Years ago, I was the Concierge at a resort hotel in California. At this hotel, the Concierge is essentially the person who “knows” things and can answer questions for guests. One day, a businessman asked the front desk clerk to make change for a twenty-dollar bill. The guest then walked up to me with a stack of one-dollar bills and said, “We’re going to play a game: for every correct answer, I’ll give you a dollar.” I’ve never enjoyed the game of “20 Questions” more than on that day. In under five minutes I made 17 dollars in tips from the guy, missing only three of his 20 questions.

I spent the next hour looking up the answers to the three missed questions and called the guest in his room with the answers. Three days later, when he checked out of the hotel, he handed me a five-dollar bill, and said the extra two dollars were an advance payment for the questions he would have on his next visit. I still owe the guy two dollars.

“Chance favors the prepared mind.” - Louis Pasteur

Continue . . .

Good post Kurt…enjoyed it :-)

Whoa Kurt!  I need this translated into an attention deficit version.

Yep it was a little long

Saying that it was a fantastic read and very nice of you to let us see your inner thoughts on this kind of thing Kurt so thanks for that.

Best wishes,

Mark

That was a fantastic read - thanks, Kurt! Those questions at the end have given me something to think about - some of them would definitely catch me off guard! I would love to hear how you respond to them.

Great post, really enjoyed reading it ... knowing too well these kinds of people and their questions/remarks.

I love Xippty!

Xippty is getting a code overhaul as I understand it. Be prepared at SXSW  

Actually I’d love to hear how folks would answer some of Kurt’s other numbered questions since #4 doesn’t really count - we know it’s just another (potential) client angle/tactic.

Nice write-up Kurt, I picked up on this bit:
• Talk about the goal as if you’re already on the team.

Is anyone like me and if things are going good then it’s “We”? We could do this, we could do that, but as soon as the situation get’s tense or even unfavorable, then it is suddenly no longer a team effort, and it is time to back away from the cookie jar, lol.
Working part-time in the retail sector that’s an easy fix, “You need to speak with a member of Management…” end of story.
When it’s a client relationship, it takes some quick thinking not to back yourself into this corner, by taking the lead in problem situations and suggesting a beneficial plan of action, and not one that derails the project to the “dumbest guys in the room” (I’m guessing everybody’s read that one).

Thanks for the Top 10 list to selling EE as the solution.

I’m stumped with question #6:
“6. The other CMS we’re looking at is only $100 per seat. Look, we can’t afford $250 a year for every person in our office, do we look like that kind of operation to you? “

The licensing doesn’t work this way does it? Couldn’t admin’s just be member’s of a group and unlimited, no extra charge?

Kurt Deutscher - 23 January 2008 08:18 PM

4. My nephew is a professional web designer and he uses Xippty, and Xippty is free and is used by a lot of people, and he says that your software is kind of difficult to use and he doesn’t know anyone who uses it.
...
8. Has your firm ever worked with a company our size before?

Fun post. These two stump me always. When answering the first I sound offensive, when answering the second, defensive.

@tzMedia, right, EE doesn’t use a “per-seat” licensing model. The question is comparing trains to bicycles.

The question is asked from the perspective of someone who assumes that EE is licensed differently than it is. Some business software does sell for around $250 a seat, so if the person in the room has used software and paid for it this way in the past, they may assume that all really good software uses the same model. Well, its just not true with EE.

Due to EE’s pricing, and all it can do, some people assumed that I must have been talking a per-seat price, because they’re thinking

“how could any software we can get for $250.00 (total cost of license) do everything this guy is talking about?”.

You caught the issue right away, because you’ve likely read the license, but nearly all the folks I’ve pitched to, have never seen it, so they are confused about how the ownership of the software works.

Just for the record, at the time of this original post Xippty appears to have very, very little competition on the web and is an unregistered domain.

That may change at some point, but at the time of this post, it was meant to represent some software no one has heard of.

And please, please don’t run over and register it if you’re not going to use it. Its a fun name and some company that will actually use it for something fun should have it.

LOL Kurt, I did that same search and was amazed that you had come up with a completely original word.  It didn’t occur to me to run out and register it.  I think it can only be a spoof CMS now though.

Could be a fun site…

Funny. Kurt you should change careers, get in the naming business

Kurt Deutscher - 24 January 2008 02:19 PM

And please, please don’t run over and register it if you’re not going to use it. Its a fun name and some company that will actually use it for something fun should have it.

Don’t search for it through Netsol, either as then it WILL be registered…by Netsol!!!

I’ve got the perfect tagline:
“Xippty Do Dah!”
From the Song of the South.

tzMedia - 24 January 2008 04:52 PM

I’ve got the perfect tagline:
“Xippty Do Dah!”
Here’s the polka version—Midi Alert (if you value your sanity don’t click this). sorry guys, feel free to remove this one :)

Now that’s just nasty! :-) I remember when everyone used to do that and it always used to crash the browser out. Wouldn’t be so bad if it was a better version though!

Sorry Kurt, please feel free to delete this post too if needed.

Best wishes,

Mark

I would be interested in some of the possible answers for 3,7,9.
Did you in fact say that time (3) that the ISP was less suited? and how did you awnser it?
(7,9 does it work like Word™ and easy to use) has to do with wysiwyg, but also with a manageable edit-list (wether or not in the control-panel) and easy uploads. all three have to be build (at a cost)...
...
There’s also an old catchphrase, something like, “You have 3 parameters in a project - within budget, within specification, finish on time - you may choose two of these options”.

OK - I’ll take a shot….

1. Why do they charge for it, isn’t it open-source?

It’s a commercial product, which means there are people who have the job of making sure the software is developed and supported.  As a business I feel more comfortable putting clients on commercial software for that reason.

2. What happens to it three years from now when we’ve moved all our resources into it and you’re out of business?

Ah…it’s the old “what if Mike gets hit by a bus” question.. (Or is it - who did you mean by “you’re”—EE or the developer?)

If it’s me as a developer…one of the things I appreciate about EE is there is a thriving community of users and developers around the product.  If I get hit by a bus or take a different job you’ll be able to find other working professionals using the product.  I’ll even help in that process if need be.

3. We just pre-paid for two years of hosting and got a really great deal at a huge well-known hosting provider. Are you saying that your software won’t work there?

The requirements for EE aren’t unusual - it’s entirely possible that it will run on your current host.  However - with hosting (like with anything) you get what you pay for, and it’s possible that the software won’t function as well as it could.  EE has sister company that provides hosting, and since they are well-versed in the software they can tune the servers best for it, and the plans start at only $10/mo - well worth it for the comfort of mind and reliability they can provide.

4. My nephew is a professional web designer and he uses Xippty, and Xippty is free and is used by a lot of people, and he says that your software is kind of difficult to use and he doesn’t know anyone who uses it.

Thanks for the email and the opportunity to review your project.  I don’t think I’m going to be the best fit for your project.

5. How long have you been in business anyway?

Me - > 5 years, EE - almost four years.

6. The other CMS we’re looking at is only $100 per seat. Look, we can’t afford $250 a year for every person in our office, do we look like that kind of operation to you?

Explained the licensing arrangement here.

7. It will work just like MS Word right?

No.  Publishing content on the site will be more like sending an email - filling out some fields and clicking a button.

8. Has your firm ever worked with a company our size before?

I’ve worked with companies approximately the same size as yours.  Also larger companies and smaller companies.

9. Look, I don’t have a lot of time. This is going to be easy to use right?

If it’s not, then I didn’t do my job well.

10. I don’t like the idea of someone else having our data. Why can’t we keep the data for the website on our computers?

We can certainly talk about hosting the site internally.  The question will be one of costs - is having the data in-house going to be worth the expense of buying and maintaining a web server and keeping up with all the security issues relating to that, when a webhost will do all of that for $10/mo?