My Freelance Agenda

My updated Linkedin reads like this, and I am looking for new work as a freelance internal analyst  / evangelist – creating alternative narratives that serve to rejuvenate product targeting, while elevating the discussion above the noise level .

The Enterprise IT Sector is crowded and complex. The constituent buyers of B2B Capital Line of Business software and hardware are becoming increasingly jaded and immune to standard marketing practices.

Feature / Benefit – Feature / Benefit

Whether a long and excruciatingly precipitous closing cycle, or being drowned in the advertising noise, when is the right time to create a fresh narrative? 

Selling complex and costly capital line systems to sophisticated buyers using the old feature / benefit tactic is starting to wear thin across capital line of business IT and equipment markets. There are many, many highly competitive SME companies led by Scientist / Engineer Founders who are simply being outspent on media by PE funded leviathans. 

A reworked narrative can make a difference. My campaigns are industry issue driven to dovetail with your existing marketing, to steer high-interest prospects and convert them into leads – always focusing on the essential core of what makes your org / product better, different. 

In context of the market & above the noise. Part of being in context is analyzing the competitors in your sector, while keeping watch on the developing opportunities.

My clients deliver highly crafted and refined technologies to B2B software and a few hardware markets where I have a special feel for (Test & Measurement, Mobile data, workforce management). I’m an industry relations analyst with an evangelist’s tilt – and increasingly a guide to regulatory relations

Who defends GXS actions under alias?

Im sure that most freelance EDI Guys and Product or Sector Advocate / Analysts are busy guys and gals, getting work done or finding new work, even when you are presently engaged, ’cause that’s how us self-employed guys do it….and our customers know that we are always prospecting. My last (+1/2 time to way past full-time) engagement has run longer than any previous client workload, and for that, I am very thankful.

But I keep feelers out, and make a few calls, and some people call me, actually…it’s true! And someone took an alias, and kinda made my day, because if you read the coward’s verbiage, you can tell who he works for. It’s that transparent.   And, Comments are always open on this blog. 

This guy or GXS gal, is very, very unhappy that I’m going to market with four years of GXS opposition, competitive, and client-polling  research and interviews because I never would have compiled this data if not for GXS’ Interconnection abuse campaign waged under the pen of Steve Scala, and also likely by one or two more vindictive GXS evil mini exec’s –

because after a half-year of  playing ECGridOS API Evangelist (last half of 2009 and the first half of 2010) – things were going pretty-pretty-pretty well (Thanks to Larry David) .

Availability for New Contract

I am able to commence new engagements as of this writing – I can take on one full time project or two-part time as of 1/7.

If you are looking for product and market advocacy, focused competitive intelligence, I’m ready.

if your contract requires supplemental production of content and research, surveys, data gathering, etc.  I have personal relationships with reliable subcontractors.

The benefits of my style of contracted, closed-end engagements? I will speak the truth, say what needs to be said, and deliver the goods. If you need to gain traction in B2B IT or techno-vertical markets, I will take on your cause as if it were my own.

I have been compiling opposition research profiles on key B2B market leaders, their coverage holes, organizational weaknesses, and blind spots. I can work up a custom profile in short order, often less than 90 days. Hands-on guidance for a targeted advocacy campaign is 6-12 months average. I will allocate urgent contracts full-time, sole focus, My rates are competitive, some say I under price. Until I see the need, I am holding my flat rates to 2012 schedule. Please call me for details.

My services are a perfect force multiplier for over extended product managers who are too busy steering the go to market. I can perform specific evangelism to offset the competitor’s mind share. I can and will elevate your solution out of the noise.

My last engagement is winding down after four years, That particular client was at war. Your issues may be not so dire; your company may need to increase positive traction, or overcome a competitors mind share. Maybe your innovation requires a special focus, deeper explanation, or my specialty, active engagement.

I do these things and I am quite current on highly technical systems integration, state of the industry, APIs, EDI, etc.

See my professional bio on the front page sidebar for details, or drop me line to: abmadw (at) gmail.com, Skype: awilensky

Consultants: Mess Up Totally while being 100% Right!

Consultants: Mess Up Totally while being 100% Right!

Don’t go against the money; what say, you say? Consultants, don’t go against the opinion of the people funding a venture, or their management proxies – you will not get contracts, you will have your early termination clauses invoked, and you will be forced out the valley. Of course, you will also not be able to provide any services of value, but it seems that the valley is chock full of closed end product management hires that are basically yes-men and gals for the management. So why did they hire you?

First, some background about what a good product strategist does -people are confused until they really need a guy like me. I built my reputation by being honest and never pulling punches, all while providing action oriented, sane product / channel re-jiggering.

People who label as ‘Strategists’ take a lot of heat; where do you get the nerve? Well, first of all, there are two types of strategists: Corporate capital ‘S’ strategists, and product channel specialty small ‘s’ strategists. I am a small ‘s’ strategist specializing in technical, industrial, and vertical markets. Without this specialization, I should be rebuffed; with no MBA, no degree from any institution of higher learning, I need my tool belt of practical industry experience to underwrite my credibility, and to speak with authority regarding the markets that I swim in, on behalf of my clients.(visit)

When a client calls me, via a referral or via my blog articles, they have a bone to pick. Often this bone is an internal conflict over the direction of a product’s channelization, or a strategic (small ‘s’, product features and industry targeting strategy) issues that is causing division or insurrection in the ranks.

I can often be a balm to these conflagrations; it doesn’t always get to the point of emotional entanglement, either. I have had a good career acting as an honest broker for the best interests of the product and the user community. This obtains in cases when the particular user community is already in place, or needs to be freshly recruited.

There are so many great Web 2.0 tools and services that have steered down the path of fremium and ad-supported subscription models. Many of these great, small companies will never see the revenue sufficient to turn a profit, and therefore wait for the buyout that may or may not come.

All the while, there are any number of technical and skilled trades markets that are dying for specialized instances of messaging, social networking, and mobile applications that can help their constituencies work more effectively. However, these vertical markets are never going to be evangelized by non-specialists, and their revenue models require a fine-tuned balance between ads (and these industry specific ads can have hight CPC and CPM) and subscriber paid accounts.

That’s my job, to use my skills as an advocate on behalf of the Web application provider, to swim in the vertical and fine tune the delivery of these services, and to help make a payment model that works for the product sector, and the developers.

More on this topic, and in depth, soon.

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Im Looking for Referals!

Get into markets that care – go vertical! Hire me to be your guide to industrial and skilled trade channels for your Web 2.0 Application. I deliver results.

I am offering a 5% contract referral payment to colleagues or readers who graciously refer potential clients to me. See my LinkedIn references on the main page of this blog. Reach me @ abmadw@gmail.com or on skype: awilensky

I have several long term contracts out to bid, and these can take a longish time to close. In the meantime, if I can generate some referrals for my, ‘perfect 90 day product strategy critical review’, or ‘what don’t you know about your competitive sector?’ services – that would be great.

I have been providing these services in the Boston area for several years. I was invited to the Valley by France Telecom R&D labs in South San Francisco, for a six month contract centering on the on-line brand monitoring and automotive supply chain sectors. That research went extremely well. Portfolio materials redacted from that research can be seen at the links on the main page.

I deliver actionable product strategies for web properties that may have started in the consumer or enterprise business sector, and I remake them for the services sector. My specialty is web services and applications that could be profitably re-targeted towards the ‘hard’ professions, i.e., technical product services, equipment services, skilled trades, etc.

If you have a Web 2.0 property that is slowing its uptake, never got a fast start, etc., you at least owe yourself a conversation with me. I can work the trade associations, survey new channels, and suggest new approaches and features.

Do you need re-writes of white papers, marketing collateral, or just a general de-funk of the language in your marketing package? I’m your man. I take dry, technical buzz and tell a compelling story about your product.

I work well with product managers – I deliver! See my portfolio pages.

Reach me @ abmadw@gmail.com or on skype: awilensky – See my linkedin profile on the main page.

Im Looking for Referals!

Get into markets that care – go vertical! Hire me to be your guide to industrial and skilled trade channels for your Web 2.0 Application.

I am offering a 5% contract referral payment to colleagues or readers who graciously refer potential clients to me. See my LinkedIn references on the main page of this blog. Reach me @ abmadw@gmail.com or on skype: awilensky

I have several long term contracts out to bid, and these can take a longish time to close. In the meantime, if I can generate some referrals for my, ‘perfect 90 day product strategy critical review’, or ‘what don’t you know about your competitive sector?’ services – that would be great.

I have been providing these services in the Boston area for several years. I was invited to the Valley by France Telecom R&D labs in South San Francisco, for a six month contract centering on the on-line brand monitoring and automotive supply chain sectors. That research went extremely well. Portfolio materials redacted from that research can be seen at the links on the main page.

I deliver actionable product strategies for web properties that may have started in the consumer or enterprise business sector, and I remake them for the services sector. My specialty is web services and applications that could be profitably re-targeted towards the ‘hard’ professions, i.e., technical product services, equipment services, skilled trades, etc.

If you have a Web 2.0 property that is slowing its uptake, never got a fast start, etc., you at least owe yourself a conversation with me. I can work the trade associations, survey new channels, and suggest new approaches and features.

Do you need re-writes of white papers, marketing collateral, or just a general de-funk of the language in your marketing package? I’m your man. I take dry, technical buzz and tell a compelling story about your product.

I work well with product managers – I deliver! See my portfolio pages.

Reach me @ abmadw@gmail.com or on skype: awilensky – See my linkedin profile on the main page.