Susanne Dansey’s Blog

I have found someone more passionate about OneNote than I am! They’ve even gone one step further and written a song about it! It’s not even naff and is quite perky - maybe you could cheer up your clients when your sales pitch is crashing and burning!

Here’s the link to the song (mp3 so you can download it!), and here are the lyrics for you to learn. I’ll be testing you next time I see you!

My One and Only OneNote 

Let me tell you ’bout my favorite application
A software notebook for the modern age
One place for all of your notes
Put any type of content on the digital page

A flexible tool that works the way you do
Organize your stuff how you want to
Brainstorms or meeting notes or doing web research
Capture, find, share and re-use

No other software can make me feel this wayMy one and only OneNote
My one and only OneNote
My one and only OneNote
It’s the one for meUse a shared notebook for group collaboration 
Or start a live sharing session with your friends
Like a rich wiki with merge and replication
Everyone’s in sync when the meeting ends Tables, tags, clippings, instant search and Lasso
Drawing tools, embedded files and hyperlinks
XML APIs and caching all your data
Outlook integration and digital ink

My one and only OneNote
My one and only OneNote
My one and only OneNote
It’s the one for me   Music and Lyrics by Mike Tholfsen ©2006

Thanks to Chris Pratley for his post on this.

In all seriousness, OneNote is a great product - ONCE YOU START USING IT - I wouldn’t give it up as it holds my thoughts and ideas and is my scrapbook for everything I have planned (eek!). However, it’s not that easy to convince customers until you let them play with it. If you are using it with a Tablet OS then it’s an easier sell but I’m glad that Office Ready is on the horizon as the key thing that I have noted so far with the entire Office 2007 suite is that you can’t use a ‘cookie cutter’ model to sell it. What excited one of my customers didn’t tick the boxes for another and both are using it with just the same amount of enthusiasm.

To sell this bundle you’re going to need to sit down and test it yourself. I went along to my local SBS group meeting today and was talking to someone about a local event that is taking place to talk about Office 2007. What was interesting was that the organisation offering the event had no technical background and were selling the ‘benefits’ of upgrading to Office 2007 as ‘assemble documents from frequently used content’ and ‘convert Word documents to PDF’ and ‘use Office 2007 To-Do bar to flag e-mail messages’.

My response?

*Whoop de doo*

If they are benefits then I’m really missing the point… aren’t benefits things like ‘working smarter and not harder’ or ‘maximise your IT investment’? Functionality is all well and good but you wouldn’t sign yourself up for a mortgage just because you want to put your hard earned money somewhere! Right? You have to show them why they should part with their money and what return they should expect to receive.

So you have a bunch of customers who like XP and like Office 2003 (or versions prior to them) and Microsoft are going to market in the next few weeks with a big flag and banner shouting ‘EVO*’ at everyone (maybe your customers included). I know you all have customers who are quite happy with what they have and you don’t want to now qualify your previous hard selling work by saying ‘ta da! you remember I told you XP was great well then take a look at this new product… yes it’s called Vista and yes there is more than likely a new Operating System on the horizon in a few years time!’.

Here’s a far out concept; why not sell to those who want to buy (early adopters), keep the majority informed until they are ready, and leave the laggards to do their own thing. You’ll find it easier to talk to the early adopters about new technology rather than the laggards so if you choose to shout about EVO then look to those asking for information. It’s a lot harder to sell something like this to the majority than the few who naturally embrace new technology. The more the early adopters get excited, the better the viral enthusiam that will spread amongst the rest. Just look at yourself and see where you fit. The majority will probably adopt EVO from March 2007 onwards but you will have some businesses who can benefit just like mine. Don’t you want to help them rather than lose them to another partner who can “spot, sell, and close”?**

If you don’t want to wave your banner at the EVO parade then be prepared for a) others to wave it for you and b) to explore the products yourself so you can give valid objections when your clients ask you.

Everyone will discover the benefits of Office 2007 for themselves, but you need to know your customers pretty well in order to show them where to start looking.

NB: Don’t just assume this rule only applies to EVO, think about how you promote your business to your client and remember it’s easier to sell to those who embrace you rather than those who sighed the moment you walked through their door!

*Exchange, Vista, Office

** a traditional MS phrase from an Aussie some of us know…