CTIA 2009

Our company had the opportunity to be a part of this conference this year in Las Vegas. I have struggled to come up with the right words to describe my enthusiasm and two-thumbs up feeling after it was over. It was a great getting to spend time with our clients, partners and friends.

While I have spent days reading and reviewing all of the latest and future trends of the wireless industry, that’s not what really stood to me. Here’s what I can’t get over…

“The feeling!”

The “feeling” was exuberant, upbeat, enthusiastic, positive, reassuring, confident…blissful! I mean, did 40k + people not know we are in a recession?! It sure didn’t seem like it. The crazy thing is that I thought I was the only one who had these feelings until I saw this article:

CTIA – Wireless industry is ’shining light’ during recession

In summary, it just felt great to be a part of something that wasn’t part of the mainstream bad news. I think for those of us in the wireless/telecom sector…we have a lot to be thankful and look forward to.

Anyone else have similar thoughts?

Lanny

Top Ten

So i was told today that the blog was kinda “negative” lately. After thinking it over, i agreed. SOooo…for something completely different, here’s my list of the best 10 songs of all time. Do you agree? Let’s see your list…

#1 I won t complain-Stevie Wonder

#2 He stopped loving her today-George Jones

#3 You don t know me-Ray Charles

#4 Please come to Boston-Dave Loggins

#5 Cant you see-Marshall Tucker Band

#6 End of the Innocence-Don Henley

#7 Tiny Dancer-Elton John

#8 Hello-Lionel Richie

#9-Landslide-Fleetwood Mac

#10-Best of You-Foo Fighters

Lanny

Ra Ra Ree…

About 20 years ago, I was working for a company that sold Apple products primarily through a call center. I heard one of the other salespeople on the phone with a potential customer, the call went something like this:

Sales guy: Thanks for calling us today, Can I get your name and number? Ohhh, WAIT@!@!… My manager has just informed me that you are the 1,000,000th caller and that earns you an extra 15% off today. What can I help you with today?

Caller:….(I hope he hung up)

When I heard this, I immediately started chuckling out loud. I couldn’t believe this person really had the _________to say that with a straight face and expect a suitable response. I mean, seriously…. The manager actually was standing close by and came over and asked what I was laughing about. I told I couldn’t believe that he would support a company employee using that type of method to gain business. He then scolded me for not having the right attitude, and that I could learn a lot from “Capt. Cheesy”. I didn’t agree.

I said that to say this…

1) My experience in sales has allowed me to see that salespeople approach sales from many different angles, and more than one method works.

2) I am strong believer in attitude and it’s potential impact (both positive and negative) on sales.

HOWEVER, there is a line. Kitchy, cheesy, corny, lame, unethical, dishonest, or stupid sales gimmicks have got to go. In the same way, “honey, come here often?” is probably not going to get you anywhere anymore as a pickup line. Just talking about this, makes my skin crawl. I am embarrassed for sales people that are using these tactics. Today’s buyer is usually bright, intelligent, educated and mature. THEY should be ashamed if they are continuing a conversation after hearing something like that from a salesperson.

Do you know anyone like this? I would love to hear other versions of “Capt. Cheesy”.

Lanny

Tell me lies

I have been involved in some form of “interviewing” and “hiring” people for about 15 years. I am ashamed to say…I don’t think I am any better at this process than I was when I started. That’s sad. Who spends that amount of time doing anything and doesn’t improve?! And before I hurt any feelings, let me put the disclosure out there: I TREASURE the people that do what they say they are going to do during their interview. TREASURE.

So this is for all of the others that don’t. In the last 12 months, I have suffered traumatic, emotional and mental scaring due to people who lied to me. Personally and in Business. By the way, I want to discuss this “personal vs. business” thing…nvm, next blog. I mean, I can see and remember all of the things that were discussed during each of their interviews. But the results of their work product was vastly different. Does every company have these people? Do they have an association? Do they discuss tactics, strategies, successes?

While I’m no angel and certainly didn’t always live up to some of my employer’s expectations every time, the masses would certainly say that I met and/or exceeded their expectations. And I’m not talking about the ones that give it their all, and things just don’t work out. I am talking about con artists. These people that KNOW there is no way they can deliver 80% of the things that they state they are capable of during the interview. I am focused on the interview because that’s where this expectation is established.

Examples: Last year, I had a salesperson in another state turn in completed multiple contracts within a couple of months of his hire date. At the time, I applauded my personal efforts for being able to attract and secure this employ. Shortly after I strained my arm, patting myself…I discovered that not only were these deals not complete, there were no real contracts with these companies, the clients had no knowledge of my employee. Everything…fictional. EXCEPT, the monies our company is paying this employee. Very real indeed.

In another instance, I paid more than the average American makes in a year just in fees to secure a new employee. My objective was to pay these fees in attempt to secure an employee that delivered what they said they could deliver. More fraud, more lies. More monies scammed. From both the agency and the employee.

I read an article in the paper yesterday where an interview was done with a car salesperson. This guy had been selling cars for more than 40 years. He made the statement that the car business was full of lies.(I thought..duh!) What surprised me was that he said it began with the manufacture lying to the dealers, the dealers lying to the sales people, and the salesman lying to the consumer. BUT THEN, he said the consumer tells the most lies. He lies that he has better credit, better job, can afford more car, has longer job tenure, etc… That led me to start thinking about business owners. Are we the end-victim of the lies that are running rampant? Did we start this? Did capitalism spawn a foundation of untruths that are now commonplace? A P&L statement has got to include a column for this type of spend. Should we just start including a “bluff” category for this loss? At least for me, the volume of spend will rank in the top 10% of spend.

I am more than willing to accept that I have less than zero skills in interviewing to be a victim of this crime, except..I know several business owners that have suffered multi-seven digits losses over the years battling this epidemic. While this blog has no objective other than a “whaa” rant, I am interested in hearing your input on if you see this as a growing trend? Is this a result of dissolving ethics in the workplace? Yell back…

Lanny

VTG at Fujitsu

Traci DeWilde and I were at Fujitsu last Thursday afternoon at their beautiful engineering complex on their Richardson campus. We enjoyed meeting a number of Fujitsu people who visited with us.  A special thanks to Lisa Mcneil for her assitance and allowing us in to promote our services with Fujitsu’s engineering management teams. Fujitsu is a great customer of ours and we work quite close with them on a number of staffin and project services initiatives.  Thank you again Fujisu for having us over!!

 

StaffingIndustry.com

Our ValiantBridge program continues to gain momentum. The top staffing industry magazine “Staffing Industry” (www.staffingindustry.com) interviewed me last week.  Editor Craig Johnson and I had a great discussion about the whole program. They wanted to know details about where the idea came from, the ideal prospect and who is in the program now.  I provided him with a wealth of information about how it is ideal for staffing industry top achievers because they are the ones who when they have a large book of business, think about leaving their employer to start their own business. And no matter what company it is…. This rarely works and everyone looses – the person who leaves, their employer, the end client and the consultants. Why? Because in 99% of the cases their new venture is undercapitalized.  I explained to Craig how we are basically incubating those who meet the requirements of the program and helping them build a solid foundation for when they are ready to go on their own. And I told him from our end we remain a part of their new entity so rather than everyone failing when a star employee is ready to start their own company we all win by sharing through the lifecycle.

Lanny

Fujitsu Event-September 4th

We are excited to be hosting a meet-n-greet with Fujitsu this coming week:

What’s in a name?

If you are a fulltime recruiter, then this has to be stuff that your nightmares are made of:

 

Does anyone post their own resume on a job board anymore??!! We have a few business partners that assist us with our recruiting needs, so this may step on some toes. I hope not.

 

Sooo, here’s the scenario…You find a resource ( John Doe ) on Dice that looks like they could potentially be a fit for the job requirement you’re working on. You call the number listed, and a guy picks up and says…

 

” Thanks for calling Acme Technical Services, how can I help you?”

 

“Uhmm, may I speak with John Doe?”

 

“Sure, right after you review and sign our NDA, the ECO, and provide your completed company profile along with the D&B and Fed-ID#.”

 

“Uhmm, nevermind…bye.”

 

 

For the love of all that is sacred and pure, SERIOUSLY???!!!! Really???!!!

 

I know this isn’t a new issue, but it is out of hand. As with most things that become corrupted, I think there is a fix. It has to start with the Job boards. There has got to be a firm policy that the person posting the resume is representing themselves. While this is more common with resources that have a sponsored visa, this process cannot be beneficial to the end recipient looking for a job. I don’t know if this practice started as an objective to provide a better sale of the candidate, or if it’s a protection issue or what it is. Surely you fulltime recruiters have had enough of this…I feel for you.

 

Back to the policing…I think Ebay represents the best example of stepping up and taking control. There have been many scams that they have been struck with as a result of their growth and

the volume of buyers their website attracts. In each case, they have taken action to solve the problem. I believe in almost all of these situations, the objective has been to right the ship in the interest of what is fair, ethical and legal to the consumers> MOST of the time, if not all the time this change has not been financially beneficial to Ebay.

 

Monster, Dice, Computer Jobs, HotJobs, Careerbuilder…C’mon guys, help a recruiter out.

 

LM

Go DFW!!!

was recently interviewed by one of the editors of a technical magazine based in California (narrows It down, huh?) to discuss the logistical details of our Valiant Bridge program. Throughout the interview, I was continually asked how we were dealing with the downturn in hiring and if we had a plan to sustain. The first few times, I avoided giving a direct answer out of a fear of appearing ignorant to this industry crisis. After the third time I was asked, I turned right into this “”fastball” and said…”What downturn are you referring to?”. She told me that she has mutilple conversations with technical staffing executives each week across the US, and almost all were discussing how their business was slowing down this year. Sheeshhh…

Our company started in November, 2007. And while we weren’t starting from scratch from a knowledge standpoint, (I had a couple years experience, myself.) we didn’t have one requisition to start working on for a while. Here’s a quick report from our ATS that shows the volume of reqs that we have received thus far:

We currently have sales offices in Dallas, Sacramento and Chicago. And while all of our offices have had great activity, Dallas continues to grow dramatically.

Lanny

Iphone…the technical Antichrist?

 

Fire, the wheel, electricity, the printing press, the automobile,  and now…the Apple Iphone. I have family, friends and business partners that own one of these amazing gadgets and…well, wow. They love them with a fever that cannot be subdued by time nor death. Steve F…you know it’s true. I think his firstborn’s picture was removed from his wallet, and replaced with original 3G announcement (laminated).

 

Note: I don’t own one. Yet. I have favored the Motorola Q’s for a couple of years now.

 

Don’t get me wrong. If you have been reading the blogs, you know by now that I started out in the Apple compound. I made and drank the Kool-Aid back then, so I’ve been a fan for many years. But I don’t remember anything being pushed so heavily and with so much hype as the Iphone in many decades(maybe W95?). Now the 3G version is out and I see the long lines forming everyday like their selling tickets for The Stones and Aerosmith, with Van Halen opening with both David and Sammy on stage together. Ok, ok, ok…maybe not David and Sammy.

 

Let’s talk tech talk, shall we. Our company has a contract with the big V, and I have been a firm believer in their network for 10 years. I mean, who wouldn’t…with all of those technicians following you around everywhere, asking…”Can you hear me now?”.

 

Did you see this???  Kaltwasser v. Cingular Wireless LLC, No. 07-0411, complaint filed (N.D. Cal. Jan. 22, 2007).

 

 Kaltwasser’s accusation is that Cingular does not have “the fewest dropped calls” in several major metropolitan areas such as New York, Chicago, Houston and LA. Cingular conducted a widespread ad campaign based on what it claimed was a study by Telephia that rated Cingular as having the fewest dropped calls of any wireless carrier in the country. Moreover, independent studies by two other companies, J.D. Powers & Associates and Consumer Reports, found Cingular to be the worst or one of the worst carriers in dropped-call performance.

 

So, while Steve F. continues to wave his wonderful little toy in front of my face on a consistent basis, I have to wonder if it’s all a just an front. Does that act help ease the daily pain of dropping calls, error connection messages, and a 2-year contract?

 

I’m rambling. I only meant to say, my perception of the Iphone is that it’s like a very, very fine sports car, with 4-banger under the hood. Tell me I’m wrong, and I’ll go jump in that line at the Apple store.

 

Lanny