Comments for Sales Aerobics for Engineers ® Blog

Comment on Business and Tapas by Babette Ten Haken

Babette Ten Haken — Fri, 18 May 2012 13:02:41 +0000

David, there are some great tapas restaurants in Minneapolis……

Comment on Business and Tapas by David Thiel

David Thiel — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:56:36 +0000

Gee whiz Dolly, my company just sends me to Minnesota……..

Comment on Business and Tapas by Babette Ten Haken

Babette Ten Haken — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:45:17 +0000

William, if you Google “tapas” you will get a complete definition of that food group and what it’s all about. You may even discover you are missing out on something wonderful! Be on the lookout for tapas bars in your future travels. There are tapas bars in the US as well.

Comment on Business and Tapas by William Ketel

William Ketel — Thu, 17 May 2012 03:08:44 +0000

It does sound like a very enjoyable venue. Unfortunately I am unfamiliar with tapas, at least by that name. So some clarification could be useful on that point.
I have visited areas where it seemed that the different restaurants were in competition about cheesecakes, which was very enjoyable, and in Memphis, where there seems to be some competition in barbecued ribs. That one covers the whole city, and is a wonderful national treasure.
Also, it sounds much different than the majority of eating places where one is not a “regular”, much more like sitting at the bar in an English pub. That was always good for an evenings conversation, as many folks wished to :have a chat with the yank”, when I spent a few weeks there.

Comment on Defining Moments in Civil Engineering by Babette Ten Haken

Babette Ten Haken — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:57:21 +0000

A great story, William. You made some much needed improvements which, I am quite sure, made everyone use that machine more productive and safe.

Comment on Defining Moments in Civil Engineering by William Ketel

William Ketel — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 01:03:22 +0000

I am an electronic engineer, it says so right on my diploma. I can’t boast of restringing a building while it was in use, or leading a large crew to to make amazing accomplishments, I have designed the controls for a whole lot of industrial machines, and designed every single part of quite a few industrial machines. One of those was a trim press loader. The trim press forces a forged part through a very close fitting die to size two holes, and to remove the flash from the forging. Loading it demands that the operator reach into the narrow press throat with both hands to align the part in the trim die. The production rate was one part every 5 seconds, the press could deliver 20 tons of force. I did the press control interlock, mechanical and electrical designs for a system that loaded the press correctly every time, while the operator placed the parts on a conveyor belt ten feet away, out of harms range. The gripper was made of mild steel so that if the press hit it the die would not be damaged. The system worked very well, and allowed faster production.
The press operators thanked me, the safety people thanked me, the plant manager thanked me, because this was a real safety improvement. It was a good feeling to deliver a machine that made peoples lives a bit safer. I have done a few machines that made jobs safer, but that one got a lot of attention. Not bad for an electronic engineer, hey?

Comment on I’m Late. Your Problem. A Sales Horror Story. by Babette Ten Haken

Babette Ten Haken — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 22:34:06 +0000

Thanks for your comments, Dorien. It is such a simple request, to treat others as you would like to be treated. Yet certain sales people become rock stars in their own minds only. Glad you enjoyed the post! Best wishes. Babette

Comment on I’m Late. Your Problem. A Sales Horror Story. by Dorien Morin-van Dam

Dorien Morin-van Dam — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 20:27:47 +0000

Glad to know I am not alone in my frustration. Growing up in Europe in the Netherlands, being on time is considered a virtue. Being late is simply not tolerated. Moving to the US, I’ve had my fair share of late appointments and missed opportunities. And yes, I call if I am to be 5 minutes late. I would want my friends or clients to do the same. Thanks for the nice post.

Comment on Selling Your Relevance, Not Your Product by Babette Ten Haken

Babette Ten Haken — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 14:16:00 +0000

Glad you enjoyed, Terry. The sales paradigm is most definitely broken. I strongly believe that the fulcrum for leveraging innovative business development is collaboration between technical and non-technical professionals. You might enjoy my book: Do YOU Mean Business? Technical/Non-Technical Collaboration, Business Development and YOU, now available on Amazon.com. Inspired by my experiences along the way…. Best wishes!

Comment on Selling Your Relevance, Not Your Product by Terry Freeman

Terry Freeman — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 14:09:27 +0000

Great article! After 20 years of promoting this, with success only through the right synergy with the account manager (we ran our own company), I have observed that it will not get widespread acceptance until we change the way sales is managed. My father’s generation understood this and practiced it. Account managers spent entire careers building a territory and enjoyed great relationships (and incomes) with their customers. The entrenched mantra now is that “technical dialogue lengthens sales cycles” and sales departments are organized around this mantra attracting people with severe attention deficit disorder. “Identify a pain, relentlessly demo the features and functions of your product and provide an on-site SE as a free consultant so the customer will feel obliged to buy your product.” PUSH, PUSH PUSH!!!!
In boom times this works but this is why you don’t see too many people in sales who remember past the last recession.

Terry Freeman
“The understanding of relationship is infinitely more important than any plan of action”