New York Giants Vs. Princeton Firms
Worker Exchanges: Global Perspectives
Corrections or additions?
Published in U.S. 1 Newspaper on May 24, 2000. All rights reserved.
Business Resource: Listings of VARs
With over 5,000 value-added resellers (VARs) in New
Jersey, it’s not easy to pick the one with the right solution at the
right price. One new website hopes to make it just a little bit easier.
Findreseller.com, launched in April by high-tech publishing veteran
Larry Hookey, is an online directory of VARs in New Jersey —
70 of them so far — that allows business owners to search for
companies that offer the right technology solutions to their business.
Users simply check off services required (document imaging, help desk/sales
automation, consulting, for example) and Findreseller’s search engine
pulls up profiles of each applicable vendor. Users can fill out a
request for proposal on the spot, or hotlink to the vendors’ site
and call upon it later. “This really is a revolutionary business
model,” says Hookey. “One of the biggest challenges for small
and mid-size businesses is finding quality technology solutions providers.
We stepped into this breach to give these folks a forum to find it
in three minutes or less.”
Findreseller is free to users, but value-added resellers pay $2,400
a year for a posting — thus, only a fraction of the resellers
in New Jersey, approximately 70, are currently listed. “Even with
70 company profiles we have the best, most effective website out there,”
says Hookey. “Eventually we hope to have a critical mass of 200
or 500 resellers on the site. That’s a tremendous base to start from.
If you go the Yellow Pages you only get one page or a little ad. It’s
very inefficient, and you still have to plow through the website.”
Technology companies, which already shell out plenty of money in advertising,
will also realize the value of the site, says Hookey. “The bottom
line,” says Hookey, “is that one new customer or one new sale
pays for the investment.”
Hookey, a resident of Princeton with a BA in business from University
of Delaware, Class of 1980, spent 15 years publishing high-tech magazines
prior to founding Findreseller, and most recently worked for CMP Media
in Manhasset, New York, publishers of Internet Week and Network Computing
magazines. It was there that he got the idea for Findreseller. “Before
Findreseller, companies relied on word-of-mouth recommendations, referrals,
and very inefficient ways of formulating customers leads,” says
Hookey. “Another critical benefit for resellers is that they have
an opportunity to come on and create partnerships with other resellers.
A lot of customers need expertise that goes beyond one reseller.”
Another stream of revenue comes from advertising — both from big vendors,
such as Compaq and IBM, as well as companies that sell to the small
business community.
With a start-up budget of $150,000, gathered from angel investors,
Hookey launched Findreseller in April with a staff of four. During
May, the site felt 15,000 hits, and processed roughly 50 RFPs. The
company recently launched an ad campaign that includes Inc. magazine.
Eventually, Hookey wants to provide the same services to small businesses
in other states — particularly the 22 states that comprise most
of the IT expenditures in the country. To do that, however, he needs
more money, but if he can get even 10 percent of the companies in
New Jersey to sign up, he believes he can accomplish it. “If we
get even 500 resellers signed up that’s over $1 million,” he says.
“We’d like to come in between $750,000 and a $1 million by the
end of the year.”
Channel Media Group/Findreseller.com, 301North Harrison Street, Suite 347, Princeton 08540. 609-683-9163; fax,609-683-3928. Home page: www.findreseller.com.Top Of PageNew York Giants Vs. Princeton FirmsThe 10th Anniversary softball game between the New YorkGiants and Princeton’s corporate challengers is shaping up as a recordbreaker.The game, which will be played on Thursday, May 25, at 6 p.m. —rain or shine — on the athletic field behind 2 and 4 ResearchWay at College Park is a fundraiser for the Middlesex County Chapterof the American Cancer Society. “We have commitments from a recordnumber of Princeton-area firms and anticipate an impressive turn outto help celebrate this milestone,” says Tom Stange of NationalBusiness Parks, the game’s primary sponsor.The firms signed on as corporate contenders include GE, TaylorTechnology, Hitachi, Panasonic, Neostrata, Picus Associates, BraccoDiagnostics, and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.Since its inception, the game has raised more than $100,000, all ofwhich goes to assistance for local cancer patients. Businesses andindividuals can participate in the game at various levels for raising$500 or more. There is no admission charge to attend the game andeveryone is welcome. A post-game party will be held at the Doral Forrestal.Individuals and companies who wish to participate in the softballgame should call National Business Parks at 609-452-1300.Top Of PageWorker Exchanges: Global PerspectivesYou have heard of foreign exchange students. But foreignexchange employees?In an increasingly global economy, companies that want to stay aheadof the curve need to acquaint themselves with business practices inother countries, particularly if they hope to attract internationalclients, says Tom Sullivan, president of Princeton PartnersInc., the Research Way-based business-to-business and consumer integratedmarketing agency. Sometimes that means sending an emissary to a foreignland to gather intelligence. Princeton Partners just hosted such anemissary and filed the following summary of the experience, preparedby Gary Frisch:”The firsthand experience of actually working in a foreigncompany within your industry can’t be matched,” notes Sullivan.”Their ability to watch dealings with clients, participate inbrainstorming sessions and even to observe the day-to-day interactionamong employees can be very educational and lend new perspective toyour own business practices.”Princeton Partners hosted its first foreign exchange employee theweek of May 8. Markus Lipp, a 32-year-old copywriter from aMunich, Germany-based ad agency called Heller & Partner, was integratedinto the company as a regular employee, taking part in new clientmeetings, creative sessions and staff update meetings. He also presentedcase studies to staffers on how his company solved three businessproblems.In return, Sullivan says, Princeton Partners will be sending a middleor senior-level employee to Munich in the fall.The employee swap came about as a result of both agencies’ membershipin MAGNet, the Marketing and Advertising Global Network, an organizationof cooperating ad agencies throughout North America and Europe. Eachmember agency is exclusive to its market, and the group holds formalmeetings three times a year. It was at one of these meetings thatStephan Heller, the principal of Heller & Partner, proposedthe idea of exchanging employees.”We’d done several informal exchanges with other domestic agenciesin the course of helping one another out, but this was the first timea formalized foreign exchange had been discussed,” recalls Sullivan.”We felt it was a good way to both reward good employees whilehelping our respective agencies remain on the cutting edge of currentbusiness trends.”Although MAGNet membership facilitated this pilot exchange, Sullivanoffers the following tips to small and mid-size companies that wantto implement a similar employee exchange:Use an industry association. If you don’t already belongto one, join. In addition to a variety of resources and benefits,membership in an association can help you identify companies in yourfield that you admire and feel you can learn from. Just be sure thecompany you choose isn’t a direct competitor.Broach the idea principal-to-principal. After you’ve identifieda company that might be receptive to an exchange, talk directly withthe top person. An in-person meeting is best — possibly at anindustry tradeshow or conference — but if that’s not possibletry forging a phone relationship first.Use personal contacts if possible. This is, of course,the easiest route to an exchange. Comb your Rolodex for internationalcounterparts who made an impression at the last industry mixer. Evenif you have no international contacts, perhaps someone can refer youto their office overseas, if they have one.Come to an agreement about the terms of the exchange.How long will it be? How will the employee be integrated into thecompany? What kind of work space will be made available? Will theemployee be expected to make a formal presentation? Will he or shebe sharing time with co-workers outside of business hours? These thingsshould be determined in advance.Select the employee carefully. Identify what you hopeto learn and choose someone from an area of your company that canbenefit from that information. Also, make sure the employee is adaptableand comfortable in new work and social settings.Integrate the visiting employee socially as well as duringthe workday. Says Sullivan: “It’s a good idea to make them feellike part of the team, even outside of business hours. We took Markusto his first baseball game, the Trenton Thunder, and gave him a guidedtour of Princeton.”Finally, let the employee bring his own ideas and perspectivesalong. “It’s the differences in thought processes that are mostvaluable in an exchange,” says Sullivan. “The overriding goalis to learn other ways of doing things while making it a rewardingexperience for the employee.”Previous StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
