Here's a selection of e-mails and letters I've received from people from all over the Internet who've read my e-commerce books, seen my articles, and attended one of my presentations. If you have a comment, please e-mail me, Garrett Wasny. Maybe I'll publish it here.
Date: November 27, 2000
From: Marco CavigliaDear Mr.Wasny: I read your column in my local newspaper recently, and found it informative. I am an attorney who would like to engage my practice into the evolving e-commerce sector and shall be taking specialized courses in the legal aspects of the sector shortly. I would like your suggestions regarding what areas companies which wish to engage, or are engaging, in e-commerce seek legal counsel, how best to reach them, and what other thoughts you might have on the subject. Of course, I realize you are very busy, without doubt, so any alternative source of information would be appreciated. However, if you do have time to respond, it would be greatly appreciated. Sincerely, Marco Caviglia.
Garrett Wasny responds: You asked about hot areas of e-commerce law, and how best to reach companies seeking e-business law counsel.
First, the hot e-legal areas. As you're undoubtedly aware, e-commerce law is an exploding field. The world over, governments are reforming the electronic commerce legal framework, and courts are working overtime to address cyberspace law cases. Some of the leading e-commerce law issues include copyrights, jurisdiction, trademarks, privacy, and freedom of speech. To track the latest e-commerce case law developments, check out the Electronic Commerce and Law Report at
http://zeus.bna.com/e-law/libindex.html. A hub of information of cyberspace law, the site lists recent cyberspace law decisions by category. Other useful resources include the Internet Law Journal at http://www.tilj.com/ which is an e-commerce and the law e-zine, Cyberspace Law at http://lawschool.mtcibs.com/weblec/ecommerce/ which is a free web tutorial on e-commerce law by Michael Geist at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, Canada, and Legal Issues at http://www.wilsonweb.com/webmarket/law.htm which is an archive of articles and papers by leading e-commerce law specialists.Second, how to find clients for your e-commerce law services. Three suggestions. Start by scanning the growing number of professional services e-marketplaces such as eLance at http://www.elance.com/, Ants at http://www.ants.com/ants/, eWork at http://www.ework.com, Freeagent.com at
http://www.freeagent.com, Guru.com at http://www.guru.com, ICplanet at
http://www.icplanet.com, iNiku at http://www.iniku.com/, IQ4hire at
http://www.iq4hire.com/, and SkillsVillage
http://www.skillsvillage.com. On these e-exhanges, buyers and suppliers
from a diverse range of professional services -- from web design to architecture to legal services -- meet online to do business. Access the legal services sections of these sites. There, look for companies seeking e-commerce law services, and post information on your services to attract
potential clients. You may also want to scan Internet newsgroups for companies seeking e-commerce law advice. You may search for such discussions and questions at Deja at http://www.deja.com/usenet, a searchable archive of newgroup correspondence. You should also check out LawCommerce at http://www.lawcommerce.com, a new e-marketplace for the legal industry. LawCommerce.com is an online exchange linking buyers and suppliers in the legal-services supply chain. Through the exchange, buyers
can purchase services including legislative/public record, legal filing, incorporation, arbitration/mediation, and trademark/patent services.
Date: November 25, 2000
From: Brent BowlingI know you probably have a flood of emails and work to sort through, but I would appreciate a little help or guidance if you have the opportunity. My name is Brent Bowling and I have hopes to start up a small marketing company that for now deals greatly in the ecommerce industry. I am interested in any information you can give me regarding marketing strategies that are used by the credit card industry such as online affiliate/merchant programs and also direct promotions with respect to application acquistion. I am having a little trouble sorting through the multitude of repetitious information that clogs my journey through the "information super-highway." I have been led in many directions, but I am failing to find consistent leads to uncover the information that I am seeking. If you do not have time to answer my question or help me directly, could you kindly direct me in a better direction that the one I am currently following. Thank you for your time and I hope to hear from you soon. Brent W. Bowling.
You also asked about online affiliate programs. Affiliate programs go by many names including associate, commission, referral, bounty and partner programs. In short, an affiliate program involves placing a special link on your webpage which links back to a destination website, such as Amazon.com. Each time a visitor clicks from your site to the destination site, and goes on to buy something online at that site, you get paid a percentage of the sale, normally 10-20%. At least five types of affiliate programs are used today: pay per sale (you get paid a commission for each sale you generate), bounty (you get a one-time bounty payment for a customer you referred), pay per click (you get paid for every visitor you send to the online merchant whether or not a sale is made), two-tier programs (you get a commission on direct sales you generate, plus a commission on sales generated by affiliates that you recruit), and pay per lead (you get paid a
one-time fee for generating a lead for the merchant). Leading affiliate programs online
include Associate-It at http://www.associate-it.com/, Affiliate Find at
http://www.affiliatefind.com, AffiliateZone at http://www.affiliatezone.com, and Commission Junction at http://www.commissionjunction.com.
Date: November 21, 2000.
From: Paul WhitneyGarrett: I read your article of November 21/2000 on Pink Sheets. FYI here is a site (b2b exchange) that can, and is actually delivering
real value to its subscribers and is of all things profitable. Nothing fancy, just good value....www.recycle.net You might want to watch it. Sincerely, Paul Whitney. Tel: 519-725-2329
Date: November 20, 2000.
From: Scott GibsonGarrett: It is rare that I see an article about SFA, especially in the Star Telegram, but that everyone now calls it CRM. Your article was right on the mark. Having specialized in SFA and Consumer Affairs systems for the past 10 years, I could not be help to offer some of my observations.
The very first SFA project I worked on (1992) was for a major consulting company who wanted to track the activities of their sales reps and customers. A very nice application that was build in Lotus Notes and offered a lot of promise when it came to circulating information around the company. In the end, the system was a dismal
failure and subsequently disconnected. The post mortem showed that when management designed the concept of the system, they failed to take into consideration the profiles of their people in the field. That profile was basically this; their sales reps were expected to close millions of dollars in business a year. These people were very senior (probably in their late 30's and older) and their skills were based on years of experience and contacts in the business community. The last thing these people were going to do was to put "their" Rolodex in a computer system that manage could look at - this information was their asset in life.
The last pure SFA system I worked on was 3 years ago for a division of a major pharmaceutical company. This would have been the 2nd version of a contact management or SFA package this 200 person force had seen. The management who designed it worked for the VP of Sales, not IT. They / we knew that 20% of the sales force would not use it so we concentrated on the 60% or 80% who would. We pre-loaded as much of the customer data as we could but all we asked them to do was to use a small piece of the application that was the forecast form.
This is what I call the "Silver Bullet" application - something a sales rep knows that he or she MUST do, if nothing else in terms of reporting. This forecast form was part of their MBO plan so the company had leverage on those who did not do the work. The old forecast system - an emailed Excel spreadsheet had resulted in only a 50% participation in any given month - the new application, tied to the Contact Manager - resulted in a 96% participation rate each month. The forecast data was packaged for management and after a couple of call from the VP of Sales or the President to a Division Manager about the state of his or her forecast, the word got around real fast and the reps began to use the application to cover themselves.
The real benefit (which surprised all of us) was that about 70% of the sales force began to use the Contact Manager to update their account files and track activities. By allowing them to discover the benefits themselves - they decided it was not so bad at all after all.
SFA is really behavior management - the real key is understanding what management really needs from the sales force and in most cases, it is not contact information. The issue of internet based contact management systems is another issue and, once again, should be based on the type of sales organization and the culture of the
company.
Regards, Scott
R. Scott Gipson
eBusiness Consultant
Web Associates .
http://webassociates.com
817.790.3547 Texas Office
817.556.8284 Cell
Date: November 20, 2000.
From: Tim SimonsonGarrett: Read your piece . . .Automate this! Web-based contact management systems require diligent input from entire sales force
. . . found your comment about broad and ambitious scope of tools to be interesting.
Wanted to introduce you to Bungo.com. Please let me know if you would be interested in learning more about our solution.
Best, Tim
Tim Simonson
Bungo.com, Inc.
http://www.bungo.com
765 Allens Avenue
Providence, RI 02905
simonson@bungo.com
voice 401.461.8022 x 14
fax 401.461.8885
Date: November 13, 2000.
From: Jim Seely
Garrett: I think your e-learning article is brilliant.
Date: October 24, 2000
From: Cameron BetzGarrett: I attended your presentation at the BCIT Telus Theatre, you rocked that usually dull lecture hall. I've been meaning to write you to show my appreciation.
My money was well spent. Your book has proved a valuable resource, and paid for itself.
Hope to see the presentation again next year.
Appreciatively,
Cameron Betz
Date: October 4, 2000
From: Rose Mary LewisGarrett: I downloaded planet.ppt from your website.
Rose Mary Lewis
Infrastructure Manager
Williams Communications Group
Tulsa, OK
rosie.lewis@wilcom.com
I am making a presentation at the Fall IT Management Conference. Our
theme is Outer Space. My topic is telecommuting. Perfect fit!
Date: October 2, 2000
From: Michelle BuglioniGarrett: I was at your seminar this Saturday at BCIT and I learned so much. I am a second year student in the International Trade program, so all the information you gave is vital for myself now and in the future. I had a wonderful time and when it was all over I was shocked that seven hours had already gone by. I will definitely recommend your seminar to others.
Thank you again!
Sincerely,
Michelle Buglioni
Date: September 11, 2000
From: Audra HowertonI visited your web site after following the link from an E-commerce article you wrote that was published at www.star-telegram.com
Your candid approach to web realism was refreshing. Sincerely, Audra Howerton, President/Creative Director, SculptNET Web Site Development, Inc. http://www.sculptnet.com
Date: August 24, 2000
From: Jennifer TooneI read your article which appeared in the Providence Sunday Journal this past weekend, "E-collaboration tools slow to catch on." I enjoyed reading your insights on Web-based teams and the four categories in which team members fall into.
I wanted to call your attention to a bright new collaborative corporate portal Web company headquartered in Providence, R.I. called Bungo.com. It can be explained as a cost-effective, productivity-enhancing replacement to Lotus Notes. The company has already begun to work on components and systems for intranets within the pharmaceutical,
communications and other major industries. The company was also ranked as "Best Virtual Secretary" by Forbes Magazine.
Date: August 22, 2000
From: Adrienne MochHi Garrett: I hope I have the right Garrett Wasny, and you are the author of the article about e-collaboration services distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service. If I am wrong, feel free to stop reading now and please reply to let me know of my error. If I am correct,
please read on ...I realize your list of Web-provided e-collaboration tools was not intended to be all-inclusive, but I wanted to ensure that you are
aware of one that was not mentioned: Done.com. The first wireless workflow ASP, Done.com allows users to accelerate critical processes such as product launches, marketing event management, and mergers and acquisitions due diligence, providing tools -- of which document sharing is just one -- that facilitate the timely completion of team projects.As noted in your article, one of the stumbling blocks for most e-collaboration tools is that many people do not want to change ingrained habits. Understanding that, one of the ways that Done.com is accessible to users is through e-mail. Realizing that many professionals are often mobile, the service is also accessible via
Web browsers, WAP phones and Palm VII, or offline via synchronization with Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes and the Palm Pilot.Additional information about Done.com is available at its Web site, www.done.com. Please let me know if we can provide you with further
details about this innovative e-collaboration tool.Adrienne Moch
PR Account Supervisor/Writer
Pacifico, Inc.
Integrated Marketing Communications
99 Almaden Blvd., Suite 900
San Jose, CA 95113
Phone: 408-293-8600 x319
Fax: 408-293-8665
http://www.pacifico.com
Date: August 2, 2000
From: Charles SilvermanDear Mr. Wasny: I read and enjoyed your article on "Electronic Storefronts", which appeared in today's edition of the Rockland Journal News. I wanted to share with you a slightly different alternative to the storefronts you described. This is one that I am providing to the "small business" owners on the net, at no cost! Here is some information about QFLEA.com that you may find worthy of including in your newsletter or on your webpage, which I think might be a nice resource for the QFLEA vendors.
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