To the details folks.
(photo courtesy of Tiger Droppings - OSU cheerleaders during BCS Title game loss)
Regardless of what you are doing - building a new product, launching a new brand, pushing out a new ad campaign, etc. - the details matter.
Some people say don't sweat the small stuff. The small stuff does count. Plain and simple.
Gang breaking up is hard to do. The emotions and all the baggage really make it an all out sucky experience.
But what makes it worse is when the one you are trying to break up with just does not get it. Seriously how hard is it to understand that no means no.
So, AOL, do me a favor, when I block one of your bots, take it off my buddy lists and reports it as SPAM, please take a hint.
I have been struggling to get back into the swing of things at the Perm. August is just too damn hot to blog.
Anyway, I am back and after reading some of the posts from the Branding Wire - here, here and here, here and here about car dealerships I finally have formulated my thoughts around something that I want to share. It is pretty simple, so I think everyone should be able to get it.
When you have an opportunity to establish a relationship and foster it into something great, a few words of advice....
DON'T BLOW IT!
Case in point - last week on the heels of the monstrous opening of the Bourne Ultimatum (BTW, go see it, at least twice, wow, on the edge of your seat fun!) my attention became focused on the VW Touareg. VW made a brilliant move integrating the Touareg 2 into the new Bourne movie. What's even better was their 30 second spot (sorry Jaffe). Check it out below or feed readers click here.
Along with the product integration, VW dealers were giving away free passes to the movie if you scheduled and took a test drive or rather joyride with the T2.
My immediate thought was ummmmm....hell yeah, sign me up.
So I did. I filled in my information and told the system where I lived, how to contact me (through email although I provided my cell) and picked a date that worked for me. Then I waited.
Now for the last couple of years, I have been intrigued with this vehicle. It is the car that both my wife and I want. BUT, the fact is I am not in the market for a new vehicle - we have a 1 year old Toyota Highlander that rocks.
Still, this is the time to build that relationship with me right. Feel me out, understand who I am, connect with me.
Maybe that is expecting too much, but what I got back was quite frankly CRAP.
Within 10 minutes of my submission, I got a call on my cell phone. Granted I gave them that number, but I requested and preferred to be contacted by email - already a BIG NO NO. And the message, quite frankly was obnoxious and overbearing. It was the end of the month and apparently they had a deal for me that I should not turn down. Zero mention of the promotion with Bourne which is why I submitted, zero reach out to start the conversation. The call was all about their sale and what could I do for them.
So I ignored it and went on about my day. Then I got an email. So I ignored that.
Then I got this.....
Really.....You are seriously going to reach out to me with this junk
This is how you want to start our relationship. Again maybe I expected too much.
I understand sales and the pressures to make money, but this makes no sense. It can only hurt. Not help.
On the other hand, what if you went low pressure and did not hammer me with a deal?
What if you acknowledged why I contacted you in the first place - for the tickets and the movie?
What if you actually were interested in what was going on in my world?
When I bought my Highlander it was the dreaded end of the month rush. You know what, the dealer - the sales guy - let me walk off the lot. He said, think about it and come back when you feel comfortable, but call me with any questions. Zero pressure, all about me. We bought from them 2 weeks later.
So, VW you need to know that your dealer blew it. They wasted an opportunity to build something with me. Will I buy a Touareg one day, mabye, will I remember how you treated me, yes.
You rarely get a second chance to make that impression. When you have a chance to establish a relationship with a client, a partner, an employee, a vendor...don't blow it. Listen to them, try to understand where they are coming from. Do that and you will be rewarded.
I am intrigued or better yet confused by Apple's latest move to ban MySpace in their stores. On the one side, I get it. You want to sell Macs, IPods, accessories and the last thing you want are people loitering around and not spending money......Wait a second, of course you do. You want your customer to CONNECT with your products.
That was ANF's big secret. Create a cool place for people to shop and CONNECT. They understood community way before MySpace and Facebook.
Apple seemed to understand this as well, but this move is odd to me. What do you think?
The other day I got an email with a subject line that drew me in - the subject line was "Why do you love Carolina?"
But when I click through to the site, all my hopes fizzled.
The video was dead on and brought me back to a place that holds a special place in my heart. But I gotta be honest with my alma mater - something is missing.
All you can do is Make a Gift or Contact the Office of University Development????
There are so many opportunities here. Why not offer an actual chance to comment and share your experience - you know....um.....why you love UNC. What about giving users the chance to take the video and share it with friends - either through their blog or through a simple email this. What about giving users the power to upload their photos or videos.
Yes, you have got my attention and you have got me engaged so I guess that is good. I might even donate, but I feel that you could have gone a step further.
I have been meaning to launch this post for some time now, but for some reason or another I could not finish it off. So here goes....
If you remember, about 3 or so weeks ago I posed a question about Trust. Our dog walking service that we have been with for almost 4 years dropped the ball. Our walker came into our house, filled out the form, gave our dog a treat and turned back around. No walk, nothing.
Needless to say we were extremely shocked and were not completely sure if this was a pattern. So my question that I presented was how do you get that trust back? Do you immediately admit fault, apologize and empathize, provide a money back return, turn up the service level, set forth new standards - perhaps even a bill of rights a la Jet Blue? That's not really an A or B or C or even D through Z question - you should chose all of the above. And in fact our dog walking service has followed through.
But what impressed me the most and what I feel sometimes gets over looked can be found below...
Yeah, that right that is a hand written letter - an apology. I realize that we live in a day of text-messaging, blogging, myspacing, facebooking, twittering and every 'ing out there. It's easy, fast and to the point. But a handwritten letter can break through the clutter. It shows effort, sincerity - basically that you give a damn and appreciate their business.
Emails are the easy road. When you find yourself at this point with your company or brand, trying writing down your thoughts and sending it out. You might be suprised with what you get back.
Today while skimming through my feeds, I found myself inspired by a post on Church of the Customer blog.
You see, 4 years ago, my wife and I were plotting our move to the Nation's Capitol. Along with the move, I had decided to head back to school and get my MBA. Obviously by virtue of the DC location, my choices were somewhat limited to: American, Smith School at Maryland, GW and Georgetown. When I made the decision to do part-time and on the weekends, I further whittled that down to American and Smith.
In the end, I chose Smith, but never visited the campus, never spoke with an enrolled student, never attended a seminar. I knew nothing of the experience - I was blind.
Looking back on that I have to ask - who buys something without test driving it? That is quite a gamble. In the end everything paid off and I loved every bit of the experience, but I wish that someone had built something like Owen Bloggers at Smith so I could have experienced the brand.
Owens Bloggers is basically a group of 17 current students, 3 admitted incoming students, and alumni, all writing constantly about their experiences at the Owens School of Management Vanderbilt. They are in no way officially tied to the school. Rather the group considers themselves simply "die-hard, dedicated Owen evangelists". Wait - Die-hard MBA evangelist from Vandy. Wow that is powerful stuff there. And something all MBA programs should be endorsing / linking into (even Businessweek gives MBAers and area to blog - here.)
My alma mater, Smith has a dedicated section of the website that discuss life at Smith. This is where they link into their student blogs. You can find that here.
It is start in the right direction. But a few questions come up:
1) How are you promoting these blogs - they feel buried and non-existent. I don't see very many comments so does the student body know about these?
2) Why only 3 blogs? I feel there is more to the conversation and Smith is missing out.
3) You seem to cover some of the programs with full-time and part time. But what about exec, global and then of course the alums.
This past December a few of my Smith buddies and I got together for breakfast. We were having a hard time connecting after we graduated. To help that we started a networking group called the Smith Breakfast Club. Personally, I would love to see grow into something larger for the Smith community - old, current, potential - and starting to recruit a team. I seriously doubt that we are on the schools radar, but we should. Maybe I am not yelling loud enough?
Interesting addendum, David over at Learfield Interaction raises a great question. If more schools are not doing this is it the students they don't trust, or the quality of the experience they're offering those students. David, you hit the nail on the head there and I could not have said it better myself.
That's right, one of the best lines arguably in film history. And it's a great question. Can you really handle it?
Yesterday I went to Petco to grab some new treats for my pooch since old ones were busted - thanks Del Monte for the head's up. It was the middle of the day, so the store was dead. I got right in line to check out. The young girl looked at me and asked how I was doing. I said great. And I was - it was beautiful outside, I was playing tennis later today, we just got back from a great vacation in Paris, I have my health, work is great. No complaints.
Then I replied back, and how are you? I expected the same. C'mon, why not? Instead, she gave me, "horrible". Cue screeching brakes....
Excuse me. Say what? Huh? Uhhhhhhh....
That's right, the truth ladies and gentlemen. No proverbial sunshine up my buttocks today. The cold hard facts. And you know what, I love that. Why lie about it? Why don't you just come right out and say it loud and proud?
That is what I wish some advertisers / brands would do. Just come right out and say it - our product sucks, our marketing sucks, our idea sucks. We are not original, we are not special and we do not zag like Urban Drift has discussed. In fact, we are just going to phone it in. We all know the truth, so why not just admit to. Once you do you will feel better.
In fact, we will probably acknowledge you for it. Just like I did today. She said horrible and I said I am sorry, can I do anything. She just smiled.
We are all stuck here together we might as well work on it together.
So who would you tell the truth to?
Honestly, when is is really okay to be Temporarily Unavailable?
You see tonight I learned that my dog's treats - Jerky Treats - have been voluntarily removed from the shelves. As it turns out, the wheat gluten that was supplied to Del Monte Pet Products - makers of Jerky Treats - actually contained the harmful melamine that has already been attributed to a host of pet deaths and illnesses. For those not aware, melamine is a a chemical found in fertilizers in Asia - gotta love that.
Well I decided to check out Jerky Treats and see if I can get the 411 straight from the horses mouth and this is what I found:
Okay - granted they did post the press release which took me here. But I gotta be honest, that does not leave me with a lot of confidence. So I ask again, when is is okay to be temporarily unavailable?
IAMS - my dogs dry food - is operational.
You would think that this is the opportunity to have a site the serves as the center piece of the conversation with questions and answers. A chance to instill confidence in your product and service.
Opportunity wasted.
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