Category Archives: Helpful Hints

May 13, 2013 · 10:24 am

Why I Won’t Be Using FTD Again

I hope you all had a lovely Mother’s Day. My Mom is in Florida and I’m not so we celebrated the day separated by distance. In an attempt to bridge the geographic gap, I ordered some flowers for her last Friday from FTD. Frankly, I’m more of a “support local businesses” kind of guy but since FTD uses local florists to fill the orders and since I was in a time crunch on Friday, I used FTD’s site to place the order. Which I won’t be doing again.  Of course, there are a few lessons for any business in the midst of this.

Flower

(Photo credit: @Doug88888)

I asked that the flowers be delivered on Saturday.  It gave them 24 hours and hopefully would avoid the peak period of deliveries yesterday on Mother’s Day.  As Saturday night rolled around and I hadn’t received a phone call from Florida to let me know they arrived (my Mom always calls when we send her stuff), I began to get a little worried.  By mid-afternoon Sunday, we had already called her to wish her a great day but nothing had arrived (we asked).  Time to follow-up with FTD.

Lesson number one.  On what is one of your busiest days of the year, don’t turn off customer service.  When I called FTD’s line, I pushed “2” to check on my order status and was told (more or less) that we’re not answering the phone today because it would be overwhelming so use the web site.  No humans.   Hello?  Learn from Butterball, who adds hundreds of reps to their turkey help line around Thanksgiving.

Lesson number two.  Using the web site, I clicked to “check order status.”  I found my order number and popped it in, expecting something like UPS‘ excellent tracking or Amazon‘s system.  Nope.  Within seconds, I had an email telling me “We have received your request to confirm that your gift was delivered.  When we receive confirmation of delivery, we will notify you via email.”  First, that’s NOT what I was seeking – I knew it hadn’t been delivered (my Mom is faster than your email!).  Second, I still don’t have a confirmation email on delivery and yes, thankfully, the flowers did get delivered two hours after I began trying to get an update (and a full 52 hours after they were ordered for next day delivery).

Lesson number three.  I paid a service fee of $22 for the convenience of not having to find, to call, and to order from a local florist near my Mom.  I had, I think, reasonable expectations in return for that fee:  the flowers would be delivered as promised, on time, in good shape, and that there would be some sort of customer service to support me in the event of a problem.  Hey – we’re dealing with gifts for people’s mothers – buyers don’t want anything less than what they expect and these were definitely mixed results at best.

While digital technology has done a lot to kill local businesses (ask any small, local book or music store), there is nothing like the personal service one can get from using old-fashioned technology:  a phone and a human.  Until and unless companies like FTD figure out how to replicate that experience, I won’t be using them again.  You?

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May 9, 2013 · 10:37 am

Trusting The Translator

If you’ve ever travelled to a country where your native language is not the main language spoken, you might have had a couple of the experiences I’m about to describe.

Sign replacement - geograph.org.uk - 1313161

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I used to travel internationally on business to places where English is not the first language and even though my business counterparts spoke reasonably good English I always found it helpful to have a translator available.  Of course there’s always the temptation – one to which I succumbed a couple of times – to pick up a few key phrases in the other language and assume that you can get by.  Big mistake, as are most of the digital ways one can change languages.

It doesn’t matter if you’re traveling on business or for pleasure.  Having someone around who can interpret is a big advantage.  Unless, of course, they’re not trustworthy.  It is an absolute imperative that you be able to trust that the translator is giving you an accurate interpretation   In fact, I’ve been in situations where it was assumed I didn’t speak the local language and what was being said was something that would never have been said to me in English (that only happened as a tourist, fortunately).  A translator who hides what’s being said can be a disaster.

The same can be said about the fool who learns a few phrases and has no clue about their use.  Anyone who really speaks the language will see right through that or, even worse, they’ll take advantage of the fact that you clearly don’t understand what the words mean even though you can pronounce them well.

I’ve run into both of these situations domestically as well and so have you.  You might have needed a translator to interpret technical information into English so you can make a business decision.  Maybe you’ve needed to make a choice about how to build a site or an app.  Your IT people, your designers, your coders – they all speak a language you don’t, and if they give you a bad translation, you’re doomed.  The same is true of accountants, lawyers, and others.

Then there are those people who ask questions containing some “foreign” words”   – CPM, CTR, CPC, bounces  – or other terms.  They ask questions as if they’ll understand the answer  but the very nature of their question proves they don’t have a clue about the topic.  If you answer them with more jargon – foreign words – you’re just making the misunderstanding worse.  Translating it all back into English for them – without embarrassing them of course – is the right course of action.

If you can’t trust your translator, you’re going to have a rough trip, whether it’s overseas or right here at home as your do business.  Hai capito?

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May 3, 2013 · 9:37 am

Eggplant Parm And Your Business

It’s Foodie Friday Fun time again, thank goodness.  Today I want to write about a dining issue we had here and how it made a great business point.

Eggplant Español: Berenjena

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My family has very diverse meal preferences.  We have a vegan, a vegetarian, one who won’t eat eggs if they’re discernible (but loves meat), and an omnivore (that would be me!).  Even though two of the four are not usually around for dinner, finding dishes that the vegetarian and I can share is a challenge.  I avoid most pasta these days but since we both love Italian food I thought eggplant parmesan might be a good choice.  That’s when I was told that eggplant is on the “slimy foods I don’t like” list.

My solution was to alter the preparation method.  Even though I was taught the dish in the traditional way (slice the eggplant and fry it first), I changed it up.  I salted the eggplant, which is not unusual, but I did so to condense it a bit, not to make it less bitter (which I think is a myth).  I breaded it and let it dry on wire racks before baking the slices in a minuscule amount of oil.  They came out of the oven looking as if they’d been fried as usual.  From there it was just sauce, a couple of kinds of cheese, and a little more oven time.  She loved it – and it’s now a favorite meal although it takes a lot of time to make.

That’s what cooking – and business – is all about.  You listen to your customers and try new methods to adjust the product or service to their needs.  What I heard when she said “slimy” was “greasy” and “oily.”  That comes from the frying and isn’t inherent in the eggplant.  What happened when we removed that impediment?  Total bliss.  That’s what we need to do as businesspeople as well.  Listen carefully and hear what people mean, which may be different from what they say.

I’ve made adjustments to many other dishes – kale and white bean stew to which I add the sausage (definitely NOT vegetarian!) later.  Using flax seeds and water to replace eggs for thickening (and it’s vegan!).  My job at mealtime is to keep my family happy and fed and I’m willing to think differently and to work a little harder on the meal to do so.  Your job is to keep your customers in that same state.  Are you prepared to change your thinking to do that?

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