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Good news – Bad news

Sometimes the bad things that occur in our lives are actually good. Here are a few thoughts, brief enough to be easily read, but adequately explaining why “old Bob” has been all but missing from this scene since June 19th, 2011. It was a very busy period. We were seeing opportunities in the Rep Talk world that were intriguing. We made time and financial investments designed to increase our functionality. Writing for the publication even showed promise of a potential increase in our personal income. Exciting!

And then I fell. From a standing position, I fell backwards and landed flat on my back while working in the yard. The word pain took on new meaning over the following few days. It reached the point where 911 was the only move to make. The next hour was taken up getting me through the very efficient emergency evaluation at O’Conner hospital. Cat scan; EKG; blood work; the works. But the duty doctor was at a loss. He knew my needs but could not write an acceptable diagnosis that would permit them to “turn me in” as a patient. After a night of “observation,” I developed a urinary infection in a catheter installation and became properly qualified as an in patient. A short time later I was transferred to the Vasona Creek Healthcare Center in Los Gatos for further treatment.

Their treatment scope covered mainly the reduction of pain in the back. We were very well informed as patients but it was anything but fun. The best moment of the stay (we were discharged to our home on the 5th of August) was when a nurse made comments on an x-ray she was viewing – no fractures! The worst news is that I am not encouraged to drive until later this month. So, we should be back in business in a few days. Healed? No, that will take a while longer. But you’ll see regular input as time passes. The land-line office number is secure and the cell phone in now working. E-mail hasn’t changed

August 13th, 2011  |  Posted in Main Blog  |  No Comments »

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NEW CHALLENGES

Wow! The announcement in the most recent issue of Rep Talk about our visit to EDS, held in Las Vegas in May, really perked the interest of a lot of people. We have received over 1000 Registrations to the Rep Talk blog! These are not just hits, although our hit rate reflects a marked increase. These are registrations. Am I impressed? Well, yes, but frightened, as well.

As one might expect, there is always the chance that we are being duped into some sort of hunting party. We have examined about 100 and find a bunch of questionable names, along with some that look pretty legitimate. There are also those of foreign origin, and a few whose owners must have worked hard to make them up. We will very likely send out a short survey to facilitate the production of a set of profiles of each registrant. Give us time to convert the responses into a usable format. In the meantime, watch for the next issue of Rep Talk.

June 16th, 2011  |  Posted in Main Blog  |  No Comments »

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Correction

In a recent posting in our blog we inadvertently used a title that we had no business posting. We failed to notice that ERA TODAY is the title of the Southern California ERA Chapter’s regular monthly newsletter. We apologize the Chapter’s members for the the mistake and will herein change the record to say, ERA General News.

May 9th, 2011  |  Posted in Main Blog  |  2 Comments »

2 Responses to “Correction”

May 9th, 2011 at 3:51 pm

» Blog Archive » ERA GENERAL NEWS says:

[...] titled “ERA TODAY, see correction above) Every once in awhile we are reminded how important it was for us to belong to a working [...]

May 22nd, 2011 at 1:09 pm

Barbara Gold says:

Thank you the emails and newsletters – we appreciate all your hard work! The newsletters make it easy to share with our principals. And it’s always good for them see what we do! Kind Regards,
Barbara

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ERA GENERAL NEWS

(previously titled “ERA TODAY, see correction above)


Every once in awhile we are reminded how important it was for us to belong to a working trade association. If we were active today it would still be important. For instance:

I just finished two days of listening and re-listening to a recording of the content of ERA’s latest tele-forum. This program was a detailed report on the “ERA Rep Firm Employee Compensation Survey” conducted last month and reported to all sign-ups on March 25, 2011. Active presenters were Tess Hill, the staff organizer for ERA National, and Nicki Weiss of Sales Wise, an organization that is heavily involved in sales training and coaching and who helped set all this in motion. The ERA coordinator, the backbone of this reporting session, was John O’Brien, VP, OEM Sales of Coakley, Boyd and Abbett, Inc., located in the New England area and covering all the way down to New Jersey and New York. I would have welcomed a “small” rep’s commentary. This takes absolutely nothing from John’s contribution.

I could write a lot of copy on this program because I found it fascinating. Unfortunately, Rep Talk is not permitted to share the numbers with you since many of you are not members. What we will say in our next issue will be the kind of general information that one absorbs after 30 years of duty as a working rep. We rarely encourage people or organization we interview to edit our material. But, in this case, we will have them review the material while it is still in a controlled atmosphere.

For those of you who are ERA members, we suggest you consider participating in their next tele-conference, to be held in early May; just before EDS. Major distributor people will be participating and you should be there as well. And, if you are not members, well, you know what we recommend.

Had you outsiders been members, you could have found out what 155 ERA reps were earning in commission dollars in 2010. You’d be fascinated by what the 155 are paying their sales people and how. You’d hear their points of view on when one should consider firing a principal. You would get a handle on how one of the older, most well managed rep firms in the country managed these past few years (while living through a depression-like atmosphere). If you think this out carefully, you may see where your new membership could likely allow you to share these solutions. It could very likely more than pay for the cost.

For Northern California ERA members, the up-coming March 30 Owner’s Forum should be a must for you. The topics
cover much of the same material. Watch for the April Issue in a week or so.

March 27th, 2011  |  Posted in Main Blog  |  No Comments »

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MORE TO COME

Many of our old friends and readers of Rep Talk received a newsletter notice just recently. Upon opening, they read what ended with the paragraphs below.  (For those of you who did not see the newsletter, just click on the Newsletters link on this page, upper right hand side of the page.)  Read the Newsletter and then come back here to comment on this material.  Use the “Leave a Reply” box below.  And thank you all:

“Reps are still “commission merchants.“  They are a special “breed of cat” who willingly work in a world that pays after the work is completed.  In my day we used to say that we were getting paid for work done 18 months before.  Today?  As I said before, who knows?  It isn’t easy to tie down a time-frame. 

As we continue toward setting a pattern of activity for Rep Talk, we’ll alert you about topics to come.  We need to talk to more reps about their problems and whether or not there are any reasonable solutions.  We want to examine the makeup of the rep community within any given territory. 

1.  We hear, for instance, that many reps have all but quit representing true commodity lines.  That honor is bestowed upon the semiconductor rep.  Why?

2.  Has the number of reps really declined as much as it appears?  

3.  Are smaller manufacturers, particularly those unable to even consider off-shore outsourcing, finding it difficult to locate reps? 

If you have answers to these or other challenging items that we can discuss, just respond in our blog.  We are not yet completely equipped to work using the social media.  Soon, we will have become better organized and will be able to respond quickly.  If push get’s to shove, there’s always the telephone. 

 Oh, yes.  If you think one of your associates, or a principal for that matter might profit from reading Rep Talk, send them a copy of this newsletter just to get them acquainted.  It’s free.  Just forward this to them or refer them to the blog.

March 1st, 2011  |  Posted in Main Blog  |  3 Comments »

3 Responses to “MORE TO COME”

March 3rd, 2011 at 10:34 am

affiliate marketing forum says:

Hi! I just wanted to let you know, this information has really been beneficial to me and I thank you for your time and effort working on it. Keep up the awesome work, i’ll be back soon.

I’m looking for input to the copy on the last page. OK? Thanks

March 5th, 2011 at 4:29 am

Jonah Nyngenson says:

Really interesting post, it really was interesting to read it! Good luck with your blog and have a great day! :)

April 12th, 2011 at 10:45 am

Jay Stone says:

Dear Bob, Good to hear that you are still up and running. Hope
things are going well for you and
that you are weathering the storms that go with our age group. If you
want to have a lunch in Los Altos,
give a ring. Best regards, Jay

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Hugh Ryan – R.I.P.

We are sorry to have to report the passing of one of the biggest hearted guys we ever knew.  When hearing of his passing one of our members said, “It didn’t seem to matter, but every time I talked with Hugh, I left feeling uplifted.”  All of us who knew “honest Hugh”  will miss him.

Hugh passed away Thursday, January 13, 2011

Services will be held Saturday, January 22 at 11 AM

Lutheran Church of Our Savior

5825 Bollinger Rd. (Just east of Miller)

Cupertino, CA

Phone (408) 252-0345 Fax (408) 252-0558 email office@lcos.org

Official cause of death was due to a heart attack but Hugh had been fighting this thing for some years.  Born with a congenital kidney problem, he received a kidney transplant a few years ago and managed to have a few years of peaceful living.  The new kidney started failing and his heart finally gave up on him while making yet another visit to the hospital for a blood infection that would not respond to treatment.   He died peacefully with his wife, pastor and many friends nearby.

The family has requested that in lieu of flowers please make a donation to the Lutheran Church of Our Savior, designated to the Family Assistance Fund, the Ryan Family.

This notice can be instantly available in the .pdf format so you can forward it to any of your friends who may very likely will not be on my mailing list.  Just click here to bring  it up, attach it into your message, and send it.  This last sentence will not be present in the .pdf.

R.W. (Bob) Parsons

408-246-4582 (home office)

408-426-4857 (cell)

bobparsons@sbcglobal.net

www.reptalk.com

January 17th, 2011  |  Posted in Main Blog  |  5 Comments »

5 Responses to “Hugh Ryan – R.I.P.”

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January 31st, 2011 at 10:53 pm

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February 7th, 2011 at 9:51 pm

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February 9th, 2011 at 9:06 pm

Mark Magid says:

I have not checked in here for a while as I thought it was getting boring, but the last several posts are great quality so I guess I will add you back to my everyday bloglist. You deserve it friend :) – Elegant London Escorts, 65-67 Brewer Street, Floor: 2, London W1F 9UP. Phone: 020 3011 2941

March 1st, 2011 at 3:19 pm

admin says:

Look at onestopsteve.com. He does good work. Tell him I sent you.

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Update – Nov. 8th, 2010

We intend to continue using Rep Talk as the basic tool for preparing regular data for you.  The absence of activity should be over.  Rep Talk may well not look the same.  But it remains a basic tool for communications for us.  You may have noticed, for instance, (a) that our landing page has been changed over to the Blog and (b) we’re also adding more of the new communications techniques, the social networks.  We promised some time ago that we would learn more about the basics of operating in this environment.  Now the bell is ringing and we have to, like it or not.

So, watch for daily postings, but please remember that we are still in the development stage.  Daily may be a bit optimistic.  For instance, we are now well into the development of a new business.  I have a good friend who is an IT expert.  He has spent many years, maintaining IT Systems for large companies like Intel, who have rooms full of these people.  While there, he was an IT Datacenter manager and prior to that an Operations manager with a small team of engineers.  When the local economy changed his role, he started looking for more independence.  He was a consultant/project manager for a small telecommunications company.  Self employment looks very attractive as a result of this engagement.

Our getting together can be summarized in a very short sentence:  He has the technical familiarity – I the marketing.  Working together, we plan to design and maintain websites that are more than just the usual billboards.  We think that we can offer “cloud computing” access that will afford you the ability to have a regular news releases, your own newsletters, and if you have products that you think you could sell as a distributor, however specialized, we can set you up with an online store.

By outsourcing these services to us, we can help keep your growth costs down.  We will enable you to operate efficiently and with manageable costs, while we in turn can build a clientele of loyal users.  By adding the option of receiving training from us, we get you started without engaging a long-term monthly obligation.  The best of two worlds for us both!

Watch for our public announcement of this new company.  Or call if you have questions.

November 8th, 2010  |  Posted in Main Blog  |  1 Comment »

One Response to “Update – Nov. 8th, 2010”

January 17th, 2011 at 3:26 pm

Regine Polycarpe says:

Here is a link to another article marketing resource.

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Now signed up in LinkedIn

Now signed up in LinkedIn.com

There are things I haven’t mastered about LinkedIn, but that is the story of my life lately. We are going to become more active, trust me.  I like this work and my “honey-do’s” are becoming manageable.

Naturally, if any of you have something good to say about my writing, let LinkedIn know via the Recommendations part of their site. I think you’ll like what I have said. Tell me about it.

New process for the blog:

We have received several new registrants for Rep Talk who do not particularly fit our target needs. It isn’t that we don’t want to communicate with friends in Russia (among others) it is just that we can’t see any reason to communicate with you unless we know more about your interest in the representative business. So bear with me. You will be receiving a request for more information, more than an e-mail address. More like the data requested on our Contact Us page. So, if you are new, please give us a little help in this get-acquainted field. Our success will depend upon how well we manage to communicate with you. Go to Contact Us and follow our requests. Thanks much, Bob

April 28th, 2010  |  Posted in Main Blog  |  No Comments »

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February 2010 Newsletter

We attended a very special bi-monthly meeting of our ERA Chapter earlier this month, an expression of very healthy inter-association cooperation.  Bryan Shirley, CPMR, MANA President and CEO was the speaker.  The room was filled –including a couple of cross-membership examples.  HIGH interest!

We grant you, Bryan Shirley is a former member of ERA, one who served the National Association in many leadership roles and wears the White Pin with pride.  His presence was not a stretch, by any means.  His topic was ‘THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES in the Rep world today.’

Click here to go to our newsletter page where you can open and read the current newsletter.



February 27th, 2010  |  Posted in Main Blog  |  No Comments »

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Heartfelt Condolences in Memory of Jack Berman

(Here is a direct email response from a mutual friend, Dennis McGillis in Southern California.)

Here is a guy, Bob, who could be the best example of what Public Relations is all about. This announcement was sent to some 350 current people associated with our industry.

Jack Berman passed away Friday, December 4

Services will be held Wednesday Dec. 9 at 1:00 pm

Hillside Memorial Park & Cemetery
6001 Centinela Ave (Sepulveda & Centinela near 405 freeway)
Los Angeles, CA 90045
800-576-1994

Jack’s contributions to ERA and the rep profession are legend.

He served the Southern California chapter in virtually every office, served on the ERA Board, the EDS Board, the Wescon Board, was an instructor at CPMR and presented at ERA Conferences for decades. Due to his contributions, he was presented with virtually every ERA award and became a member of the ERA Hall of Fame in 1975.

Jack developed and taught Agreeable Selling and Synergistic Selling, with forms and systems that allowed others to reap benefits from his techniques and enhance the career of any sales rep.

We will miss him.

Electronics Representatives Association
Southern California Chapter
Dennis McGillis, Executive Director
949-551-5200 phone
949-551-1162 fax
949-533-7211 cell
mcgillis@erascal.org

http://www.erascal.org

December 7th, 2009  |  Posted in Main Blog  |  No Comments »

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