Tag: Dovetail Software

What Is Integrity – Really?

August 15, 2016 Honesty and Trust Are Integral to Integrity People who demonstrate integrity draw others to them because they are trustworthy and dependable. They are principled and can be counted on to behave in honorable ways even when no one is watching… So, my last blog was about a sales person and integrity in sales, honesty and pushing the boundaries of honesty in dealing with customers. So what drives a sales person to act this way or gives them the authority to behave this way? Leadership I think it stems from leadership. I have been in sales for over 20 years; I once said I would never sell software again. Back in the early 90s, I worked for a software company that sold a product into the IBM world. They had unethical work practices and as a young man, I adopted those…

“Smoke and Mirrors” – When Sales Professionals Lie

July 26, 2016 Beg forgiveness or ask permission??? So, this comes up a lot in life and in business. With my wife, I tend to do both really, very selectively picking my battles. In my profession, I will also do both. Pushing the envelope - so to speak. How many of us do this? Recently I came across a professional, who in my opinion, pushed a little too far, at the cost of ethics. My question is then, when we knowingly push the boundaries, knowing that what we have said is not true, knowing that we will just come up with a wordy apologetic email, call, or post... does this, in your mind, seem to be lying or do you believe you are simply pushing boundaries? Personally -- Personally, I think it’s a lie. If I knowingly tell, post, or put in writing…

The Community Garden of SaaS

July 14, 2016 The Perfect Analogy From time to time, we come up with analogies on the fly that make so much sense, we have to share them. This is a great example. Not long ago, I was trying to explain how SaaS works in relation to developing software and product management. While we've talked about our process in the past, it has been on the "how," not the "why." To explain that part, we found a perfect analogy in the Community Garden. The Plot Let's start with the land. To get our garden going, we need a place to put it. So we imagine a city block that has been razed and plowed. This is our garden, and we have opened up access to our clients, who wish to grow their own beets. We let the spinach people in too, of course.…

The Carnival of HR Returns!

June 15, 2016 It's Back! Carnival of HR: I feel like we just finished sweeping up the popcorn and peanut shells from last time, and yet here we are! I'm always excited to get to host the carnival. It's a great chance for us to stay connected to the HR community that means so much to us, and to share our platform with great authors in our space. Thanks to all of you for visiting and reading. Please take a few minutes to check out the links. Theme: Conferences Our theme, loosely applied as always, is around conferences. We do a lot of them, and we were very much looking forward to SHRM16 this month. We've realized, though, that the show starts on Father's Day this year. That's happened in the past, and it usually kills off any chance of attending for me. …

We Put the Customer in Customer Service

June 2, 2016 Where is the Customer in Customer Service? So, recently a landscaper stopped by the house and offered to do some work. They basically would put down new soil, seed, and fertilizer. The cost? $1000, now you might say, “Hey Matt, you overpaid!” There were, however, some extenuating circumstances. I will review a few, so you can get an idea. The wife wanted grass even though we are in a drought and I stopped watering the back yard a few years ago. The wife wanted grass. And lastly…, I knew my wife really wanted grass. So, when these guys stopped by and offered to give me a yard, I took them up on it. The Actual Work Here we are: they laid soil, seed, and fertilizer. They actually gave me a one-year guarantee, so I was pleased that I didn’t have…

Dovetail Software – Some Assembly Required

June 1, 2016 Some Assembly Required When you swing by Target to pick up a Lego Millennium Falcon, you probably don’t expect to open that box at home and find a fully-built Falcon waiting for you. Instead, you expect to see organized bags of pieces and instructions on putting your new space ride together. Frankly, if you did get one already put together, you’d probably want to take it apart and start over. And maybe you want your Falcon to be a little different. Maybe you want the new square radar dish instead of the classic round version. Maybe you want to add more thrusters, or more guns, or finally get the hyperdrive upgraded in your version. That’s the best thing about Lego. You can do whatever you want. And you can always take it apart and do something different later. A good…

The Software Sales Pro Dilemma: What Do You Need from Me?

May 18, 2016 What do you need from me? As a professional salesman, I understand that my clients and prospects are busy. Sometimes, they don’t have time for a meeting, to talk on the phone, or even respond to an email. So the question is what do you want from me? How can I help you? You want and need to know what we do, how our product works, how it will benefit you and your organization - so you can call on us when you need us, but you just don’t have the time to meet and learn about what it is we do. "I want..." That being said, it’s coming from the wrong point of view. Essentially it is a selfish statement right? I want to show you, I want to tell you, I want, I want, I want. How about…

Learning to Listen

April 21, 2016 A Communication Issue Today So, you just want to talk and don’t want any answers? As a professional sales person, I run into this all the time. Being married for over 17 years, I run into the daily - yet I tend to miss it in most cases. So in my marriage, my wife shares things with me and we talk about her day or her job or whatever may be on her mind and I always trying to fix it or come up with a solution to whatever issue she may be having. I tend to take this same approach to my professional life, as well. Being a solution provider, consultant, all-around know it all, I think I need to have the answer to whatever problem you may have. What I am learning is I don’t always need to…

It’s not a question of IF – It’s a question of WHEN!

April 8, 2016 Change is Inevitable In today’s ever changing marketplace, everyone knows there will be changes. Changes to your career, changes in your management team, changes within your organization. Having spent the better part of 10 years in the recruitment world, selling recruitment services, as well as placing executives in new roles, the one thing I have come to realize is that change is inevitable. Healthcare HR What I am seeing now in the healthcare market, and in different industries as well, is a wholesale shift in process and procedures in organizational workflows. What do I mean by that? Mostly, that organizations have traditionally been very slow to make changes to the core functions within the architecture of their organization. Today, I see that it still takes time for organizations to make significant changes, but when they do decide on the direction…

We Take Your Ideas Seriously at Dovetail

March 23, 2016 Product Enhancement Requests When Building a Software-as-a-Service Application Part of building a SaaS application is the need to balance the needs of the many with the needs of the few. Or the one. (Yes, that’s a Star Trek reference. Well spotted.) We get some great ideas from our customers, who find new and amazing ways to use our software every day. Because of that, though, we have to be mindful of how we handle those requests. Some of them will make the system more useful for everyone, while some are very specific to that one client’s needs. With that in mind, we thought it might be helpful to understand our process and how we handle these requests. Idea Generation Ideas come to us through several channels. We often hear of ideas during implementation, but they also flow in from active…

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