Transparancy pitfalls

I learned a lesson today. I'm in telecom, among other things, and I tried to explain the rather technical and bureaucratic reason why some processes are what they are in telecom to a customer that isn't a) very technical and b) doesn't really care. My intent was to genuinely explain "why it was" and to be very transparent with the process and expectations. Instead, it just blew up in my face and the customer got frustrated and started asking all sorts of questions. I had opened Pandora's box with my tranparancy efforts.

I'm all for tranparancy, but it doesn't (shouldn't) get carte blache. Sometimes it's best just to say, "I'll take care of that for you...".

The Cover Letter

Seth Godin points to a blog article on interviewing tips where one of the tips is that cover letters are "worthless" -- especially when you've got 350 applicants to sort through. The argument is that the meat is really in the resume and that's what sells you.

I respectfully disagree. I beleive the opposite is true. While there certainly is meat to a resume, it's the cover letter that explains who you are, what you believe in and how you connect the dots for the employer between resume and role. I believe the cover letter is where you give the example of standing out (with good writing, good relevance, good personal brand) and then the resume supports that with the technical details.

Old World Social Networking

I had a nicely-dressed, mid-50s gentleman knock on my door this morning and introduce himself as a new financial advisor in the neighborhood. I had never had this happen to me before (for financial services). I smiled, accepted his flyer and said thank-you.

Then I got to thinking about it after he had left. In the Facebook/Twitter/IM/texting/social media world, here's a guy that's going door-to-door to meet people to build his business. I'm impressed and I might even call him. I think surprising people with the old school techniques is very effective. I think both can work concurrently -- they are not mutually exclusive.

Plus, sometimes people (your target audience) just like a face.

Big Hair Economy Buster

I know they're fairy common -- the guys-centric haircut place where you can watch sports on TV while getting a haircut for around $10. Some are even chains. I heard about this place that basically even took the Hooters concept to the salon chair. The place I went to in particular was busy, had nice TVs and waiting room and I got a decent haircut with hot towel and all the extras for around $10 bucks. That's what I call economy. And they were nice...

I feel sorry for my bald friends. It's sooo nice to get your hair washed by somebody else!

My Son Thinks He's Slash

I think there is something inherently gratifying about having your son or daughter walk around the house humming "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" or "Barracuda" from playing Guitar Hero.

Ah, classic rock...

The thing about surveys...

I use tax software. I had a problem with it and looked to their support site to help solve it. Today I got an email from them asking about my experience and for me "to take a few of my time"...

Here's the thing to me about surveys. If you're not offering some sort of worthwhile incentive for me to take that time to complete your survey, then you're basically left with the people who are either a) so extremely happy with your product that they want to praise you for it (congratulations!) or b) so pissed off that they want to let you and everybody else know that your product or service really missed their expectations -- by a mile.

So then there's me in the middle. It wasn't a great experience and it wasn't horrible either. Seems to me it would be these people that you would REALLY want to know about. "What can we do to improve this guy's experience just a little bit...". I'm really not a discount-driven person, but I would have been more willing to fill out their little service had they offered to file my state and local taxes for me for free next year, or something like that.

Instead, it seems to me, they just catch the extremes...

The Abrupt Cutoff

Why in this age of hard drive space abundance, do cell phone and other voice mail systems insist on only giving the messenger a certain amount of time to leave a voicemail and then abruptly cutting them short?

I hate that, it makes no sense, and it certainly would not make me a customer of their service.

Does Social Networking border on voyeurism?

My brother recently asked me this question -- which got me to thinking: Do I actually need to know what somebody has on their grill or how they've scored the their top five 80s hair bands (although I fully intend to rate this myself)?

I know there are security controls but one of the things about these sites, Facebook in particular, is that whatever response you place up there in the cloud, it's a pretty good bet that it's going to read by not only hundreds of your friend's friends, but potentially their friends, and so on. It's like about the 2 or 3 degrees of social networking. And most of it sure looks like personal release to me.

This fascinates me, because of all the relative infancy of the technology, how it's proliferating so quickly and how to use it best. I think the opportunities here are enormous to connect and communicate. But one has to know the potential pitfalls as well.

Great Lakes water levels improving

This chart from the Corps of Engineers and NOAA shows that the 2009 water levels on lake Michigan will rise nearly a foot between April 2009 and September 2009 -- welcome news for the economic climate and the recreational boaters alike.

Destination ImagiNation

One good program, http://www.idodi.org/. My wife led our daughter and her team to 1ast place and an appearance at State finals. Way to go!

The Pendulum is Swinging

Isn't it fascinating that all of your friends in their 30s, 40s and 50s have suddenly come out of the woodwork and embraced social networking such as Facebook, Twitter and even LinkedIn? I firmly believe that there is a pendulum effect at work here. Social attitudes and cultural acceptance follow a rather predictable swing from being all about the one, to being all about the group, over a course of time throughout histroy. This theory is well documented in the book Generations by Strauss & Howe. This dictates many things, including your marketing strategies and the tailoring thereof to arrive at maximum benefit based at which point of the swing we are at.

You see, the kids are always the one to culturally embrace the new; the newest music genre, the latest fashion, and emerging technologies. So it's no wonder that what started with the kids a few years back has now blossomed into use by their parents and even grandparents. And now we're on to the business applications of social networking and thus completing the full acceptance of the new, by the old(er).

A Few Good People

When you work in an organization , particularly a larger organization with many complex processes and solutions, you're surrounded by lots of mediocrity. And it can be very frustrating. I'm talking about the kind of people that don't share the same passion for making things better and making things right. That's when it's good to surround yourself with a few good people to go to for nearly anything: advice, consoling, an energy boost or brainstorming. Of course, this takes some time to cultivate, but once you've got a few good ones in your back pocket, you can recharge and move forward a lot more quickly.

Elevate your game

The business of higher education continues to be elevated by driven and committed folks who push new paradigms.

(I'm a little biased).

Re-Do

...decided to give U.S. Cellular one more try tonight -- same result.

That's some really good marketing dollars down the drain...

Do as I say, Not as I do...

There's this great company called BzzAgent based in Boston that's essentially a word-of-mouth organization that has a small army of marketers as "agents "to produce word of mouth on various products and campaigns. I am one of those agents. They send you something to try and then you "bzz" about it.

The latest campaign I'm a part of is for U.S. Cellular. They sent me a free, gitchy little Motorola phone and you get free service for a month or whatever to try it (and then talk about it). A slick brochure came with it that says, "Activate your phone by calling 888-xxx-xxxx for Immediate Customer Service". Called the number at 8:30PM on a Tuesday night, having just returned from a late business meeting (like any other average professional). "The average wait time is over 15 minutes..." said the recording on the other end.

Ah, no thanks. I'll try again -- maybe. If you're going to execute a promotion and need to cover a higher call volume, you better be prepared to commit the resources (labor, in this case) to getting it done.

If you're gonna print it, you better be prepared to live up to it...

Google Talk

Pretty cool IM gadget.

Change in Strategy

I recently finished reading the latest book by Seth Godin entitled, The Dip. It's a very quick read, a little book, actually. It talks about and r aises some very interesting questions about quitting bad things and continuing through tough times with good things/ideas/plans/programs.

We're going through a Dip in the coffee business. It's an incredibly challenging time right now as we're staring a lot of growth in the face, ramp up with new talent and the like. We also recently had a major shift in sales strategy that we basically bet the farm on.

But if you have faith in the product or service, you'll be nimble enough to change direction on a dime to get through the Dip to the end game: success of your business or program, product, marriage -- whatever. Sometimes it takes sheer strength of will to quit what you're doing poorly, learn from it and head in a totally new direction.

Cheesy

We live in Wisconsin and as such, eat a lot of cheese. Good cheese.

Was recently introduced to some varieties from Vermont, particularly Cabot and Grafton Village aged sharp cheddar.

My wife and I put them to the test against a brick of Steve's Cheese aged sharp cheddar, locally considered to be some of the Wisconsin's best. The Vermontonians (Vermontites, Vermonties?) won.

That's not saying that Wisconsin cheese isn't any good -- I'm just saying they make some mighty fine stuff in Vermont.

Disingenuous

Best Buy is kinda like Starbucks. You go there because they're everywhere and it's just too much work to go anywhere else when you need a fix in a hurry (electronic or otherwise).

I was in Best Buy today and they asked me to sign up for their new "Reward Zone" frequent buyer/points/certificate program. They pitched it hard at the checkout, said things like, "Just think, those points can really add up if you buy a TV...!".

I was cleaning up and glanced at the program explainer they gave me before I pitched it -- it's weak. Really weak. I mean, it starts at $5 on $250 and runs up to a lousy 20 bucks on $1000, a mere 2% rate. If you have a little time to shop, you'd be better off finding a good deal somewhere else, like buy.com.

When you put smoke, mirrors and fancy bells around a weak program, it doesn't lure people in, it turns them off and shows how cheap you really are. People's bullshit radar is just too high today to be doing this. It's not worth it.

But then again, I'm sure some marketing executive at Best Buy or the agency they've hired thought this idea was brilliant. I doubt they'll be around too long.

Dates and meaning?

Seth Godin writes:

7/7/07

Why all the hoopla about a date? (Marriages are up by 30% year on year for today over a similar Saturday last year, for example).

Simple. People are meaning machines. We look for hints about what the future will hold and add meaning, often where there is none.

Putting a lucky number on your marriage certificate is just as silly as all the other cues (from the typeface in the ad to the tie on the applicant's neck) that we use to make decisions.

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Fortunately we only have five more years of this, then it's all done.