Ticketstumbler.com

Tickets! Tickets!

Have you ever tried to find the absolute lowest price for an event online?

I bet that you used Stub Hub and weren't sure if you were getting the best deal. Then you went to Great Seats and compared the two. Maybe you were extra ambitious and then used Ticket City and compared all three.

Wouldn't it be nice if you had one place to go to be absolutely sure that you were getting the best deal?

Enter www.Ticketstumbler.com






Like all good web2.0 applications Ticketstumbler is one of those cool new tools to save you time. It allows you to search with all kinds of new found freedom such as: "NFL Cincinnati" or "Detroit Red Wings February" or even just a date like "August 23rd". Ticketstumbler then scans all of the other ticket sites on the internet and gives you results from every one of them. Think of it as a nexus of ticket information.

Although it is a fairly new site it is already as slick as can be. Ticketstumbler is doing to ticket searching what Expedia.com did for travel. I rarely even go to an airline's website anymore.

As it turns out, it looks like I wont be going to any other ticket site anytime soon either.

Enjoy!

Oregon District New Plan - Too little too late?

On July 24th 2008 the Director of planning and development "approved a new strategic plan...designed to better integrate the popular neighborhood with greater downtown and compete with other entertainment destinations"

This, of course, is in reference to the Oregon District. The first thing that will happen is the parking lot next to Gem City Records will be completely redone. If any of you have eaten at Thai9 for lunch recently you don't need me to point out that this is sorely needed.

In the Dayton Daily News article it was stated:

"The five-year plan identifies goals, weakness and opportunities for the Oregon District. Among the goals:

• Create a sophisticated mix of uses to form an "authentic live-work-play" district.

• Connect the district with the region by improving access and image.

• Maintain a vibrant and comfortable urban ambiance."

Some of the weaknesses mentioned were:

• Lack of retail and service uses
  
• Parking shortages (see my article below about The Greene and their parking nightmare)
  
• Parking safety issues
  
• A worn appearance
  
• Saturation of adult bookstores and adult-oriented uses.

I agree with both the positives and negatives.

I view the Oregon District as a more "blue collar" place. Many bikers, lots of tattoos, lots of piercings and the occasional young male involved in a "domestic disturbance". Most of the bars I would frequent have their own uniformed security guard, not a bouncer, at the front door.

Unfortunately it is kind of a culture clash currently. For instance: There was a huge backlash on the smoking ban in Ohio from the Oregon District bar owners. Their claim was that they would lose business due to the number of patrons who smoked. This was basically an isolated opinion that clearly did not represent the rest of the community's opinion. As it turns out the smoking ban has helped. A friend of mine is related to the owner of Oregon Express and their business is doing better than ever.

If they get rid of the safety concerns, improve parking and lighting, and encourage a few new cool bars and restaurants, the Oregon District has a very real chance of competing against The Greene. I am excited to see what they will come up with. Until then I am planning on voting with my dollars and going to places that are safe, clean and fun.

The Greene - No Parking!

It occurred to me some time between when I was driving around in circles trying to park at The Greene and in the middle of my 3 mile run at Urban Active that The Greene has a serious problem. No Parking is available. It is borderline criminal!

The Greene is fantastically popular and it definitely has a share of my wallet. I visit The Bars and Restaurants often and belong to Urban Active. I noticed that it does get insanely busy on the weekends, which is to be expected at a mall, but recently that traffic has bled into the weekday. I can barely find a parking spot to go work out for 45 minutes on a Tuesday night at 8:00PM.

This problem was a long time coming. I first recognized it may be a problem when I compared Easton to The Greene. Easton has a huge multi level parking garage in addition to the surrounding ground parking. Even at Easton it is barely enough. The Greene has fewer stores, and drastically less parking. It only compounds the problem that they are attempting to add a third level onto the parking that is in between Bar Louie and Urban Active and have temporarily closed half of the parking garage.

It is at Urban Active on the second floor where I find my self running on a treadmill watching people endlessly circle half of the parking that is left. I almost start to laugh when I realize that just 15 minutes ago that was me, pulling my hair out, trying to simply get a work out in.

I think the parking will get worse before it gets better, but what a negative perception problem to have. It reminds me of a Yogi Berra quote: “Nobody goes there anymore…it’s too crowded.”

Good grief, hurry up and fix the parking problem!

Xerox Sales Process

There has been quite an interest in the Xerox Sales Training article that I wrote as one of my first blog entries. Most of it sadly has been negative. In order to clear up any misconceptions about Xerox and their phenomenal sales training(Ranked 13^th best in 2005 per Business Week) let me first explain a few things:

• I will not do their sales process justice in one entry, or even one entire blog. I cannot replicate in text the experience I had in Lewisville, Tx
• This is based on their sales process in 2005 called Client Centered Selling – NOT based on anything else or anyone else’s sales process
• I am not using all of the information I learned because it would probably get me into trouble and hey, I could be competing against you some day!
• Finally it is not exhaustive, complete, or anything more than a fantastic conversation piece. I learned a ton from going through their sales training and it has made me successful now at two different companies.

Finally, I want to be clear. I hope that this causes MORE conversation rather than less. I do not want to discourage interaction, however if it is not constructive, I will not post your comments.

So after that unfortunate, but needed, disclaimer let me go a bit more into depth about the Xerox sales process and exactly why, as long as you follow the steps, it will make you successful

They have a 6 Step sales process and many of you will simply read this and say “duh”. I did too. The devil is in the details. Not many of you sales “professionals” actually follow this entire process every time. I would imagine it is that same group that wonders why they are not doing so well, or why they are continually being beaten by a peer who, “Does the exact same thing that I do”.

There is no mystery to it: Just have the discipline to actually follow the process every sales call.

Step #1 Identify Opportunities

You need to find any changes that have been made in the company recently or since the last time you spoke. Uncover the needs: Current state versus desired state of the client.

Step #2 Clarify

You need to position your questions to build the entire scope of the call around the benefits your client is seeking and how they align to what you, and only you, can offer. Clarify all of their needs based on the opportunities uncovered in Step #1. Then agree on the action needed and summary close on the next step needed. Be sure to zero in on their points of pain.

Step #3 Develop Requirements

Discuss the decision making process and what is needed to make that decision. Make sure that criteria favorable to your product are included and get the customer to rank order the criteria if possible. Make those favorable criteria to your product a requirement for the sale.

Step #4 Recommend Solution(s)

Review the criteria, check for any additional needs (or if anything has changed if time has passed between Step 3 and 4) and for each of the needs highlight the business value that Xerox can offer that no one else can. After this, agree on the solution to be offered moving forward.

Step #5 Gaining Commitment

Summarize the unique value you will deliver. Ask for commitment, then agree on the terms and next steps in the process.

Step #6 Managing implementation

Finally go over and agree on the timeframe for the implementation plan. Make sure that you under promise and over deliver. Adjust the plan should it need to be amended.

So that is it. Notice that you preliminarily close (trial close) at the end of each of the 6 steps to move forward to the next step. So, at the end the decision is easy because you have handled each objection in the appropriate phase of the sales cycle. All of these six steps should be completed in every sales cycle at some point depending on the client’s specific situation and need.

Be flexible and Great Selling.

Ale Fest Dayton

When it hits about mid-summer my mind tends to think of one event: Ale Fest.

Alefest is probably the best way to spend an afternoon in Dayton in late August. Carillon Park is a fantastic venue for a number of reasons. It is somewhat close to the river, the Bells are impressive to drink under and the field in which it is held is plenty big and no one feels crowded. Plus, it paradoxically raises money for the Diabetes Foundation by…that’s right serving alcohol.

I would recommend getting there about 15 minutes early as you need to get your 10oz glass and your tickets (25 in total) for your beer. The ticket system is definitely the way to go as I could only imagine the already long lines otherwise. It is fast, easy and often you can forget to put your ticket in their jar and end up with a bonus beer toward the end of the event…as if you need that last one anyway.

Honorable Mention beers from last year:

• Hoegaarden
• Dogfish head 60 Minute IPA (Two years ago they dry hopped 90 minute at the event)
• Great Lakes Blackout Stout

I hope to report that many more discoveries will happen on August 23^rd. I actually plan on having a bunch of people over afterward this year to keep the festivities moving. If only we had a brewery in Dayton like Christian Moerlein or the Hofbrauhaus.

www.Mint.com - a Great Financial Tool

A few weeks ago I was reading some website with the “Top 100 Web Tools” and stumbled upon www.mint.com. Mint is the slickest personal finance tool I have used on the internet or otherwise. It consolidates every bank account, 401k, IRA, credit card, and even your mortgage (however no GMAC unfortunately for me).

After typing your username and password for all of your various accounts it lets you slice and dice your spending habits in a number of ways. It pulled over 300 days of history for me spending habits and it was immediately shown in graphs and made a mock budget for each of the areas where I can spend my hard earned dollar. There is no longer a need for those AMEX consolidated spending lists based on type of vendor. Mint has all of that for every card.

My only worry with Mint was the security around consolidating all of my financial life into one easily accessible area. Fortunately, Mint.com is a very limited tool and that is where the inherent security features are built in. You cannot shift funds, spend anything or change anything about any account because there is no functionality around doing anything other than viewing the information. Mint has no integration other than the ability to view your account information. Though I am no computer expert, it seems pretty fool proof.

I showed a few people at work the tools involved and it spread like wild fire. We have a pretty strict internet blocking program and somehow Mint circumvents all of the blocks. I can even check my daily 401k balance. Which right now is unfortunately depressing as my balance seems to be going in the wrong direction.

Chicago - The Map Room

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