- What is the mission of Saleslinks.com?
We
will say this as clearly and simply as we can without trying to sound pompous or
altruistic.
Our mission is to help make business life more productive and financially rewarding for
salespeople by teaching them how to use the tools and resources of the Internet in an
effective way. Another important aspect of that mission is to help salespeople learn from
the wisdom and mistakes of others in the sales field which is the subject matter of the SalesLinks Bulletin by Jack Carroll.
By helping salespeople to enrich their lives, we will grow and prosper with them as a
by-product of their success.
- Who is Jack Carroll and why is he qualified to
speak to and for salespeople?
Jack Carroll is the founder and principal of
Mentor Associates and SalesLinks, Inc. Mr. Carroll brings more than 25 years of senior
sales and marketing management experience to consulting and training assignments. The last
fifteen of those years have been dedicated to the computer and high tech marketplaces. He
was Vice President of Sales of three computer industry successes in the early 1980's:
Kaypro Corporation, The TOPS Network, and Voyager Development. He is a dynamic speaker,
teacher, and motivator who has directly mentored over 5000 people during his career as a
sales strategist and teacher.
Since 1987, as under the banner of Mentor Associates, Mr. Carroll has served a wide
variety of computer and technology companies and has designed and worked with programs in
46 high technology companies, implementing major account selling programs in more than
half of them. Clients range from start-ups to some of the most successful, high profile
companies in the industry. Notable among client companies are:
Ziff Davis Publishing (9 operating companies)
DCA (Attachmate)
Pacific Data Products
Bell Atlantic
HighwayMaster Communications
Digital Equipment Corporation
Alpha Software
On Technology
Borland International
Hewlett Packard (Colorado Memory)
Symantec Intl. (Central Point)
Timeslips Corporation
Clear Software
Bendata Help Desk Software
Help Desk Institute
Software Developers Company
Cabletron Systems
Sun Microsystems
Shiva Corporation
Network Associates
Many others
In addition, Mr. Carroll has worked with and advised three different venture capital
organizations regarding sales issues in their portfolio companies and served 21 start up
and second stage companies in the computer and high technology industries.
- This site is focused on salespeople. Who (and
what) do you include as salespeople?
Anyone who is engaged in the business
of sales and selling will benefit from the information, tools, resources and advice that
can be found at the site. Anyone who knows that they must sell to earn a good livelihood.
(See the next question.)
- Who is this site intended for primarily?
Salespeople or sales management?
It's for anyone who sells for a living. Our
primary target audience is salespeople, sales managers and sales executives. Our secondary
audience includes marketing people, entrepreneurs, and small business owners. Secondary
doesn't mean that they are not as important, or wouldn't benefit from the material. It
means that our own sales and marketing focus is on the primary group, and we speak to that
group with our messages.
- Are the sales links on this web site all of the
pertinent links on the web?
No. They are a very small fraction of what is
out there. In the case of the Top 25, we feel that they are
the best ones that we found during six months of research. But in the case of the other 300+ links that are listed, the decision to list some and not others was
arbitrary. We listed the best. But there were many that we found that were very good that
we are holding back for the future.
In other words, the fact that a link is not presented on the site is not an indication
that it isn't high quality. We intend to rotate new links in every month from the
thousands we have bookmarked, as well as those suggested by visitors to SalesLinks.com.
- Why did you only list 300+ links if so many
more were qualified?
Because there is a disease on the web that we call 'downloaditis'. What it means essentially is
accumulating information instead of using it. We will hold the limit at 300 links until
someone convinces us that people can digest more.
- Are you open to suggestions about other links
to include on your site?
We sure are. As a matter of fact, we depend on the
input of the sales community to make the site and the resources better and better. There
is a link at the site for sending us your suggestions.
- On what basis do you choose a Top 25 site?
On
the basis of usefulness and value. We do not even consider popularity or the number of
visitors. Only the value that the site has as far as information, tools or resources to
salespeople is concerned.
- Where are things going at SalesLinks.com?
What's up for the future?
We will build the community and continue to
introduce new features and products that will be of value to salespeople. As soon as the
community is large enough, we will begin forums and discussion groups among like minded
people. (Otherwise known as "segments.")
- What is your privacy policy?
We
do not sell, rent, or give away any of the e-mail addresses, names, or information we
collect on this web site. We use e-mail addresses only for mailing our opt-in newsletters.
As further assurance, we do not store our database on our server, so your information is
secure.
- Why do you require an e-mail address to enter
the Top 25 Sales Sites?
We decided that the Top 25
feature is so painstakingly researched and valuable, that it would not be free but
would cost an e-mail address. If you're not willing at the very least to receive an issue
of our free SalesLinks Bulletin, to which you can easily
unsubscribe (just reply to the e-mailed welcome message with the word
"unsubscribe" at the top of the message), then we don't want you in the Top 25
area of the site. Plain and simple. Two samples are provided so that you can decide if
this price is fair.
- What about cookies? Do you use them to
register or track visitors?
We use only one cookie on the site and that is
for visitors to gain free admission to our Top 25 section
without having to re-register. This cookie doesn't store any personal information and
exists only so that you can bypass a form without having to fill it out again. If your
browser doesn't support cookies or you've disabled them, you will still be able to access
this part of the site, but will have to fill out the form each time you visit. Don't worry
about duplicate registrations; our database erases these, ensuring that you won't receive
multiple issues of our newsletters.