Monthly Archives: August 2009

My son, August Henry, enjoys breakfast

Working at an ambitious company that feels like a start-up in all the right ways can be demanding. You’re getting pulled in a hundred different directions, so you need to be incredibly efficient with your time. I’m involved in every aspect of daily life here in the Philadelphia office, from logistics, to sales, to management and people development.

Balancing all that is tough enough, but throw a family into the mix and you have to be really sharp to keep it all together. My wife and I had our first son 14 months ago. He is…

It is common knowledge among all sales reps that making a solid first impression on a prospect and building rapport is simultaneously one of the most difficult, yet rewarding experiences. A sales person who is able to consistently foster strong personal connections and develop professional, consultative business relationships will find the sales process to be infinitely simpler and faster.

Below are my top 5 tips for having a successful first call:

1. Introduce your personality ASAP

It seems like there was a script developed hundreds of years ago for sales calls that every sales person has been following. Break the mold. You are talking…

Happy Friday everyone! We are continuing our Fun Friday series today with some photos of people in our San Francisco office.

What do you think? Friday casual or too casual? Is there such thing as too casual in a tech company?

Give us your comments.

A. Friday Casual

B. Friday Casual

C. Friday Casual

D. Friday Casual

E. Too Casual

F. Too Casual

G. Too Casual

H. Too Casual

I. Too Casual

And finally, the pitfall of Casual Friday… “same same, but different”!?!

Friday Casual faux pas!

When I joined the workforce years ago, I was at the bottom of the corporate totem pole. I had a manager, my manager had a manager, his manager had a manager, and so on. I was well managed. But I’ve learned who the real manager is in this hierarchy – you. You have to manage your manager.

I come from a background in business consulting, in which managing your manager, or upward management, is not only an important tool, but critical in getting projects completed successfully. It may seem obvious that your manager should know exactly what you are working on. But more often than not, they are…

For anyone who has or is working for me, the information I am going to share with you in this series is all too familiar. I’m pretty passionate about sharing these tidbits with my team and advocating their use in our day-to-day activities. I’ve seen the benefits of using this advice throughout my career, so I’m passionate about “spreading the word,” hoping to help others as others helped me. I would appreciate comments on this series and please feel free to forward these posts to anyone you feel may benefit as well.

Closing the Loop

Someone once gave me a great piece of advice…