BRDuke.com Blog

Can I Help You?

2008-05-22T14:30:00.005-04:00

I worked in some form of retail for roughly 7 years while I was in high school and college. I considered myself to be good at my respective jobs and always focused on putting in my best effort (OK, fine.....maybe not ALWAYS). I held my last retail position for 5 years before and while I was in college at Staples. Yeah, I did that....(<---that's a play on the "Yeah, we got that slogan there, get it? OK bad joke). ANYWAY, back to my original point. While at Staples I worked in a variety of roles from Office Supplies to Receiving to Office Equipment Sales, to PC Technician. The last two were pretty much the same thing; I spent most of the time selling computer related hardware, software, and whatnot to people.

I noticed an interesting paradigm when I was in this position. 9 times out of 10 when I would approach someone and say "Can I help you with anything sir/ma'am?" I would get the same response: "No, I'm all set, thanks!" I would always reply with "No problem, if you need anything, just let me know" and would then go back to whatever I was doing. I would usually get about 5-7 feet away before I would hear the real questions the person had; "How does this work?" "What is the difference between product x and product y?" "Do you know where product z is?" "What does insert technical term here mean?" and so on.

I always laughed afterwards about how resistant everyone is to being "sold." Now don't get me wrong, I am very resistant to being sold, especially by pushy and arrogant salespeople. The only difference between me and that customer I described is that if someone asks me if they can help and I have a question about a product, I say sure and begin asking questions.

Is it a fear of feeling inferior to the sales person? Or a I think I know or can figure out everything myself thing? Or is it simply something having to do with vulnerability? I'm no psychologist, so I cannot say with any qualification what it most likely is, but I can say in my opinion I think it is a combination of all of the above and that it is different for each person. I also think that the past couple generations have been grown up so inundated with advertising that we have established a natural resistance to anything trying to get us to do something we have yet to decide to do ourselves. It's kind of like building up a resistance to a prescription drug. You may be fine with a small dosage but after a little while of taking it, it takes double the originally dosage to get the same original effect. Considering how many avenues advertising has to reach its audience these days it is certainly understandable to see this resistance.

So what do those of us who count on sales for income do? Short Answer: who knows?! There are plenty of "experts" out there claiming to know the answers to this question but the fact remains they only may know the answers for certain industries. Each sales position is difference and has it's different quirks. Selling to an IT guy is a lot different then selling to a CFO.

The best method I have found is simply to build a network of trusted partners who have similar goals to yours and whose products or services serve as a direct compliment to your own. By doing this you increase your chances of getting the sale because there are more people out there looking out for you and your message. In addition to this, you have to be willing to give BEFORE you get...Yes I said BEFORE. There will be some occasions where everything works out perfectly and someone has a perfectly close-able opportunity for you, but the chances of that are slim. These days, people are less and less willing to give out contact information until they completely trust you, so give them a reason to trust you.

Like I mentioned earlier, I would never consider myself an "expert" because I believe we are always learning and adapting in business. The word expert is tossed around so much it's meaning has been depleted in my eyes. To be an "expert" means you have all of the answers and I have yet to meet anyone who has all the answers for anything. I thought this topic would be a good starting point for a discussion so please comment!

I Love Baseball

2008-04-17T12:25:00.003-04:00

Baseball is the greatest sport known to man, and I'm so incredibly pumped that it is back. No more going home after a long day at work with nothing on TV to watch because of a writers strike, no more flipping through the channels, just BASEBALL!

If you really think about it, everything you are looking for in entertainment is wrapped up in one package with baseball. You have the suspense created by wondering who is going to win. The drama created by some no name guy hitting a game winning HR or a familiar hero delivering again. The anger when your favorite team blows a late inning lead and the joy when they hold on against all odds. Will there be a dominant pitching performance or a blowout? Is there any back story to the game against bitter rivals?

Those are just a few reasons that make this game so great.

For me, witnessing a masterful pitching performance is awe inspiring. The odds of everything clicking at once to form perfection. Think of all the things that have to go into a great pitching performance. The scouting reports have to be right on so the game plan can be well designed. He and his catcher have to be in sync on what the game plan is, and then they have to follow that game plan and make adjustments when needed. The pitcher has to execute ALL of his pitches with precision; as missing by even an inch could spell catastrophe. He must be economical and not worry about stats such as strikeouts; as a ground ball out on one pitch can give him two more pitches to throw to the next batter if needed. The defense must be on their game and able to dispose of any batter who puts the ball into play.

We're only 16 games or so into the season and there is plenty of story lines to follow. I'm interested to know what other's favorite aspects of the game are. Comment below!

Politics

2008-02-07T09:07:00.000-05:00

Did you vote in the Presidential Primaries on Tuesday? I hope so. I do not talk or write about politics all that often, but this race seems to be one of the most important presidential races in our history. I have a couple of questions though...Followed by a rant of course!

Whatever happened to Republicans and Democrats working together for the common good? How did the liberal and conservative labels overtake party designations? Every time I've discussed politics with other people face to face, I find the same general feeling; when are politics going to get out of the way so officials can correctly govern our country? Personally, I'm so sick of the liberals attacking the conservatives or vise versa. It seems like the presidential race of this upcoming election has turned into a 2nd grade school playground argument where no one takes a stand outside of their group's opinion. Let me paint a picture...

Imagine a country that was founded on the same exact principles that the US was. Now imagine we had a candidate that was not affiliated with any party, or even is he/she was, they were not at all radicalized like our candidates of today. They ran an upstanding campaign where they do not focus any of their time on smear campaigns or attacking their rival, but talking about how they would fix/run the country. Wouldn't that be incredible? I am not against debates, as they are necessary to hash out issues so the public can see where the candidate really stands, but I am against speeches and TV ads where one candidate and/or their party attacks another. Now, imagine this candidate gets elected. Instead of filling his/her cabinet with people only from their party, they appointed people of differing viewpoints so they could hear each sides opinion and make their decision based on what they've heard and how they feel. Wow! Wouldn't that be amazing? This is how I understand what our founding fathers meant when they wrote the constitution and formed our government. Somewhere along the way, childish behavior took over and we've strayed farther and farther away.

Just to clarify, I am a registered republican with conservative tendencies. I've recently made the decision though to change my party designation to independent. The reason for this is while I do agree with most conservative viewpoints, I do not agree with the way either side has conducted themselves in the recent years.

Well there is my rant about politics. Want to know who I voted for? Email me or comment below!

Baseball Contracts

2008-02-01T08:17:00.000-05:00

So on my ride into work this morning I was listening to Baseball this morning on XM Radio as usual when one particular comment grabbed my attention. I think it was mainly because of the way it was said but it really put the baseball world in perspective. One of the guests was talking about how teams will usually scour the wires to find "has-beens" or "journeyman" players to fill out their bench for the upcoming season. The exact comment that caught my attention was when he said "Yeah, teams will throw a million dollars at a washed up pitcher just in case it can work out." A million dollars on a chance it will work out??? Where do I sign up? I can throw a ball hard and sometimes on target, can I get a chance for a contract for half that much?

I think we as fans have to take a step back sometimes and really understand how ridiculous professional sports are with their salaries. Don't get me wrong, I love watching baseball. I can't stand however to watch the NBA and even the NFL though. I recently found myself watching more and more college basketball though. I think the reason for this is because in my mind it is still just about the game of basketball, and that's why I like to watch it. The fans are so into the game and often cheer in unison. The players play as a team, do whatever their coach tells them, and usually the one the one that executes their team game plan best comes out on top.

Back to my main point though. It is a very difficult topic to get into on how to fix the priorities of our country and contrary to liberal beliefs this has nothing to do with our current administration. We as a country seem to value entertainment and sports over everything else. If this was not true, you would see ball players still having to get jobs in the off season like they had to back in the 50's and 60's. It seems like a repetitive argument but the things that matter most like teachers, police, firefighters, paramedics, etc. get paid almost nothing in comparison to a person who can play a sport well. And many of the people in those lines of work put their lives on the line everyday. Please let me know the next time a professional athlete puts their life on the line for another. ..

Website Design

2008-01-14T08:40:00.000-05:00

So after upgrading this weekend to Joomla 1.5, I did a little research online. I noticed a lot of companies offering web design services at a per page rate. I also noticed a lot of small groups and companies that have web pages that are terrible. When I went to look at their designer's site I found a site equally terrible. The issue here is that these people were paying close to $500 for a 5 page website!!!!! Even worse, not even a good one!

I'm a firm believer in using the Internet to better expose one's business but you're doing more harm than good by having an unorganized, dirty, plain website.

That is why I've decided that I will offer up some time to install and configure exactly what I have on brduke.com for anyone interested at a reasonable rate. This is not my livelihood, so I do not need to charge any unrealistic fees or anything like that. I actually enjoy doing this. The great thing about installing a Joomla system is that once I am finished with the initial setup, you can modify the site yourself!

If anyone is interested in my services for a small business or personal site please email me at brian@brduke.com for pricing and project details. If you are just looking for ideas or recommendations feel free to ask!

Joomla 1.5

2008-01-14T08:36:00.000-05:00

This weekend I upgraded my site to the newest version of Joomla, version 1.5 RC4. Everything went as smooth as silk and I couldn't be happier with how it's come out. The ability to move modules to where I want them, add feeds and menus to the side bars, and overall usability of the system make Joomla one of the best and easiest CMS systems I've ever used. I would highly recommend it to anyone. In addition is you were looking to implement the system yourself, I would recommend doing it with Siteground as I have found their hosting service to be superb! The only request I have if you choose to use siteground is that you click on either the banner at the bottom of my page or the link on the right sidebar so I can get credit for referring you there! Thanks!!!

Mitchell Report

2007-12-16T23:20:00.000-05:00

Like many baseball fans, I spent the past couple days discussing the Mitchell "Report" with friends, colleagues, and crazy people on ESPN message boards. It really astonishes me how the general public has been steered to believe the information in the report is true beyond the shadow of a doubt!! I read the actual report, unlike many of the people forming their opinions from tidbits here and there and the "Evidence" that is put forth is an absolute joke in most cases. I concede the copies of personal checks, shipping labels, etc. is decent, but I still question if that alone would hold up in a court of law.

As we all know I am a die hard Yankees fan. I am trying to remain as objective as possible in the matter of Andy Pettite and Roger Clemens. As far as the other "Yankees" names I don't really care all that much. None of them had any long tenure with the club other than Chuck Knobluach and Mike Stanton, who supposedly took the HGH while with the METS. Either way, for those of you that actually read the report and not some random beat writer's column you can see my point. There is no evidence (prior to Pettite's admission) that anything contained in the report is valid other than a drug dealer's statement. This guy is trying to not go to jail. My bet is he would sell anyone out to avoid jail time. Furthermore, last time I check HGH was against MLB rules in from 2003 on. The "report" claims Petite used HGH in 2002. Hmmmm....Most would agree that means he is not a "cheater" like he has been labeled in the media and by so many Yankee hating fans. The jury is still out on Clemens, although the "report" claims the same of him; use of HGH PRIOR to 2003.....

My personal feeling is people are so quick to judge these guys because they are prominent Yankees. So right away you get Sox fans and other Yankee haters jumping on the bandwagon to vilify them in any way they can. Lastly I would urge many of you who are quick to judge these guys to look into your own lives, if you cannot find one thing you've done in your life that you are ashamed of or regret, then make your judgment. If you find things you regret, work to make them right in your own life before using someone else's mistakes to make you feel better about yourself...

Quality over Price

2007-12-03T13:21:00.000-05:00

I have run into a number of companies recently that when asked about their current T1 of T3 solution have all said something like; "we got a great deal from our provider and they're offering a TWO year deal!" That's great...

This is the issue I want to address. Has anyone else noticed the main trend in technology? You know that one where everything is half the price or at least considerably cheaper about 6-8 months after you buy it This brings me to my point. If you were to sign a 2 or 3 year deal with a provider strictly based on the price you would be over paying for 70% of your contract....with no way out! The reason someone would do this and be happy about it is perplexing to say the least. Yet 50% of the time when I'm in a potential T1 or T3 deal with a customer I run into this statement.

This is why we offer 1 year deals at NEDS for all T1's. We know we're providing you with a high quality circuit so we are not worried about "locking" you into a deal for three years. By providing you with top notch customer service and high quality services we're confident you'll be back at the end of your contract.

I Love Thanksgiving

2007-11-25T19:52:00.000-05:00

I always love this time of year for a bunch of reasons. First of course is I get to go back to NY and see all of my family and friends from high school.

Second has got to be the food....it is amazing. I have this setup going right now where we go to my wife's family's house for the earlier meal and then head up to my parents' house for a second meal. How can you beat that?!?

Finally, Thanksgiving is one of the few holidays that does not seem to be torn apart in the media or political parties. It's meaning is simple, be thankful and give thanks for all the good things in your life. The original holiday does have religious implications in terms of giving thanks but it seems to me it's the only one that had not been attacked by the political correctness front, and thank God for that!!!

Downtime

2007-11-12T14:14:00.000-05:00

That's a crazy story about Navisite from the Boston Globe. I can't imagine how upset those customers must be! It's a wake up call to the industry that while the big boys are usually chosen for their size and multiple locations, that doesn't mean they are more reliable. You also have to factor in that the larger the provider, the more people will be affected by any downtime.

I may be just a bit biased, but if I had a small company I would not chose a Navisite or Savvis because of their size and the fact that one little mistake by just one of their 1000's of employees can cause my business insurmountable pain.

A bit of advice when you're choosing a hosting, backup, or telecom provider...Do not just chose the cheapest. Chose the company that you feel will treat you and your company, like they are a part of it. That is our philosophy at NEDS. I can only hope for the sake of the small companies out there will have increasing hosting, backup and telecom needs, that it becomes the philosophy of the rest of the providers out there..

Joomla

2007-10-30T16:59:00.000-04:00

So I came across this a few times in the past but never looked into it until now. There is an open source platform for creating dynamic, database driven websites that can be updated on the fly in a convenient, easy to use interface for FREE. Yes, for FREE.

The product is called Joomla (www.joomla.org) and it is great. I have been playing around with it on a subdomain of my site and I have to say I love it. When I have more time to give to using it more I will most likely redesign my regular site with it.

I will keep everyone posted with anything else I find related to this as it looks to be a great application!!

What I would do with the Yankees for 2008

2007-10-30T16:44:00.000-04:00

- Re-sign Posada and Rivera
- Sign Torii Hunter, move Melky to left, Matsui to right
- Pick up Abreu's option, trade him for prospects to the Angels (ala Sheff deal from last year)
- Attempt to trade Damon, but if you can't you have a platoon between him and Giambi at DH.
- Allow Giambi to play the field a little more if he is healthy unless you can trade him (highly unlikely)
- Play either Wilson Betemit or Andy Phillips at third. (Unless you can get a great 3b)
- Trade for Dontrelle Willis while his value is still down. If you want to make a huge splash, try to get Miguel Cabrera in the deal and throw some good talent their way.
- Go with the following starting rotation:

Wang
Pettite
Hughes
Chamberlin
Kennedy

- Get rid of Kyle Farnsworth in whatever way you can
- Sign Scott Linebrink
- Sign Jeremy Affedlt

That's all for now, I will add more if I come up with it...Thoughts anyone?

The End of an Era

2007-10-22T13:10:00.000-04:00

These are sad times for the true Yankee fans out there. Joe Torre is now officially a former manager of the New York Yankees. I must admit there were times when I thought about them replacing him due to some moves, or lack of moves that he has made in the past, but I never really wanted him to go. The guy is an absolute class act. He handled the largest media market in the country with relative ease while juggling the multitude of personalities in his clubhouse. I really wish the Yankees had offered him a 2 year deal so he could finish out the old Yankee stadium and usher in the new one with the dignity and respect he commands and deserves. I hope he manages again and does well as I'm sure he will. We'll miss you Joe!

Moving on to who they should hire as the new manager, I'm pulling for Joe Girardi. Let's face it, the guy's good, real good. He took a team that had no expectations in Florida and made the ma playoff contender. He has the personality to mesh well with players while commanding their respect, and he's a catcher. We all know catchers make great managers (i.e. Torre, Soscia, Pena, etc.). For some reason he just makes me feel a lot more confident than having Don Mattingly at the helm.

We'll see what happens though....It's going to be a really long off season. Go ROCKIES!!!!!!

Sox Vs. Yanks

2007-09-17T16:35:00.000-04:00

What a great series! Obviously a bit of my excitement is due to the fact that the Yankees won the series but when you sit back and look at the drama involved in all three games, you can't help but marvel at one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports.
I must admit I was a bit aggravated on Friday night after the Yankees blew it with the bases loaded in the first inning but I'm glad I watched the game to see the incredible comeback in the 8th. Okajima had never given up a home run to a lefty before Giambi. And then, moments later he serves another one up to Cano. I feel a little bad for him as I think the long season is starting to get to him. The Yankees impressed me a though showing the grit to stay in there no matter what the score. That makes me feel good about their chances in October.

Saturday's game was not as fun for my side but it was still a good game. I think if Giambi wasn't at first a lot of the runs the Sox scored wouldn't have happened, but oh well. Beckett pitched well, although I still can't stand him as I was at Game 6 of the 2003 world Series to see his series clinching performance.

Sunday's game was one for the ages. Possibly the greatest pitcher of all time (Clemens) against a very very good pitcher (Schilling). Both of them re-inventing themselves, knowing they cannot throw 95-98 anymore. It was well pitched by both sides and I'm glad Francona left Schilling in to face the greatest clutch hitter of his day jack on over the Green Monster. Nothing better than seeing the captain come though in the clutch AGAIN!! Joba once again impressed and Rivera scared the crap out of me. All in all, despite the lack of sleep it caused, there's not much better than Yankees Vs. Red Sox!!

MLB September Pennant Race

2007-09-07T13:18:00.003-04:00

It 's getting down to the wire now with only a few weeks left of baseball. It's been an interesting year thus far in baseball with a lot of ups and downs (dependent on your team of course). The Yankees dug themselves a huge hole in the beginning of the season and it's starting to show how difficult such a hole is to overcome over the long season.

Personally, I'm not too worried about taking the division, the Yankees have won the division 9 straight years now and in the past few years it hasn't produced much. It seems like whichever team gets the hottest and can ride the momentum the longest through the playoffs wins (i.e. Anaheim, Florida, Detroit, St. Louis, Boston, etc). So, my hope is the Yankees, having been playing playoff type baseball for the past month now will be primed and ready to play in October via the wild card. There are definitely some questions with the team, but every team this year has questions, despite what some misguided Boston fans will say.

And this is why I love baseball!!

Jack of All Trades, Master of....

2007-09-01T18:16:00.000-04:00

I feel the need to address a situation I have run into for quite some time in my recent years of working with small businesses. This issue is the small business owner who starts up their business thinking they can do it all. While it is very commendable to attempt such a feat but if you are a small 1-5 person shop it is highly unlikely that you will have the time to concentrate the amount of time necessary to every aspect of your business. Given my experience is in the Technology side I will address this area.

You may think you know your stuff in relation to IT or you may even have expertise in a certain area but trust me, you do not know enough. To correctly implement a company network and manage it, you need a highly qualified individual to work for you full time, or a good outsourcing alternative. Let me take the time to highlight a few things that could come in useful for a small business owner. You may think it is common sense to know all of this but trust me; common sense is not so common after all. I run into more and more businesses today that are doing one of these things, a combination of two of them, or (sadly) all of them.

Just because you set up your home network does not mean you can handle your business' network. When your son, daughter, nephew, niece, cousin, etc. set up their personal web page they did not get a certificate in the mail from the local university making them a web development expert. And finally my favorite; please, and I say again please DO NOT look for the most computer savvy person in your company and make them your IT director. This does an unbelievable amount of more harm to both your company and this person in the future. Not only does it put a person in a position they are not qualified for (one of the worst things you can do to someone, in my opinion), after a year or so of occupying the position they may believe they are qualified for the position. This is detrimental to them in two ways. First, whenever they run into a problem they do not know how to fix they will have to call in an outside consultant, who will charge top dollar to diagnose the problem and more top dollar to have an engineer to come in a fix the problem. The ill-advised IT Manager now thinks they have fixed the problem and will use it in their future as a point on their resume. This leads to my other point. If this person leaves your company and applies for a similar position in another organization, they will be shocked when they are asked specific questions in interviews about what they did in the past position and find they were not at all what their title claims they were. Now this person is left in a bad position as they do not know what positions they are indeed qualified for.

While the Internet is an amazing invention and has unbelievable capabilities, it has become a very dangerous place. New viruses, worms, Trojan horses, denial of service (DoS) attacks, etc. are happening daily and you do not have the time or expertise to combat them along with running your own business. Be proud if you are IT savvy, but do not be ignorant and risk your business as well as your family's well being because of foolish pride.

Think about this in another light. You may be handy around the house and with a variety of tools, but does that make you a carpenter, landscaper, mechanic, or plumber? You probably installed an air conditioning unit this summer when it started to get hot outside, but does that make you an HVAC engineer? The answer is clearly a no, yet so many business owners these days do not think of IT that way. Why? Good question. I do not want to claim I have the definitive answer for this, only a hypothesis. My opinion is that because IT, in its current capacity is still relatively new to the small business. Not everyone understands its worth and importance, well at least until they do not have it anymore. They feel that since they can check their email and use the Internet they are now capable of setting up or maintaining complex IT infrastructures. Think about this; if your computer and company network shut down RIGHT NOW, what would you do?

This article can also be found published at Ezinearticles.com

Value Added Sales Calls

2007-08-30T13:18:00.000-04:00

So one weekend morning I was trying to take advantage of a nice quiet house and an empty schedule for the day to catch up on some much needed sleep. I was doing well until the phone began to ring around 9:00AM. Knowing it was probably a telemarketer, I tried to ignore the first call and go back to sleep. It worked! That is until another call 15 minutes later. I thought very hard about getting up and yelling at the person calling but my bed was just too comfortable and the phone was so far away (on the nightstand next to my bed). I finally lost it when the phone rang again at 9:45AM. I answered with the full intention of really ripping into the poor soul on the other end for disrupting my late morning slumber.

"Hi Mr. Duke, this is Kelly calling for Mother's Against Drunk Driving (MADD). How are you today?" (I could have picked EITHER of the other two phone calls and have been set up perfectly to blow off some steam, but no...I get Mother's Against Drunk Driving....How exactly am I supposed to be mean to them?)

"I'm doing well Kelly, how are you?" (I always try to be polite to the person as they are just doing their job.)

Kelly went into her speech about why she was calling. She was not calling for a donation, she assured me. She explained to me what MADD was all about ( I feel I could have taken a pretty good guess) and how they have a program (here it comes) in which they offer a discount subscription or renewal of your favorite magazine as a way to support MADD. They get 16% of each subscription as a donation. Given I was due for a renewal of the ONE magazine I subscribe to I figured why not help out a good cause and renew my subscription? So I asked Kelly if they had that magazine available and (surprise!) they did not. Oh well I figured, I'll get a different one then. We went through a couple lists a finally settled on one.

One $50 Popular Science subscription later Kelly thanked me for my time and told me the information would be sent to me in the mail very soon. I thanked her for helping me to spend $50 before I had gotten out of bed and told her to have a nice day.

This leads to an interesting question. Undoubtedly nearly everyone that has ever been in sales currently has or will continue to make cold calls. What did Kelly do that was different than most other telemarketers? She offered me value (the magazine) on top of the good feeling of donating to a good cause (MADD). When you cold call your customers are you offering value other than the product or service you are selling? You may think the product or service you are selling is the value you are offering but does your prospect see that?

I am interested in hearing what techniques you have used that has helped your success rate in making cold calls. Please comment.

This article can also be found published on Ezinearticles.com at:

Not Much of a "Blogger"

2007-08-23T16:15:00.000-04:00

So I've never been into blogging much but I figured this is easier than creating a message board for the site. I'm going to use this to post my personal articles and thoughts here and there and for other articles or news I find interesting periodically.

I'm sure I will be making many comments regarding baseball as well...