Seth Godin defines a mashup as a distinct way of spreading ideas, by meld and mixing existing content into something new. I like to specify that a mashup is value-adding. Taking a song and putting it to pictures and posting it on youtube is not necessarily a mashup unless is enhances the message spins-off a new message.

Labels: godin, mashup

Guy Kawasaki recently blogged about a book which has been increasing in rankings in part because of an online, interactive test that people can take to find out if they are the ones that the book is talking about (it deals with jerks in the workplace). Apparently anyone can take the test. Without a doubt, I believe that this would help increase sales of the book. So, why aren't the authors of "Now, Discover Your Strengths" doing that same thing? They have one of the best online tools that I've seen in a while that helps individuals identify the innate strengths that they have. You can only take the test if you buy a copy of their book first and get a keycode from inside. Even worse, if you buy the book used and the first person has already taken the test, you're out of luck. Their response: You should have bought it new. You can't buy a keycode. Not only is that some of the worst marketing that I've ever seen, but it seems incredibly arrogant. I understand that their is positioning and they may be trying to use the strengthsfinder tool as a tool to complement the book, but it would help spread the word and spread the ideas to offer it to everyone. I loved the book and wanted to do a summary of it for some classes and have the students take the profile. Apparently that can't happen without everyone in the class buying their own copy of the book. So you might think that this will help sell more copies, but instead, we're just not even going to mention the book or the strengthsfinder profile. Why mention something that the people can't access if you know they aren't going to go out and buy the book? So, lost sales versus position. It's a hard debate.

Labels: books

You'll notice a button towards the bottom or bottom right of this page. It says "Call Me." If you click it, enter your name and phone number and click submit, then you're phone will ring and then mine will ring. We'll talk. Feel free to call me anytime. Don't be offended if I can't pick up for some reason, but leave a voicemail and I'll get back to you soon after that.

Companies make mistakes. Sometimes you receive service that is below your expectations, even at good/great companies. It happens sometimes. How you can really tell the quality of a company is how they respond to those situations. In a national news example, Jet Blue's recent bout with customer service was seen as some to be a disaster. But the aftermath showed the strength of the company and their commitment to customer service (CEO Apologizing - youtube). My own experiences with Jet Blue show the same. Of course things go wrong. But they try and fix them.

Apparently DSW is one of those kind of companies. I mentioned them a few days ago (no link provided on purpose, let's leave it in the past) for not having transferred a discount on the same ticket upon a return. Their response was a classy way of handling things. They let me know first what they're doing to retain me as a customer, mention that supervisors are being alerted (so I feel like this is going somewhere), point out that there is no standard in the industry but they will at least explore the option of inputting my suggestion.

The result: I look forward to returning to DSW.

That's how you should handle customers. Like Ryan (BJ Novak) says in The Office (US), it's ten times more expense to get a new customer than to retain an old one. We should expect little expenses in customer retention, but ultimately, those customers should make it worth it.

Labels: dsw, marketing

It's a sad day, with the announcement of the end of "The Show with Ze Frank." Sportsracers the world over spent the day thanking each other for the good times.

Sad, sad day.

Labels: sportsracers, ze

Contrast my experience that I posted yesterday with DSW Shoes with the one that I had last evening at Ralphs Supermarket. The customer in front of me in line brought in a gift card she had bought for her month for a certain chain of theatres. Turns out there aren't any theatres of that particular chain near her mom's house. The customer wanted to know if she could exchange the gift card for one from another theatre that Ralphs also carried. Doesn't seem that difficult. But the manager and clerk both expected trouble from the cash register on this one. They said that gift cards are difficult and there are certain rules that surround it. Sure enough, the register rejected the transaction. The customer was very polite and said not to worry about it. She would find a use for the gift card previously purchased. So, the Ralphs clerk pulled out her purse and handed the customer $25, the cost of the gift card, and bought it off of her. You should have seen the face of the customer. Do you think that she will be going to anywhere but Ralphs next time she needs groceries? I was completely impressed with the way the clerk handled that. I'm disappointed that I didn't get the clerk's name, but you can trust me that I'll be going back to Ralph's and when I do, I'll look for that clerk's name and when I do get it, I'll be letting management know, probably even a letter to corporate and how pleased I am with their employees. Actions like that need to be recognized.

Labels: dsw, marketing, ralphs

If you ship with UPS, here's a tip that might save you some money. It would have saved us over a hundred dollars on our last package. If you print your labels from the UPS website, you know that you are asked for the dimensions which are used to calculate the total costs. I didn't actually measure our box, which was fairly large and just made some guesses. I did this a few times while shopping for prices and the dimensions I finally input for the final charges were a few inches off from when I was shopping for prices (bad math skills). The result: a hundred dollar difference. I didn't realize this until our customer asked for more information on the shipment and I had to go back to the receipt. I called UPS to find out if they actually measure or weigh the package at any time because I thought that I had been a little too liberal in my measurements. The answer, sometimes they do, but they don't adjust down. If you estimate that the package weights 30lbs. but it really weights 15lbs, then you are paying the 30lbs charge. So, with UPS, guess low or actually measure it.

Labels: tips

DSW Shoewarehouses has a rewards program. After you spend a certain amount, you receive a coupon in the mail for a discount on your next purchase. We received a $10 off coupon in the mail, so I headed down to DSW. I am bad at buying shoes and there were three pairs between which I couldn't decide. I bought all three to take home where some females could offer an opinion. I showed them the shoes and they instantly knew which ones to take back. So I did, only to find out that by returning the shoes, I lose the discount. Even though I was keeping some of the total purchase, the discount could not be applied to just the part I was keeping. The employees blamed this on "it," meaning the cash register. "It" took the discount evenly spread between all three pairs. "It" won't apply a discount to other portions of the purchase. Maybe they were telling the truth and there was nothing in their power to fix it, in which case that is a poor corporate decision to not empower their employees. Those rewards dollars were dollars that I felt I had earned by my continued patronage. I followed all the guidelines for returns, I didn't wear the shoes and returned them promptly. The worst part about this is that DSW will actually miss out on future business as a result. I'm not saying that I'm boycotting, but there were many times that I would go to DSW simply to rack up points. Now that I know they are quite stingy and sneaky in the distribution of those rewards, I'll be less inclined to choose them a different store. It's amazing because I feel like that I was my money they took. Not their discount to apply however they'd like. Those were my points and my rewards. I will be sending a link of this to their corporate offices.

Labels: dsw, marketing

I am currently participating in the Weight Loss Wars free competition. I realize that I should have posted this before the beginning of the competition. My apologies. I'm really interested in seeing how this is run. I'm not exactly overweight, but I've been trying to eat healthy and lose a few pounds unsuccessfully. I tend to be competitive by nature and I think this could really help. Even more importantly, I think this platform could be applied to other areas where people try and make changes but just need that competitive edge to get themselves over the starting rut. There is a speech called Tickling the Tiger, which I can't seem to find right now, that talks about the different levels of energy and the extra force needed to push something from one energy level to the next. It's like that with a lot of things where we can easily become stagnant and plateau. I wonder what it would be like if we had competitions to see who could go the longest without acting out or giving in to a certain temptation. We might have to have different levels, those trying to go a week, those trying to go a month, and those indefinitely. I wonder if it would be appropriate to turn somethings that are so serious in so many lives into a lighthearted competition. It might be the only way to get people to deal with it openly. These are just some thoughts. I'd encourage you to check out weightlosswars.com.

Labels: addiction, competition, weight