Pizza « Dave Stelzl's Blog

Archive for the 'Pizza' Category

May

Real Chicago Pizza

After the four month diet, a 25 lb weight loss, and no pizza during that time, I was excited to be able to dive into a Gino’s East pizza – my first official stop on this trip to Chicago. Not that I am going right back to my old habits of eating junk food, but an occasional pizza gives me something to look forward to after many salads, no sweeteners, no gluten, and nothing that has preservatives, dairy or cheese in it. In other words, my four months consisted mostly of salad, veggies, all-natural chicken and beef, and rice – and lots of water. The great news is, my triglyceride count went from 500 to a little over 200 in the first 2 weeks of the diet – without any medications. I’ll have the new numbers within a week, which will include my cholesterol numbers as well. I expect some pretty good readings.

All of that aside, you haven’t had Chicago pizza if you haven’t been to Chicago. Having traveled all over the world, I have yet to find a city that has a real Chicago style pizza. Knoxville has a pizza place advertising it, but it’s not real (I think it’s called Stephens). Then there’s the Chicago pizza chain, which is also a far cry from the real thing. Charlotte, my home town, has just recently made it to authentic NY style pizza with Tony’s. I expect it will be a while before we have Chicago pizza.

Now that I’ve had my pizza fix, it’s time to go to work…

Jul

The Winter Haven Pizza Experience

By Dave Stelzl's Blog 3 Comments

Categories: Marketing and Pizza
Tags: consulting, David Stelzl, marketing consultant, marketing plan, marketing speaker, marketing strategy, pizza, security, speaker, Technology, winter haven

Photo Taken on My Blackberry

Well, we completed the first phase of our marketing strategy yesterday, but more importantly, I was delighted to find that Winter Haven, FL, has some great pizza! Who would have guessed…Not sure of the name of this place, but it’s right next to Arabella’s, another great place to eat if you enjoy Italian food (we did have dinner there). This Pizza is slightly thicker than a traditional Brooklyn style pizza – more like you would find in Manhattan…cooked in a brick oven, a full size pizza (meaning their large pie is 18 inches unlike the 14 inch large at fast food pizza chains like Papa Johns and Domino’s), and the sauce and cheese are excellent. I believe they make their own sauce, meatballs, and use fresh mozzarella. The pizza folds like a real slice should, so that you can eat it without everything falling off. I had pepperoni, sausage, ham, and meatballs on mine…Definitely give this a try if you are traveling through the area.

May

Mumbai – Day 3

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Categories: Marketing and Pizza
Tags: architecture. computer, Cisco, David Stelzl, dominos, low price provider, million dollar consulting, mumbai, pizza, security, speaker, Technology, training, Trends, Value Proposition

Yesterday we completed day one of our three day training class in Mumbai – my friends from India were kind enough to have ordered pizza for lunch without me knowing (Dominos in Mumbai pictured here!) Notice the unique arrangement of Indian veggies on this slice…Not from NY, but much appreciated! On the other hand, Dominos has managed to deliver a consistent pizza in just about every country I’ve been to.

In our class we focused on recent trends in cybercrime and where opportunities for creating business exist. The most important concept here is that of creating business rather than waiting on requests for products. One insightful comment worth repeating here is that IT wants a product, not a strategy…while sales books and trainers are saying, sell solutions, IT doesn’t often appreciate this approach. They earn their keep by being the brains behind solution architecture and look to vendors for discount pricing on product. That doesn’t mean they are qualified or able to deliver business value – but their value depends on it and they know it. If this is true, separating IT from business decision makers is an important part of the sales process. Giving IT in-depth technical knowledge (which generally must come from the technical side of the provider) makes sense, and then preparing business value for conversations that will take place with economic buyers and business level influencers. Both are required in order to sell higher level architectural solutions.

Today’s agenda takes us to the next step of preparing that messaging. Everything from opening meetings, to introducing your offerings, to discovery and proposal delivery, must be designed with marketing in mind. Documents don’t sell anything – messaging is key. You can choose the be the low price solution, or you can show up with million dollar messaging. It’s always your choice.

May

Mumbai – Day 2; Pizza in Mumbai

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Categories: Pizza and Real Life
Tags: cheese, crust, David Stelzl, JW marriott, mumbai, ny, pizza

Photo taken by David Stelzl

On my last trip to India I sampled pizza in Bangalore; now for Mumbai at the JW Marriott…

This pizza gets two thumbs up! I didn’t measure, but it covers an entire large dinner plate. As far as the New York Pizza standard goes, this pizza measures up far better than many hotel pizzas – it has a thin crust kind of like Brooklyn Pizza, although the crust texture is a bit softer. You can definitely fold this pizza to eat it (like you would in NY).

The cheese mixture is authentic! No cheddar on this pizza… the pepperoni is a bit spicy (but not as greasy as a real NY pizza), and the sauce has a touch of sweetness to it – but very good.

The only thing that didn’t stand up – it seems that the cheese was not grated like it would be in NY, so the cheese texture is different. On the crust, under the pizza in NY you would find the texture to be wet – even a bit slippery. This pizza was not like that – so it’s not completely NY. Would I have it again – absolutely. In fact there are nine different pizzas listed on the room service menu…a better selection than I find most places.

Of course I topped off my meal with a bowl of ice cream which you will find in my picasa album…(CLICK)

Apr

Three Places to Market – Misuse these and you’re toast.

By Dave Stelzl's Blog 2 Comments

Categories: Pizza and Sales Strategy
Tags: David Stelzl, educational marketing, high-tech, lunch and learn, Marketing, marketing event, pizza, solution selling, speaker, Value Proposition

Made by Christine – My Niece

My son asked me the other day, “Daddy, what happens when you run out of people to call?” What a great question for a 15 year old to be asking…this is the problem every sales person has at some point in their career. That’s what marketing is for! But how many companies really have their act together when it comes to marketing? In most cases it is up to the sales person to generate new interest – it would be great if marketing and sales would get together on this…

There are three primary platforms for marketing consultative and high-tech solutions; customer events, one-on-one seminars, and social media. But using any one of these platforms for something other than education builds distrust with the prospects you call on. In other words, effective marketing (in B to B high tech sales) must be founded on education, not hype.

Its through this well-thought-out process that a continuous stream of new names will continue to come through your office giving you a growing source of new people to call.

While I have you here – I wanted to point out that the pizza on the left is one of the best homemade pizzas I’ve ever had! This one comes from the Charlotte North Carolina area where the average pizza consumer is happy with Pizza Hut…however, if you’ve been following my pizza posts from all around the world, you know that I hate Pizza Hut. Christine, one of nieces, was kind enough to make me this pizza last night since my family was traveling (meaning all of the cooks where out). Thanks Christine, it was a real treat!

Feb

The Kaspersky Partner Summit – Pizza in Cancun

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Categories: Channel Management and Pizza
Tags: cancun, David Stelzl, Kaspersky, partner, presentation, sales cycle, sales training, security, selling, speaker, summit

Pizza in Cancun

Here in Cancun, or just south of the Cancun area. And of course my trip would not be complete without trying the Mexican pizza! Here is it to the left, served with hot sauce, ketchup,…but not grated cheese. How does it rank? Better than the Singapore pizza for sure, not like New York, but par with the India pizza which I had at least 5 times while in Bangalore late last year. Overall it was a good experience for a quick lunch.

What has made this partner conference special? Here are few highlights:

1. First, Eugene Kaspersky running out on stage in his Ferrari Formula 1 racing outfit (of which he is a sponsor). The question was raised, “How many resellers have dined with, or sat by the pool with the CEO of their strategic manufacturing partners? It’s a great question – these partners are doing just that this week. This guy is a real person!

Eugene Kaspersky Live

2. Concrete information on how to grow your business. I have had the pleasure of speaking with many partners and channel managers today – this is the recurring theme – the information is relevant.

3. Not too big, not too small. This event is invitation only, so we have about 250 partners attending this week. Getting around and meeting people is easy with this kind of crowd, making it easier to network, exchange ideas, and get to know people who are solving similar types of problems throughout the Americas.

4. Grand Velas – what a great destination! It’s a bit hot, but given the weather in the states this week, who cares. The meeting rooms are great, services is excellent, and the facilities are five star. Very nice…(plus the pizza was pretty good).

5. Key take away – this company is committed to driving business through the channel without over distributing. I’ve met some outstanding people on the Kaspersky side – all of them excited to be a part of this team and working hard to build the business.

Tomorrow I will be speaking first thing in the morning on how to leverage the discovery and assessment process to grow the business. As with all security technology products, no one wants to spend money on insurance, but when a real need can be shown, sales cycles are quickly shortened. Look for a recap on YouTube…which I’ll post tomorrow.

Dec

Vendor to Adviser

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Categories: Opportunities and Pizza
Tags: channel, consultative selling, partner, sales training, security, seminar, solution selling, speaker, Stelzl, Technology, value added reseller, var, Webex

This week we have our final teleseminar – Moving from Vendor to Adviser, Friday at 11:30 EST. There are many things to cover here…

http://www.stelzl.us/business_strategy_TeleS.asp

1. People don’t just decide to become “Trusted Advisors” – everyone thinks they are, but only the client knows for sure. Buyers choose their advisers.

2. Product sales can be made online – with it comes the stripping of all value add. The VAR is dead…but consultative selling is far from dead. Do you know the difference?

3. Fees should be commensurate with value, but few are charging correctly. I covered much of this last month, but will bring out some key concepts this week that pertain to advisers.

ALSO: I just have 5 seats left in the January Virtual Training: Making Money with Security. There are 19 confirmed attendees coming in from all parts of the world. Don’t miss this! It’s a game changer for 2011 and central to the strategy needed to grow in this market.

Find out more and register here: http://www.stelzl.us/sales_development_MMS1_virtual.asp

P.S. – I had some great NY Pizza last night at 36th and Broadway!

Oct

Justifying your Fee

By Dave Stelzl's Blog 2 Comments

Categories: Pizza, Sales Strategy and Value Proposition
Tags: discount, hardware, project fee, quoting price, rfp, rfq, roi calculator, selling customers, setting price, Technology, Trusted advisor

My son has never had pizza! Can you believe it…you should know by now that I eat pizza at least once a week, and that’s a bad week for me. Why have I deprived me son? Be cause he is allergic to everything. Gluten (which knocks out just about every restaurant bread), wheat, corn, dairy…that is, until yesterday.

After seeing numerous doctors, some local, some far away, we finally have the problem solved. The local doctors offered him cortisone to treat skin rashes which covered his body head to toe when he was an infant. My wife, believing the surface treatment was the wrong answer, began researching this. She soon discovered the food allergy problem, which is actually the result of your body not properly digesting a food, which leads to a toxic substance in the body rather than properly digested food, which in turn must come out of the body, generally in the form of a rash. Well, with a long list of allergy foods in hand, we were able to keep Tiny Tim (as I call him) somewhat free of rashes. The problem is, that means Tiny Tim can only eat a hand full of boring foods while watching the rest of us enjoy pizza and ice cream.

Then a couple of months ago someone refers us to a doctor just three hours from my house. Two visits, three weeks of treatment using natural products (no drugs), and he’s free to eat whatever. Of course Insurance doesn’t pay for this type of treatment…it’s all out of pocket. But do you think I questioned the fee? Did I send out RFQs, collect three bids, push the doc for a 30% discount, count his hours? No! He solved a serious problem using his intellectual capital. He earned the right to advise me, charge me, and convince me to call him the next time I have a medical need. This is the essence of becoming the trusted adviser. This is not a commodity.

PS. Tiny Tim and I are having pizza tonight!

Sep

Bangalore – Day 15; Sunday

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Categories: Pizza and Real Life
Tags: bangalore site seeing, eating in india, oberoi, pizza in india

Sunday I had hoped to do some more site seeing by foot. I ended up taking more photos in the hotel gardens (CLICK)

First, it was hard getting out of the hotel. The picture to the left is what the road looks like in front of my hotel – MG road is under construction making it difficult to get through, although it is possible. Once through, I found that three wheeled taxi drivers where pulling over every 50 feet or so to stop me. They wanted to take me somewhere. Seeing I am a visitor, they wanted my fare and I’m sure my tip as well. So they would pull over and begin walking beside me telling me where to go. I kept saying, I am just out for a walk, but they would not listen, they just kept pressuring me to go with them. Finally I gave up and headed back to my “compound.” Aside from that, it was a restful day as I prepare for three days of workshops in India. We’ll be repeating the programs recently delivered in Australia and Singapore.

Note: I did have the Pepperoni Pizza last night. Bangalore pizza, at least at the Oberoi is pretty good. Big improvement over the Singapore pizza experience, but still not like NY.

Sep

Singapore – Day 11; Mastering Board Room Presentations

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Categories: Pizza and Value Proposition
Tags: great presentations, singapore pizza, what makes a presentation great, writing great marketing plans

I finally had Singapore pizza! This is not the actual pizza I ate, and if you know me, you know vegetables are an abomination to great pizza (in my list of acceptable foods). I had a picture but ran into some technical difficulties, so I simply did a Google search on frozen pizza to find something that looked like my pizza experience. As you can tell, it’s nothing to write home about. Stick to the local Asian food and you’ll be in good shape here – but I did have to have pizza once just to say I did.

We did complete our three day workshop, the last day being on presentation skills. One attendee asked a very important question following several in-class presentations which I’ll answer right here. “Can we communicate the message in a short ten minute presentation?” I then demonstrated such as speed in under 5…to which he asked, how long did it take for you to be able to communicate our message so effectively…in other words, how many times did you have to give the speech. I replied, “Hundreds”. That is the key – practice, record, listen, critique, improve, practice, record,…etc. Only a hand full of sales people will give great presentations without practice.

A few key points from the class:

1. Most of the presentations I see sales people give are boring. Why? They haven’t put time into writing great material.

2. Presentations can’t deliver the obvious. Most do…come up with something new and opinionated. Something that gives me fresh ideas.

3. Interrupt my thinking. If it’s predictable from slide to slide, you will lose me.