Thoughts on Sales Enablement Max Effgen, August 6, 2009 CRM solutions fail most of the time. I always wonder what is meant by fail. I have had my hand in many CRM deployments and only a 2-3 did not meet the clients expectations from initial roll-out. Those that I would consider a “fail” never aligned the technology to the… Continue Reading
WSJ: Twitter as trading tool Max Effgen, August 3, 2009 There has been a lot of talk about social CRM (sCRM) and Twitter. The implications for consumer based offerings is clear. In the enterprise, marketing has use cases. The WSJ has an interesting look at how traders are using Twitter. Money quote: “Analysts said the service seems well-suited for a… Continue Reading
Are You Celebrating SysAdmin Day? Max Effgen, August 1, 2009 WSJ: Are You Celebrating SysAdmin Day? Um, no. No celebration here. None what so ever. Continue Reading
The hidden support process Max Effgen, July 30, 2009 Many companies take great lengths to document and implement support processes. This is good. A documented process can provide metrics. When coupled with cost, it can provide cost per call help determine ROI. There is one support process that almost always goes overlooked and costs companies plenty. Email to the… Continue Reading
Know your customer… Max Effgen, July 29, 2009 Maybe it is the record setting heat in Seattle today, but my mind is wandering over various experiences of my career. “Know your customer” is the mantra. When you know the customer, good things happen. – Example, Client A increased user adoption to 70% of total call volume. ROI increase… Continue Reading
IBM buys SPSS Max Effgen, July 28, 2009 The big news today was IBM’s purchase of SPSS. The implications are big in the predictive analytics space and for business intelligence in general. But there is another reason for this post. Back in 1994, I had interviewed at SPSS. My father suggested I send Jack Noonan a resume directly…. Continue Reading
Know your customer… Max Effgen, July 27, 2009 This great example of “Know your customer” was just sent to me. Check Most expensive javascript ever? at Hallvord R. M. Steen’s blog. Hallvord is on the Opera Core Quality Assurance team. It is pretty hard to make a simple mistake as big as this. Millions in lost revenue. Happy… Continue Reading
Amazon buys Zappos Max Effgen, July 23, 2009December 2, 2013 So the big news from yesterday is Amazon buying Zappos. Cash and stock and all that. Congrats to two of my favorite online retailers. The financials are one thing and will be debated. I believe that this will be a great deal for both companies. Also, the notion that Zappos… Continue Reading
Perfect the Elevator Pitch Max Effgen, July 20, 2009 Some great advice for your next interview. Pitch yourself. Inevitably you will be shuffled from place to place and interview to interview. Why not craft your own elevator pitch? Check How to Perfect an Elevator Pitch About Yourself. I found this via LifeHacker Get Comfortable Bragging to Perfect Your Elevator… Continue Reading
Do you have any questions… Max Effgen, July 19, 2009 If a candidate is qualified, I tend to judge by the questions the interviewee asks. It shows the level of interest and a slice of the behavioral aspects of the individual’s work approach. People that ask no questions or questions about compensation before an offer never get the job. Check… Continue Reading