Mike’s DNA is all about relationships – he started life as a trainee salesman at IBM where he learned the importance of human intangibles – of the developer and their perspective, on the customer, on the human obstacles and nay-sayers, and the sheer force of will and determination to conquer.
Video below
These are all heart-and-soul emotional elements, something not often covered in the developer’s world of 0′s and 1′s. Also, ultimately, no matter what the developer’s solution is, it nonetheless needs to make an emotional connection of some sort with the buyer, especially if one is after sustainability. This was Mike’s ‘lightbulb moment’ in the creation of ACT! but is even more true today.
Mike’s talk explains how he has applied the lessons he learned in a front line sales role to co-invent ACT!, the world’s first CRM system and how those lessons are even more important in his new business almost 30 years later at VIPorbit Software.
Video
http://businessofsoftware.wistia.com/medias/v0ajml17ay?embedType=async&videoFoam=true&videoWidth=640
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