Workpump

Why hiring your brother-in-law to do your Web site is a bad idea

2006-05-15T09:17:00.000-07:00

New research shows that for the majority of B2B prospects, when they are considering doing business with a company they will check out that company's Web site as one of the first things they do. Duh! This is hardly news.

According to BtoB Magazine "a site that inadequately communicates the credibility of a vendor and its products can have a seriously detrimental effect on incoming leads, long before you start your official sales efforts."

So consider this sales funnel: a prospect has a need, they Google around and find likely hits, they visit Web sites to start the process of making a short list. Web sites that look like they are not credible vendors won't make it to the short list. They'll lose the sale and they won't even know it.

In a supply-driven sales world (the Old Way) we made the call and fought for the business--we knew when we won or lost and sometimes could learn why. In a demand-driven sales world (the New Way) we often don't even know who's checking us out--they no longer need sales people to make the first steps.

So our first step has to be making sure our Web site is credible--that our company is dressed in business attire, tie on, shoes polished, hair neatly combed--when potential customers come calling.

The Mousetrap Myth

2006-04-19T07:31:00.000-07:00

"We had to get out of the simplistic mode of just inventing something and expecting people to show up and buy it." Mark Hurd, new CEO of HP, as quoted in the Seattle Times (from a Wall Street Journal article).

What a concept! Hurd, a former sales exec and CEO of NCR, discovered that customers weren't actually selling to HP's top customers, but were waiting around for customers to seek out the sales rep.

They apparently subscribed to the Mousetrap Myth: if you invent a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door. Right! Just don't hold your breath waiting for it to happen. (NB: this is one of theose gems of "conventional wisdom" that is just nonsense. For more conventional wisdom that isn't, check out Freakonomics by Steven Levitt.)

Get your message out, and get those salespeople working, that's my advice to HP.

Quiet Time

2006-03-07T09:55:00.000-08:00

First endurance race I ever drove in was also the first time I'd ever used a radio system--one that connects the driver with the crew. Critical for endurance racing--you have to be able to tell the driver when to come in for tires, gas, etc. In this race I was on an unknown track in an unknown car in truly appalling conditions--all my focus was needed to keep on the track and not hit anybody. But the crew chief felt the need to be a cheerleader, so he kept up a constant stream of talk in my earpiece. "Pass that car! Get after him! Gun it!" stuff like that. It was a horrid performance on my part (I was way too much of a rookie for that race) but his diatribes in my ear certainly didn't help. (Later when I ran a radio in my own car I made dire threats against anyone who dared tell me anything that wasn't on the order of "John, there are flames coming from the back of your car. Suggest you pit soon.")

This all came up in my memory because I'm sitting here in the office all alone and it's amazing how much I can get done without all the interruptions from clients, staff, phone, email, etc. Today is Quiet Time--at least for a little while.

When I was at Microsoft in the 80s and 90s lots of developers didn't come in until late in the day and then worked until late at night. You didn't think twice about it, just worked around it ("Andy doens't get here before 2, so that project review meeting will have to be rescheduled.") It wasn't so much that they weren't morning people, although this stereotype of the nerd is probably true. Rather, it was that they were engaged in work that--like driving a race car--required an enormous amount of focus. Distractions were death to the work they needed to do. They found that working mostly at night eliminated most of the distractions.

Today we have more opportunities for distraction than back then. My IM window just honked at me with a message from someone. The phone is sitting here, ready to ring (I have a new set and haven't figured out where the Do Not Disturb key is yet--who's got time anymore to read manuals?). I have to force myself NOT to check email every three minutes. It takes work to stay focused, but the rewards are worth it. Perhaps that's why I find myself looking forward to weekends--when I'm in the office on Saturday or Sunday (which is frequently) most of those distractions just seem to vanish and I can get Real Work Done.

Even writing this blog was a distraction--now I have to get back in the metaphorical driver's seat, go out on the track, and get focused on good lap times. See you.

Overloaded

2006-02-23T12:29:00.000-08:00

I staggered from my car to the front door of my house, clutching my briefcase, overcoat, cellphone, house keys, car keys, go cup, and a bag of groceries. Hmmm, how to free up a hand to unlock the door?

Today I was reviewing a piece of collateral (direct mail postcard) that was just as overloaded. The one postcard tried to sell the whole deal all by itself. Everything you needed to know on one side of a single postcard. It looked (and was about as effective) as I did trying to get into my house.

Hey, the postcard doesn't have to complete the entire journey alone. It just needs to get people to the next step--a vital concept in collateral. Think what you want people to do when they're done with your collateral: go to a website, pick up the phone, know something, feel some way. Then take the next step. In this case, getting people's interest and sending them to a website for the complete details of the offer would have been preferrable to asking the postcard to tell them everything.

As for me, I'm gonna make two trips next time myself.

ABC: Action Based Collateral

2006-01-19T13:44:00.000-08:00

Put this test to all your collateral: web pages, data sheets, demos, sales aids. What action do you want the prospect to take when she is finished with the collateral? Here are some possible answers:

Phone
Place an order
Go to a web site
Click on a link
Read the next page
Subscribe to your newsletter
Give you a name and address

Each page in a web site has a specific purpose; maybe it's only to get the user to read the next page. Ditto for white papers and data sheets. What good is a data sheet if they only read the first paragraph? So the goal of the first paragraph has to be to create enough interest to get your prospect to read the second paragraph. And the goal of the first sentence is to get them to read the second sentence…

You get the idea.

Check your collateral, check your campaigns. Are they moving your prospects forward to the next step?

A Thousand Here, A Thousand There: Pretty Soon It All Adds Up

2006-01-18T07:27:00.000-08:00

Spending wrong is just as fruitless as not spending at all. Throwing all your money at product development, without reserving budget for demand generation, PR, administration, etc, won't get you to success. Bits by themselves aren't a product. Likewise, wasting scarce resources on luxurious offices, fancy furniture, and Herman Miller Air Chairs if your office isn't used to greet customers isn't smart.

I knew one company that always had the most expensive coffee on the planet in their offices, even when they couldn't afford to pay their rent. Even Bill Gates makes his employees pay if they want Starbucks instead of Farmer Bros.

Think about it.

Act Tactically: Building a strong message.

2006-01-17T08:42:00.000-08:00

Powerful messages go directly to important benefits for your customer. Top two? Either you're going to save them money or increase their sales. For example, server optimization software saves money; CRM and sales force automation (SFA) tools theoretically increase sales.

It's always better to be on the revenue side than the cost side. Telling someone you can increase their revenue is a stronger argument than telling them you will help them cut costs.

Your message should speak clearly to one of these key benefits, but it also needs to speak to whatever is foremost on your prospect's mind. The airline industry today may be worried about rising fuel costs, but mostly they're worried about staying out of Chapter 11. Customer satisfaction comes way down the list (have you actually sat in row 31 for four hours lately?).

Two local companies are trying to sell airlines in-flight broadband connectivity. Which message do you think will sell better:

This broadband connectivity will provide extra revenue as an added service you can sell to business travelers who need to be productive while inflight.
Offering this service will attract more business customers to your airline, giving you a competitive advantage.

The answer is clear: selling a $600 seat to Chicago is a lot more important to United than getting an extra $20 out of someone in the seat.

When crafting your message, think carefully about your customers' world. What are their pressing priorities? What trends are happening in their industry that they need to respond to? What are their customers doing?

If your message doesn't get people to lean forward and ask, “How do you do that?” then chances are it's not the right message.

Selling to Business Tips: Keep it Simple

2005-12-04T15:03:00.000-08:00

Recently I had a lengthy phone conversation with a prospect half way around the world. The company said they had their marketing strategy figured out, and they only needed help with sales execution. But, they admitted, sales were really tough and they didn’t understand why. I asked them what their value proposition was, and first the CEO responded for about five minutes, and then the second in command chipped in for another five. I told them that if they couldn’t articulate what their company did and why that was interesting in about 10 words they probably hadn’t really figured it out.

Most prospects won’t wait for 10 minutes of explanation to decide if they should give you another 10 minutes. But if you can tell them in one sentence, they might decide to listen to another one.

During the Civil War, newspaper correspondents developed a story telling style as an insurance policy against the telegraph wires being cut while they were sending it back to the paper. It’s still in use today. They would start with a simple statement of who, what, when, where, and why “After three days of bloodshed General Grant won a decisive battle over Lee outside the sleepy crossroads town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.” If only that one sentence got through, the reader would at least get the essence of what happened. The next paragraph would retell the story in more detail, and the next in more detail, and so forth. This also made it easy for the editors to cut the end off the story to fit the available space.

This is the way to tell your story. Start with a simple description of what you do, who would find it interesting, and why anyone would care. If you tell the right person about your business in that fashion, the best response you can hear is: “How do you do that?” That answer means you’ve hit pay dirt. The prospect wants to see evidence that it might work for them. “How do you do that?” gives you the opportunity to re-tell your story with more detail, just like those newspaper reporters from the Civil War. As the prospect gets more engaged, there will be ample time for more and more detail.

Selling to Business Tips: Say "No" to hear "Yes"

2005-11-30T22:23:00.000-08:00

There’s a place outside Seattle that sells both Irish beer and Cajun food—it might work for them, but most businesses need more focus. Once you’ve thoughtfully decided on a strategic direction—including target market, positioning, value proposition, and message—stay with it long enough to prove or disprove its worth. Changing your mind every five minutes is bad for business.

“Did you ever have to finally decide? Say yes to one and let the other ones ride,” is how the Lovin’ Spoonful put it in the Age of Bad Rock ‘n’ Roll. It may have been schlock music but it’s good business sense: say “no” to everything that doesn’t fit your strategy. If you decide to go after small businesses, ignore RFPs from big ones. If you have a reseller channel, don’t compete with them by going direct. If your focus is domestic, don’t get distracted by a big international opportunity.

Once you cut out everything that’s not part of your tightly-defined focus, you’ll start hearing “yes” a lot more often. And while limiting yourself might seem like it’s limiting your business, I think you’ll find it’s easier to dominate one focused segment after another than to succeed while diluting your efforts across multiple targets.

Selling to Business Tips: Feed the Need

2005-11-30T22:19:00.000-08:00

Visualize this: somewhere people will lose sleep tonight because they don’t have what you sell. They have an unfilled need that is urgent (that is, there’s a hard deadline), compelling (there are significant consequences of not filling the need), and unsolved (they don’t have a solution that works).
These are the Big Three of needs: talk to someone who only has two of the three and you’ll get head nodding and polite—but limited—attention. What you probably won’t get is the sale. It takes all three at once: compelling and unsolved, but no deadline? Mañana, baby. Urgent and unsolved, but no consequences? No rush to get this one done either. Compelling and urgent, but a solution (albeit not as elegant as yours) exists? Sorry, I’ve got more pressing issues to deal with.
Find the people who have a critical need that you can solve and you’ll get their full attention. But how do you find them? One effective approach is to define the characteristics of companies that indicate they might have the problem you solve. Once you’ve defined the qualifying characteristics, you can quickly create a list of companies who fit your criteria, then go ask if they have that particular problem. You might be surprised at the results.

Show me the pixels!

2005-11-29T06:51:00.000-08:00

Ok, this has to stop.

I'm fed up with clicking on thumbnails of an image on a web site and getting a slightly larger thumbnail for my trouble. Costco is one of the worst offenders--go try to buy a BBQ grill from costco.com and click on the images. Microscopic.

Clearly newspapers and magazines have to limit space for photos, but the web? C'mon. What are these people who show you a 200 x 200 pixel photos as a "bigger view" worried about? Storage? I doubt it. Storage is cheaper than dirt and getting more so every day. Bandwidth? Are people still worried about dial-up users? Do you think dial-up users routinely click on links to get larger photos? Do you think they'll be surprised if the larger photo takes a while to download?

Maybe all these web developers think users are still running 800 x 600 screen resolution, so a 200 x 200 picture will be huge on their screen. Braap! Wrong answer, senator. First of all, more and more computers are coming with LCD displays, which not only support only one decent resolution (and it's typically 1024 or 1280, never 800) but also these displays have more pixels per inch, so photos display physically smaller on the screen.

People like big pictures! Photographers have known this for years, which is why they always showcase huge enlargements in their studios instead of 4 x 6s. If you're showing off something important on your website, why not use big pictures? It's not like publishing more web pages costs more money (ok, there's a small incremental cost in overall development, storage, and bandwidth, but really...is it that much?).

You see this everywhere. Try buying clothing online and look at the "larger view" that is offered. One notable exception is Lands End. Note how they use a panning zoom feature to show off details in the product. Another exception (sort of) is Tiger Direct. They use a photo gallery that shows details of their products--the images aren't particularly large, but they do show details well.

No way I would buy a $1000 BBQ from costco.com without more details. I had to find a store and luckily find one in stock to learn about a couple of key details that were important to me (no, it's not the One). But even if it had been perfect, I would never have known because I wouldn't take such a big bet on such little info. Their bad.

Negative Entropy

2005-11-25T09:00:00.000-08:00

As anyone who has taken a basic college course in thermodynamics knows, entropy is the tendency in the universe to move toward randomness. In short, the universe hates order, which pretty much explains most technical data sheets.

If I stack blocks up, that's creating order, which is negative entropy. When the stack falls down, the blocks are scattered--that's positive entropy.

If we take a complex product and describe it in collateral in such a way that people can't make heads or tails out of it, that's positive information entropy. And that's not what we want, is it?

It's easy to explain simple stuff simply. "See Dick run. See Spot lick his butt." Everybody's familiar with that. And, frankly, it's pretty easy to explain complicated stuff in complicated terms, as long as you don't care if anyone gets it. Open any scientific/technical/engineering journal and start reading: examples abound.

It's also fairly straightforward to take simple stuff and obfuscate: "Employ optical nerve stimulation by reflected electromagnetic radiation in the visual spectrum as Richard ambulates rapidly." (We'll skip Spot for now.)

What's hard is negative information entropy: making complex ideas simple. Taking the jumbled toy chest of information blocks and stacking them up neatly is hard work. It takes trained people who ask questions like, "Why is this significant?" "What does this mean?" and so forth. That's called technical communication (when done well, one of the greatest information entropy killers known). To get marketing collateral, you need all that and more: the ability to stack all those information blocks up in such a way that people understand why they should care.

This whole discussion is (regrettably) a fairly entropic example itself. As Pascal said, I would have made it shorter but I lacked the time. Given time and energy, any idea can be expressed in simple terms, any product can be described simply, any service can be understood by even your mother-in-law. That doesn't mean that there isn't a place for the full Monty of technical details.

Think of your collateral as an onion: each successive layer as you peel it takes you deeper and deeper. There's a place for a simplistic, benefits-focused description of whatever it is you're trying to sell--a statement that can pique your prospect's curiosity and get them to ask, "How do you do that?" The answer to that question can be in more detailed data sheets, white papers, documentation--again, it's like peeling an onion.

When presented with a new product idea, people (your prospects) first need to satisfy themselves that it is worth the exploring. "Will this product or service provide me a critical benefit? Will it address a need I have that is urgent, compelling, and unsolved?" If it appears so, then the next step is to get some basic belief. "Ok, it appears this would be cool. How do I know it's real? How do I know it will work for me?" The amount of "proof" a prospect needs in the first 10 minutes is far far less than they will need by the time they sign the contract--don't try to do it all at once. As many have said before me, sales is like dating--you don't meet someone and propose in the first ten minutes. Well, maybe you do, but it isn't likely to get the result you want.

Negative entropy--order out of chaos--if you can do that with your marketing collateral, you will have accomplished something noteworthy.

-------------------------------------

This blogging stuff is fun, but am I getting through to anyone? Does anyone actually read this stuff? So here's a test: the first five people who email me some meaningful response that they have to this blog will get a free audio CD "Secrets of Niche Targeting." If you've already got one of those, email me anyway and you'll get a credit for a player to be named later. Email me a john@workpump.com and put the word "entropy" in the subject line. This offer expires Dec. 31, 2005.

Don't shoot yourself in the foot

2005-11-14T14:04:00.000-08:00

Now that digital cameras are cheaper than a Kmart suit everybody's got one and I'm seeing people use their little 5 megapixel point-n-shoots to capture images they want to use on their websites and product brochures. Great idea, provided you follow some simple rules.

The fact that digital cameras make it easy to get photos onto websites, blogs, and collateral doesn't mean that the rules of photography are suspended. You still need to pay attention to composition, lighting, exposure, depth of field, and so on. You can do a lot in Photoshop after the fact, but you can't bring the dead back to life. Most of the time, you're going to be better off getting a pro in to do a shoot rather than doing it yourself. But sometimes that won't happen. Recently a client shot a tradeshow they attended and then (gulp) realized too late that the pictures were underexposed.

Not to replicate all the really good "how to" books on photography, both digital and otherwise, but if you're going to take your own business pics for marketing purposes, follow a few simple rules, ok?

1. There's never enough light. Your eyes are Really Sensitive, compared with a camera. If you can, set the ISO to 400 to 800 indoors, and 200 outdoors.

2. How do you set the ISO? Ok, the first rule is Read the Friendly Manual. The idiot-proof setting on your camera is designed to give you photos that look like they were taken by, well, an idiot. The adjustments and controls are there for a reason--learn how and when to use them.

3. If can take a picture outdoors on a slightly shady day, or in the shade, do it. If it has to be outdoors on a clear day, do it early in the morning or late in the afternoon when the sun is low in the sky, not right overhead. Digital cameras run in terror from strong shadows, and so should you. But if it can't be avoided, at least use this one pro trick: stand your subjects with their back to the sun (so they don't squint). MAKE SURE THE SUN ISN'T SHINING INTO YOUR CAMERA! Stand so the sun is blocked by someone's head, for a really special effect. Set your flash to "on" (not auto). Take the picture. Your subject should have a lovely backlighted head of hair (hey, if they have a Yul Brinner look there's nothing you can do) and the flash will kill the shadows on faces.

4. If you've got to take the picture indoors, try to brace the camera on something steady. Like a tripod. But since you probably don't have one, try anything more steady than your hands. Let's say you're shooting your booth in an expo hall. Ask the people right across if you can put the camera on their booth table and use the auto timer. Or brace the camera against a support post. Even a tiny amount of camera shake will cause a picture to look soft and unfocused, and you can't fix it in Photoshop.

5. Always shoot at the highest resolution your camera offers. You can always downsample the image for a smaller need, like a web photo gallery, but you can't really make it bigger. A "bigger" picture just means you let the camera capture more data, data that you can use later to improve the picture.

6. If your camera supports it, shoot in "raw" mode. This is like taking a digital negative. But it will have to be processed in some sort of application after you upload it before you can view it as a photo.

7. Get in close. No matter what you're photographing, people want to see it. Too often we make the subject of the photograph a tiny part of the whole picture.

8. Many digital cameras can show you a histogram, which can tell you if the picture is exposed well or not. It takes a little bit of training and practice to learn how to use it, but it can save your bacon. Highly recommended. By the same token, virtually all cameras let you view an image on the little teeny LCD screen, but you can zoom in quite far and move around in the image. This is a good way to test for sharpness and whether the details are captured or not.

9. It doesn't cost more to shoot more when you're shooting digital. Shoot a lot, changing the settings, framing, cropping, amount of zoom, etc, and you'll have a better chance of getting the one perfect image. Pros know they have to blow through a lot of exposures to get a good one. What makes you think you're better than they are?

Those are just a few thoughts--hope they help you get that great image for your website, newsletter, or brochure.

World's Worst Sales Call

2005-11-01T13:17:00.000-08:00

(Names totally withheld to protect the completely guilty and clueless...)

Sales rep comes in (she's just in from out of town) and fiddles with the handle on her carry-on bag. Can't get it down. Abandons that. Rummages around in Large Bag, mumbles "Hmm, what was it I wanted to show you?" Pulls out various rumpled pieces of paper with handwritten notes on them. Sorts through files and piles them on my table. Boots up laptop. Fires up PowerPoint presentation with 200 words per slide. Sits beside me, looks unblinkingly at laptop, and reads every word on every slide out loud.

How I'd do, coach?

Other professions beckon...

Ten Tips for Selling to Business

2005-06-28T11:12:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned earlier, I recently did a talk on "Selling to Business" and I decided to dispense with the PowerPoint slides and just (as Guy Kawasaki is fond of doing) put it all into a top ten list.

I'll expand on all ten in this forum--I really invite your feedback.

Tip 1: Get your anchor down.

I've got a 35 lb CQR anchor on Southern Cross and it lets me sleep at night but that's not what I'm talking about. Anchoring is the well-documented effect whereby your initial impression flavors all future thoughts about something.

A classic example of anchoring is the sign in the produce section that says "Lemons: 4 for $1.00". In this case, studies have shown, the quantity 4 becomes an anchor for deciding how many lemons to buy, and average quantity per purchase goes up over this: "Lemons 25 cents each."

In short, your Mother was right: first impressions are important.

Whatever gives your customer his or her first impression about your product, service, or company will anchor all future interactions. If the anchor is positive, you get a little boost on everything they think about you in future. If the initial anchor is negative, you get a little handicap from that point on. Psychologists have found that anchors last a long time, so it pays to make sure your's is a good one.

What are the anchors in your company? It might be the way your phone gets answered, your home page on your web site, your product's packaging, the way your dress, your company name and what your business card looks like, whatever the first point of contact with a prospect or customer.

I recently saw a ragged piece of cardboard taped up to an office window for people in the street to read. It was a medical office building in the suburbs, and the scrawled on the cardboard was something like: "www.reallystupidchiropractor.com." They thought putting their web site URL up where everyone could see it was a piece of brilliant marketing. "Hey, Joe, flatten out that box the beer came in and write our web site address on it so we'll get more clients." Of course you will. And they'll come in knowing that you like to sweat the details.

So remember, anchors are powerful, and they last a long time.

[Click here to listen to the audio clip in a new window.]

Immutable Laws: Are you kidding?

2005-06-28T10:43:00.000-07:00

Have you read this book? Don't waste your money. In this blog I'm going to tell you why a lot of what they write is nonsense. I can open this almost at random and find something truly idiotic.

But let's start with chapter 1: The Law of Leadership. They maintain that the first mover in the market becomes the market leader. Examples? Heineken, Miller Lite, Gatorade. They really should stick to drinks, because when they stray far from that category they really get out on thin ice:

"USA Today is the first national newspaper but it is unlikely to succeed... In a television era, it may be too late for a national newspaper."
"Jeep was the first in four-wheel-drive off-the-road vehicles. Acura was first in luxury Japanese cars. IBM was first in mainframe computers. Sun Microsystems was first in workstations. Jeep, Acura, IBM, and Sun are all leading brands." [ Well, IBM still leads in mainframes, not that anybody's buying them anymore.]
"...until it positioned the Amiga as the first multimedia computer. Today the Commodore Amiga is a big success, with more than $500 million sold annually." [I had to jump to chapter two for that one.]

The so-called "first mover advantage" has been exploded time and time again. Who had the first PC? Altair. Where are they now? Gone. Who had the first DOS-based PC? IBM. Who owns the category now? Dell, a copy-cat clone.

Oh, but wait. Chapter 3 makes it all clear. They even start with the Altair example--if first to market = success, then where is Altair now? True true. Their answer? It's not first to market, it's really first in the mind that counts. So now it's out: that famous marketing bugaboo "mindshare." As in "mindshare equals marketshare." I'll take that idea apart later...

Chapter 3 can be summed up as follows:

Market leadership requires mind leadership.
You can't buy your way into mind leadership.
Once a mind is made up, it can't be changed.
You have to "blast" your way into people's minds. How do you do that?
You need a clever name. Proof: Apple had a simpler name than all it's competition so the Apple II beat all the other little goofy CP/M machines. Because people who can master CP/M are so lacking in brains that they can't remember the name "TRS-80" they flocked to the stores and Apple IIs flew off the shelves. Hmmm, sounds highly probable to me.

And all this time you thought it was about features and benefits? Silly you!

The blog that came in from the cold

2005-06-28T10:32:00.000-07:00

I see coincidentally that it's been a year since I last blogged. Well, we're restarting in earnest.

In the past year, Workpump has grown significantly, and that's a lot of why there hasn't been much happening here. But we need better ways to share new ideas and thoughts with our clients and friends, so we've returned to the blog.

From now on, I'll use this as a replacement for the newsletter--so don't expect to get that in your inbox. If there's something really hot, I'll send you mail with a link to the blog.

I'm going to begin with a look at a famous book: The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, by Al Reis and Jack Trout. Also upcoming: I recently did a talk on "Top Ten Tips for Selling to Business" at the Columbia Tower Club and it was so well received that I realized I needed to expand and capture some of those thoughts. So look for that here, as well.

Cheers,

John Browne

Where the heck did the service go?

2004-06-28T11:00:00.000-07:00

Just stopped in Kit's Cameras to pick up a packet of lens cleaning paper. Not a hello or a greeting, just a "be with you in a minute" from a clerk on the phone. Surly. Film processing person asks can they help, I ask for paper. She gets paper, seems amazed that that's all I want. Dumps my change in my hand (I count it out, since she didn't bother). Not a thanks, not anything acknowledging that an economic transaction has just occured that was completely optional on my part and enriched them to some tiny extent.

Sure, they're just minimum-wage employees. They don't get stock, profit sharing, incentives for quality, nada. They just get fired if I complain.

It's only interesting because this is becoming the norm, not the exception. Every touchpoint to every customer is marketing and sales. How are you doing?

Big changes coming to major ISPs?

2004-06-25T13:37:00.000-07:00

Heard this through the grapevine this morning: watch for big changes to email privileges among the major ISPs. Word is that they're going to restrict how many email messages you can send, when you can send them, etc., all in an attempt to restrict spamming. Now if all those Chinese servers would just follow the same rules, we'd be off the hook.

2004-06-25T13:34:00.000-07:00

PeeKay the Wonder Car. This M3 Lightweight is a delight to drive. This is the Rose Cup weekend, June 2000. This was the last race I ran in PeeKay, which has been sitting in my garage ever since. Oh, the woes of working too much!

Disorientation

2004-06-25T13:21:00.000-07:00

I was in one of those underground parking lots this morning, trying to find my car. This happens to me a lot. Some of these lots are arranged fairly logically, others kind of wind around in and out with weird angles and such. I get totally disoriented.

Not everybody is this way. Some people (like my son Kevin) could find their way out the Maze of the Minotaur. But not me.

Disorientation, among other things, is a loss of context. It means that you don't know where you are relative to the big picture. Wandering around in this mess, I realized this is what some web sites are like: mazes. And so are other marketing communications.

Once you're in, you quickly get disoriented and lose context. The answer, of course, is to provide lots of signposts, plenty of context, and places where people can pop out into the open and see where they've been and what's ahead.

Think about your marcomm and ask yourself how likely people are to get disoriented once they're in your "maze."

Cheers

2004-06-25T13:19:00.000-07:00

Chicane at the back side of Portland Int'l Raceway, Formula Mazda. This is a VERY fast turn. There's no room for a screwup. The lateral G-forces in the Mazda are enough that I can't hold my head up without pain, so I lean it against the roll hoop. "No pain, no gain:" in the Mazda, if it doesn't make your neck ache, you went too slow.

Welcome to the Workpump blog

2004-06-25T10:03:00.000-07:00

Thanks for taking a look at this. Blogging is a new thing to me, but it will let me share thoughts with my friends around the world quickly and simply. I hope to use this as a place to talk about marketing and selling tools and solutions, both high tech (like software and hardware) and also "mundane" industries not in high tech. I may talk about consumer and commodity marketing from time to time as well, too.