Sales People Do Exactly What You Pay Them To Do

The Argyle sales machine is powered by three very talented youngsters:  Danny, Matt, and Clay AKA "DMC".  Even though they're not 15 year sales veterans, they're very quickly learning the trade and very quickly driving results.  

They're also very quickly showing many of the classic sales behaviors!

They follow the money.  We made a minor tweak to our comp plan last month and the team very quickly figured out the types of deals that make them the most commission.  And now they're trying to find as many of those deals as possible.  Similarly, they're quickly learning to make calculations regarding their time, the particulars of the prospect, the likelihood a deal closes, and the likely pay-off.  This is exactly the type of balancing act that you want them to learn as a manager.

They ask for what they need to make more money.  Our product is constantly evolving and we definitely have a few shortcomings in some important funtional areas.  And the sale guys are very vocal about it.  In their minds, addressing these shortcomings will help them sell more product...which will help them make more money!

They ask for what they need to save time...which helps them make more money.  We use Salesforce.com and we have (what I suspect is) a reasonably advanced implementation for a team as small as ours.  But our guys are always driving for more process and cleaner workflow so that they can spend more time dialing and less time administrating.  (This type of process feedback is one reason our team rocks!)

In short - our sales team does EXACTLY what we pay them to do.  Which is why it is critical that sales compensation plans align with broader sales, marketing, product, etc. strategies.  More on this in a future post. 

The Argyle Social Vacation Policy

I updated Argyle's vacation policy in our wiki tonight:

Kick butt and take names. Take as much time off as you need to optimize future butt kicking and name taking.  Just let your manager know when you'll be out of the office by completing the Out of Office Form.

(I added the bit about the form.)

Our vacation policy is very much inspired by the Netflix Freedom & Responsibility Culture.

Should Marketers Rent Or Buy?

Brian Halligan - HubSpot CEO - gave a great marketing startegy interview on MarketingPilgrim.com earlier this week.  In the interview, Mr. Halligan drew an interesting parallel between renting and buying as an online marketer:

Marketers are traditionally renters. They rent space on shelves, they rent space in Adwords, they rent space at tradeshows or they rent giant lists to cold call from. None of this is anything they own.

We believe that the best way to market a product or service is to create assets that you own and can nurture. Things like unique content, links, Facebook fans, Twitter followers are assets that stick around and, from a monetary aspect, can cost a lot less than the old model.

I dig the analogy.  Here is my addition $.02:

• For start-up marketers, it probably make sense to begin with a rental strategy to find your audience and hone your message.  It takes a lot of effort to develop "owned" marketing assets, so I suggest investing wisely.
• Halligan makes the argument for quantity over quantity.  Even though he has internal data to support his claim, I think that this is a fine line.  HubSpot generates a ton of content and I read none of it.   Other companies and bloggers publish less frequently, but I read every single piece they produce.  Depends on your target customers - are they sophisticated or are they beginners?
• Creating is more valuable than sharing in the long run.  I'm blown away by the number of social media marketers that seem to think that curation is just as important as creation.
• Content marketing is a habit.  The recent rebirth of The Boggs Blog is my effort to get back in the habit.

A Great Idea For Lead Follow-Up Emails

We drive a fairly significant volume of leads through a "download a whitepaper" call-to-action - which has a great conversion rate, but generates leads a bit further up the funnel than a "request a demo" or "free trial" call-to-action.  (I've written about the trial vs. demo call-to-action previously.)

Whitepaper leads can be tough to qualify - they haven't indicated any direct interest in our product, just the contents of the whitepaper.  As a result, our sales reps are very direct in their email follow-up.  Here is an example email we send to our whitepaper leads:

I saw that you downloaded one of our whitepapers, and thus I have a question.

Which one of these categories do you fit into?

A. You're just checking things out and there is no way you want to talk to me about Argyle.
B. You're maybe interested and may want to talk b/c you're learning and have questions.
C. You're dying to talk to me and couldn't wait for this email to arrive to your inbox and you are ecstatic that it's finally here.

Let me know which bucket you're in and I'll act accordingly!

Matt 

This approach works really well!  We make it very simple for the lead to qualify itself.  If the answer is "A" - then great, we don't waste any time on the lead.  If the answer is "B" or "C" - then we spring into action. The anecdotal response rate is significantly higher than the usual boring, email follow-up stuff.  And prospects get a teensy glimpse into the friendly way we like to do business at Argyle.

Hat tip to Brad McGinity from Windsor Circle for recommending the format.

Never Give Unless You Receive

Generally speaking - it is better to give than to receive.

That is unless you're selling something, in which case only suckers give without receiving.  Reciprocity is the name of the game when it comes to negotiating with a prospective customer, partner, etc.  

A very simple example

• Prospect asks for a discount on product XYZ.
• Rookie says "OK".
• Killer says "Sure - I can give you that discount on an annual agreement executed this week".

This is a difficult discipline to build because most salespeople are natural pleasers - who doesn't want to make the customer happy by giving them what they want?!?  It takes a lot of confidence to tell a prospect that is ready to buy "no", in part because it is always sooo tempting to just get the deal done.

The reality is that a lack of this discipline can get very expensive, very fast.  A skilled negotiator on the other side of the table is going to keep asking until the Rookie says "no" and tear the rep to shreds in the process.  (I've been on the giving and receiving end of said shredding process!)  

Putting a condition on most "yes" answers is a great way to diffuse this problem.

Mandatory Reading For All Entrepreneurial "Business" People

One of the most annyoing things about business school were my many classmates that had "an idea for a start-up" that never did anything to realistically pursue the idea.  Many of these classmates were just poseurs.  Others had personal constraints (family, fear, debt, etc.) that precluded them from taking the first step - which is perfectly understandable.

I think that the underlying problem for a lot of these people and - quite frankly - most business people with an "idea" is that they don't know how to take the first step.  

Turns out that most business folk don't know that ideas are worthless...and that getting from "idea" to "product" requires incredible amounts of work, thought, patience, etc.  Getting from "product" to "company" is about 10X as difficult.

Too many that think that the first step is writing a business plan and then hiring some contract developers. Too few realize that the correct first step is a technical co-founder.

I sent this article by David Albert - An Open Letter to Business People - to some of the entrepreneurial faculty at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School with the hope that they would share it with every MBA student with an idea that "just needs a developer":

So you have an idea for a startup? Awesome! The world needs more people like you. You're going to have to start by finding a technical cofounder. This is hard because you're not a programmer, so I'm going to teach you how to do it.

You'll notice I said "technical cofounder" and not "developer." That's important. If you decide to pay someone a few thousand dollars for a web app made to your specifications, you will probably fail. Why? Because your idea is not very good yet. You're going to have to iterate a whole bunch of times before your idea succeeds. You need someone who's going to be in it for a long haul. You need a technical cofounder.

I posted this today because my friend Patrick Vernon sent me the following email:

By the way, I can’t tell you how often I share this article. I’m forwarding it again this morning to a former student with a “great idea.”  :)

The Danger of Outthinking Your Customers

We toe this line pretty frequently:

• Feature is amazingly powerful and/or complex under the hood.
• Team is tempted to expose some of the power/complexity in the UI.
• Product conversation starts to wander, scope starts to creep, etc.

The situation usually arises during the course of discussing how the feature appears to the user.  Someone (usually me) suggests how it might be useful for the customer to see, use, etc. just a taste of the complexity and justifies it by fabricating a very clever use case or advanced implementation or a "omg - wouldn't it be sooo cool if?!?!" scenario.

This is often when the good stuff happens.  But this is also often when you might be outthinking your customer.

I suggest reminding yourself on a regular basis that your customers don't think about your product NEARLY as often as you do...and thus probably don't care about the complexity, nuance, etc. in the same way.  

They just need your product to work consistently.  And hopefully without much effort.

The Sales Break Up Voicemail

If you've ever worked in sales, then you know this routine:

• Lead pops up via free trial, whitepaper download, demo request, etc.
• Sales guy immediately calls lead...no answer, leaves voicemail and sends email.
• Sales guy tries to contact lead for a week or two with no response - leaves more vmails, emails.
• ...
• Sales guy eventually moves on to the next lead.

 This is a universal occurence and of couse we deal with it a lot at Argyle.

I recently read a blog post about leaving a "break up" message with these leads.  (Can't remember the source - will add a link if I can dig it up.)  Instead of the standard follow-up stuff - thanks for your interest, just following up, value proposition, etc. - the break-up message is literally a break-up:

Hey there - it's Eric calling from Argyle.  I've tried contacting you a few times regarding your recent inquiry.  We haven't been able to connect, so I'm guessing you've moved on to other options.  If there is anything I can do to be helpful, please don't hesitate to call - otherwise, this will be the last time I contact you.  I appreciate your interest in Argyle!

We've started doing this at Argyle...and it works.  Don't have any quantitative data, but the anecdotal evidence is pretty compelling!  Prospects call back and they respond to the email.  And if they don't, then your sales reps don't waste anytime chasing down prospects that aren't ready to start the sales process.

I suggest giving it a shot.

Three Tips For Early Stage Board Meetings

My friends Matt and Brad started a company called Windsor Circle and recently raised $350k to build e-commerce integration software.  Matt led his first board meeting a couple weeks ago and, prior to the meeting, emailed me and another local start-up CEO - Doug from Spring Metrics - to ask about "the three things to keep in mind" for early stage start-up board meetings.

Here is a summary of my response to Matt's message:

1.  Be careful that you don't spend too much time talking about product minutia.  We spend maybe 10 minutes of every board meeting talking about the product.  It is usually a description of what we've done and what we're doing next...and how it will help us generate more revenue.  

This might seem counter-intuitive to lean-start-up-product-driven entrepreneurs - Doug actually disagreed very strongly in a follow-up email.  The reality is that we OBSESS over our product and our customers at Argyle.  Aside from prioritizing projects, product development is the part of our business that I worry about the least.  (This is a testament to our product team - Adam, Mike, & Josh.)  So I prefer to use our board meetings to talk about business-building issues.

2.  You shouldn't show your board a number, forecast, etc. unless you can explain in detail where it came from or at least explain the assumptions you made when you derived it.  I've gotten called out on lazy numbers a few times, so I've learned this one the hard way.  This mainly applies to forecasts and goals - actuals are generally pretty easy to explain.

3.  You'll get MUCH more value talking about the future than reviewing the recent past.  The standard metrics and reports are important and it is obviously very important to understand how these numbers drive your business.  But it is also very easy to get caught up in details that don't matter nearly as much as pending decisions around fundraising, recruiting, partnerships, customer acquisition, etc.

I'm no expert in board meetings.  And I'll be the first to admit I was pretty terrified when I led our first board meeting back in October.  And I'll further admit that I've got MUCH to learn about being a CEO and running an effective board.  But I think we do a pretty good job focusing on key issues at the board level.

How Smart People Respond to Intro Emails

I send my fair share of introduction emails - usually solicited.  And more and more find myself on the receiving end - often unsolicited.  Doesn't really matter, I suppose.  I genuinely enjoy getting connected with new people.

Given the volume of these emails I process, I've learned the finer points of responding and moving the conversation from email to phone.  Here are examples of the wrong way and the right way to respond to an email intro.

The Wrong Way:

Nice to meet you Eric.  I'd love to steal about 15 to 20 minutes of your time to get your thoughts on how blah blah blah

Let me know if something works for you.  If it's convenient please feel free to grab a slot on my calendar here:  http://tungle.me/sucks

I received this one a few days ago - not the worst reply in the world, but could be much better.*  This person asked for the call...and then put the onus on me to schedule the call.  Plus, the email doesn't really convey to me how this call is worth my time.  Lastly, Tungle.me is massively annoying and off-putting.  

After I received this email, I made a point to tell all of our sales guys that they should respond to email introductions the right way.

The Right Way:

Thanks for the intro, Bo.  (Moved to bcc.)

Nice to meet you, Mark.  Would love to line up a chat to get acquainted and to share what we're building at Argyle.  In short - we do social media management with a focus on automation and conversion analytics.  Definitely think that there are some ways to we can be helpful to each other.

Here are a few days times that work for a call:

- Mon May 23 - 2pm to 3:30pm EST
- Wed May 25 - 2pm to 6pm EST
- Thu May 26 - 11am to 2pm EST

Let me know what day/time works and I'll send over an invitation.

Re: KFBS - I graduated from the full-time program in May 2009.  Based on your graduation year per LinkedIn, you might know my friend blah blah...

Hope to talk soon.

Eric 

When I'm on the receiving end of a valuable email introduction, I do my best to close the phone call.  I frame what Argyle is all about, sell the conversation, make it dead simple for the other person to make it happen (just tell me a time and I'll do the work), and - whenever possible - try to make a personal connection.

Seriously - don't be lazy.  An email introduction can be solid gold.  Put in the effort to close the deal.  It pays off over time.

*I recognize that I might not be worth the effort of a more aggressive intro follow-up email.  :)

Directors, VPs, & CXOs

These days, we're spending more time thinking about new hires and organizational structure.  In particular, we're thinking about the hires we need to manage the different functional areas of our business - sales, marketing, client services, etc.

We actually have a list of the functional areas and a list of the people - some we know, some we don't - that we think might be a good fit for the role.  For each of these roles, we try to fit the prospective hires into one of three seniority buckets:

Director - younger person that might currently be a Director elsewhere and have his eyes on the VP job.  We would expect this person to get his hands dirty at first and grow into a leader/VP type.  Probably has a chip on his shoulders, probably hungry to work hard.  Big risk, potentially big reward.

VP - more senior person that is more about managing, less about doing.  She is probably already a VP...or maybe a Director looking to step-up.  More experienced.  Less risky.  More expensive.

CXO - very senior person, definitely with a track record, probably a game-changing hire.  Very expensive...but also most likely worth the price.  Biggest concern is cultural fit given our stage.

(I'm a stickler for accurate titles - so this stuff matters to me.)

There are obviously trade-offs across each - compensation, risk, experience, cultural fit, scalability, etc.  And as is often the case, I tend to liken trade-offs to sports.  

On one extreme is an inexpensive young player with all-star potential and big ambitions - you might draft Kevin Garnett...or you might end up with Gred Oden.  On the other end is very expensive veteran player that is a known quantity with a track record - sometimes it works out perfectly, just like Kevin Garnett going to the Celtics.

Ultimately - I think - it comes down to the person.  As our "people we'd like to hire list" migh imply, we'll look for the right person for the role - regardless of experience - and then figure out a way to make it work.

Where Should I Bank My Start-Up?

I had a quick chat with a Durham-based entrepreneur in our office this morning.  I'm not sure how we got to the topic of banking, but he mentioned that he had an account with SunTrust or Bank of America or some other "normal" bank.

I immediately suggested that he contact Zack Mansfield at Square 1 Bank - which is where we bank at Argyle - or contact someone at Silicon Valley Bank.  Many entrepreneurs don't know about these banks - but they specialize in financial services for start-ups and venture capital.

I made the suggestion for a few reasons:

• These banks understand the process of starting and building a company.  And they understand the financing challenges entrepreneurs face along the journey.  So instead of working with a banker whose other customers are "traditional" businesses, you'll work with a banker whose other customers are guys just like you.
• Because of the focus on entrepreneurs, these banks provide great networking opportunities.  Square 1 hosts a monthly event called NC Spark for the CXOs of it's Durham-based clients - always great conversations and beers.  The folks at Square 1 and SVB have both introduced me to prospective investors.  Zack at Square 1 recently made an introduction to an employee that we hired a week after the email introduction.
• The advisory services we've gotten from Square 1 have been great.  Can't imagine that a relationship banker at SunTrust would be able to help me think through fundraising complexities and growth challenges we've encountered over the past year or so.  Adam Smith - Zack's predecessor, now at StatSheet - was particularly helpful in this regard.

So there you go.  Don't bank your start-up at the local BB&T.

How Growing Start-Ups Should Do Meetings

In short - all at once, very quickly, if at all.

I hate meetings just as much as the next guy - but I feel like we do them pretty well at Argyle.  On Monday mornings, I have:

• 8am sales team meeting to talk about the number, the pipeline, and any interesting/important opportunities.  Since we have a small and growing team, we also discuss process and best practices. Salesforce.com drives all of the reporting automatically.
• 9:30am client services team meeting to talk about our customers, outstanding and/or tricky support inquiries, and projects like demo videos, collateral, surveys, etc.  We're not as data-driven in this area as we need to be...but we also just hired our first Account Manager.  So we're still finding our way.
• 10am meeting with Adam - Argyle co-founder and CTO - to make sure that we have at least one time set aside during the week to stay in synch.  Lately we've been talking about fundraising and baby raising.  (Adam has a 3-month old and I'm expecting baby #1 - a boy - in a couple months.)
• 11am all-hands meeting to talk about the company and each of the moving parts.  It is important that everyone knows what everyone else is doing so that we're always pulling in the same direction.  It is also important to share individual and team successes across the company.  There are 9 of us now, so these meetings are quite a bit different that just a few months ago.  And I suspect that they'll be different again 3 months from today.
• The product team uses a scrum methodology, so they have lots of meetings - but they're all very focused and very fast.  I join some of these meetings - usually also on Mondays.

Aside from scrum meetings, that's it - so we get it all out of the way at the beginning of the week.  

The meetings are very focused - we use the same agenda format for each meeting and focus on the same core metrics and topics.  We generally don't make decisions during these meetings - they're usually status updates, feedback sessions, Q&A, etc.

Because the meetings are focused, they're also usually very fast.  All are less than 30 minutes, sometimes less than 15.

Customer Survey Tips For Start-Ups

We conducted our first "formal" customer survey last week.  (I say "formal" because we've solicited TONS of customer feedback over the past 16 months, just not all at once and not with a $100 AMZN gift card up for grabs for a lucky participant!)

Here are some suggestions based on our experience:

• Get a blend of qualitative and quantitative data.  Quantitative data is quick to gather and useful to track over time.  Qualitative data provides actionable insight and frames the all-important follow up calls.  You're doing yourself a disservice if you don't try to get a balance of both data types.
• Ask the same question in multiple ways.  For example, we asked customers to tell us what Argyle "does well", "does not so well", and "doesn't do but should start doing".  These questions are just different ways to solicit product feedback.  But by asking the question from different angles, we were able to get a suprisingly diverse set of responses.  And we were able to easily identify trends across the questions.
• Ask questions that extend beyond your product.  For example, we asked our customers to list other marketing software products that they use in addition to Argyle Social.  This information will help us have more relevant sales conversations and plan future product development projects.
• Follow up with your participants.  This requires a lot of work...but is also a HUGE opportunity.  In my experience, nothing wins hearts and minds like getting feedback from a customer, contacting the customer to discuss the feedback, addressing it in your product/service, and the closing the loop. (Nevermind that this is a great way to confirm/rejigger product development priorities!)  I'm doing lots of calls with our customers and our new account manager - Laura Coggins - later this week.  I'm really looking forward to the conversations!

Anything else to add?  

Free Trial? Or Request A Demo?

We recently made the decision to drop the "free trial" call-to-action from our site in favor of a "request a demo" call-to-action.  A few reasons why:

• We're a sales-driven company, not a marketing-driven company.  In other words, we expect to qualify, demo, and close accounts over the phone.  We don't expect customers to sign up without speaking to a rep - though it has happened quite a few times!  
• Our pricing starts at $149 per month, which prices us out of the e-commerce model.  We recently launched a $499 per month offering and we plan to launch another up-market product in the near future.  So we're migrating away from the "free trial" market.
• Free trials customers often don't have the best experience with our application.  We're targeting SMBs with a focus on those that know what they're doing - so our app is a bit more complex than that of our low-end competitors.  Free trials can sometimes leave customers confused, whereas demos let us frame the value, explain the app, and get the customer up and running more quickly.
• Requesting a demo is pretty strong interest indication and requires the prospect to clear a higher hurdle that a free trial - so our lead volume might drop, but lead quality might increase.  Not a bad trade off if you ask me!
• Free trials attract all kinds of ne'er do wells - spammers, competitors, hackers, etc.  A simple qualifying step keeps these goofballs out of your app and precludes lots of headaches. 

Thoughts?  We're watching the results very closely - will be interesting to see how the change plays out.

Unintentionally Brilliant Entrepreneurial Decisions

I started writing this post a few months ago.  I'm wrapping up the draft tonight as a part of an effort to pick up the pace on The Boggs Blog.  I've been reading lots of good stuff from David Cummings, Chris Dixon, and others - so I feel compelled to offer my humble $.02 to the start-up blog echo chamber.

Enjoy,
Eric 

--
There are hundreds of highly influential inputs that factor into the "successful start-up" equation:  Can you build a product?  Can you build a team?  Will the dogs eat the dog food?  And so on.  

Founders face many challenging hurdles to jump and decisions to make in the very early days of a company.  And there are lots of blog posts about start-up advice that cover most of these issues.  But I haven't read as much about the underlying life decisions that put the founder in a position to start the company and address the issues in the first place.

Here are a few decisions that Kelly and I have made over the years that (somewhat unintentionally) put me in a position to start a start-up in Jan 2010:

Managing Debt

Kelly and I bought our first house in 2004 - back when redongo loans were the norm.  I was 23 and Kelly was 24 and neither of us made much money, but we were "approved" for a significant loan.  Thank goodness we were smart enough to realize that spending $300k on our first house was a bad idea.

Instead, we bought a very modest starter home in a nice neighborhood.  We still live in it and probably will for a while.  A brilliant decision

Managing Burn

Our personal monthly burn rate is minuscule.  Our mortgage is less than $800 per month.  We own Kelly's car and my truck out right - so no car payment.  My monthly student loan payment from business school is the equivalent of a small car payment.

If we were paying $1500 per month on a mortgage and another several hundred dollars per month on a car, then there is no way that I could have gone as long as I have without a market salary.  And if I *had* to work full-time to make ends meet, then there was no way that I could have started Argyle.

Simply put, your ability to start a company directly correlates with your ability to not get paid.

Working at a Start-Up

My first "real" job was at a start-up - I spent 4 years helping a company grow from a handful of employees and customers to 40+ employees and hundreds of customers by the time I left to go to business school.  I didn't realize it at the time, but I was working an apprenticeship that would pay enormous dividends later on.  Because my prior start-up experience, I've been able to loosely execute a well-known playbook at Argyle.  This is my first time as a CEO, but not my first rodeo.  Makes a huge difference.

Why Does the Start-Up Community Hate MBAs?

Every couple weeks, a thread pops up on Hacker News about start-ups and MBAs.  And the (very hacker/nerd-centric) discourse on the site usually devolves into "MBAs suck" and "MBAs are terrible early employees".

I put forth my $.02 on Quora a couple months ago:

--
Why Does the Start-Up Community Hate MBAs?

My hunch is that most of the "hatred" stems from something someone heard from someone else.  And it is probably just misunderstanding more than anything.

Speaking from experience - most MBAs are very much NOT start-up people, which is fine.  Most people in general aren't start-up people, so I don't necessarily think it is fair to single out MBA grads.

That said, I think part of the issue is that the typical MBA grad from a top 20-type program can easily earn $100k+ immediately after graduation and - if they have chops - a helluva lot more after that.  And they can do so without actually "creating" much "value".  Most MBA grads enter their respective programs with a well-above-average level of intelligence/experience, get the degree, and get churned through a two-year consulting/banking/marketing rotation - which is difficult, challenging, etc...but also a VERY well worn path.

Contrast this path with the start-up ethic - creating value by pulling off incredibly difficult things that have never been done before...in hopes of eventually creating value for the founders, shareholders, etc. 

Therein lies the rub.

2010's Greatest Hits

Here are my favorite tunes from 2010.  And here is the obligatory tip of the hat to Chaz Felix for introducing me to the "greatest hits" format many years ago.

2007 Edition
2008 Edition
2009 Edition

Acheron / Unearthing the Orb - The Sword
The Sword's "Warp Riders" was my favorite record from 2010.  This is the first track - a blistering instrumental that I jammed a lot while running and working.  And sometimes jammed just for the purposes of scowling in acknowledgment of The Sword's brutal precision.

Older - Band of Horses
A heart-felt country shuffle.  Great lyrics.  Kelly and I listened to this one a lot driving back and forth to Hatteras.

Love Gun - KISS
I used to love mocking KISS and fans of their music.  And then I finally considered the fact that millions of fans can't be wrong, so I downloaded the "Kiss" and "Love Gun" records.  And then I converted.  So over the top and sexual - what's not to love?

Bad Wolf Good Wolf - Caltrop
These guys are based in Chapel Hill.  Excellent stoner metal.  Oft-played while working at Argyle HQ.

Warriors of Time - Black Tide
Love this band - very much a GNR feel to their music.  The "Warriors of Time" video is epic - a cartoon viking, skater punk, and cowboy fight a flying robot horde.  The full version of the song includes a beautiful acoustic intro that I used to soundtrack a 30th birthday video roast I made for my friend Ben.

Alejandro - Lady Gaga
'Tis true - I LOVE Lady Gaga.  Kelly and I saw her performance at the RBC Center in Raleigh earlier this year - we were 5 people back, right in front of the stage and we screamed/danced all night.  Glorious.

Doublecrossed - Valient Thorr
I was sadly underwhelmed by "Stranger" - Valient Thorr's new record this year.  But this song is EPIC and the video is hilarious.  It harkens back to the classic music videos by the Beastie Boys and other late 80s rap acts...except that these dudes are metal all the way.  VT is a seriously hardworking band...and they're nice guys, too.  Still one of my faves.

Ce Jeu - Yelle
Addictive French bubblegum pop.  And a delightfully weird video.

Lobby Party - Ozomatli
Without a doubt, the best concert I saw this year was Ozomatli at UNC's Memorial Hall.  I danced - mostly by myself - for two hours straight.  And the performance ended with a redongo dance party in the lobby.  If you watch very closely, you can see me dancing.  :) 

Daddy Was An Old-Time Preacher Man - Dolly Parton & Porter Waggoner
I've loved country music since I was a little boy and the beautiful harmonies have always been a big part of the appeal.  Some of my favorite country vocals are 70s era man/womon duets like this one from Dolly and Porter.  Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitter are another great pair.

Lowering Sales Input In Software Start-Ups

For the past 12 months - (Argyle turns one next week) - I've called nearly lead inquiry we've gotten at Argyle.  And I've given one-on-one product demos to lots of them. 

It is really time-consuming and obviously not sustainable/scalable.  But - it is has been a great way for me to build relationships with customers/prospects, get close to the market, and *really* understand the problems that we're addressing with our product.

Lately, we've done a few things to lower the sales input necessary to qualify/close new accounts:

- An email drip campaign.  This was a no-brainer and super-easy to set up.  Even we don't call, we know that all free trial accounts will get a few marketing touches before their trial expires.  We've seen a noticeable up-tick in trial adoption as a result.

- A getting-started wizard.  Step-by-step tutorials are a great way to lower the "getting started" hurdle for new accounts.  We've had this from the beginning, but it was terrible.  Josh - our amazingly talented designer - spent a few hours cleaning it up and turned it into strategic asset.

- Contextual help and demos.  Again - we've had in-line help blurbs and video demos since the earliest version of Argyle.  And we've tended to include lots of descriptive text in our application.  Both are a great way to mitigate support inquiries.

- Immediate value.  We're launching our most aggressive effort to lower sales input in our upcoming release of Argyle Social v2.  (You can read a preview at SocialFresh.com.)  When our prospects log in for the first time today, it isn't obvious that Argyle is aggregating data and such.  First log ins going forward will see data immediately - both real-time updates and historicals.

- A product that markets itself.  In the next couple weeks, we'll have email notifications hooked to key features.  So that prospects (and customers, of course) will get notified by Argyle when important things happen - such as a priority mention on Twitter or a spam comment on their Facebook wall or a runaway success campaign.  These notifications obviously provide business value...but they're also a tap on the shoulder of sorts for prospects that are still deciding!

We'll still do tons of phone calls and tons of demos - but I suspect that we'll do less educating and explaining and instead more convincing and closing.  :)

We'll Figure It Out

When we first started pitching Argyle to prospective investors, we didn't have all of the answers to all of the questions.  While we could spell out all of the details around product goals - which features came next, why we need them, why we're building them in a certain order, etc. - we generally replied with "we'll figure it out" on most questions around operations, sales, marketing, support, etc. 

(Which was honest and is exactly what we're doing.) 

We had a general idea of what needed to get done, we just hadn't spent much time "planning" exactly how we would do it.  During the first few months, Adam spent his time on product development and I spent my time on customer development...and freelancing to make sure that Adam and I could pay our respective mortgages.  Anything else would have been a waste of time. 

Plus - we knew that once we started executing on our sales, marketing, operations, etc. generalities, we would immediately find out that our assumptions were completely wrong and that we would have to zig/zag as necessary.  (FYI - this has more or less been the case with everything, not just sales and marketing.)

The assumption we didn't know that we were making every time we said "we'll figure it out" was that I would actually have the bandwidth to figure it all out.  Adam and his team are 100% product development all of the time.  And I'm responsible for driving (more or less) everything else - which is a lot, even for a small company. 

During a pitch, one of our investors asked me point blank:  "If you're doing all of this stuff, who is going to be the CEO?"

Turns out he was right.  And the overwhelming workload has been a tough lesson in prioritizing.  Luckily we've been able to "figure out" big chunks of the generalities and have spun up some incredibly talented freelancers and interns to help keep all of the balls in the air and to make sure that the Argyle train keeps hurtling down the track at top speed.