In this newsletter, you will find articles about CEBIT 2007, a very interesting interview with Bob Walsh, the author of two books for independent software vendors and our tips and tricks.

We welcome feedback; if you would like to share your thoughts, please don't hesitate to email me directly at adriana.iordan@avangate.com.

Best wishes,
Adriana Iordan
Avangate Digest Editor

Interviewing Web VIPs

Guest: Bob Walsh

We are starting our series of Web VIP interviews, and it was my pleasure to have Bob Walsh as our first guest. Bob is a very active figure in the microISV world. MicroISV stands for Micro-Independent Software Vendor.

He is the managing partner of Safari Software Incorporated and has just published a new book called "Clear Blogging: How People Blogging are Changing the World and How Can You Join Them", after the successful book "MicroISV: From Vision to Reality".

I wanted to learn more about his microISV business, his experiences writing the second book, how blogging changed his life, and his thoughts on what it takes to succeed as an independent software vendor.

From the interview with Bob Walsh:

Event Review

CEBIT 2007

What have you missed from CEBIT 2007? The pinnacle of technology and innovation in what's regarding the modern world IT and telecommunication industry, unless of course, you are one of those who never opened an computer and you are reading this newsletter from a friend, in a printed version. For those of you already acquainted with modern tools such as personal computers or software, what can we say... you've missed quite a bunch!

Hosted by Hanover, Germany, the 2007 edition of the most appealing technology fair in the world managed to gather more then 6,000 exhibitors from 77 different countries, an impressive number if you come to realize that, for reasons difficult to guess at this point, the March "milestone" slowly turns into one big business forum, and as if that wasn't enough, the most spoken language nowadays is German.

To really point out the CEBIT importance, anybody who's somebody has to attend, and do so in style. The biggest names in IT, e-commerce and telecommunications presented their latest developments, in no less than 28 impressively large halls, impossible to cover in just seven days if you are not on some kind of steroids.

With Security being our focus this year at CEBIT, we feel somewhat obliged to point out the G Data Company who had the most attractive stand and made everybody feel entertained, relaxed and most important of all, interested in doing business.

All in all, the fair was really a great opportunity for us to meet our partners and discuss about the latest developments in technology and the possibilities of expanding our business in the future, as well as helping us understand the market evolution and its demands.

We also made a good impression on our potential partners who participated in the fair in the past years, who not only recognized us, but also showed impressed by our efforts and achievements. Avangate has not been present with its own stand in this year's edition, but we think our proactive approach regarding our partners and prospect partners made up for what has been our sweet spot in the country saloon.

Leaving aside CEBIT's loosing some of its popularity, the fair was a strategic event, helping us to keep track of our competition, as well as making us understand and anticipate the trend of e-commerce industry.

Technology sells

Cross selling for more selling

However user-friendly web and computer interfaces have turned nowadays, there is still a great deal o technology underneath each gizmo or eye catching feature. The same runs with e-commerce. No business thrives as an e-business unless perfectly taming technology. Top sales tricks are adapted to the online environment and intelligently applied in order to give shoppers the best buying experience and, of course, to increase sales.

Cross selling is one of the most difficult sales techniques and in the traditional brick-and-mortar, shopping environment requires a very skilled and psychologically perceptive salesman. One needs to know what else a particular buyer would need, what would complement the article he or she just bought, etc, etc. It's quite a humane task for a software application!

How does it work? Basically it is about putting together input data in response to actions initiated by buyers. When a particular item is added into the shopping cart, the system automatically knows what other product to suggest to the buyer and what discount to apply. It is simple and natural indeed, but the impact of the feature is big.

A message like "We've noticed you are interested in such and such items. Why not consider this item as well?" personalizes the relation with the customer and gives them a familiar feeling. Secondly, it increases the future trust in the vendor - otherwise customers may purchase the similar product from a competitor. A larger sales volume is the good coming of both!

Find out more about cross selling

Tips & Tricks

I have encountered two websites that offer great one-day deals and which are very appreciated both by the users who are able to get a great deal, but also by the software vendors who are using their services to inform potential customers about software titles and promote them. It's a win-win situation for both the publishers and the customers.

Event Action to watch

Avangate Articles Digest