Do you have a Management Team page?
Posted 04-07-2009 at 02:01 PM by Judy Schramm
Americans expect to see a management team page on your website - yet this is one of the pages many companies outside the US leave off their site.
We have had this discussion with many companies based outside the US.
A lot of software CEOs feel that having a management team page is like bragging. They are uncomfortable putting their bio up - not to mention a photo - and talking about themselves and their experience on the site.
I've heard a lot of different versions of this:
- I'm not an expert, why would anyone want to read about me?
- If I were Brad Pitt it would be different, but I just look like an ordinary person.
- A lot of my experience is outside the software industry. I'm worried about how that will look.
- I am pretty young (or old) - people might get the wrong impression about our company.
You still need a management team page.
Americans want to know who is behind your company.
They want to know who they are doing business with. They want to know what your experience is, where you are located, why you started the business.
It is safe to be honest about all of this.
It builds credibility, and makes people feel safe doing business with you.
If you have had the courage to start a software company you should be comfortable talking about why you started it. If you have enough experience to start a business, you should be comfortable talking about that experience.
You have a story to tell. We want to hear it.
If you're not comfortable putting up a photo, you could skip that. But I'd encourage you to do it anyway. (Only one person in the entire world looks like Brad Pitt, and he's not running a software business.)
Americans love a good story. We love supporting the underdog - helping a small company get started.
And we love small companies, because we believe we get better quality service than from a big vendor - we're just an account number to them.
So tell us who you are, what your experience is, why you started the business, who else is on your management team, and why you have the best solution. We want to know!
A couple tips...
1. If you are the only person in the management team, it's OK to just have you on the page. Include whatever is in your background that demonstrates excellence or directly relevant experience.
2. Include contact information. Mask it so spammers won't pick it up, but give people a way to reach you.
3. If you have no directly relevant experience and not a lot else to talk about, make the management team a page that talks about your vision for the business - why you started it, what you are planning to achieve for customers, why you believe in your solution.
4. Think about what else you can do to add credibility to this section. Can you talk about your investors? Customers? Awards? Partners? Associations you belong to? Include as much as you can to show people that you are a viable business partner.
We have had this discussion with many companies based outside the US.
A lot of software CEOs feel that having a management team page is like bragging. They are uncomfortable putting their bio up - not to mention a photo - and talking about themselves and their experience on the site.
I've heard a lot of different versions of this:
- I'm not an expert, why would anyone want to read about me?
- If I were Brad Pitt it would be different, but I just look like an ordinary person.
- A lot of my experience is outside the software industry. I'm worried about how that will look.
- I am pretty young (or old) - people might get the wrong impression about our company.
You still need a management team page.
Americans want to know who is behind your company.
They want to know who they are doing business with. They want to know what your experience is, where you are located, why you started the business.
It is safe to be honest about all of this.
It builds credibility, and makes people feel safe doing business with you.
If you have had the courage to start a software company you should be comfortable talking about why you started it. If you have enough experience to start a business, you should be comfortable talking about that experience.
You have a story to tell. We want to hear it.
If you're not comfortable putting up a photo, you could skip that. But I'd encourage you to do it anyway. (Only one person in the entire world looks like Brad Pitt, and he's not running a software business.)
Americans love a good story. We love supporting the underdog - helping a small company get started.
And we love small companies, because we believe we get better quality service than from a big vendor - we're just an account number to them.
So tell us who you are, what your experience is, why you started the business, who else is on your management team, and why you have the best solution. We want to know!
A couple tips...
1. If you are the only person in the management team, it's OK to just have you on the page. Include whatever is in your background that demonstrates excellence or directly relevant experience.
2. Include contact information. Mask it so spammers won't pick it up, but give people a way to reach you.
3. If you have no directly relevant experience and not a lot else to talk about, make the management team a page that talks about your vision for the business - why you started it, what you are planning to achieve for customers, why you believe in your solution.
4. Think about what else you can do to add credibility to this section. Can you talk about your investors? Customers? Awards? Partners? Associations you belong to? Include as much as you can to show people that you are a viable business partner.
Total Comments 2
Comments
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RE:Do you have a Management Team page?
Hello Judy,
I completely agree with what you said.If we are right company Yes we have to put a Management Page.
But i have doubt. most of the companies in US wont entertain cold calls especially people who want to do business from india will have a offshore sales team,and would do cold calling and in US its like a world of Voice Mails. emails will go in junk due to the filter.
But still i can say i had bit of sucess in getting projects.Passing all the barriers diffrent objection handlings and things like that.
what is the more better way we can implement in this process of sales.
Your thoughts and inputs please.Posted 04-29-2009 at 09:44 AM by lifesnteasy 
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Your best bet is going to be to specialize in a particular type of project.
When you have enough experience that you can craft qualifying questions that just by the way they are worded, show that you know a prospect's business and what matters to them and what the issues are with this type of project, then you will be able to leave a voicemail or email message that gets a response.
If you have already been successful, that's the first step.
The second step is to leverage those projects into other projects in the same area, so you are able to develop that expertise.Posted 05-11-2009 at 12:52 PM by Judy Schramm
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