Author Archives: skipbensley

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About skipbensley

Unabashed father, AV genius, part time dark knight, foodie, amateur chef, antifascist, volunteer and rabid Boston sports fan.

Do you know what your relationship is with your client?

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Sometimes in sales you think you know what the relationship is. You work hard and you hope to be rewarded for your efforts. Sometimes however all is not what it seems and if you don’t ask the right questions you can get fooled.  I was fooled recently.  I assumed. I hoped and thought that the client I was trying to work with would do the right thing. They didn’t and I was certain they wouldn’t but I was surprised nonetheless. I was hurt even.

I may have exacerbated the problem by venting.  Venting doesn’t help, it’s not professional and even if the relationship is solid it’s risky. You can look like a real dope. Fortunately I think the person understood where I was comming from, I hope she did.

I think however if it all happened again, I would do the same thing. Not that I have not learned from the experience, but I think I would be better at asking the right questions so none of the above happened in the first place.
Have you ever had a situation get to you even when you knew it was coming?

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Sales is hard enough, but when did free become unfashionable

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One thing I am learning in my new job is that doing sales these days is really hard. The economy dictates value. Even though we might have a great product and can do great things for our clients it all comes down to budget and value. How much value am I getting by using X over Y. Is it worth it? In an era of supposed transparency, people are still tight lipped about their relationships with other vendors and what their budget is or needs to be. Asking the right questions on the front end is the key of course. Communication is key or your just spinning your gears.

I enjoy talking with people, listening and offering help whenever I can. I consider my sales approach to be consultative. I ask questions, I and I make recommendations. If I can help in other ways I try also. Getting people to meet with you, is even harder these days for nobody has the time anymore.

I have been trying very hard to meet with a non profit.org to sponsor their event and nobody on their team will meet with me so we can discuss it. I am offering our services for free. Free isn’t good anymore apparently in some circles.
what do you think?

SB

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Ooops we forgot…

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I recently did a shoot for a large agency from the midwest for their respective Insurance Company client. The spokesman was local Sports hero Doug Flutie. After we did the shoot I tweeted about it. This sent shockwaves through the center of the advertising world. Did not most of us get the memo that transparency is in, and that buzz about doing good work is also fashionable?  The reverse has happened and now I have been ordered to sign off on a non disclosure and confidentiality agreement after the fact. Just from one tweet about the shoot.  I think its Mad men and women.

What do you think?

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TEDxBoston = WOW

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Ted was Wow. It was awe inspiring. It made me laugh, it made me sing, it made me cry. It was what I thought it would be and more then I ever thought possible. I am forever grateful for the gift I was given Yesterday. I am sure I will have lots more to write about TEDx for I am still processing.
My thanks to everyone who participated, organized, spoke and or performed at TEDxBoston, you inspired us all.
It was great seeing some good friends there, it was also nice meeting and getting to know some new ones as well. Happy Friday

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More Iphone 4 stuff

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I woke up this morning and tried to make a phone call and could not I had a locked sim.  Spoke with Loretta at ATT and she was very helpful in fixing that.  She also told me that the closest tower to me on the ATT network was severely degraded and that it was quite possible that my service had been impacted by that tower. While there are 20 towers in our region, the iphone looks for the closest tower just like a computer looking for the closest wifi. Unfortunately my phones have been locking in on a damaged signal. I am not sure that was the problem with my iphone4 which seemed bad anyway, but it may explain why my 3GS was wonky yesterday.

I hope this was helpful

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Apple will not take iphone 4 back.

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So be warned that when you try and return your iphone 4 that the stores will not take them back directly. You need to setup a return through the apple store apparently, that is different somehow from the apple store you see in the mall. I dropped mine off at the Natick Collection and had my 3GS re-initialized at ATT store so I have a phone. Apple is now trying to do a return over the phone with me. They will need to cancel my iphone 4 upgrade and also cancel the two year contract I just signed with them. to be continued I’m sure…

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Banking hours ?

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Chris Brogan posted that he slept 10 hours strait today. Two things come to mind, make that three. The first is that he must be on vacation. The 2nd is that contrary to popular belief Chris is not super human but mortal like the rest of us. Now for the third, I have always believed that when you are younger ages 13- 30 and you sleep-in and get 10-12 hours of sleep (or more) you are simply banking hours. Hours that your body needs yes, but also hours that your body will use later for the greater good. When you become a parent that greater good is realized. You get up early, you do extraordinary things and you give back those banked hours. So sleep in when you can, get the rest you need because most of you will have children and you will rise to the occasion and give all those hours back. That is unless your name is Lance Armstrong then you’ll go and win the Tour De france 7 or so times.

What are you banking hours for?

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How do you consolidate Twitter accounts?

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As some of you know, (those who have seen me out and about at tweetups) I have started a new gig. Now the old gig isn’t gone Brilliant Video Productions Inc. still exists I just also work full time leading the Boston office of Corporate AV services. My dilemma now is what do I do with the @brilliant twitter name. I have like 3500 ppl following my brand there. I am seldom on that handle now however and I feel kind of bad because I probably will close it down. If you are following www.twitter.com/brilliantvideo please follow www.twitter.com/skipbensley instead. I wish it were easier to change names and accounts. I tried contacting twitter but have gotten nowhere with that. If anyone has ever been in my shoes and has blogged about it, or read about it could you let me know?

my thanks @SkipBensley on twitter.

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New Address… http://skipbensley.posterous.com/

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I have moved the Bensleygram to Posterous no more blog posts will be place here as of 6/21/2010.

New Address http://skipbensley.posterous.com/

What I have been up too

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In late 2009, I wondered in a bad economy like that, what would I do in 2010? Then I started getting busy, then busier then crazy busy. Gary V calls it crushing it I think. I am now doubly employed and will soon need a staff or a good cloning. I recently joined the folks at Corporate audio visual services. (http://www.corporate-av.com) They are a NY based Company ( but the owner is from MA) however so no Yankee jokes. He ( Joe Guilderson) has been holding his own and then some in the NYC area since 1985, and hates the Yankees. His office is all about the Redsox and Fenway park. We have opened a Boston office in beautiful Medford square, and we will be providing Audio Visual Staging and support to the Boston and New England communities.

If you are planning an event and need AV equipment, rentals and or AV Tech support you can reach me at 617.245.0393 I also know a guy that does video production brilliantly. Hope your well

Skip