InfoMentis Gains National Recognition

ALPHARETTA, GEORGIA—January 2, 2007—In recognition of the economic power of multicultural businesses, DiversityBusiness.com has recognized InfoMentis, Inc. as one of the:

• Top 500 Woman Owned businesses in the United States
• Top 50 Woman Owned businesses in Georgia
• Top Diversity Owned Businesses in Georgia
• Top Small Business in Georgia

Each classification represents the Top Woman Owned and Diversity Owned businesses in the U.S. and Georgia in sectors such as technology, manufacturing, food service and professional services. For the complete list of winning companies, please visit www.diversitybusiness.com.

The Impact of Diversity Business
Affected by recent economic and demographic trends and changes, Fortune 1000 corporations throughout the country have recognized that buying products and services from diversity-owned companies positively impacts their business. Small and diversity-owned businesses contribute over $1.4 trillion in sales to the U.S. economy.

“Woman Owned Businesses and consumers are a growing force in the U.S. economy, and a force to be reckoned with,” said Kenton Clarke, CEO of Computer Consulting Associates International, the company that built DiversityBusiness.com. “This is a whole business segment that can carry its own, that provides jobs, products and services, and generates wealth for their communities. These are the new leaders in American business.”

The winning companies will be honored at a special awards ceremony at DiversityBusiness.com’s “7th Annual Multicultural Business Conference,” taking place April 11-13, 2007 at the Mirage in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“This award pays tribute to the accomplishments of all Woman-Owned and Diversity-Owned businesses throughout the United States, and I am honored to be included in such a dynamic group,” commented Wendy Reed, CEO, InfoMentis, Inc.

About InfoMentis
InfoMentis is a global consulting and performance improvement company providing configurable programs that help our clients enable cultural change. We teach our clients how to more effectively get, keep and leverage their customers and help them achieve bottom-line results.

Our configurable courseware, e-Learning modules, consulting services and collaborative productivity tools are designed to be adapted for role-based behavioral change for those in marketing, sales, services, support and management around the entire customer lifecycle.

Headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia, InfoMentis has helped industry leaders around the world understand and embrace the value of determining predictable revenue streams. Through our unique offerings, they are able to recognize that an opportunity for growth is significant among organizations eager to differentiate.

Founded in 1996, InfoMentis has provided performance improvement strategy, consulting and coaching to over 30,000 professionals, in 46 countries and six continents.

For more information about InfoMentis, please visit www.infomentis.com.

About DiversityBusiness.com
Launched in 1999, with over 32,000 members DiversityBusiness.com is the largest organization of diversity-owned businesses throughout the United States that provide goods and services to Fortune 1000 companies, government agencies and colleges and universities. Members use the sites technology to find and track new business opportunities. It also produces the country’s largest conference on diversity education and training for major corporations and small business. Its research on top businesses appears in Fortune, Forbes, Business Week and numerous magazines and media publications. The site has gained national recognition and has won numerous awards for its content and design. DiversityBusiness.com is produced by Computer Consulting Associates International Inc. (CCAii.com) of Southport, Connecticut. CCA was founded in 1980 by CEO Kenton Clarke.

For more information about Diversity Business, please visit www.diversitybusiness.com.

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Steve Maul Nominated For Turknett Leadership Award

ALPHARETTA, GEORGIA —January 9, 2007— InfoMentis announced today that Steve Maul, Chief Learning & Strategy Officer for InfoMentis has been nominated for a Turknett Leadership Award. Typical characteristics associated with nominees includes respect , integrity, and dedication for maintaining a culture in which everyone takes responsibility for achieving results and upholding their core values. The nominated individuals and organizations will be recognized at an awards luncheon being held on Monday, February 5, 2007 at the Grand Hyatt in Buckhead, Georgia.

“It’s an honor to be nominated for the Turknett Leadership Award. As an industry veteran, I admire and applaud the focus and dedication The Turknett Leadership Group has placed on developing the next generation of leaders,” commented Steve Maul, Chief Learning & Strategy Officer for InfoMentis, Inc.

Nominations for the Leadership Character Award will be evaluated by an Award Advisory Panel composed of Conchita Robinson, president and CEO of C Robinson Associates, Inc.; Dr. Betty Siegel, President Emeritus and Endowed Chair of Siegel Institute of Leadership, Ethics & Character at Kennesaw State University; W. Thomas (Tom) Smith, Founder and Managing Partner of Total Technology Ventures; and Oz Nelson, retired chairman and CEO of UPS.

About InfoMentis
InfoMentis is a global consulting and performance improvement company providing configurable programs that help our clients enable cultural change. We teach our clients how to more effectively get, keep and leverage their customers and help them achieve bottom-line results.

Our configurable courseware, e-Learning modules, consulting services and collaborative productivity tools are designed to be adapted for role-based behavioral change for those in marketing, sales, services, support and management around the entire customer lifecycle.

Headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia, InfoMentis has helped industry leaders around the world understand and embrace the value of determining predictable revenue streams. Through our unique offerings, they are able to recognize that an opportunity for growth is significant among organizations eager to differentiate.

Founded in 1996, InfoMentis has provided performance improvement strategy, consulting and coaching to over 30,000 professionals, in 46 countries and six continents.

For more information about InfoMentis, please visit www.infomentis.com.

About Turknett Leadership Group
The Turknett Leadership Group is a character-based management and consulting firm in Atlanta, Georgia that focuses on aligning strategy, leadership and culture by providing services in the areas of Executive Development, Selection & Integration; Succession Planning; Team Assessment and Development; Ethics, Retention & Culture Consulting.

For more information about Turknett Leadership Group, please visit www.turknett.com.

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New Principal Hire at InfoMentis

ALPHARETTA, GEORGIA —February 12, 2006— InfoMentis, Inc. announced today the addition of Eddie Pyrtle to the InfoMentis team. “We are thrilled that Eddie has joined the InfoMentis team,” said Julie Rhodes, “Eddie’s diverse experience further enhances the value we deliver to our clients.”

Mr. Pyrtle brings to InfoMentis over 15 years of implementation, pre-sales, sales, sales management and product management experience. Most recently, Mr. Pyrtle served as director of pre-sales consultants supporting both direct and channel sales at Everest Software. In this role, he coordinated and facilitated all internal pre-sales, direct sales and channel training. Additionally, he managed inside sales and assisted with the launch of a new channel program as well as received the Vice-President’s Employee of the Year award.

Prior to Everest, Mr. Pyrtle was a sales executive for SSA Global where he managed customer accounts in the Southeast with annual revenues ranging from 50 million to 750 million across 12 product lines and various industries including manufacturing, distribution, transportation, education and services. While at SSA (formerly Infinium Software), he held a number of positions with increasing responsibility ranging from senior implementation consultant to director of solutions management responsible for all SSA Global Financial, Human Capital and Corporate Performance Management Solutions suites and associated annual revenues ranging from 10 million to 50 million.

Mr. Pyrtle started his career as an accountant working for companies such as CIBA – GEIGY Corporation; Leeper, Hilliard, Laughlin & Company; Culp, Inc. and LADD Furniture, Inc. Mr. Pyrtle earned a bachelor’s of science degree in accounting from Guilford College and is a certified public accountant.

About InfoMentis
InfoMentis is a global consulting and performance improvement company providing configurable programs that help our clients enable cultural change. We teach our clients how to more effectively get, keep and leverage their customers and help them achieve bottom-line results.

Our configurable courseware, e-Learning modules, consulting services and collaborative productivity tools are designed to be adapted for role-based behavioral change for those in marketing, sales, services, support and management around the entire customer lifecycle.

Headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia, InfoMentis has helped industry leaders around the world understand and embrace the value of determining predictable revenue streams. Through our unique offerings, they are able to recognize that an opportunity for growth is significant among organizations eager to differentiate.

Founded in 1996, InfoMentis has provided performance improvement strategy, consulting and coaching to over 30,000 professionals, in 46 countries and six continents.

For more information about InfoMentis, please visit www.infomentis.com.

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A Perfect Storm: the Threat to the Status Quo of Professional Services
by Scott Fletcher of The Buswell Group

Like the 1991 Nor’easter that sank the 72-foot sword-fishing longliner Andrea Gail, a perfect storm is brewing—one that threatens professional services (PS) organizations that are ill prepared. Unlike the simultaneous convergence of powerful weather systems, we are being confronted by three immutable forces…byproducts of the evolution of the technology sector:

Commoditization of technology. Cinderella realized the party was over when the clock began to strike twelve, but lots of firms won’t get such a clear warning. The commoditization of a technology simply reveals the party is over for many of the business processes that have served technology companies over the years. Traditionally technology companies focused on product innovation (build it and they will come). During the tech boom, companies placed an emphasis on launching the “next big thing” and placed less attention on operational excellence. Innovative operational processes are required in today’s technology market.

Technology companies’ growing dependence on services. Commoditization increasingly forces firms to seek other sources of revenue as they shift from a product-based model to one based on services. For example, IBM made the shift and now generates more revenue today from services than from its products. In a service-based model, PS becomes a more critical contributor to the bottom line.

Fiercely growing competitive alternatives to traditional PS. Off-shore firms have perceived the shifts noted above and are moving quickly to fill the void. They have the staff capable of implementing over fifty percent of the products in today’s software marketplace. While these competitors represent less than ten percent of the PS market, they are growing at double digit rates.

The convergence of the preceding factors can sweep away all but the strongest PS organizations. As a personal survival kit, consider the following Ten Characteristics of Best-In-Class Professional Services. They represent some of the knowledge I have gained from more than twenty years of establishing Professional Services organizations within technology companies. As you read the text, ask yourself the questions regarding each characteristic. Your answers will help determine if your PS organization is sufficiently prepared to weather the impending storm.

A Company Strategy that Includes Professional Services
From the 1962 classic, Strategy and Structure, Alfred Chandler’s premise still holds true today, “Unless structure follows strategy, inefficiency results.” Technology companies traditionally focused their strategy on developing and selling innovative products, and they structured themselves accordingly. In many cases, the role of a PS organization and its impact on revenue was considered only as an afterthought. Ask yourself the following: Is our strategic plan designed for a product company, a service company, or a solution company? Does our structure support that strategy? Do we have a clearly-defined strategy for Professional Services, or has that function merely evolved as a logistical necessity?

A Marketing Vision that Encompasses Professional Services
A buggy whip manufacturer that perceived itself in the 1900’s as a “transportation starter business” could have survived and transitioned into the automobile industry, according to George Steiner. His claim typically provokes disagreement. But it is a fact that companies with balanced marketing visions have a better chance of surviving than those whose focus is narrowly product driven. Delivery of Professional Services not only adds service revenue, it also enhances the “stickiness” of the product, resulting in both increased product revenue and overall customer satisfaction. Is our marketing focus broad enough to encompass the sale of service based solutions? Can it accommodate revenue opportunities generated by the delivery of Professional Services to our customers?

A Commitment to Human Resources
The personnel assets of a PS organization expand and contract. Managing them is complicated by the fact that they are highly mobile and often work remotely for the majority of the time. Yet these employees are largely responsible for creating the image from which the customer bases his impression of the company. High turnover among PS employees sends an undesirable signal. Do we have defined career paths designed to develop and retain our best employees? Do we have incentive compensation plans that promote the level of performance we seek from our employees in today’s market?

A Leadership Development Strategy
Competing in today’s marketplace is a “survival of the fittest.” It represents a wake up call—the moment of truth—for many technology companies. Survivors will have to outperform their competition in speed to market, deliver best-in-class support services and manage growth. If product innovation is the only strategic focus, a company may be prompted to fill its management requirements with people who possess the strongest technical skills. But, the competitive storm that is brewing for Professional Services demands managers who can lead. Are our managers the best leaders, or are they simply our most proficient consultants and engineers? What programs do we have in place to groom the next generation of leaders?

A Properly Supported PS Sales Organization
Professional Services are intangible, expensive and difficult to describe. They are tough to sell, and the process is even more complicated when long sales cycles are involved. What programs are in place to support the sale of our services? Are we capable of delivering an easy-to-understand message that clearly defines the return on investment (ROI) our customer will receive by purchasing our Professional Services?

An Efficient Operational Infrastructure
Today’s market conditions require a new operational emphasis. Professional Services Automation (PSA) solutions become critical. Typically, PS organizations with fewer than twenty consultants may elect to operate without a PSA. But organizations larger than that, which have passed the threshold without implementing a PSA, most likely are managing by brute strength, or they have built a complicated technical infrastructure. In either case, the result is high administrative costs and poor utilization of resources. Are we trying to manage our PS organization with spreadsheets?

A System for Sharing Intellectual Property
One of the competitive advantages for a PS organization is the group’s collective knowledge. Shared information keeps everyone operating at a high level. But too often, a pecking order is established, based on who knows what, leaving much of the IP concentrated in the heads of only a few individuals. How is our IP shared across the organization? How does a new member of the team develop to the expert level within our organization?

A System for Managing Customers
Customers are assets. Understanding the value they represent to a company is important. It’s equally important to have a good perspective of the value the company represents to them. This is a critical element that helps determine pricing, competitive responses, levels of service, etc., and it is impossible to quantify accurately without some form of metrics. What kind of customer feedback programs are in place for gauging the effectiveness of our service delivery? What programs are in place to measure and validate customer ROIs? Do we encourage customers to share their success stories with our other prospects in order to help drive new business to our company and to validate our marketing messages?

A Flexible Model for Delivering Consulting Services
“The customer can have any color he wants as long as it’s black”! Henry Ford probably had no inkling that his boast would open the door to every other automobile manufacturer. Today, the wisdom of R.H. Macy’s advice, “Give the lady what she wants,” is understood by successful PS marketers. Do we provide flex pricing and multiple delivery models? Do we recognize the need to blend resources–on-site, remote, off-shore, third-party, etc? And, do we apply financial models that consider more than ”time and materials” to determine the pricing points for profitable service engagements?

A Commitment to "Best Practices"
The significance of the old saying that “cobbler’s children have no shoes” should not be lost on those responsible for Professional Services. Amid the pressure to implement best practices solutions for customers, an organization can overlook its own management shortcomings. “Not invented here” mentality and acceptance of the status quo are two of the most frequent pitfalls, neither of which will serve to weather the coming storm. Do we use benchmarks and best practices to measure our performance against best in class Professional Services organizations? Is our internal goal setting based upon historic numbers that have been validated through external sources? Random chance does not create the excellence found in best-in-class Professional Services organizations. These organizations understand the necessity of forward-thinking marketing messages, easy-to-sell services, incentives plans to retain employees and the sharing of intellectual property among team members. Most of all, they are proactive in soliciting buy-in from executive management for the resources, programs and procedures necessary to implement best practices within their own organizations.

For more information about Buswell Group, please visit www.buswellgroup.com.

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The Implications of a Misfit
by David Hand, President of Agile

I recall a definition of insanity that goes something like this - Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Why do companies continue to hire based on education and experience or hard skills alone and then fire for the lack of soft skills or “fit”? (By soft skills we mean behaviors, values, and personal skills - e.g. personal accountability, conceptual thinking, problem solving and results orientation.)

Why Should You Care?
There has been considerable research over the last several years on the implications of a “misfit” in the workplace. Let’s briefly review some of the more significant results:

• Hiring: From a hiring perspective, studies have shown that the cost of hiring an individual who leaves because he/she does not fit ranges from 2X salary to as much as 10X salary depending on the type of job.
• Disengaged Employee: On the other hand, and possibly even worse, are the disengaged employees…the “misfits” that stay…the workers who have quit but forgot to tell you. Gallup estimates that actively disengaged employees alone are costing the U.S. economy between $292 billion and $355 billion a year.

How Big Is Your Problem?

• Cost of Loss:
  • According to the Electronic Recruiting Exchange, “Loyalty is a thing of the past. It appears that every man, woman and child is ready to quit their current job at the first opportunity.”
  • A recent Accenture study suggests that approximately 60% of today’s workers and 50% of middle managers are unhappy in their current jobs and willing to join the hunt. Assuming that your cost of loss is a conservative 150% of salary…you do the math.
Cost of Disengagement:
• The Gallup study calculated that 55% of the U.S. workforce is “not engaged” and 19% is “actively disengaged.” Further research has shown that a truly engaged employee is up to 2.5 times more productive than their average counterparts.

What Can You Do?
You can start by considering a couple of recommendations.

• Define the “Whole” Job
  Bill J. Bonnstetter, founder and president of Target Training International, says to “let the job talk.” I love that phrase because if the job could talk, it would tell us precisely what was necessary to achieve superior performance. It would tell us about the knowledge a person needs, hard skills vital for the job, behaviors necessary to perform at peak levels, personal talents and soft skills required for success, and the rewards for superior performance. We need to get beyond traditional job descriptions and develop job benchmarks. A job benchmark will help you to determine key accountabilities and measurements of success as well as establish the soft skills necessary for superior performance, what the job will reward, and the behavioral style that the job requires. It is, if you will, a documented discussion with a talking job.
  
• Focus on the “Whole”
  Person Remember the last time you could not wait to get to work, never clock watching because time passed so quickly, delivering superior performance and results, minimal stress, work and life balance? Admittedly, that may be pushing it a bit. However, getting beyond the resume and assessing and profiling soft skills, values and behaviors that are highly predictive of success and superior performance can go a long way toward making that a reality. Most job failure is directly traced to inappropriate behaviors, attitudes, competencies and personality.

Where Should You Start?
Job benchmarking and assessment can be used to make a bottom-line impact on any critical job. For example, Target Training International has been doing some groundbreaking research in the area of sales. Research studies of top sales people in both the United States and Europe confirm that top sales performance can be predicted. Interestingly, the study concluded that salespeople can sell in most, if not all, behavioral dimensions. However, when it comes to values or what is on the inside of top performing salespeople, it is hands-down a Utilitarian Attitude. Approximately 72% of top performing salespeople have this attitude or value as their top value profile…very interesting since there are six value profiles that can drive or motivate an individual to do what they do.

In summary, your ability to hire top talent and develop superior performers has become mission critical. The key to successfully hiring and developing superior performers is to move beyond the resume, traditional job descriptions, and hard skills and to focus on soft skills or “fit.”

For more information about Agile, please visit www.agileatlanta.com.

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The Plan Behind the Prospect – Back to Basics
by Suzanne Rabauer and Patti Tessendorf

Regardless of industry, the secret behind any successful marketing campaign is your ability to accurately target your prospects. However, what might seem simple in concept remains a source of frustration for numerous sales and marketing organizations. A recent study conducted by CSO Insights revealed that when it came to accurately targeting new prospects:

• 44.9% of respondents rated themselves as only “average”
• 15.3% of respondents rated themselves as “poor”
• And only 3% rating themselves as “world class”

Improving targeting accuracy takes time, but once your target group has been identified you will have surpassed a major milestone in your targeting process. Getting started requires you to gain insight and understanding about the dynamics of your target market and the potential prospects within that market.

Fundamentals are the key! By applying focus in the areas below, you will lend quality and definition to your strategy for pursuit.

1. Market Segmentation
• Proper market segmentation is critical and places focus on those market subsets that represent prospects and/or existing customers who are "most likely" to purchase your solution. Taking advantage of the low-hanging fruit!
2. Prospect Targeting
• Identify characteristics that make up your ideal prospect. For example, you might place focus on organization size (revenue, number of employees and locations) if your solution is highly sophisticated, requires significant resources or provides greater value based on volume. Other characteristics could include: SIC code, speed to market, prospect organizational goals, etc. Quality over quantity.
3. Solution Positioning
• Identify areas of issue or challenge that your solution can address such as improved productivity, quality control, service delivery, etc.
4. Message Validation
• Engage in conversation with your current customer base, or even better, with your competitor’s customers. By doing so, you will not only validate your messaging but you will also be able to gather insight into how to enhance your messaging. For example, you might illustrate to a potential prospect that your solution has benefits that will address their exact needs, which will clearly bring the value of your solution into focus for your prospects.

Each of these areas requires focus and research. These are not options. They are keys to success. Like sales, skipping steps in the process will only reduce the quality of your prospects and the impact of your campaign.

“Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying the basic fundamentals.”

- Jim Rohn, Author, Business Coach and Motivational Speaker

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Maintenance Tips & Tricks
by Gerard Frey and Nora Laughton

Is Your Maintenance Sales Strategy Offensive or Defensive? In the past, most sales reps have been able to dodge incoming maintenance missiles by simply reacting to the occasional maintenance objections raised by customers and hoping they would go away. Maybe that worked in the good old days, but times have changed. We have heard from several sales executives that maintenance is commanding up to 70%-80% of negotiations. Therefore, being reactive just won’t work anymore. You must take an offensive strategy.

Top Five Tips for Taking the Offensive:

1. Know your “value for maintenance” story – keep it crisp, compelling, conversational, and most of all, customer-focused.
2. Pitch your maintenance story early and often – no one is asking you to lead with your chin, but use maintenance to strengthen your overall solution.
3. Set maintenance traps for your competitor – Don’t you just love the visual of your competitor getting that “deer in headlights” look when asked about their maintenance differentiators?
4. Pre-empt traps set by your competitors – they are fun to set, but don’t get caught in one yourself. Make sure you bring maintenance up before your competitor does.
5. Anticipate objections – You know you are going to get them, so prepare! Make this part of your call plan process.

The bottom line is that avoiding maintenance discussions is like pretending that the elephant isn’t in the room when your prospects and your competition all know it is. Face it squarely on, smile, pitch your maintenance strengths and differentiators, and watch the competition squirm.

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A Humorous Story: A Lesson in Strategy
Unknown Author

A turkey was chatting with a bull.

“I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree,” sighed the turkey, “but I haven't got the energy.”

“Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings,” replied the bull. “They're packed with nutrients.”

The turkey pecked at a lump of dung and found that it actually gave him enough strength to reach the first branch of the tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch. Finally after a fortnight, there he was proudly perched at the top of the tree. Not long after, he was spotted by a farmer, who promptly shot the turkey out of the tree.


Question: What can we learn from this?
Answer: Bullshit might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there.