Aaron Ewer
Aaron Ewers thoughts about everything

My cell phone is too much for me to handle. I have to admit it, but I hate no idea ow to use three quarters of the features and options that are on it. I don’t even know how to take a picture with the damn thing.

Although I’m not that big a fan of the downloaded ringtones and fancy wallpapers, I came across a website that had a really catchy tune that was available as a downloadable ringtone. So, I thought, “It will be pretty unique and even maybe a conversation starter, so I’ll give it a try.” There were multiple screens and info fields to fill in, so I worked my way through mot of them. Then it came down to the question of which type of cell phone do I have? Well, on the front of the phone it says, “Nokia” and that is all it says anywhere on the phone or in the 4 thousand option menus built into the phone display. I have absolutely no idea what damn model number this is and no idea of how to find out.

So forget about the cute ringtone I wanted. I guess I should feel fortunate that the damn thing rings any tune at all and allows me to talk on it.

A few jobs ago one of the executives was a highly educated but productively worthless marketing guru. He talked all the high dollar words, but when it came to putting results on the board he usually came up empty. These guys with the V.P. titles and too big bank accounts drive me nuts - I’m all about results. So it didn’t bother me much when I learned he left the company under a “mutual agreement.”

Since I didn’t consider him a friend, I was surprised to get an email from him a couple weeks ago announcing his new company. He has bought the territory rights to most of the southeastern states to launch a new product and he’s taking it on a roadshow to promote it. He made arrangements with Sam’s Club to put up a display for one week at a time at rotating Sam’s Club locations.

So out of curiosity, I stopped by the local Sam’s Club to check it out and see if he was doing any business. I have to admit the display was nice and it was getting it’s fair share of attention from the shoppers. He had a 10 x 10 carpet laid out, four chairs - one on each corner of the carpet, and a nice, eyecatching backdrop with lights and graphics. The two blondes with big hair and bigger cleavage handing out brochures didn’t hurt, either.

Chatting with him in between customers, he told me that his cost of entry into the business was minimal. He bought the custom trade show displays from a company online called the “Godfrey Group” and couldn’t be more pleased with all the design help and cost effective solutions they provided to produce the most important part of his road show exhibit, the portable display wall.

So it looks like he is off to a good start and maybe has finally found his calling - out of the big corporate world and into entrepreneurism.

Our CEO is a high profile man who travels most of the time. His life is truly a series of airport to hotel to board meeting to airport type of days. He flies all over the country 5 days a week but insists on being home with his family on the weekend. If he absolutely cannot be home on the weekend he often arranges for his family to be flown out to wherever he is meeting so they can have some short trips away and spend time with him. I admire his resolve and dedication to his family.

Last week he was supposed to fly back to Nashville from a Las Vegas convention. The flight was supposed to stop in Houston, but with such bad weather, his flight was diverted to Arkansas. With it being so late and with the really bad weather, he couldn’t find another commercial flight to get him home for the final leg of his trip. I overheard his secretary begging the travel agent to find a way to get him home, and what they ended up doing was chartering a private plane from Arkansas to Nashville.

He sang the praises of the charter service called Wing Aviation when he came in the office the next day. He says the plane was first class equipment, the crew was top notch and they got him home safely and quickly. What more could you ask for? Thank goodness his secretary and the travel agent were resourceful enough to search for and find the keywords airplane charter Arkansas to find Wing Aviation’s contact number and get him home that night.

I was reading about the new Netflix Player by Roku that will stream movies on demand to your TV. This is a little black box that sells for $100 and then you pay a subscription fee to Netflix instead of having to get DVDs delivered by mail. Great idea! This is perfect for the generation who has come to expect everything delivered on demand.

A little trivia note: the guy who invented this little black box and is the founder of Roku, Anthony Wood, is the same guy who invented the personal video recorder. So it’s pretty cool to see that someone who embraces technology and can find a way to make a practical device as an inventor has a real shot at  the American dream and  making a good living from his inventions. Way to go, Wood!

Years ago I took a sales position with a database marketing group. It only lasted about a year, as the boss was impossible to work for, but I learned a lot about marketing and sales, and I have to give credit to the people at that now defunct company for teaching me some important lessons. By the way, the company is defunct because the boss went to jail for tax evasion - but that’s a different story. The people who worked there were the tops in their fields and their expertise is what fueled the company to its high level - although short lived - success.

The main thing you need to know about using database marketing for a sales campaign is that the quality of your leads is the single biggest influence on the success of your campaign. There are lots of companies that sell sales leads, but the lists have to be targeted properly, as current as possible and very very clean.

If I was to start a business to business sales campaign, the first call I would make would be to “The Lead Dogs.” This company knows their stuff and they share a lot of useful information about marketing on their web site. There are several critical steps involved in a successful campaign, including business to business telemarketing, direct mail and a unique URL to support the campaign. You can read more about this and other marketing tips on “The Lead Dogs” website, so take advantage of their knowledge and abilities.