Collaboration Matters!

Of course I would like them to be more descriptive but I much prefer them to the "Company X migrates to product Y posts".

Announcing migrations away from Notes and Domino are not much different except that they all mention massive feature increase, cost savings and sometimes the number of seats involved (most of this is pure marketing speak).

Yes, adding that benefit is helpful, will go edit my post to elaborate a bit further.

IBM isn't doing it, so why don't the folks who are selling get some props? Hell, when I worked at IBM, one of the IBM sales reps was putting together a presentation and couldn't even come up with a list of 5 companies that used Notes!

I get your point that folks should stay away from the "Me Too" type of report and have some details. I totally agree. But, IBM has done and is doing a HORRENDOUS job on communication of the wins and we as a community need to do something.

In the absence of a leader, a leader will emerge. IBM has chosen not to lead and Vaughn brilliantly chose to take the bull by the horns.

The mindshare, at least here in the US, is that Microsoft wins and is continuing to win.

Does IBM even have any wins ... meaning new Notes customers? How about successfully beating back potential Exchange/Sharepoint encroachment ... any of those?

I haven't seen any in a while. If so, why aren't they [I'm talking to you Ed Brill] shouting it from the rooftops?

I don't want to hear the old, tired excuse from IBM about confidentiality or it isn't our way. Microsoft gets past that and is cleaning up. Why can't IBM clean up with a superior product?

I'm not a business partner. I am an IBM customer. I don't sell to new customers but I know how to sell and have to every stinkin' time someone thinks we need to move to Exchange/Sharepoint. I'm tired of having to do an IBM rep's job and not having ANY ammo to fight the battle.

Where are my reinforcements?

If I can point one of these folks to activity on PL or elsewhere on wins, that will create a perception which, in turn, creates more sales which, in turn, breathes life into Notes which, in turn REALLY creates long term benefits for the Notes community.

Having a standard blog title helps because there could be a category on PL, (Not to make work for you Yancy!), where, when using it, we can just show folks how viable a platform Notes is.

In the end, isn't that what we all want?

Thanks Tim, very eloquently put.

Over 400 folks have read this post so far, anyone else agree/disagree?

Thanks Tim, very eloquently put.

Over 400 folks have read this post so far, anyone else agree/disagree?

I think that we need to create a lot more positive talk about the product that many of us have been committed to for many years. There is a lot of negative talk out there. If I was someone wanting to know more about Lotus Notes and was able to find a community of people talking about how great and wonderful it was then I would be much more likely to buy it than if I read a lot of negative things about an uncertain future.

Hence, I have blogged about a little of success { Link }

I am not able to give any more details as my blog is a personal blog and the details belong to the company I work for. I respect that.

However, other people like Keith Brooks are able to share more as he is the owner of his business.

I think that I might have started a trend, however, it is up to other bloggers as to how much they are willing to share.

@Vaughan, did you read my post?

You seem to have missed both of my main points - that we shouldn't focus on "selling" software to the 'punters' like some kind of commodity tinned food - it's solutions based on Lotus technology that is important.

Secondly, we need to show the value that customers are getting (beyond a virtual sheet of paper showing "proof of entitlement" that may never actually get installed).

Link your content to your heading: "Today we sold..." Please don’t do it!

Do you seriously think it is possible to sell Lotus Notes without it being a solution sale?

I think we need to encourage any/all positive talk about this fantastic product on which brilliant solutions can be built.

"Do you seriously think it is possible to sell Lotus Notes without it being a solution sale?"

Yes. It's called a "renewal."

And no, we don't need to encourage ANY positive talk. Because boasting about every single sale is an act of desperate marginalism, not the platform of a hundred million users.

You selling Notes today is a reflection of YOUR business, not IBM's. And to brag about it makes it sound like it's exceptional, as if it were 1989, and you were pimping Notes v1, not Notes v8.5.

Hey, you wanna celebrate a license sale -- more power to you. Go right ahead. But that's not the inflection point in a billion dollar market. And you shouldn't be surprised by anyone pointing this out.

Lots of people sold Lotus Notes today. And they will again tomorrow. It's news if you sold it in a new way. Did you create a new pitch? Find a different way to compete? Drive the competition out with a spreadsheet?

WHAT made the sale? That's interesting. The sale itself is a teardrop in the ocean.

I'm confused. Who said it was a renewal? I wouldn't blog about a renewal.

The more teardrops in the ocean will float the boat, they all add up. Notes floats my boat!

Well to an outsider, the whole "Me too!" sales thing reeks of desperation and comes across as being pretty lame.

@Vaughan The title of this post was very straightforward. Not 'Please dont blog about any customer wins, exciting Lotus projects etc.' but '"Today we sold..." Please don’t do it!'.

I was expressing my sentiment that a series of posts from business partners entitled "Today we sold..." would be a bad idea for the reasons I have outlined, and others have supported.

As I expressed in the post - I feel that we shouldn't be "selling", we should be designing and proposing solutions, and simply listing a set of products that a customer has bought via Passport Advantage doesn't help anyone. As others have said, it does seem a little desperate.

Vaughan (and others), please don't think I'm saying you shouldn't blow your own trumpet about great solutions you deliver for your customers - heck, I do enough of that myself. But focus on benefits, value, and how great the customer is for using Lotus technology, not on the bare details of transacting a license sale. That's the area where IBM falls short, and where we can make a difference.

I'm with Vaughan here. With all the negative news of late it is a good thing to tell when you sold Notes to a new customer. I also agree with Stuart that the information could be a bit more extended with at least telling that it's a new customer and maybe telling whether you sold Notes as a messaging platform, application platform or both, but in a market where many feel that we 're only losing customers and not gaining any, it is a good thing to blog about these wins. If there are enough of them it does show that the platform is far from going legacy.

Stuart, at least you have a topic now for tomorrow's podcast!

How right you are, Richard!

Vaughan: "Do you seriously think it is possible to sell Lotus Notes without it being a solution sale?"

Nathan: "Yes. It's called a 'renewal.'"

Vaughan: "I'm confused. Who said it was a renewal?"

Wow, that's hard to follow?

Dude, no one said it was a renewal; just that it COULD be a renewal. A renewal is a type of sale that doesn't have to be a solution sale.

"I wouldn't blog about a renewal."

How the hell should I know that? You blogged about a *sale* didn't you? You didn't specify that it was net new. You didn't specify anything except that it was in New Zealand. And that, good man, is exactly Stuart's point.

"The more teardrops in the ocean will float the boat" I can hear the WHOOSHING sound from here: It's an OCEAN. The boat ALREADY floats.