Business: June 2008 Archives
Eamon Ryan is Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources.
Now the last time I checked Communications included such things as ISPs, broadband, internet - you know, that sort of thing.
I was also under the rather naive impression that Dail ministers couldn't opt out of parts of their own portfolio. You know, ignore those bits of their portfolio that might make them actually have to deal with real and substantive issues.
As MD of Blacknight I am our representative to the Irish ISP Association (ISPAI). I'm also on the organisation's working group for data retention.
We've been working with our members and the various government departments and Gardai on the transposition of the directive into Irish law. I won't bore you with the details of this at the moment - it would also put me in a bad mood to even think about it!
A couple of weeks ago the ISPAI sent letters to various Irish government ministers including Mr Eamon Ryan, Minister for Communications (etc)
The letters attached (pdf) are the letter from the ISPAI to Mr Ryan and his signed response.
Considering the directive itself refers specifically to communications (Directive 2006/24/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2006 on the retention of data generated or processed in connection with the provision of publicly available electronic communications services or of public communications networks and amending Directive 2002/58/EC) his reply has left me more than a little confused:
So I have to ask dear reader, what purpose does Eamon Ryan serve?
EamonRyanispailetter.pdf
eamonryan-reply.pdf
Now the last time I checked Communications included such things as ISPs, broadband, internet - you know, that sort of thing.
I was also under the rather naive impression that Dail ministers couldn't opt out of parts of their own portfolio. You know, ignore those bits of their portfolio that might make them actually have to deal with real and substantive issues.
As MD of Blacknight I am our representative to the Irish ISP Association (ISPAI). I'm also on the organisation's working group for data retention.
We've been working with our members and the various government departments and Gardai on the transposition of the directive into Irish law. I won't bore you with the details of this at the moment - it would also put me in a bad mood to even think about it!
A couple of weeks ago the ISPAI sent letters to various Irish government ministers including Mr Eamon Ryan, Minister for Communications (etc)
The letters attached (pdf) are the letter from the ISPAI to Mr Ryan and his signed response.
Considering the directive itself refers specifically to communications (Directive 2006/24/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2006 on the retention of data generated or processed in connection with the provision of publicly available electronic communications services or of public communications networks and amending Directive 2002/58/EC) his reply has left me more than a little confused:
I have no function in this matterSorry? You're the minister for Communications. How on earth can you hope to get away by saying you have no function in this matter? The directive affects just about everything your department is in charge of.
So I have to ask dear reader, what purpose does Eamon Ryan serve?
EamonRyanispailetter.pdf
eamonryan-reply.pdf
Image via Wikipedia
While he might have been writing from his perspective as blogger, he raises a number of points that extend well beyond blogs and are more about sales in general.
I don't like cold calls. Some people probably enjoy them, but I can't think of anyone offhand. When you first start a business you feel almost honoured that someone is trying to pitch their goods to you, but over time that (quickly) wears off. You soon realise that your time is better spent looking after your own business and if the product or service is as cool and useful as the salesperson is making out you'll probably come across it anyway. (That argument is a bit flawed, but please don't interrupt!)
The problem with some people is that they have blind faith in their own products. Now don't confuse "blind faith" with "confidence" or "pride".
I'm proud of our business, but I also know that what we sell is not suitable for everyone.
I wouldn't try to sell my mother a dedicated server, but I know she needs and uses her email. How it works isn't her problem - though her tendency to seek technical support via my mobile number when I'm in the wrong timezone can be a challenge at times! (Admittedly she hasn't resorted to that since I got my first server)
About a year ago (possibly longer?) we were contacted by someone who was selling a software product.
I can't remember the product name, but I know it was some kind of CMS solution.
And it wasn't cheap. They asked us if we would be interested in selling it to our clients. We weren't for a number of reasons.
End of story? You'd have thought so.
But no.
They then rang again demanding to speak to someone "further up" because the person they'd dealt with obviously "didn't have any vision".
Of course they'd been dealing with me, so they never got that sale.
Whether I have vision or not is irrelevant.
If you're trying to sell anyone anything you can't expect to make a sale with that kind of attitude.
If you love your product, that's great.
But you've got to realise that:
- nobody else is going to share that much passion
- forcing people to get passionate about it isn't a good tactic. You might be able to win people over, but forcing them to do anything isn't a good idea
- telling a sales prospect that they lack vision is tantamount to suicide
- if someone isn't interested insulting them or simply pushing them won't make that sale. It might make you an enemy instead
