Recent Blog Posts
Blogs ยป Archive for May, 2006
An important lesson from Donald Trump
Personally, I can’t stand Donald Trump. His values are the opposite of many of mine. He is unfaithful in relationships, relishes fame, and seems to be a sad character in his ongoing craving for ego gratification. He is supposed to be an engaging guy in person, but I’ve never met him and so have no idea.
I saw him on the cover of People magazine this week with his new baby (not the young woman sitting next to him, but the infant in her arms!).
Anyway, he is financially successful and we can learn something from some of his tactics. The one tactic that I think is EXTREMELY applicable to Sitepoint readers (who are often in their 20s, like he was when he started) is something he did when first starting out:
He joined a few exclusive clubs where wealthy and influential people hang out. Maybe his father pulled some strings to get him in, but odds are good he used his own persuasion to join.
And then he kept going, and kept meeting important contacts.
There are all sorts of clubs in your area. Chambers of Commerce are one such club, although to meet the real movers and shakers you need to join …
The story of a remarkable business turnaround
My brother-in-law (call him Bill) moved down to Florida this year, and took a job managing a local auto parts dealer. Within a few months, he had increased sales by over 25%. He is not a natural sales person. He’s just a nice, ordinary guy.
His approach is applicable to selling web services:
1. The former manager was grumpy to customers. Bill was friendly. He welcomed phone calls with a friendly greeting. He spent time asking customers about how things were going, and listening. He worked hard to find the part the customer needed, while the former manager had a “take it or leave it” attitude.
2. The former manager didn’t learn his products. Bill knew his products cold and knows how to talk about them in layman’s terms. He is also good at explaining, in clear language, the benefits his products offer.
3. Bill charges for things that the manager was uncomfortable charging for, but which cost the company money. For instance, he charges for shipping/freight.
4. Bill provides exemplary service. For instance, he takes back parts without question — knowing that clients will come back for more sales. The former manager put up a fight with returns.
5. He is always thinking …
Spanky Corners 1.0 : Rounded Corners + Clean HTML + No JavaScript
Of the many interesting arguments raised during our recent discussions centering around Greg’s Spiffy Corners and markup in general, one point was difficult to argue — ’If you say this isn’t the answer, what’s your alternative?’
Fair point too.
At the time, I successfully skated around a real answer to that question but, with a Design View due and nothing to write about, I decided to take a crack at an answer. The alternative I published last month was quite raw, but with plenty of help from Lox, Matt, Kevin, Tom and Craig, Spanky Corners is now at a stage where we think it’s relatively robust, useful and usable to a wide range of web developers.
The advantages are easy to recognize.
- Super low-fat HTML
- No JavaScript required
- No practical limitations on corner radius
- Valid XHTML (strict) and CSS
- Accessible
- Tiny graphic requirements
- We generate the images and CSS for you!
The only foreseeable drawbacks we see are:
- Dependence on a minimum HTML structure (i.e. single paragraphs can’t work).
- SOLVED: An IE6 user scaling his/her font-size up will see a small gap develop at the top left
I’m still not convinced there isn’t a way around the IE6 issue, so let me know …
JRun 5 hits beta
Adobe (formerly Macromedia) JRun 4 was released in 2002. Since then, Java web development has moved on somewhat. JRun 4 supports Servlet 2.3 and JSP 1.2, while most servers are now on Servlet 2.4 and JSP 2.0. At four years since the last release, many developers assumed development of the server had ceased.
But now it looks like JRun might be set to rise from the ashes, with Adobe looking for beta testers of a major new release. At this stage, Adobe is tight-lipped on what new features will come with this version–EJB 3.0? Jetty-like continuations? More affordable pricing?
I’ve asked for a look at the beta, and will report what I can when I can.
A review of the past 3 weeks
It is always a good idea to review where your current projects have come from, so you can build on what works. For instance, an IT services client of mine contacted me recently. He has noticed that he is getting the majority of his business from referrals and networking. He found this interesting, given that he was investing lots of money in a direct sales campaign. Hmmm….
In my case, here is where business has come from over the past few weeks, in the hopes that there are some lessons that will be useful:
- Lots of sales from the sites I showed you some time ago, which is great since it means I can rely much less on consulting-style projects. As it turns out, the Boxing Fitness Institute is the biggest success, and I continue to build on that site with new programs and products. Lesson: Build repeatable products; use your web expertise to create revenue-generating sites.
- A long-term referral source who has been quiet for 9 months got back in touch with 3 projects. I’ve stayed in touch with him regularly, even though he had no work for me, because I knew his value (and my potential value to him …
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