Morning Walk

Every day looks pretty much the same. In fact, it can get sickening sometimes.

You leave the home, lock the door and the expected entourage of characters start to show-up.

The lady in the pink shirt walking the pomeranian, the asian guy that runs shirtless with a little dog that does not match his attitude, the woman in the hat.

After a while you just know them all, it gets boring and you just stop looking. So you come up with passtimes, you make up games.

This morning I spotted a gentleman on the other side of the street. I decided to get into an imaginary race. I was doing good under my opinion, my steps were long and cadence was actually faster than his. Still could not pass him. Stepped it up, lengthened my stride, still having a hard time.

He seemed to be leisurly strolling, and I still couldn't pass him!

Next time I decide to get into a race, I will pick the inner side of the curve...

The four biggest mistakes in Channel Management

In my 10+ years of managing Channel Partners I have had the opportunity to confirm over and over again my common-sense approach towards Management and Leadership. I have put together this list trying to make it as short as I could, forcing me to prioritize. This is what I came up with:

1.- Failing to choose the right model from the start.

It seems simple, but it can really make a difference. The right decision will depend enormously on the client base you are trying to reach and second, your product. There are certain products that are just not made to be sold through a distributor, or maybe the Internet. Conversely, there are customers (and demographics) that you will never reach effectively unless you utilize the same reseller/retailer that they are used to make business with. Same applies for wholesalers, your product has to be carried by those who sell to your retailer of choice.

2.- Not declaring it to the world.

We like to go around making our own decisions and we don't really bother on letting people know what we do but letting the market know what type of Channel you are using and what is your policy is crucial to have the community properly aligned. Those who feel that your model resonates with them, will look after you.

3.- Not being honest

If you have decided to sell direct, say so. You can suddenly become someone's competitor but you will still be known to be a trustworthy individual (and Company!) in the industry. Allways stick to the rules that you put out, if you need to change them, do so but honor whatever happened under them when they were valid.

4.- Not having a "Channel Specific" plan

Let's face it. Channel Partners in general are in the business of sustaining their own companies and they will only behave in a way that supports these objectives. Vendors and Manufacturers COMPETE for their mindshare. You as one of the many that they carry have to make it easy and profitable to do business with you. Failing to have a Channel-Specific team and tools such as Channel support, Channel Marketing, Channel Portal, etc. will not get you very far or at least, will make things much slower.
More on this on an upcoming edition.

Dogs on a leash...

Nice day to walk the dog. Kind of chilly for Florida.

It has been some time that I haven't taken my 9-year old boxer on a morning walk, so I thought it would be great that she would come with me this morning. Shorts, a fleece for the chill, leash and off we went.

There I was, pulling on her at every step when something caught her attention, and I got to say, this was pretty often. Every time I would get up to my burn-these-extra-10-pounds-that-I-packed-on-the-wrong-job pace, she would make sure to slow me down to do her thing.

So when I reached a stretch where there was no one nearby, I released her from her tether.

Now, we would walk harmoniously side-by-side. She would just wander out and investigate "places of interest". Would stay behind, but eventually speed up and come back to my side.
Now, my stride was steady, focused on the goal. I was walking in a straight line. We finished our walk at home on time an happier we could not be.

That's when it hit me, how real leadership has to behave.

The difference between a micro manager and a good leader who knows where he/she is going. A good leader sets the pace through example and recognizes diversity both in background, knowledge and style (BTW the similarities between my boxer and I end on how fast we both eat...), and allows his/her team to explore areas of interest that may seem important at their level of influence. Finally, lets them figure out the best way to keep up with the pace.

No leashes for me...

Why a Proxy makes sense (as a security device for exploring the web)

The Proxy is the ultimate security device, and I am going to make my case by an analogy. Let's say I need to go to some dangerous place, for example, my Inlaw's or my younger daughter's room (translate this into any treacherous place).

The safest alternative is to not go.

The next best thing, is to send someone else, Right? This is exactly what a proxy is designed to do and there are things that are possible in the virtual world. A proxy
can:

• Perfectly impersonate you
• Transmit the whole experience to you, safely

For this to work, the proxy also does some other things -besides having to be a heckuva robust machine-, to know:

• It has to know where NOT to go
• It has to know what not to touch, eat (or open, execute) and how to get rid of some stuff

On the other side proxies are not perfect, they CANNOT do all you can do. They usually don't speak all protocols, they give you a watered-downed version of the experience in some cases and on top of that, they have to know all your stuff to properly impersonate you and they will know all the nasty places where you want to go...