Acrelic Interactive

Where are all the Patents Going?

While reading my email this morning, a report from the Small Business Administration (SBA) was released that showed 40% of all new patents were created by small businesses in the US.  The SBS argues on the positive side that small business really contributes to the growth of the US economy.

As a business owner, I agree with that, but I have the following questions looming in my head.

1. I wonder how many of those patents are actually put into productive, revenue producing products or services? 
   
2. Are these patents mearly a play to put up competitive barriers in new markets that may or may not be developed? 
   
3. How many good new products are not being developed because someone or some group is simply building a group of patents spawned from ideas created by some other companies efforts?

I personally believe that patents should only be offered to those who are interested in pursuing them with tangible new features, functions, products or services.  There are too many companies in the market making revenue from patent infringement pursuits, rather than developing smart products or services taht people will buy, want or need.

I worry about what the US will be producing, and exporting in the next 20-30 years that others will buy.  We have lost a lot of our manufacturing economy and replaced it with "Knowledge Workers" .  My concern is that for the US to succeed we need to be able to export to the other countries in the world who may grow faster than the US in the couple of centuries.  IP will not provide that stream of revenue and jobs, but will force us to take our eyes off the ball.

Does anyone know how many patents are put into production or productized versus those that are only pursued for infringement or royalties versus those that never make it to market?

Here is a link to the summary of the report from the SBA.

http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/rs335.pdf

Enjoy.

David

90 minutes with Gerhard Gscwandtner, Publisher Selling Power Magazine

Link: QuickPost | TypePad.

I spent 90+ minutes last week with Gerhard Gscwandtner, Founder and Publisher of www.sellingpower.com who stopped by our offices today and brought some great wisdom with him.  Not only did we share thoughts about our passion of Photography, but we had some great conversation about the state of sales, and about his current views on Sales 2.0.  He also had some great thoughts about WarpSales and understood how WarpSales is able to uniquely accelerate and enrich the sales funnel.  Read On.

What is a Lead Swamp?

The Scary Swamp

I grew up in farm country in southern Illinois where I remember seeing ugly swamps and dense forests that from a distance were smelly, dank, dark, mystical, and somewhat scary.  When you get close to the swamp though, and from a clinical perspective, you realize that swamps are full of life and potential energy and are an important part of the natural lifecycle and renewal.   There is so much potential, some of the energy even glows...

The Sales and Marketing Database --  "Lead Swamp"

While many companies have spent thousands, hundreds of thousands, and millions of dollars to generate new leads for their business, not one company we have talked to is ever satisfied with their results.  Most sales and marketing leaders agree that less than 10% of the contacts in their sales and marketing database have ever had a sales representative engage in a discussion with the contact.   

That says that 90% go uncontacted...  This is the "Lead Swamp"

Yet, when we talk to sales managers and account execs, they are all "lead starved" and while they may have a quota to dial 100-250 dials a week to build pipeline, they are getting 1 or 2 leads from marketing if they are lucky and having to identify contacts within their territory to achieve their sales targets.

Learn more about 4 ways to leverage the Lead Swamp, help sales reps double the number of qualified opportunities they create and solve the problem of the "lead starved" rep.

Salespeople Should Expect to be Treated with Respect!

Sales Coaching at the Interaction Level - Getting Respect from Prospects

I just met and had a conversation with Andy Gole, President of Bombadill LLC.  He brought up a topic that was very interesting and timely.

Salespeople Deserve to be Treated with Respect.  He doesnt steer people away from customers or prospects who are rude.  He teaches people how to get their contacts to be more "serious" and to pay attention to the value they represent.  This was a unique approach to sales coaching where he dives into the process and approach for sales prospecting at such a level like this.  More importantly, he told me his process is proven, if followed, to increase sales results in months, not quarters or years and that his process can increase the conversion rate of opportunities to close to 100%.  While I havent done due diligence, it appears worth exploring.

The Importance of a List

Link: QuickPost | TypePad.

Brian Carrol provides a strong reminder in one of his latest posts:

On building the Lists for B2B Lead Generation Programs

He confirms what we have seen in hundreds of customers. 

1.  Pay attention to the leads and lists you have already invested marketing money to create and cull.  There is a lot of energy in that database and it is one of the greatest underutilized assets in sales and marketing.

and

2.  Bring the right people into a list building effort that will help you truly create actionable leads.

Why WarpSales is LESS Invasive than Current Sales Calling Programs

Link: QuickPost | TypePad.

Users of WarpSales believe that the WarpSelling Process is Less Invasive on Customers than Current Sales Rep Tactics.

One of our customers stated the other day that she believed that "...using WarpSales with her customers was less invasive than the normal sales routine of call, call, call, email, call, etc." she continued by saying  "With WarpSales, we send an email, get a customer on the phone 40% of the time, call all the people who opened the message, and thats it." 

In this situation, our customer calls her current customers to remind them of courses that are coming up in the calendar and they attempt to get them to use "seats" they have already purchased.  The last thing this company wants to do is to over-call or nag its customers.  WarpSales provides the opportunity to reach those people who show the most interest.

So we started talking to other WarpSales managers and found that they felt the same.

Its nice to identify other new benefits that fit nicely with our customers needs.

Welcome - Just the beginning

There are so many exciting things going on around me, that I thought I would start sharing some of the highlights.  As CEO of Acrelic Interactive, I am not only experiencing triple digit growth, but I am exposed to some smart, very exciting people; new ways to increase sales productivity by some of the largest sales teams in the country; and watching sales people get excited using our solutions and following our recommendations.

I hope that my activities, thoughts, and writing style invites your feedback, debate and constant learnings.