Last time, we talked about whether you should outsouce marketing. We concluded that it's better to have a truly outside perspective on your company. But what about sales? I think of marketing as fundamentally "understanding your company" and then, of course, communicating about it. I think of sales as fundamentally "being your company". Just as it's not possible to know yourself fully, it's not possible for someone else to be you fully. And this is why outsourced sales efforts always feel, well, outsourced.

OK, it's an awkward term. The goal is to replace the concept of usability. Or, rather, to supersede it. Audience Experience Optimization is a discipline that seeks to make certain that a viewer/participant of a Web site has a satisfying experience.