The Amtower B2G Market Report

The Amtower B2G Market Report
Volume 3, #32, August 23, 2004

(Sign up for your free subscription at http://www.FederalDirect.net and if you like this, please pass this along to your colleagues. To unsubscribe, email me at amtower@erols.com). Past issues available at http://www.federaldirect.net/newsletterarchives.html)

In this issue…
1) Amtower Off-Center Observations
2) The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly: VAR Industry Goodies
3) Events
4) Reader Comments on 2nd Anniversary of the Newsletter

AMTOWER OFF-CENTER OBSERVATIONS

Item: Misprint in the last issue. Patience Wait’s phone # at Government Computer News is 202-772-2535.

Item: Col. David Hackworth (USA, retired) has a good website and some great commentary. www.hackworth.com

Item: Marketing Sherpa (www.marketingsherpa.com) has a B2B enewsletter that is very good. In an issue last week, there was a great example of using humor in advertising when you don’t have the budget of your larger competitors.

Item: I operate three B2G sites, and each has a couple things in common. Each site carries the logo and link to the American Red Cross, the USO, the Oklahoma City memorial fund, POW-MIA (The National League of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia) and Operation Hero Miles. We also have the 9/11 logo. These are not window dressing. Each of these organizations provides critical services, and each of us should find some way of supporting them, individually and through our respective businesses. Blood supplies are low, so give blood and money to the Red Cross. The USO continues to support our troops all around the world – donations are good for the troops and your soul. The Oklahoma City memorial fund reminds us that 9/11 was not an anomaly, and that not all threats are external. POW/MIA activity is ongoing, as is Operation Hero Miles. As we concentrate on end-of-FY, let’s not forget these groups.

Not that I have an opinion.

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY: VAR INDUSTRY GOODIES

In preparation for the next “VAR Wars” update (coming soon), here are my thoughts on recent news.

PC Connections/Gov Connections got the GSA Schedule back. After months of saying “real soon” (anyone out there remember that line from Buckaroo Bonzai?). Will this have an impact on FY 2004? Not much, if any. It’s too late. But for 2005, they have a new management team, led by Jay Lambke, for GovConnection.

Best Buy mailed its first B2B catalog to 400,000 home-based and small businesses, according to Catalog Age magazine. The brief article also stated BB would be targeting larger businesses and government. For those who have attended my Government Marketing Best Practices seminars over the past 3 years, you know I use BB as an example of how not to do customer service (personal experience). Every time I mention this, I get new stories. Over lunch last week, when I mentioned to a friend that BB was coming into the market, she had a story from the night before! BB says they have a price matching policy. Well, my friend had an ad from Circuit City, took it into BB (as it was closer), and the personnel in this store did not honor the policy. They made this person wait 45 minutes while they “checked to see if Circuit City” had the item in stock. Hello? What difference would that make to a “match price” policy? To shorten this story, BB did not honor the price, had these people wait 45 minutes, and gave me a new BB anecdote! Are they a threat? I do not see it on the small business side, where they will be competing more with Costco, Walmart and Sam’s Club, where they lose on price. If they migrate to bigger business and government, they will find the consumer brand does not translate into B2B or B2G marketshare.

DLT Solutions has a new management team in place. Will it be as good as the Abod team? That remains to be seen, but they cannot be worse than the interim management group from NYC.

Opinion? No, not me.

EVENTS

ITS GOV: Technology Buying at Year End, August 25, Ronald Reagan Building
www.itsgov.com

Third Annual B2G CATALOG SUMMIT, Doubletree O’Hare (Chicago), November 11, 2004 Speakers include Amy Africa, Mark Amtower, Mark Del Franco and Bill Singleton.

READER COMMENTS ON 2nd ANNIVERSARY OF THE NEWSLETTER

“Please don't mellow! You'll fail at it.” Stan Yablonksi

“I can certainly attest that you are candid, but I sense some mellowing!” VP at an IT industry association.

“Mellowing – I don’t see it.” Tom Hewitt, in response to the above.

“Not that you have an opinion - never mellow! No doubt. Congratulations” Joanna Brandi

“Don't ever mellow. It would make the world a much duller place.” Judy Bradt

“He's back!” David Powell

**

As always, your comments, questions and suggestions are welcome.

Thanks
Mark Amtower


Site maintained by Dragonfly Design