Flii market

Well, you can go and take a peek. Check out www.flii.com.br. Richard, Neil, and everyone on the Vottle side, well done! This new Brazilian classifieds site rocks!

At this stage this is still a seriously BETA site. In my view the site is solid, but is brand new, and at the moment everyone is involved with test driving and polishing. Also, there is a big campaign to accumulate some inventory - we need some content before the Flii officially gets launched.

So, if any if you who read this speak Portuguese, and if you have something you want to try sell in Brazil, then the Flii is the name of the game.

Go and check out www.flii.com.br and please send us feedback if you have any - you can mail us on feedback@vottle.com

Sao Paulo, you are one great city - we look forward to coming back next month!

Posted by Ronnie Apteker

Don't shoot the messenger!

So much of our mission, all of our missions, is about communications. It is about the delivery, and not so much about the message. It is about how we say it, and not about what we say. This is a challenge we all face, every day.

So much in life is about delivery. If a person is a bad communicator they will typically get shot down, and the message will be discarded, no matter how significant or important it is. That is how it is.

We all gotta learn to be better at selling - selling is a key aspect of communications. If people don't buy it then a war may break out, even if deep down what you say is exactly what they believe. If you can't finds the right words, or, if you don't say it in a way that gets their buy-in then things can go horribly wrong, and more often than not, they do!

If we can't communicate then it doesn't matter how many ideas we have, or how clever we are, etc. Nothing matters if one can't engage others in civilized conversation. Communications is vital to one's well being and we all need to think about how to communicate effectively. When I go to the toilet at work (yes, I have to go now and then) and it always amazes me when I am standing there doing my thing and someone walks in and suddenly turns to me and goes "I need to talk to you urgently". What?

If you want someone to take you seriously then go and see them - don't try and talk to them when you bump them in the toilet. A few weekends ago some guy bumped me in the mall and says to me "Ronnie, I really need to talk to you". So I said "Sure - no problem - give me a call on Monday and let's chat or set up a meeting". And he said, "Can't I talk to you now". And I said, "I am in a hurry - I am on my way to meet someone". And he looked at me funny and mumbled something. And then this clown coughs up "Why can't we talk now?" So I called the police. Seriously, I said to him "We never planned on meeting now - you just happened to bump into me - I am in a hurry". So he said "Fine, I will call you on Monday then". And guess what - I never heard from him! The usual story.

In short, our basic problem is that they have no idea how to communicate - if something was so important or so urgent then he would have called ages ago. Was this guy in our story walking around the mall for the past year hoping to bump into me.

Effective communications is also about making an effort. The other day, back at IS, another intriguing guy says to me, when I walked past him in the corridor, "Ronnie, I have been looking for you all week - I need to talk to you". What ?

Three Jehovah’s witnesses tracked me down, and my mother and my rabbi never have a problem finding me. What was he on about? He even said he tried to call me. Interesting, because I never got any messages or any emails saying he was looking for me. I never got a note on my desk or under my door. Nothing! And this is the bottom line: say what you mean and mean what you say. That is what a big part of delivering the message is all about.

Posted by Ronnie Apteker

Just do it

I always loved that slogan that Nike shared with the world: Just do it. This says it all.

I want to share something with you today. It is the story about a guy I met; a young man that was in trouble. He got retrenched. Yes, it is a sad story and something the world is experiencing a lot more of in these darker times. He called me up because he had a friend who knew me and he asked if I would help him. I was more than happy. He seemed like a friendly, gentle soul and from the homework I did his colleagues all liked him. So, I found out what positions were available back in our office and I set the ball in motion.

I spoke with this young man a couple of times afterwards and we e-mailed each other a few times too. I also spoke to my colleagues at work and asked them to please interview him and to give him their attention.

A week goes by and I have not heard from our young man or from my colleagues. I first go and ask my work friends what the deal is and they tell me that are interviewing other candidates too for the position we are exploring. I call our young friend up and I tell him that my friends at work are looking at other candidates and that he needs to turn up his seriousness and intensity. I tell him to “Just do it.” I tell him that he needs to be direct and honest. I tell him that he needs to look them in the eyes and say, “I want this job. I need this job. I can do it. I will not let you down. I am going to exceed your expectations.” I told him to stay on them like a hawk. I told him to persist. And suddenly, our story takes a turn. Our young fiend says to me that he will not do this. He then tells me, “If they want me they will call me.” And then he also went on to say that what I suggested was not his style. Style? What has style got to with this? This is about substance.

I went back to my partners and asked them why they never hired this young man. And they laughed. They told me that he wasn’t hungry. Perhaps that is why he was amongst those who got retrenched in the first place. I still can’t get those words out of my head: “If they want me they will call me.” What?

Go and get what you want! Of course, the question that I ponder now is how spoilt was this guy? How much did he really need the job? How much did he really want the job? And to think, when I gently told him, proactively, that he should be honest and direct with them he got funny with me. And to this day he never even said thank you to me for trying to help him.

Show some conviction, man. Show that you are hungry. Look them in the eyes and say, “I can do it!” Show some passion. Show you are serious. Of course, the question is: are you hungry? And of course they looked at other people. You never displayed any seriousness. You never made any real effort in their eyes. And eyes are what this is about – eye contact. E-mail gets you nowhere in life. When will we ever learn?

Everything in life is about communications. “How” we express it as opposed to “what” we actually say.

Communications is the most fundamental thing in the world. If we can't communicate then it doesn't matter how many ideas we have, or how clever we are. Nothing matters if one can't engage others. The real challenge in life is not about what you say, but rather, about how you say it. Communications are vital to one's well being and we all need to think about how to communicate effectively. E-mail, for example, is efficient, but not effective.

The other day I went to the toilet at work (yes, I have to go now and then) and it always amazes me when I am standing there doing my thing and someone walks in and goes “I need to talk to you urgently”. I just have to laugh. Please, if you want someone to take you seriously then go and see them - don't try and talk to them when you bump them in the bathroom. The other day some guy bumps in the mall and says, “Ronnie, I really need to talk to you”. So I said “Sure - no problem - give me a call on Monday and let's chat or set up a meeting”. And he said, “Can't I talk to you now?” “I am in a hurry - I am on my way to meet someone.” He looked and me funny and mumbled something. And then he says to me “Why can't we talk now?” So, I called the police. Seriously, I said to him “We never planned on meeting now - you just happened to bump into me. I am in a hurry. I have to go.” He said he would call me on Monday. Guess what? I never heard from him. The usual story - you never hear from them. And in short, their basic problem is that they have no idea how to communicate. If something was so important or so urgent then he would have called me ages ago. Was this guy walking around the mall for the past year hoping to bump into me?

Today’s message was about communications, and about getting things done. I hope I did this effectively.

Posted by Ronnie Apteker

Brazil bits and bytes

Mr. van Katwijk is in Sao Paulo for the big week, and this is what he can share with us, "Yes, today was the day we have been working very hard towards for the last two months. I still think that given the resources and more importantly the time constraints that we had, we can really be proud of what we have achieved so far.

In reality the site went 'live' last week Friday. Today was the official delivery date for the beta release, and this Wednesday is the official announcement (internal to Abril) about the product launch. The 'hard' (public) launch will be in about two weeks time, though we will scale down the feature set slightly so we can use the remaining time to concentrate on getting the important features working 100% and ironing out some small bugs.

We will also revisit some look-and-feel issues, as the general consensus is that the site currently comes across as being for a young market segment. A new logo and unique catch phrase will be on the cards, and we will focus on delivering a combination of features that on the whole will out-do that of any competitor - a tough challenge but a necessity for a market that locally has a lot of competition.

On the whole, the site is generating some good feedback and only positive suggestions, so all indications are that we are on the right track."

The site will publically available soon once the soft launch period is over. The next few weeks are about testing and refining and then the hard launch will be set in motion and the site will be released to the public here in Brazil.

In my view the site looks stunning and Richard and Neil and everyone on the Abril side have done some amazing work here!

Posted by Ronnie Apteker

The T bird is coming !

Here's an old classic story: There was this eighty year old fellow who went into the church and entered the confessional. He said to the priest, "I am eighty years old, have a wife and four children and eleven grandchildren. I have always been faithful ... but last night I met two eighteen year old girls and we had sex all night." "When was the last time you were at confession?" asked the priest. “Never," said the old man, "I'm Jewish." "Then why are you telling me?" asked the priest. "I'm telling everyone," said the old man.

Yeah, we are on route this Saturday to join the head Vottler Richard in Sao Paulo. In just a few days he is going to flip the switch and we will be live in Brazil. Terry, hold on to your hat, the ride is about to begin! Oh yes, the T bird is Terence from www.wantitall.co.za - this is his first trip outside of South Africa.

Lots happening! We will keep you posted.

Brazil, please be good to Richard, he is burning the midnight oil and pulling out all the stops - the site we are rolling out next week is hot. We will share the Web address with you when we go live. Yup, will be telling everyone!

Posted by Ronnie Apteker