[clue-talk] Sales presentations at meetings (was Re: Fwd: Cyber Monday 3 Day Sale - Get Up to 50% Off)
David L. Willson
DLWillson at TheGeek.NU
Mon Nov 29 21:47:46 MST 2010
Y'all,
OK, this post is all -talk, and it's about our politics, or our religion, or our ideology. Call it what you like. But y'all have got me curious.
Mike says he knows one portion of the product-line really well, and the rest not much at all. This is where a technical sales-person, responsible for being able to represent the whole product line, would be useful in a well-rounded presentation, I think. This is because I think that purely technical people are usually like Mike, very well-versed in a few things, but perhaps not so much about the rest of the line.
The Linux community's well-earned reputation for rabid anti-commercialism, seems well-earned. It's ironic that we reject commercialism, AND we reject RSM-style balls-to-the-wall libre'ism, too. Is it that we just want stuff gratis (no charge)? We do care about the ideals behind free software like Linux, right?
I don't think I can contribute to "gratis only"... That sort of pragmatism would have us thinking that IE is better than Firefox, because it's tested on all websites, even those that are developed by morons, or that the only reason it's not better is because we hate Microsoft. I'll bet we have better reasons, something along the line of "doing things the right way, because it's the right way, and it allows people to keep their freedom to choose".
I'm really down with the Linus-style, live and let live approach. I'm even OK with the RSM-style, I don't care if it's gratis, as long as it's libre, approach. I don't get at all the approach that it's OK as long as nobody's making any money, approach.
So, since we're on the -talk list, can I ask for a few reasoned, non-rabid, defenses of the position that a good infomercial isn't a good CLUE talk? I'll go way, way back into the past, and recall the Ecrix VXA-1 talk. Definitely an infomercial, but I thought it was a good talk. If you thought it was too commercial, why? Is there a line, a principle here, or are we just against selling, even if the selling is based in a relatively technical presentation of features we find interesting?
My most heart-felt principle is that technical people should be know Linux, so that users will enjoy increased freedom-of-choice, and increased benefits from competition. The user's "freedom of choice" should be protected and expanded. So, you can see how VMware products fit right into that.
Sincerely looking for the principle,
David L. Willson
Trainer, Engineer, Enthusiast
RHCE MCT MCSE Network+ A+ Linux+ LPIC-1 NovellCLA UbuntuCP
tel://720.333.LANS
Freedom is better when you earn it. Learn Linux. Get Free.
----- "Mike Bean" <beandaemon at gmail.com> wrote:
> Worst case scenario, I like to think I have at least a reasonable
> chance
> of answering technical questions on ESX/ESXi. (shrug) If I don't
> know
> the answer, I generally have a good idea where to start getting an
> answer = ) (Now with regards to tons of other VMware subjects,
> fusion,
> workstation, converter, VCB, VDR, view...etc, I don't pretend to my
> butt
> from a hole in the ground.)
>
>
> On Mon, 2010-11-29 at 20:41 -0700, Dennis J Perkins wrote:
> > I agree. Let the technical people do the talk and afterwards,
> people
> > can talk to the sales people if they want.
> >
> > On Mon, 2010-11-29 at 14:43 -0700, Mike Bean wrote:
> > > Sure. We can ask them and specifically emphasize that any
> > > presentations should be mostly technical. I know the feeling,
> I'm
> > > not much on sales presentations either. I would emphasize that
> > > let's not count our chickens before they hatch, nobody's really
> > > agreed to anything yet, it's just something in the formative
> stages.
> > >
> > > On Mon, Nov 29, 2010 at 2:36 PM, Crawford Rainwater
> > > <crawford.rainwater at linux-etc.com> wrote:
> > > I guess as one of the CLUE Admins I will chime in here
> some.
> > >
> > > Typically in the past, sales folks making pitches and
> > > presentations have resulted in disgruntle CLUEbies
> wanting
> > > more of a "technical presentation" versus "sales pitch".
> I
> > > know when I was scheduling CLUE-North meetings I did my
> best
> > > to advise companies doing presentations like that to have
> > > the sales reps off to the side for folks to approach
> which
> > > turned out better, and let the technical folks show off
> the
> > > goods. Another good example would be the recent RedHat
> Road
> > > Tour where there were presentations on RHEL v6 features
> and
> > > such, with multiple sales engineers available afterward
> over
> > > lunch to answer specifics and taking information for the
> > > sales crew to follow up.
> > >
> > > I am not sure who is handling CLUE "swag" these days for
> > > door prizes so Dennis might be the best person to talk to
> > > about that.
> > >
> > > Food for thought for folks. Comments and such as
> welcomed.
> > > Also to note as usual, I receive the CLUE lists in
> Digest
> > > format, so pardon any delays in advance.
> > >
> > > --- Crawford
> > >
> > > The Linux ETC Company
> > > 10121 Yates Court
> > > Westminster, CO 80031 USA
> > > voice: +1.303.604.2550
> > > web: http://www.linux-etc.com
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