Why Most Twitter Users Give Up

This post began in a group I am part of on LinkedIn, MB CIO. The person posting fully agreed with this article and below is my response to them.

I am still twittering and with great success. What defines my success, who I follow and who follows me. I typically follow a select handful of reporters who I have worked with and I like their approach to a tech/mgmt story. I also follow analysts, those 3rd party non practicing IT folks who charge a great deal to hear their word, it is free on twitter. Finally the last group I follow are other CIO, IT Leaders to hear what they are saying and sharing.

Twitter is about "what are you doing" type of messages, some of what I post at times, it is also about referencing back to other sources of information. That information can be the draw to get Twitter users to go to a web site, important if part of your business strategy is using the web as a viable vehicle to interact with your clients or potential clients.

To date I have 110 followers, not all are real people as far as I know, as the use of add me type bots do exist, but at least 2/3 of them are real people who choose to follow my comments and references. Some of my most recent followers are other CIO's, a group I look forward to further exchange in my extended network.

For me Twitter is still a work in progress, which is why I have a few social media guru's I follow, so I get the best mind think in advance before the main stream catches up. I can already see how our business team can use it to create opportunity to sell services by providing knowledge to it's followers, by creating opportunity/alternate service channels.

In the end our clients will define our corporate success which I firmly believe will be using some forms of social media, will that be twitter specifically? Don't know but I don't want to wait until it's too late to catch this wave as it will be our clients I am not listening to, and that we can't afford.

Thanks for listening . . .

Negotiation Tips and Techniques

I do not take any credit for the first portion of this list, it came from notes I made while on a FREE Gartner webinar today. The closing points are my own and I thought unique enough from the previous points to share.

This list is compromised from Tweets I sent on Twitter, so they are reduced to the 140 character limit of Twitter, you would need to attend the Gartner event to get all their insight behind these bullets.

From Garner Conference Call titled; Hardball Negotiating Tactics

Negotiating tactic #1 - Don't play hard to get - be hard to get a hold off (ensure entire team is on side and not having side conversations)

Negotiating tactic #2 - Commoditize Pricing to demonstrate market awareness (vendors & pricing)

Negotiating tactic #3 - Cancel Contracts for non critical elements, hard dollar impact lets them know you are serious

Negotiating tactic #4 - Reset the rules for RFP's, go back and re focus based on business needs & keep asking until you get the right answer

Negotiating tactic #5 - Give nothing away for free, does your vendor know more about your business than you do, close the door on their information network

Now for 5 extreme tactics for negotiating (credit to Gartner for these also)

1) Keep looping on strategic decisions until vendors comply

2) Good cop. Bad Cop with other parts of business, let IT be the good guy in negotiating

3) Use indirect competition, services based offerings a good tactic these days

4) If vendor performing negatively today, score their performance and use it to bring them in line

5) Delay purchase until vendor is compliant

Here are a few of my own negotiating tactics;

1) Negotiate on the basis you are establishing a 10-15 yr relationship with them, focus long term vs short term

2) Negotiate on the basis of honesty, be fair and honest and recognize we need a deal and they need to make money

3) Negotiate for the business and not for yourself, avoid temptation of add-on's, cash incentives, and other freebies, you win - biz loose

4) Know when to walk away and not waste everyone's time, perhaps your too early on the curve for the offering

5) Finally know you target goal and be happy when you meet or exceed it, don't keep pushing as you may risk some part of the relationship

Thanks for listening