!

To develop these relationships means we can refer business back and forth, have expertise that we otherwise would not have and be able to offer something more to our clients. To know me is to know my network. That makes me more valuable and my referral partners more valuable to my clients. I don’t want to be everything to everybody, but by being able to give referrals, everybody can get what they need!

5-year old’s depiction of a Firefox

Monday, June 29th, 2009

I had a meeting with a client this morning and she brought her 5-year-old son with her. He was inspired to draw this depiction of a Firefox:

firefox

Rant about old browsers

Wednesday, May 27th, 2009

OK people, c’mon. Did you know that Internet Explorer 6 has been around since 2001 when Windows XP was released?! It’s been eight freakin’ years and now that we are a full two versions beyond this – IE7 was released in 2006 and IE8 was just officially released a month ago!

Yet all these computers around the world are still using an outdated and admittedly buggy browser. It’s adding a bunch of overhead to our design work because we have to test in THREE different versions of IE before we even get to testing in Firefox, Safari, Chrome, Opera, yadda and some yadda. And what comes with more overhead? You guessed it, MORE COST! You don’t want more cost, do you? Especially since you generally have an attitude that everything on the web should be free. (go figure) So let’s just bring down cost and upgrade to a state-of-the-art, working browser.

Here a link that will make your life easier: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/Internet-explorer/default.aspx

Now click it and install the freakin’ thing.

And if you just plain don’t agree with my sentiment: http://www.saveie6.com/index.php but before you think of joining their cause, I urge you to think of the web designer who has to deal with you and your pain-in-the-ass remarks that his work is too expensive even though you refuse to join the rest of humantity and upgrade.

Women shall inherit the earth

Tuesday, December 9th, 2008

Whether online or offline, women are without a doubt THE largest marketing group you could possibly focus your attention on.

Consider these facts . . .
85% of all household purchases are made by women (not just food either but ALL purchases);
Most family incomes are dual, but the female spends 85% of the COMBINED money;
Women buy 66% of all small consumer electronics;
65% of all new car purchases are made by . . . (you guessed it) women;
In 2006, 3.9 million more women lived alone than men…among this group, women were 9% more likely than men to own their homes;
Women own more than half of all stocks;
Women-owned businesses spend more than $546 billion annually on salaries and benefits;
89% of women say they will shop at one store over another if the service is better;
Women don’t buy brands, they join them;
As boomer generation began to retire this year (2008), women and minorities make up 75% of those now entering the workforce;
Women make up 40% of the labor force in America;
By 2010, the number of women in the USÂlabor force will have increased by almost 10 million, a growth rate almost, one-third higher than for men;
Nearly 3/4 of all mothers are in the labor force. Even among mothers with young children, 70% work outside the home;
Women hold 49.5% of all managerial positions at Fortune 500 companies;
Women hold 12.5% of corporate officer positions;
54 of the Fortune 500 companies report awoman as their top earner;
Women represent 50% of total Internet users;
80% of women car shoppers get ALL their automotive info online;
89% of women are involved or completely in control of their car’s maintenance and service;
90% of American women have veto power over all vehicle and consumer purchasers for their own households, and buy 65% of all cars;
And that’s just a smattering. (Read more statistics at http://www.infoproductguy.com/shefactor.)

I’m a big dummyhead

Wednesday, November 19th, 2008

I learned something recently- something very important to reduce the stress in my life as well as others. I feel kinda stupid never having realized it before.

Ready? Here it is…

Put Your Name On It!

Sounds so easy…

Specifically, I’m talking about on the “Contact Customer Support” page of a website I manage. Take a look: http://bniconnection.com/index.php?region_id=3&content=help/support_form

Previously, my thinking was just the same as every other support form out there- put up a form and let people contact me. The problem was, people don’t usually contact support unless they can’t find/do it themselves. Then, of course, they’re frustrated and they fire off an email with strong language. (Rarely with explitaves, but strong nonetheless.) Then, it comes to me (a.k.a. the Support Department) and I have to take a deep breath and figure out how to be nice and not take it personally. That’s usually not too hard, but it’s still unpleasant! I mean, who likes being yelled at? Not me.

So, the first thing I did was add my name to the signature. This worked in calming people down after they received a reply from me. It still gave me the initial heartburn.

Then, my stroke of genius (coupled with a conversation with Rei-Quan, which usually gets my genius flowing rather well) realized that I needed to add a face to the Support Department. Guess what the result was?

  • People starting their message off “Dear Jay,” instead of “I hate you”
  • Friendlier communications- even if they were frustrated!!!!

Omigoodnessgracious! (Add Eureka too.)

Here’s the reason why: Computers and The Internet Experience is generally transactional, cold, (painful), and faceless. It’s funny, because we seem to enjoy being reclusive, but then we also seem to be starved for real, human interaction. I added a face and people are happier.

As a parting note, even if my support department grows to 30 people, I think they’re all going to be named “Jay” and have the same face. :-)   This’ll just simplify life for both of us.

Nooks and Crannies – Guaranteed!

Monday, November 17th, 2008

Apparently a nook is defined as an interior angle, but a cranny is an obscure nook or corner. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nook, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cranny) So the english muffins’ promise of having nooks and crannies would be a little bit redundant as by definition, crannies are nooks. I feel lied to.

Stalagtites and stalagmites are similar, but opposite in the direction of formation. They also have very different causes of formation. They have nothing to do with nooks and cranies.

At the same time, english muffins promise that there are wonderful nooks and crannies to enjoy, however the simple nature of a nook is that it doesn’t really exist, but rather describes a type of location. (i.e. breakfast nook)

Further still, I feel the makers of the english muffins should have some sort of guarantee of how many nooks there are and which percentage of nooks will be considered crannies for each individual muffin. If a muffin does not meet or surpass this threshold, it would be considered inferior and should be sent back for re-nooking.

Switch to our mobile site