Each week, we drive to a village that we like (usually has a nice pub for the all important “after walk recovery”) or that is in a beautiful area. We then load one of the iPhone apps listed below and plan a circular route that we then adapt as we go.  We have discovered so many fantastic walks this way with only the occasional hiccup (usually involving a field and a bull, but that’s a different story).

Below are the main apps that I have tried and tested – there may be others of course.

The great thing about Google Maps is that it is free and standard as part of your iPhone implementation.  The satellite images are a great way to locate landmarks.  But that is where the benefits of this app end I am afraid.  The app requires internent access to work and so you are stuffed when out in the countryside with a slow or non-existent network connection.  Also, the level of detail in these maps is simply not good enough for hiking.

Pros: free, built in, satellite images clearly displays reality and doesn’t rely on surveys.

Cons: need decent internet connection in the field, slow, not accurate – does not display footpaths which makes it pretty useless for hikers.

This was the first GPS mapping app I tried after Google maps and I used to be really impressed.  The Ordnance Survey (OS) maps do not come with the app, you need to purchase them separately but when you have done so, it has some nice features.  The OS maps are accurate and clearly display the footpath and bridleways along with your current location.

It is the way you need to download the apps that pretty much makes the app a reject for me now.  You have to go to the web site on your PC/Mac to download a specific OS map.  You then need to upload this map to your iphone by enabling a “file server” process on your iPhone.  The whole thing is complicated and clunky.

Pros: full UK Ordnance Survey maps available with excellent way-point functionality.

Cons: you need to purchase each OS map and require a degree in computer science to get them on to your phone.

This is an excellent app!  You have full access to the UK 1:50K Ordnance Survey maps from the point of install.  This means that you do not need to download anything.  It works brilliantly wherever you are without any worry about future planning or internet connectivity.  The maps are clear and accurate.

Pros: Access to all 1:50K OS maps from the minute you download it, for free.

Cons: the maps only go to 1:50K with no ability for finer detail (minor point)

This is also an excellent mapping app for the iPhone / iPad and trumps GB Nat Parks on two points – 1) price and 2) detail.  When you download this app, you get the level of detail you would expect from the start – down to 1:50K OS.   But the main advantage of this app is that you can get 1:10K detail if you need (for free).  Getting the more detailed map is a bit clumsy, you have to keep your finger pressed on an area for a few seconds and then confirm that you want to download, but other than that it is a very nice product.

Pros: 1:50K Ordnance Survey at point of install but with access to 1:10K when you need it. Price.

Cons: 1:10K maps are downloaded and so it requires a bit of future planning as it would be pretty slow or impossible if already out in the field.

Happy trails.

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To use this feature, you will need to use the home button, the power switch and the standard/built-in Photos app.

Here’s how:

To take a screenshot / screencap, then simply go to the screen that you want to capture and press the home button down and then press the power switch (sort of like you are taking a photo).. the screen will flash and you will hear a camera sound effect.  The image you have just captured will be instantly available in the standard Photos app.

That’s it.  Done.

If you want to annotate your screencaps, then you can load the captured image into Keynote and edit it directly on your iPad.

Now, where was I..

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Marketing generates leads.  These leads are recorded and delivered to sales.  Marketing goes back to generating more leads.

Sales converts leads into orders/contracts.  Complains about lack of leads.

Rinse. Repeat.

This model probably still works in some companies.  Especially large B2C or product-based industries.  But for B2B service companies, there is a better way.

I believe that sales is part of the marketing process for acquiring customers – rather than a separate and distinct step.

You don’t want your marketing people generating leads and then simply “throwing them over the wall” to your sales team.  That is a total abdication of responsibility and accountability. Each and every lead / prospect should be owned by your marketing team throughout the entire client acquisition process.

Once generated, leads should be assigned to sales/salespeople, but it is marketing who should ensure that:

1. The correct messages / products are being pitched to the prospect.
2. Feedback is gathered on the quality of the lead.  This is a feedback loop from the sales team to ensure that the sources of leads are delivering the appropriate levels of quality.
3. The lead is being progressed through the sales funnel.  If the prospect is not ready for sales conversion, then these should come back to marketing for further nurturing – as opposed to simply being flagged as “dead” by the sales team.

The entire process starts to look more like this:

I’ve been involved with this revised approach for a while now, and I can tell you that it works.  Everyone has a clearer understanding of ownership and accountability. The quality of the leads improves because it is being measured and tracked and then used to determine which activities are working and which are not; and the sales team work only those leads/prospects that are in the sales conversion stage of the buying cycle – which means a higher conversion rate for them and more commission.

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Every now and then, I get asked for advice on which site they should use and why – and so, here’s my take on the subject.

When it comes to social networking sites, there are only three primary options (sorry MySpace, Bebo and the rest): Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.  These sites are not mutually exclusive and I would recommend that you get involved on all three using the following guidelines:

Facebook. Due to the topics discussed, photos shared, etc – Facebook is best for personal relationships.  Close friends.  Old friends. Work colleagues with whom you have personal relationships.  Use this platform to connect and reconnect but restrict it to personal relationships.

Facebook is for your “private network”.

LinkedIn. This is the best site for maintaining your professional / business network.  Connect with former work colleagues, business partners, and people who you don’t know or would like to know within your industry.  There are sections for recruitment so that you can find your next employee or your next job.  You can also ask colleagues or clients to recommend your work to help build a more reputable/credible online profile.   Use this platform for professional relationships (however loosely defined).

LinkedIn is for your “professional network”

Twitter. Twitter is not a website in the same way as Facebook and LinkedIn. Technically, Twitter is a “microblogging” platform.  It is, however, starting to evolve into something closer to these two sites with recent functionality improvements such as follower suggestions (“friend finder”) and better list management (“groups”). It will be interesting to see just how far Twitter develops as a “destination” site instead of a platform over the next couple of years.

Twitter allows you to connect with a much broader group of people.  These connections can be one-way – you can follow someone who does not necessarily follow you and you can “broadcast” information without getting too involved with discussion.  But those who get the most our of Twitter create two-way connections by engaging those who they follow in conversation.   Twitter is great for connecting with a large number of people and organisations without the formality of a “friend request”.  You can follow anyone.  Anyone can follow you.

Twitter is for your “public network”.

As illustrated above, which social networking site you use depends on the nature of the relationship and the degree of intimacy you have with that person.  Obviously, people within your “private network” can be a part of your “professional” or “public” network, but it is not necessarily appropriate for people who you do not know, but are a part of your “public” network to be your Facebook friend.

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I recently came across an article on the principles of Trust that had an equation for building it.  Its nice to have a visual representation of something relatively abstract even if it is a mathematical formula.

I’ve made a small tweak, but the basis is still the same:

C = is for Credibility.  In business, you need to be able to “walk the talk” and prove that you can deliver the services that you offer (customer references, case studies, publications, etc).

R = is for Reliability.  Keeping to deadlines.  If you continually miss delivery dates or show up for meetings late, then this can undermine trust.

D = is for discretion.  In the original paper, this was Intimacy – but I have replaced it with Discretion which I think is more appropriate.  In any relationship you will have access to information that is private and/or confidential.  How discreet you are with that information either increases or decreases trust.

S = is for self-orientation.  An important element in building trusting relationships is the amount of focus you place on the other [person,customer,employee] for the other’s sake – not as a means to an end.  Is your primary focus them or you?

The elements in the numerator (the top) of this formula increase trust – high levels of credibility, very reliable, always discreet.

Increasing levels of self-orientation (the denominator) decreases trust.  So despite your credibility, reliability and discretion – if you are always concerned with “what’s in it for me”, then the levels of trust will be low for that particular relationship.

So if you want to increase trust in your organisation or with your clients, then make a mental note of this formula and work to increase your “C+R+D” and decrease your “S”.

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2. Jack of All Trades is a Weak Business Strategy
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There are many ways to interview and vet staff – especially salespeople.

I’ve seen the “now, sell me this pen” type of interview.  I’ve seen candidates subjected to any number of psychometric tests.  But for me, I trust my gut and the following factors:

1. Can they sell – are they persuasive?

Most salespeople I interview tend to overuse the term consultative selling.  This approach to sales – popular with organisations like IBM – is about identifying a prospects requirement through asking questions and variations of needs-analysis techniques.  The salesperson will then pitch a bespoke solution (aka “solution selling”) that fits those requirements as closely as possible so that when the prospect is presented with this “ideal” solution it is so perfect that they have no choice but to buy it.

For my businesses, I prefer people who can sell what we have to offer without the need for disruptive customisation.  I want people who can take the same product and shape the features and benefits of that product to fit the varying needs of different prospects.  This still involves a “Consultative Selling” approach to understand the prospects needs, but the service delivery / product is the same.

For many businesses, creating a unique (“bespoke”) solution for every client is not necessary. Most prospects think that their needs are different – but if you get your marketing right, they all need what you have to sell.  They just have different ways of arriving at a buying decision.

This is where your salespeople earn their money and is why you need to make sure they are capable of “selling” and are not glorified “order-takers”.  Look for past experience in selling products in the field and look beyond the sales jargon.

2. Can they close?

This is the most important tip of all.   I am constantly amazed at salespeople that don’t consider an interview to be a sales call.  The product they are selling is themselves.  If they don’t try to close you to hire them – then how can you ever expect them to close a prospect when selling your product.

You should reject any candidate that doesn’t try to close you.

You should pay special attention to not only those that try to close you but those that “trial-close” you aswell.

An example of a trial close question that a candidate has used on me in the past: “how do you feel I measure up to your requirements for this role?”  Simple, but indicative of a salesperson who is looking to progress a conversation towards a decision in his favour.

Hiring a salesperson is risky.  Use whatever quantitative analysis you need to make you comfortable – and make sure you get proof of past income and references.  I hope the advice in this post helps you hire your next star performer.

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1. Built to Sell – A Book Review
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The main thread is that businesses have been ignoring for years some very credible and scientific research on motivating employees.  Most companies believe that if you want to increase the performance of your employees, you should create some incentive-based system.  But research conducted over many years in different countries shows that if the job requires even the most basic level of cognitive skill (aka using your brain), then the incentive had the opposite effect.

It appears that a reason for this is because the incentive narrows the focus.  If you are performing a basic task such as assembly, then you need focus and an incentive/performance-related reward works well.  But if you need to think creatively or analytically, then you need more scope and too much focus will act like blinkers.

Dan goes on to describe three factors that lead to better performance and personal satisfaction.

1. Autonomy. If you hire smart people and then micro-manage them, you will suck the life out of them pretty quickly.  Knowledge-workers are at their best when self-directed.  They are more engaged with your clients, your business and will have a far greater impact (aka Performance).

2. Mastery. Smart people need to be challenged and they need to know that they are getting better at it.  It’s about having a job/career where each day they are a step closer to mastery / to excellence.

3. Purpose. The vision and mission statements of the past have proven to have no effect on their employees.  They were just another part of the corporate marketing machine.  The truly great companies today have a transcendent purpose – something that really makes a difference in the lives of their customers and employees and/or society as a whole.  For example – Google’s “do no evil” or Whole Foods has “to improve the health and well being of everyone on this planet”.  These are reasons for working somewhere beyond money or the daily grind.

Watch the video – highly recommend it.  As a result, I just purchased Dan’s book and will review it here when complete.

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I’ve been trying to read outside using my iPad – in the garden, at the beach, cafes – no chance.  The beautiful screen is a nightmare in bright conditions and basically turns your iPad into a very expensive mirror.

Amazon recently dropped the price of its Kindle and since most of my digital books are in the kindle app (iPhone/iPad), I decided to buy one to see how it would work.  It arrived yesterday.

When you first get it out of the box, you notice the quality feel to the product.  It is very thin, but has a nice weight to it.  When you add the leather cover, it actually looks and feels like a small book.

The screen initially has instructions with how to switch the device on and it was so clear that I thought it was a laminated sticker that I needed to remove before use.  And that really is the core to this device – the screen and e-Ink.  It really is amazing.  Clear and bright.  Can be read in the brightest of sunshine.  It is sharp – so sharp you think that the it may “burn” the screen.

It is not an iPad.  It does not try to play videos or provide apps.  I think that people tried to put the Kindle and the iPad in head to head comparisons in the past incorrectly – its in a different class of device.  There is an “experimental” web browsing capability, but it’s not great.  This device is for reading and it does that very well indeed.

On the downside, it is not intuitive.  The basic navigation system (both software and hardware) are clunky in my opinion.  The fact that it needs a user manual is evidence enough that the user experience could be improved.  But as with all interfaces, you eventually learn them and it becomes less of an issue.

I am also impressed by the wireless capability of the Kindle.  It connects via 3G for free.  When you are on holiday in the south of France and need a new book – simply buy one via Amazon on the Kindle free of charge.  Amazon is picking up the tab.  What a great value add.  The temptation must have been great to limit the connectivity to wifi – but they really made an exceptional decision to include global 3G access.

It is not expensive – about the equivalent of 12 hardback books.  It can store far more than that and so consider how much lighter your holiday packing will be.

Although I was reluctant to buy yet another gadget (well not really – just added that in case my wife was reading this),  I am glad that I did.  The Kindle will come on holiday with me.  When we go to the beach it will be in my pack.  It does not replace an iPad – but it does replace books.   I can read outside again.

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I read a lot.  When I say a lot, I mean several hundred blog posts per day, a couple of books per month, never-ending magazine articles, and lots of news.  The iPad is the perfect device for me because of this.  Perfect until I take it outside that is.

The iPad is unbelievably terrible outside – in any sort of bright conditions.  Once the sun starts to shine, the only thing you’ll be reading are the wrinkles on your face.  It quickly becomes a very expensive mirror.  (The perspective is usually not very flattering either)

The Amazon Kindle is not an iPad.  It is not a tablet computer.  It is an eReader.  It uses e-Ink and it is excellent in bright conditions.  You can’t watch YouTube videos or play Castle Wolfenstein on it.. but you can read books, blogs, and magazines by the pool or on the beach.  Take that Apple.

When I go on holiday, my iPad will come with me of course.  But I would love to be able to read outdoors and so am seriously considering an Amazon Kindle device.

Amazon offers its Kindle book reader as software too.  There’s an app for both the iPad and iPhone.  The nice thing about this (actually, the awesome thing about this) is that they can be synchronised.  So if you purchase a book from Amazon for the Kindle, it will be available on all Kindle platforms – Amazon’s Kindle Reader, the iPad or your iPhone.   When you read a book, you can set bookmarks and these will also be synchronised.

This means you can start reading your book on your iPad while on the plane out.  Continue reading next to the pool on your Kindle.  Finish up on your iPhone while siteseeing.  Same book.  One purchase.  Multiple devices.  Nice.

So, I am thinking about an Amazon Kindle (but not the bags full of chargers required to travel with so many devices).

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They understand the task and are able to explain what needs to be done ok.  They allocate the task to a capable person just fine. They even set a time frame for completing the task exactly as you would expect.  But in the end, they don’t delegate the task at all – they abdicate it.

What new managers fail to realise is despite someone else completing a delegated task (project, service, etc), they are still accountable for the work.  If they never follow up to check on the progress of these tasks and ensure that they are completed within the timescales and to the correct standard – then they are failing in their role as a manager.   They have abdicated all responsibility and all accountability for those tasks to someone else.

There’s a mantra that can help keep you in check. People who know me, know that I love mantras.  They are easy to remember and they help me to realign when I start to drift off course.  Here’s one that is useful when it comes to the art of delegation: “trust, but verify”.

You should always trust the people working for you.  Trust that they can perform the job for which they have been hired.  Trust that they will deliver work to the highest standard.  Trust that it will be delivered on time. But always Verify.  Verify that they did what you asked, verify the quality, verify the progress and that they are going to deliver on time.

The mantra is not “hope, but verify”.  You don’t delegate work and “hope” it will get done.  If you can’t trust your team to deliver the basics of the job then they either need better training/coaching or you should consider replacing them with people who can.

Delegate, don’t abdicate.  Trust, but verify.

Remember that when you delegate work to someone, they complete that work “on your behalf”.  You need to keep involved and protect your “brand” as a manager. So the next time you are about to delegate to someone, remember to trust, but verify.

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