Communication Archives

Accounting for Irate Customers

Published in Business on March 13, 2016

What is it about customer support that drives us mad? Not just for those of us that manage and provide customer support, but ourselves as consumers. Is it that as a society we have lost all faith in the ability to get what we perceive to be quality service that we immediately begin each engagement with a chip on our shoulder?

As a consumer myself, I can attest to this feeling. Try picking up the phone, calling your bank, maybe your ISP, or god forbid a government agency. All I want to know is why my bill is so high, or why my network is performing so poorly. You follow all the phone prompts and somehow the call is disconnected, or you’re in the wrong group. Let’s say you get to the right group, but they’re unable to assist and have to push you over to another group, but that group is unfamiliar with your problem and you have to start from scratch. Sound familiar?

This is the sad reality of customer support these days, and as someone that runs a company that also provides customer support, it provides for a challenging dilemma. Whether we like it or not, it’s these experiences that create an overly negative disposition to working with support that our teams have to work with.

Conflicted with Business Processes

Published in Business on November 15, 2015

The idea of implementing a process is one that should provide insight and guidance. Yet, I find myself conflicted when I think about the idea of putting them together. Not because they lack value, but because I know that their intentions will be lost over time, and they’ll inevitably be leveraged as a crutch and seen as an absolute.

This bring about a fear within me around the idea of processes. There is no denying their effectiveness, but you also can’t deny their ineffective attributes; like their affects on the innovative qualities your team sometimes requires. Granted, there are obvious situations in which you require them.

The Power Of Two in Business

Published in Business on April 10, 2015

I sometimes sit and wonder how things ever got started. I wonder if it’s something that could be reproduced, or if it was just a luck of the draw.

What I do realize however is that alone I don’t believe much could have been accomplished. In the beginning there were three of us at our company, today there are two. Alone however, would have likely been disastrous for any of us.

Even in the beginning, before my involvement. There was a dynamic between the pair. One was highly technical, the other was also technical but highly artistic. It worked at the time, it was what was needed to move in a direction (right or wrong is indifferent).

With time, things have changed, yet again we find ourselves with one pair. One is still highly technical, the other somewhat technical but more business focused. Again though, it works. It balances the scales and provides good momentum forward.

It’s Ok Not To Know

Published in Business on April 1, 2015

I can’t remember when it became necessary to know it all. Can you? Somewhere in our psyche though, as we’ve evolved we have found this need to have an answer to everything question. If we don’t have the answer, we somehow feel weak or incapable, and worst yet feel that others will look down on us. Why is this?

This might not be you, it might not be me, or it might not be someone you know, but it’s the reality for many.

Ask yourself these three questions:

A Culture of Yes

Published in Business on January 18, 2015

I have a friend, Chris Lema who loves to write about how much he says no, so much so that he has an entire tag dedicated to it. When you think about it, it makes a lot of sense.

Your ability to decipher the noise from the rest, is a bit of an art, and saying yes to the wrong thing could take you down a rabbit hole that will never let you see the light of day. I’ve seen a number of companies fail to this, always chasing the golden nugget.

It is however, a bit misleading to you as an entrepreneur, more importantly as a manager and leader (there is a difference).

Mean People Fail: Do they Really?

Published in Business on December 1, 2014

This past weekend I was reading Paul Graham most recent article, Mean People Fail. If you don’t know who Paul Graham is, and you’re in the tech startup world, do some homework.

He’s one of the most influential minds in the space today, followed by every would-be and successful entrepreneur in the world. I can’t think of a single person in the space that I have engaged with, from CEO’s to investors, that have not heard of or don’t read his articles.

This notoriety actually makes his most recent article all that more interesting to me.

It’s About Perspective

I think perspective is determined by the side of the coin on which you sit. For instance, I read his article and I thought, “Who would knowingly be mean to Paul G.?”

Make a Decision

Published in Business on November 10, 2014

Running a business you will be faced with more decisions than you count or track, what will set you apart is your ability to make a decision.

Indecisiveness is the one trait you cannot afford when tasked to be a good leader.

The risk of indecision is preferable to the terror of indecision.

Mainmonides

To date, I have made more bad decisions than I care to admit, but have yet to come to a point where indecisiveness paralyzed me. I may get weighed by my own analysis or thought process, but I attribute that mostly to the process of trying to make the best decision possible. Note that I don’t emphasize on making a good decision.

In hindsight everything will always be clear, a success will be attributed to a good decision and a failure will be attributed to a bad one. The reality is though, that a success might be reached via a bad decision as much as a failure can be attributed to a good decision. Such is the conundrum we must bare with every decision we make.

What I am coming to terms with is that there really is no good or bad decision when you’re in the process of making it, just what is and isn’t and what will and won’t happen.

Your Personal and Professional Brand

Published in Business on November 1, 2014

At an event recently a friend of mine was cracking jokes on my online appearance. Although only joking, you can always tell when there is some truth to it.

It was enough where I started giving it a bit more thought.

In the process, I realized he was correct. So I found myself thinking more and more on the subject. As your personal brand equity begins to increase you give little thought to it, until all of a sudden it slaps you in the face.

It begins with random pings to be friends, emails, Skype messages, etc… Before you know it, it consumes your day and the lines between personal and public become non-existent. It really struck home when I published a picture on Facebook and my wife asked, “Who is that?”

I honestly didn’t know, other than it being a friend request I received and felt obligated to accept.

Create an Email Distribution List Using Google Apps

Published in Business on July 30, 2013

**Updated August 2017 to reflect the most current changes**

I am personally a big fan of Google Apps for all Small Businesses. I find it to be a comprehensive solution, offering a wide range of productivity tools – including email.

As a small business, one of the things that helps establish trust and authority with your customers is when they see that your domain corresponds with your company name. The challenge you might find yourself with is the associated cost. I was fortunate enough to start with Google Apps during a period when it was Free for users with a low number of emails, that’s no longer the case.

In this article I’ll introduce you to the process of creating a Distribution list within google apps so that you can created emails like info@yourdomain.com, sales@yourdomain.com or billing@yourdomain.com. As a small business these are some of the more common emails people expect to use, and will try them by default. Creating them when you have a cost associated with them is challenging. Distribution lists allow you to get past the cost implications, while empowering you to share access with more than one person (i.e., multiple people can get the emails and respond to them).

Simon Sinek: How Great Leaders Inspire Action

Published in Business on July 8, 2013

Found this very good TED talk on communication and leadership by Simon Sinek…

I Need Phone Support…

Published in Business on May 31, 2013

In my daily scan of Facebook comments and posts I saw something that went a little something like this:

Does Company X really only provide phone support for “emergencies”? I recommended them to a friend who needs some help setting up her site, because I thought they had better support than other hosts. But their phone prompt basically says that if it’s not an emergency outage, then you have to go through their website. Is it true that they refuse to speak to their customers via phone unless it’s an emergency? Or does that phone prompt just give the wrong impression?

I found this very interesting, mainly because of how close it hit home.

At my company we are a services company that depends heavily on its support function. For us, it’s perhaps 80% of our focus these days, and it should be. All too often though we have come across this same dilemma with clients. Why don’t you offer technical phone support?

Entrepreneurship: What I wish I knew

Published in Business on May 28, 2013

The life of an entrepreneur is an interesting one. Many from the outside looking in wonder what it’s really about, all the while those in the inside are still not quite sure. In it’s simplest form it’s defined as this by thefreedictionary.com: A person who organizes, operates, and assumes the risk for a business venture.

The act of even defining it is a bit interesting in it of itself, you could likely find dissertations just on the description, but I chose this definition specifically for it’s simplicity. To me that is important, simplicity is key to understanding.

Communicate Simply

Published in Life on November 27, 2012

We have this Message Of the Day that is plastered at the top of our support queue. We use it share something of insight to the team, it’s not always insightful but it’s usually quite amusing. Today was no different.

Today’s message of the day was provided by our Founder, Daniel Cid, and it went a little something like this:

Me to my dad: “I’m a security architect and I do malware research”. My dad to his friends: “My son fixes computers. He can fix yours”

That made me laugh hysterically because it reminded me of my own conversations with my mom a few years back and it went a little something like this:

Responsible Disclosure

Published in Security on November 14, 2012

As of late I seem to get into more and more discussions around this subject. I am fortunate enough to own a web security company which has grown in brand reputation to the point where when we disclose we often get a response, but that is not always the case. We go through the same struggles many do around disclosure.

When is it appropriate to disclose?
What time-frame should you give?
What do you do if you don’t receive a response?
What do you do if you get a response that blows you off?

Simplify The Way You Talk

Published in Business on November 5, 2012

Came across this great post at TechCrunch today, Communicate More Like George Bush Than Al Gore. It’s a message to all entrepreneurs and professionals alike. For some reason, many of us have this need to complicate our conversations by injecting it with our intellectual superiority — that’s where we go wrong. We need to communicate more like Bush!!

It offers five recommendations:

Simplify your message
Create visual metaphors
Be human
Don’t divert
Don’t exaggerate

Highly recommend reading.

Check Out The Article

The Social Media Dilemma for Businesses

Published in Business on October 18, 2012

As many know I am one of the owners of a tech start-up and as of late social media has been kicking my butt.

I often talk about keeping your cool and resorting to your more rational, logical, thoughts before engaging with people and engaging in debate, but I am quickly learning that its not quite that easy when it comes to social media.

What I am learning is that my more rational, logical, arguments often come off as condescending, rude or argumentative. Maybe it’s true, maybe its not, but the fact of the matter is it’s exceptionally difficult to have any rational conversations via any social mediums – i.e., Twitter, Blogs, Facebook, etc… at some point in the dialog, it all changes. And the fact is, it comes down to an individuals perception of what you’re trying to say or imply. Whether pointing out fact from fiction, or vise versa, someone undoubtedly gets upset and it all goes to crap from there.

What agitates me most is the right that people have to put out whatever they want, whenever they want, about what ever they want. Yet, you don’t have the right to respond as harshly or aggressively, oh no, now you’re being mean.

NASA: Sexy and I Know it Parody

Published in Life on August 16, 2012

I’m really excited to see the latest parody by the folks at NASA. With all the recent issues with budgets and the lack of attention they get for all their successes over he years, its good to see them make progress in the way people relate with them as an entity.

Kudos for not letting bureaucracy get in the way and actually putting out the video (obviously assuming some folks didn’t agree with it).

Art of Communication

Published in Business on July 5, 2011

Communication Skills After my last post on Managing Client Expectations I figured I should probably touch on Communication a little more closely. Specifically on its application in Project Management and General Management. I forewarn you though, I am going to reference the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), so let the eye rolling begin now…

Know it and Done it All’s

Published in Life on June 29, 2011

This is funny that I’m writing about this because some might say that I fall into this category, but I can’t help but think there are worst people than myself out there…:D

Granted, everyone has a topic or two that they are intimately familiar with and as such are able to engage and provide good sound advice and input. Then there are those people that just don’t shut up.

Managing Client Expectations

Published in Business on June 28, 2011

This is something that I have been wanting to write about for some time. For one reason or another I always fail to do so. Often it’s because I have that little guy on my shoulder telling me that if read by the wrong person it could be interpretated incorrectly and it could have negative impacts on me personally or professionally. Well that being said, the hell with it…:)

I’ll focus this specifically to managing expectations on projects. Now note that managing expectations shoud be something you strive and work towards in everyday things, from sexual relationshiops to professional ones. I’ll write about the sexual ones later…