The Amtower B2G Market Report

The Amtower B2G Market Report
Volume 3, #40, October 18, 2004

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In this issue…
1) Amtower Off-Center Observations
2) The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly: Off-White Paper 24
3) Events Worth Attending
4) One Minute Marketing Clinic

AMTOWER OFF-CENTER OBSERVATIONS

Item: Welcome to issue 96 of The Amtower B2G Market Report. Let me say once again thanks for reading this. It is not easy to put out a weekly newsletter, but it can be fun, especially if the feedback is generally positive. All feedback is appreciated, especially those of you who forward me questionable offers and suggestions for articles. Stay tuned….

Item: In the October issue of Fast Company magazine, there is a short article entitled “In Search of Dwarves”. In it, author Martin Kihn expresses his opinion that the top rated management books, especially In Search of Excellence, Built to Last, and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (two of which are on my “recommended reading” page, are all the same book. He states that all these somehow relate back to the Disney version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. It seems that Mr Kihn feels this revelation will de-bunk the myths that consultants, especially those of us who write, come up with new stuff. A cute concept, but barely useful. Anyone who has attended my seminars has been subjected to my repeated admonition that there is nothing new, especially in marketing, so take other ideas and bend them to your current needs. (That was my main point: borrow good ideas and use them well.) Mr Kihn, I fear, does not go back far enough. Snow White is not a Disney creation, but a marchen, a dark German folk tale, retold by the brothers Grimm. Relating business concepts to fairy tales is not new, but the concepts go further back than those. We can relate many of the practices referenced in any business book to the Torah, the Bible, the Qur'an or any number of religious texts. The point Mr Kihn does not seem to recognize is that re-statements of valid concepts for new audiences encourages people to think. I recently made a presentation to consultants that was sub-titled “The Leadership Lessons of the Poky Little Puppy.” It made the presentation more fun, and helped drive home a few points. Mr Kihn is simply trying to hawk his new book, House of Lies: How Management Consultants Steal Your Watch and Then Tell You the Time. If all of his material is this shallow, it is not likely to make my recommended reading list. Mr Kihn strongly resembles the eighth dwarf who did not make the movie cut: Cranky.

Item: Regarding my comments on Congress is the last issue, one reader wrote:” Mark -I'm sure a man of your culture and erudition has frequently used that quote from the greatest American author--Mark Twain:
"It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress."

I couldn’t agree more. They have healthcare and retirement far beyond all but the wealthiest, they exempt themselves from the laws that govern corporations (for instance, no EEO required on the Hill), and their self-governance lacks any apparent ethical boundaries. I inadvertently left something off at the end of “Off Center Observations” last week when talking about campaign reform and the “self-serving, pork-politicians who seem to care little for the phrase ‘preserve, protect and defend’ except when it is about ‘me, me, me’.”

Just so you don’t think there isn’t any politician I don’t like, I would like to thank Fritz Hollings (D, SC) for 38 vastly amusing years on the Hill. For those who are not familiar with Senator Hollings, one exchange (as reported in the Washington Post) will illustrate what we will be denied. Sam Donaldson is questioning the Senator in 1990 on television about the Senator denouncing the free trade agreement. Senator Hollings was trying to protect the textile industry in South Carolina. Donaldson asked where the Senator bought his fancy suit. Hollings responded, “The same place you bought your wig, Sam.”

Hollings is a shoot-from-the-hip, say what’s on his mind kind of guy, and though I may not always agree with him, he is hell on wheels and I respect him for daring to be truly opinionated in a town known for conformity and political correctness. Anyone who would compare a Senate committee meeting to feeding monkeys in a zoo is always welcome at my house.

Not that I have an opinion.

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY: OFF-WHITE PAPER #24- FOSE, the 2004 Event Phenomena, and the Divine Right to Attention

There are hundreds of events weekly in Washington, DC, and I assume the same is true around the country, though perhaps to a lesser degree when it comes to government-focused events. The growth of events is seemingly exponential. In D.C., it would be possible to spend one’s professional life going from event to event, never setting foot in an office.

This has been the state of affairs here in the twenty-plus years I have been in the market, and it is not likely to change. Events can be good things, especially when produced by people wired into our insular market, and when the event offers significant return on time investment (ROTI) for all involved. Cost becomes less relevant if the ROTI factor is strong.

As we know, not all events are created equal, nor are all event producers wired into this community. It could even be postulated that some event producers are here simply for the money. Throughout this paper I will name names. I cannot name all events that are good, nor will I name all events that are, in my opinion, borderline or outright bad. I will simply highlight a few that stand out in my mind, or stick in my craw.

These are my opinions, nothing more, nothing less. These opinions have been honed over 20 years in this market. I have been (and remain) an event producer, an attender of hundreds of events, a member of Boards of Advisors (FOSE and eGov, at different times), and an advisor to companies that spend serious money selecting events to support. Although I write to amuse both myself and you, I also write to educate – again both you and me – on the nuances that make some venues better than others, and render other events useless. I focus and learn more every time I write. I trust you will learn and perhaps share your lessons with me and others.

That being said, here I go again…

The Divine Right to Attention

Each week, many people forward me emails touting events: new events, established events, “agency sponsored” events, CIO level events, special interest group events, and events with so many adjectives in the description that you feel the producer is exerting a divine right to your attention. The event producers evidently feel they have this divine right as they spam you with hyperbole attempting to position themselves as the sole savior and provider of your business opportunities. If you read the e-copy, you might believe (and some actually do) that this (never before produced) event will deliver the absolute right people at a time designated by no less an authority than Nostradamus and will produce results that will make Bill Gates, Michael Dell and Sam Walton envious. Sign up at www.GiveMeYourGovMoney.com. (click here to go to the full off-white paper).

EVENTS WORTH ATTENDING

Beware of the schlock vendors, producing “black hole” events, events that eat your money with no significant return! If you want Government Marketing Best Practices in your city in the spring of 2005, vote at www.FederalDirect.net

October 21, Input’s FedFocus 2005, Reagan Center, Washington DC,
http://www.fedfocus.input.com

October 26-28: Federal Information Assurance Conference (FIAC) 2004, University of Maryland University College Inn and Conference Center, Adelphi, MD. Keynote is Karen Evans, Administrator of the Office of Electronic Government and Information Technology (IT) www.fbcinc.com/fiac

November 11, THIRD ANNUAL B2G CATALOG SUMMIT, Doubletree O’Hare (Chicago).
www.FederalDirect.net. Our speakers include web diva Amy Africa on the latest web innovations, Richard Mackey on GSA, Mark Del Franco of Catalog Age leading a town hall style session with three catalog veterans, and Bill Singleton of Singleton Marketing on profitably mining your data. I will be doing the keynote and the wrap-up session, which will provide catalog “best B2G practices”. For those who use direct mail, especially catalogs, as a primary marketing tool, the third annual B2G Catalog Summit is a “must attend”. It is a one-day event filled with ideas you can take back to the office for immediate use. The event is in a hotel less than 10 minutes from O’Hare, and there will be limited seating (maximum of 75 attenders), so sign up now at www.FederalDirect.net/b2gsummit.html.

2 NSA events coming up in early December, on site at NSA. www.fbcinc.com

INTELCON National Intelligence Conference and Exposition, February 8-10, 2005 Hyatt Regency Crystal City, Alexandria, VA. www.fbcinc.com

ONE MINUTE MARKETING CLINIC: VAR WARS PREVIEW
Off-White Paper 25 will be VAR Wars – END of FY2004

Item: Long time GTSI ally Panasonic is running ads in Federal Computer Week’s e-newsletter pushing it’s own direct sales. When I clicked through to their site, one of the links (“To learn more about design features”) did not work. Channel confusion is what we expect from Hewlett-Packard. Most manufacturers are not logistically capable of shipping product like catalogers or resellers. And according to the Market Connections (www.marketconnectinc.com) annual buying study, quick delivery is a major differentiator.

Item: A colleague received the Best Buy (BB) for Business catalog and decided to do a little “secret shopper” activity. He called the 800 #, and got a message saying his wait time would be 5 minutes! Good news for BB is response must be pretty good. Bad news for BB is the infrastructure is not in place.

Item: There are two new players in the B2G reseller market. Zones, a PC cataloger from the Pacific Northwest, has a B2G effort led by Johnny Wilkinson, formerly of GTSI. Mr Wilkinson will have his hands full in an already crowded space, but certainly has the experience to help Zones carve a niche.

The second is Carahsoft, a boutique reseller led by former DLT president Craig Abod. I have followed Mr Abod since his days at Falcon Microsystems, where he led the very successful SGI sales effort. After Falcon was acquired by GTSI, Mr Abod went to DLT, which he ramped to over $200 million in annual sales, mainly through being Oracle’s best government reseller. I will be watching Carahsoft with great interest.

**

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

Thanks
Mark Amtower

The Amtower B2G Market Report is published by Amtower & Company, and is written for companies targeting the government marketplace. The opinions expressed are those of Mark Amtower unless otherwise noted. Contact us at Amtower & Company, PO Box 314, Highland, MD 20777-0314 (301-924-0058). This material is copyrighted and may not be duplicated, reprinted or otherwise replicated without written permission of the publisher. Email subscriptions are free by request: sign up at www.FederalDirect.net


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