Category Archives: Helpful Hints

March 5, 2013 · 12:09 pm

Trust The One You’re With

I’ve written a number of times here on the screed about the subject of trust.  Most of the time I’ve written about how consumers need to trust the sources from which they receive marketing messages or the sources from which they get information.  Today I want to make it more personal but probably more important as well.

Each of us relies on other people to do business.  I’ve found that one of the most important factors in that process is trust.

Benutzer:dapete and Benutzer:Ezrimerchant shak...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In fact, I used to tell new employees that the only way they could get into serious trouble with me was if they did something that caused me to lose the trust I was going to give them unconditionally.   I was on their side until they proved that my trust was misplaced.  Lie to me just once – cause me to doubt that they were giving me the facts and all the information about a topic – and our relationship would be severely damaged, maybe irreparably.  I feel that way about business partners too.

I’ve dealt with people who I knew were holding back information.  Sometimes it was more a feeling than probably was warranted.  Several times it turned out to be a huge problem, as a meeting would take an ugly turn based on information that had been withheld but ultimately surfaced.  Often it’s because they didn’t want to give anyone bad news despite them hearing that bad news is just another situation we need to work through together as partners.  When someone finds reasons to delay a conversation or slows down a deal, my early warning system would go off.  It still does.

I’ve been told from time to time that I’m hard to deal with because I’m very open and blunt.  I’m told I’m a pleasure to deal with for the very same reasons.   On the whole, transparency seems to work.  It fosters trust although I’m the first to admit that over the years I’ve had to learn to be more tactful.  I think folks with whom I’ve worked would tell you a lot of things about me but one thing they probably won’t say is that I hide the truth or obfuscate the facts.  That’s about trust in my mind.

On a simple level it’s about someone doing what they say they will do.  On a larger level it’s about them being who they say they are.  You with me?

Enhanced by Zemanta

Leave a comment

Filed under Helpful Hints, Reality checks

Tagged as , , , ,

February 26, 2013 · 10:20 am

Blame The Producers

Every once in a while I get up from my computer screen and take a break.  Sometimes it’s to make phone calls.  Sometimes it’s just to spend a few minutes watching the news.  Anything to step away, clear my head, and refocus.  You should try it!  Lately, however, I find myself not watching the news networks while they have multiple people engaged in conversations.  You know the format – a couple of talking heads representing opposing points of view batting an issue back and forth.  Except lately there’s far less dialog and a lot more overlapping screaming.

I can’t take it.  One person begins to make a point and the other one starts yelling “you’re wrong.”  The “moderator” from the network rarely intervenes – I’m sure they’re thinking this is great TV.  It’s not.  One guest talks over another until it’s time for commercial.  It makes my head hurt.  It demeans everyone involved. It’s wrong in so many ways and it makes a great business point.

I blame the producers.  They could be telling the audio guy to cut off a mike.  If I was in the booth, the reporter would hear “tell so and so that if they won’t let the other guest speak I’m cutting off their mike until it’s their turn to talk.”  You know – kind of how you’d treat a child, which is how they’re behaving.  Former elected officials do it.  Party officials do it.  Rarely, however, do people serving in office do it – they have something to lose – the next election!

It would be a disaster if you ran your business this way yet many people do.  They talk over customers or are so focused on making their point that they ignore what the other people are saying.  One thing digital has done to us all, in my opinion, is curtail our attention spans.  We’re used to responding immediately to things and we’ve all become a lot more self-centered.  Don’t believe me?  Look around the next time you go out to eat – how many people are checking their phones instead of engaging their dining companion?   We can’t do that if we’re to be successful businesspeople.  We need to cut off our own mikes and listen.  We need to moderate the customer feedback portions of our digital efforts.  Not to curtail opinion but to enforce grown-up behavior.  People want to express their opinions and we should welcome that.  We can insist on them doing so respectfully.

One of the points in The Cluetrain Manifesto (surely you’ve read it by NOW!) is that in both internetworked markets and among intranetworked employees, people are speaking to each other in a powerful new way.  Your business needs someone to keep them “speaking” and not shouting over one another.  How are you doing with that?

Enhanced by Zemanta

Leave a comment

Filed under Helpful Hints, Reality checks, Thinking Aloud

Tagged as , , , ,

February 25, 2013 · 10:39 am

FailOS

The telephone went out at my brother’s house the other day. This hasn’t been an unusual occurrence and is usually resolved by a call to the folks at Verizon, his telephone provider. One pole in his area seems to have an issue and service will just go out for no apparent reason. When his line failed the other day, I called Verizon to let them know. That’s when things took an interesting turn that is a great example of what businesses can’t do if they want to survive.

1980s Dodge Ram Van Verizon

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“It’s because you have copper wire” the customer service rep informed me.  “You need to upgrade to fiber optic – have you heard of FiOS?”  Yes I have, but that wasn’t solving the issue since repair couldn’t come anyway.  Since no one is in the house most of the time, we’d have to call to schedule an appointment when someone was going to be there.

Fast forward a couple of days.  I was going to be in the house so I called Verizon.  Of course, the numbers listed on their website were not correct – I was instructed to call another number (why can’t a PHONE company switch you –  strike one).  When I got the rep on the phone and said I’d like to get a repair person to the house I was told the rep could “see your house is on old copper wire.  We need to upgrade you to fiber optic cable.”  I told him I was fully aware of FiOS and just wanted the telephone service I already had to be fixed.  Not internet.  Not TV.  Land line telephone.  After a few more minutes of him telling me all about the virtues of a service I didn’t want or need, he gave me the number for repair.  I stopped him and asked if he could just switch me over?  “”No, we’re a call center (which means he’s probably off shore) and I can’t do that.”  In other words, I called the repair number and was sent to a sales center to sell me FiOS.

Land lines are an endangered species.  It’s a once-ubiquitous business that’s declining rapidly.  Rather than selling the service on the merits – clearer voice, much better reliability in an emergency such as a storm – and providing excellent customer service to those still paying for the service, Verizon seems interested only in pushing FiOS.

This is what no business that wants to be successful can do – ignore the voice of the customer.  It’s not about what you’re selling – it’s about what I need when I interact with you.  There is no chance you’re selling me additional services when you demonstrate that you won’t service the ones I have.  Many businesses still put themselves above the consumer.  We can see it in their messaging, paricularly in social media.  It’s all about the brand, it’s all about the sale.  Sorry, guys.  Not anymore.

I fixed the telephone line myself – it turns out there was a short in the alarm box that connected to the telephone line.  It took about 3 minutes to figure it out and to fix it.  We’re in the process of selling the house and I want to be the one to call Verizon to turn off the service.  I suspect if this is how they treat all their customers that I’m not alone in wanting to make that call.

Enhanced by Zemanta

Leave a comment

Filed under Helpful Hints, Huh?

Tagged as , , , , , ,