Re: Sour grapes, bitter BlackBerrys (Oct. 18)
Your article on the Motient modem really intrigued me. Too bad it’s about as useful as the Palm VII in Canada.
This device isn’t available/won’t operate in Canada (as far as I can tell). What about some mention of what lies ahead for those of us in the Great White North?
Thanks,
Dan Frederick
SHO Systems Inc.
Re: Birth of a salesman (Oct. 15)
The problem is that most companies “compartmentalize” rewards regarding sales. For example, the company I used to work with brought on several “sales” managers who could not sell a dime of consulting services and cost the company in excess of $750K for their ineffectiveness. Much worse, they could not understand the true concept of “account management”, even if they had stumbled on the “Account Management for Dummies handbook”.
I sold most of the business in the company (in the true spirit that everyone sells) but when I asked for my compensation (“commissions”) the president said that it was against his business model.
Unless these shortsighted business managers change their ways, such a model may not be of any relevance, as people will quit before the benefits accrue to their dying companies. The divisions companies have to divest from are the GM and sales organizations that are incapable of adjusting their ways to the concept that everyone sells and have them compensated accordingly.
E. Gonzalez, Calgary
Re: The kids aren’t alright (Oct. 4)
Thanks for the kind words on my book. It has been updated, through 1999, on the Web at:
http://www.ryerson.ca/~dtudor/findinganswers.exeas a self-extracting file. It is free, of course, and covers the Internet (to end of 1999, at least). Research and the Internet stuff have been kept up to date through my columns (and subsequent booklet) at Sources. Issue #48 is now out (Summer, 2001) and #49 is in preparation.
You are probably aware that while I don’t mention the Internet in my 1993 book, the principles of researching are still the same. And, of course, the Boolean logic and keywords applied to Web site searches comes directly from CD-ROMs and computer databases, both of which have been around for decades. The Web is just a newer venue for the same old stuff, except it is free, 24/7 accessible, and up to date.
Dean Tudor, Professor
Emeritus in School of Journalism,
Ryerson University
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