João Rufino's Blog

During my last trip (Ukraine) I was without Internet for a week. The funny thing is that I never realized before how it is important on my life and without it I feel a bit lost. My understanding of Ukrainian is null and my Russian only allows me to understand basic conversations. Said this, the information from TV did not help me much.

Another thing is that my friends are located in several parts of the globe and I like to talk to them every day (it is part as my routine I would say). I could not do this either. Reading the newspapers was out of my option.

So… I had a sense of loss. Something was missing and I that made me wounder if I was addicted to the Internet.

When I arrived I looked at some of the symptoms on the web. Here is a list of my findings:

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Posted by João Rufino under Internet & Misc | 2 Comments »

Travel is one of my hobbies. Meeting new people, new cultures and new languages is something that will always amaze me.

Since I joined Google, early summer of 2006 I’ve been in 16 different countries and many of them several times. Sometimes for work and often also for leisure. (Even when it’s work I always find time to get a sense of the country and its culture. One of the greatest thing on Google’s multicultural environment is that your friends are from multiple countries.. With them I had the opportunity to get a better sense of the country that I’m visiting. Often happens that I travel with them to their countries and invite them to mine.

Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Poland, Latvia, USA, Mexico, Ireland, UK, Malta, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary and Ukraine.

More to come… I hope

Posted by João Rufino under Misc | No Comments »

I don’t want to go away from the usual subjects of my posts. They are usually around people management techniques and product/project management and a few protocols. However and, without being a pure sales person I’ll share a few ideas and tips that I’ve seen across the business word, that were shared with me by pure sales people and of course that you find on the web. If you want to know in detail more about this subject I’m probably not the right person .

Sales, sales, sales. Get out there, prove yourself, show that what are you selling is what your costumer needs.

Seems simple but in order to better than the rest you must prove that your product will bring more value than what your competitors are selling. Sometimes it is not easy but here are a few suggestions how you present yourself differently and distinguish yourself from others.

1. Seems a bit harsh but your appearance matters. You and your product are linked and you are the image of your product. Basics of fashion in the business world say that belts and shoes should be the same color. Have your shoes polished and when it comes to your clothes… buy good quality (even if it implies having less).

2. Every company has their own business cards and sometimes you can’t personalize yours but remember. After you are gone… your business card should speak for you and still be appealing to your costumer. I’ve seen black and silver business cards. Printed on both sides. One side can have your product inspirational slogan or your personal inspirational quote. I’ve seen suggested that on the back you can stamp the 7 reasons why customers like doing business with you. I’ve seen a personal business card that was divided in 4 different parts that could be detached because the person was representing 4 different and similar products. You have all sorts of ideas. Just let your imagination flow (if you can).

3. If you communicate by email (doesn’t everyone?) make sure you have a effective e-mail signature. Your e-mail signature should have all the relevant contacts such as your name, a small and catchy sentence describing your expertise, a telephone number, and your/your company web site. Don’t write long emails presenting your product. Keep it short but include periodically a P.S. and a P.P.S. to emphasize new product introductions, special sales, and special events. You are not a boring brand .

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Posted by João Rufino under Business & Misc | 1 Comment »

There are a few things that amaze me in the Human behavior… I decided to compile a few Here “scientific” facts about it. These funny sentences are usually the kind of stuff we get in our inbox:

- Why do you call APARTments to something that is together?

- Why can´t women paint eye lashes their without their mouth open

- Why you can’t find cat food tasting like mouse?

- Sheep do not shrink in the rain but your wool sweater might if you wash it

- Where is the other part of Middle East?

- Flying is safe but… Why do you have a TERMINAL in the airport?

- Where does a bald man stop when he is washing his face?

- Why do we press harder the remote button when the batteries are low?

- When we are driving and we can´t find the way.. Why do we always shut the radio off?

- Why do we count sheep to go to sleep?

- Why do we shrug off our shoulders when it is raining. Do you expect to get less wet

and finally…

- To shut down Windows why do we press Start?

Have a nice day

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