A new forum

[Tech Explorer]

Sales has nothing to do with running the forum so why bring that into all of this, no is here to make a profit out of all this..

There are certain factors that motivate both buyers and members in taking their respective actions when it comes to postings and buying.

I'm not talking in terms of making money or profit (although there are bills to be paid for sure). I'm talking in terms of being of service to the members, that's my focus.

 

[iPwn]

Even if it is a forum which this website is, it's still a business as it has to get funds from somewheres to pay its bills to keep running. There is a connection to selling as both have a common link to statistics and probability. I agree it's a non-profit, but even non-profits, as I just said, must pay those bills.

Just to mention, for you and some others, are you acquainted with Joe Girard? You may find the following interesting reading: Joe Girard - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I had several points in my post so please don't pick out a single sentence/point and respond to that.

When I was a corporate new hire trainer for Qwest, I went through sales workshops where the cost of a single seat was in the tens of thousands of dollars range. I've been fortunate enough to view some high dollar DVD's that included commentary by Joe. Now that I work for a top 100 internet retailer, I realize that the playing field is drastically different.

I get that there are bills to pay, trust me I do. Relating the sales process to a forum though is like comparing apples to oranges. If you wish, I can walk you through the sales process and point out each part that does not apply, but it's moot. Internet sales and customer interaction sales are two completely different methods of approach. The ideology related to the sales process does not apply to the internet.

Arguing about how the sales process relates to a forum is (IMO) off topic and unrelated. How, specifically and unrelated to sales, do you believe that another misc. section would help?

Nobody is posting here to shoot you down or make you to feel like your opinion doesn't count. The simple fact is that questions always need to be asked prior to implementation. If the logic proves to be solid and warranting investigation, then deployment is considered. A lot of the staff don't see the value in a separate section to further segregate misc. threads, hence the pushback on your idea. Not saying it's a bad idea, simply that the idea has no perceived (or even negative) ROI.

 

[Tech Explorer]

1)most new members would probably just post in hardware if its a hardware discussion , software if its a software discussion, Honestly I dont see anything wrong with threads about software discussion either in hardware or in the social lounge it doesn't make that much difference and with all due respect to the owners of this site I dont think we are busy enough for this to be all that much an issue ,
2) Have you ever considered the proposition that perhaps people have been sceptical about the newspapers being free , or what happens after the free trial expires
3) Like you said I completely agree we will never know how many people this encourages to post however I dont agree that we will only know when we implement it . Say it is implemented the week before a major software or hardware release the website might be a bit busier , without asking people it would be impossible to attribute any increase in posters directly to this . Secondly it is pretty rare that a mod has to move a new thread and i really dont think they mind moving a thread every once in a while

TBH based on the fact that the sites management have yet to comment and it really isn't a new groundbreaking idea that is going to attract a 500% increase in regular members I would say this idea is pretty much dead in the water .

Getting back to your third point, you're essentially asking "How do you know?" My quick answer is when I was doing selling, it was my business to know. But that answer sounds rude and it doesn't explain so get ready for my lengthy explanation.

One of the things I learned from chemistry is to really confirm you synthesized a new compound, you would do two things: (1) make sure it's properties match what the expected properties for the new compound (melting and boiling points e.g.) and (2) make a derivative of the new compound and check that it also has the expected properties.

When I worked for a carpet cleaning service, was getting sales resistance towards deodorizer ("I wanna think about it." or "I'll talk to the tech about it."). So I was averaging about $3.50 an order on the deodorizer.
Of course I tried the usual objection rebuttals on the deodorizer (e.g. "It kills germs.") with no effect. I knew the basic problem is that customers had no urge to get the deodorizer so I created an urge. Since the customers primarily called in for steam cleaning, I wedded the two services and said that steam cleaning activated the deodorizer. The result?: my average on deodorizer went up steadily, week by week, until it exceeded $14.00 an order after three months. Furthermore I used to get putoff excuses on a daily basis - they completely disappeared save for one who asked me if would be okay for her to wait for the technician. I replied she can do whatever she wanted and repeated that the deodorizer is activated by the steam cleaning to which she responded by saying to put the deodorizer on the order. So this was my second independent way of telling that my idea worked.

 

[Tech Explorer]

I had several points in my post so please don't pick out a single sentence/point and respond to that.

When I was a corporate new hire trainer for Qwest, I went through sales workshops where the cost of a single seat was in the tens of thousands of dollars range. I've been fortunate enough to view some high dollar DVD's that included commentary by Joe. Now that I work for a top 100 internet retailer, I realize that the playing field is drastically different.

I get that there are bills to pay, trust me I do. Relating the sales process to a forum though is like comparing apples to oranges. If you wish, I can walk you through the sales process and point out each part that does not apply, but it's moot. Internet sales and customer interaction sales are two completely different methods of approach. The ideology related to the sales process does not apply to the internet.

Arguing about how the sales process relates to a forum is (IMO) off topic and unrelated. How, specifically and unrelated to sales, do you believe that another misc. section would help?

Nobody is posting here to shoot you down or make you to feel like your opinion doesn't count. The simple fact is that questions always need to be asked prior to implementation. If the logic proves to be solid and warranting investigation, then deployment is considered. A lot of the staff don't see the value in a separate section to further segregate misc. threads, hence the pushback on your idea. Not saying it's a bad idea, simply that the idea has no perceived (or even negative) ROI.

Not to be picky and I hope I'm not taking things out of context, I'll try to address your points and concerns. With respect to the proposed miscellaneous section, that was amended in my second post (post #3) to a simple rewording of the SL forum.

With respect to comparing apples and oranges, if you read my response to BK_123 just above, you'll see that I said there are underlying factors common to both sales and this website which I stand by.

As far as ROI (return on investment) goes, just got done discussing this with someone else
who said this is a non-profit (which I agree with). I'm now repeating myself to say my concern is with posting, not P & L.

 

[BK_123]

Getting back to your third point, you're essentially asking "How do you know?" My quick answer is when I was doing selling, it was my business to know. But that answer sounds rude and it doesn't explain so get ready for my lengthy explanation.

One of the things I learned from chemistry is to really confirm you synthesized a new compound, you would do two things: (1) make sure it's properties match what the expected properties for the new compound (melting and boiling points e.g.) and (2) make a derivative of the new compound and check that it also has the expected properties.

When I worked for a carpet cleaning service, was getting sales resistance towards deodorizer ("I wanna think about it." or "I'll talk to the tech about it."). So I was averaging about $3.50 an order on the deodorizer.
Of course I tried the usual objection rebuttals on the deodorizer (e.g. "It kills germs.") with no effect. I knew the basic problem is that customers had no urge to get the deodorizer so I created an urge. Since the customers primarily called in for steam cleaning, I wedded the two services and said that steam cleaning activated the deodorizer. The result?: my average on deodorizer went up steadily, week by week, until it exceeded $14.00 an order after three months. Furthermore I used to get putoff excuses on a daily basis - they completely disappeared save for one who asked me if would be okay for her to wait for the technician. I replied she can do whatever she wanted and repeated that the deodorizer is activated by the steam cleaning to which she responded by saying to put the deodorizer on the order. So this was my second independent way of telling that my idea worked.

I am interested as to why sales has anything to do with any of this as I have said before this a not for profit website.

 

[Tech Explorer]

I am interested as to why sales has anything to do with any of this as I have said before this a not for profit website.

As I said sales and this website share certain underlying factors so your question is really what are the underlying factors that would keep people from posting here às well as keep people from buying goods and services.

When your message isn't clear or misleading, that would lower sales and keep people from posting. In the SL, the message isn't clear as it would have people believing they can't post new computer-related threads over by the SL so naturally they check over the rest of the website to see where they can post the thread. Guess what? Unless their thread is about building or upgrading a computer they're going to get confused and possibly frustrated because this is the Computer Forums which implies this website is supposed to handle all computer-related questions. So guess what? People can get impatient and keep looking for a place to get an answer which includes other websites.

So if you want to keep it the way it is and risk losing more posts, then that's fine with me as I tried to do this website a favor. I've been honoring Celegorm's to hang in there. I have nothing further to add to this discussion which has been straightforward on my part. I think the CFS staff should discuss this further among themselves.

 

[BK_123]

A forum isn't all about making money, Its about helping people to resolve problems not to make money out of it..

 

[Tech Explorer]

A forum isn't all about making money, Its about helping people to resolve problems not to make money out of it..

You're not reading my posts. Check my edited post which is just above the one you just posted (I already knew this is a non-profit before you said so).

After you reread my posts, you're welcomed to discuss this with other staff members.

 

[jmacavali]

This thread has reached the end if it's usefulness. Tech Explorer - your feedback has been noted. Thank you.