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Every person on Earth — almost 7 billion of us — sells something every day. It may be a product, service, or a point-of-view. Everyone sells, even you. The problem is most people don't know how to sell. We can help.
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Speaking at indieConf 2011

by Doug Foster on October 6, 2011

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indieConf is back: Saturday November 19, 2011 at the NCSU McKimmon Center in Raleigh, NC.

If you were there last year you know it was good (here’s some photos). If you weren’t — and you’re an independent web professional — you need to go. It’s an affordable day packed with solid information.

Interested in a discount? Contact me (I’ve got a few to give out) then grab your tickets on Eventbrite ASAP.

Last year I talked about Convince Me! — the sales process I help people learn. This year I’m talking about how short stories and WordPress can help you sell a product, service, or point of view …

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Advertise your business on storyPanels™

September 22, 2011
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Shh … don’t tell anyone. Compared to other indoor advertising, placing your ad on storyPanels is a steal.

According to national advertising rates listed by the Indoor Billboard Advertsing Association (IBBA), we don’t charge enough. In fact, advertsing on a storyPanel gives you MORE ad space AND costs LESS than the national average. Way less. But that’s ok. We figure your business is like ours: these days you have to offer and get the best deals you can. We’re confident storyPanel advertising is a deal you won’t want to pass up.

Where do other indoor advertisers place their displays? Well … when the IBBA says indoor advertising they’re talking about placing ads in restrooms. Now we’re not saying that doesn’t make sense, but we’ve got a different idea. We designed storyPanel displays to use very little floor space. And because of that, our business partners place them in the middle of traffic … not behind closed doors …

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storyPanels™

September 1, 2011
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storyPanels give you a simple, affordable, and elegant way to frame your corporate or personal stories.

Each storyPanel is an 18″x1” square frame of polished aluminum inset with a glistening clear acrylic window. Put pictures, words, video, or anything you can imagine into a storyPanel and watch it come to life! (Here’s our brochure.)

In the Fall of 2010 Allen Moore of TouchStone3D Services and Doug Foster of the Idea Mechanics moved into a new location. Needing new white-boards in the conference room, Moore outfitted the space with custom units using an “Industrial Erector Set” from the 80/20 company. The new boards looked great! In fact, so great that as Foster studied them he remarked “They look like giant story boards, only empty. Wait. I’ve got an idea …”

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VoIP Hi Def audio conferencing. Amazing & free!

July 27, 2011
Polycom Soundpoint-ip650 VoIP phone

I’ve been working with data/voice/video networking – and especially Voice over IP (VoIP) – for most of my career. I love it.

So why am I writing this short story? Because the other day I lived through the audio conference call from hell. The voice quality was abysmal. In fact it was so bad that my colleague and I almost lost control of a critical licensing deal on the call.

I came away from that thinking “Never again. There’s got to be better way to do this.” Good news. There is and … it’s free! And it supports VoIP! Wahoo!!

I’m not saying this is the perfect solution, but I’ve tried it and I REALLY like it. Even if it turns into a fee-based service I think I’d spend my money to use it. Too good to be true? Maybe. We’ll see. I need to do more research and testing before I can completely recommend it. But so far I’m REALLY impressed …

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Five Principles of Selling

April 5, 2011
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Chuck Robbins is the Senior Vice President for U.S. Enterprise, Commercial and Canada with Cisco Systems in San Jose, California.

“As a senior executive at Cisco, every quarter I’m responsible for making sure my North American team closes thousands of sales, generates hundred-million-dollar revenues, and guarantees every customer we come in contact with is a satisfied customer. To do that, I lead a team of sales partners and sales professionals that numbers into the thousands.

What I’ve found is that the same sales skills my former colleague Doug Foster and I have used for years are just as effective now that I’m leading a team.

Here are my five principles for effective selling …”

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Telling the EBF3 story

April 4, 2011
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Through one of my clients – Fuentek – I get to work with NASA scientists and engineers. I mean, these guys really are rocket scientists! How cool is that.

I learn about technology they develop, then help them find licensing opportunities for the Intellectual Property.

Sometimes when you’re educating prospects you need more than printed words to tell a convincing story. Consider the power of pictures and audio. You can build a powerful multimedia learning tool at a fraction of the time and cost to create a video.

Here’s an example: Electron Beam Free Form Fabrication (EBF3) …

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Short Stories that Sell – So what do you do?

April 3, 2011
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Sometimes you can tell what a person does by looking at them. Most of the time you can’t.

I met a fellow the other month at a networking event. “So what do you do?” he asked. I replied simply “I help people sell.” He was stunned. He looked at me, smiled, and said “Wow, that’s simple. I wish I could tell people what I did so quickly.”

“Thanks.” I said. “Why, what do you do?” With that he rolled in to a several minute description of his job and his business. In the end I had to paraphrase it back to him: “So you’re a … and you … ?” “Yes.” he responded. Then he looked at me and said “You know, maybe you could help me work on that a bit …”

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