I was at Whole Foods yesterday and I noticed that the posted very large window logos of Facebook and Twitter right on their entrance doors. I was like wow! This social media thing is really now a train that has left the station. In today’s news on TechCrunch they reported that Google is about to drop half a Bil, or $500,000,000 on Yelp! Yelp does online reviews of businesses.

Just the other day I was massively late to the Google local search listings I just added my business on it. Not sure if I did it correctly because it is only 80% complete.

In this other post on TechCrunch:

“What if every store had a bar-code sticker on its window so that you could pull out your iPhone, wave it in front of the bar code and get all sorts of information about that business—the telephone number, photos, customer reviews? Starting on Monday, you’ll be able to do that at up to 190,000 local businesses throughout the U.S.”

“I ask what if: every company has personal information on me?” How will it be used? With the available data today it is possible to tell where almost anyone is via cell phone GPS. Sure it is good to know where your dog is but do we have to spy on our kids and the government spy on us? Just how transparent are we all going?

Def. of insurance according to Merriam-Webster

1 a : the business of insuring persons or property b : coverage by contract whereby one party undertakes to indemnify or guarantee another against loss by a specified contingency or peril c : the sum for which something is insured
2 : a means of guaranteeing protection or safety

In today’s world it means something completely different. It means “let’s make a deal, read the fine print” and it probably will NOT go in your favor. What I mean by this is there are so many contingencies, clauses, deductibles, terms and the list goes on and on. Do you remember when insurance meant insurance? You bought a policy, weather it was auto, life, home, fire, flood, travel and if something happened you were “insured.” You got a check for full value, less a small deductible.

Do you think it is time to change the name to “financial services?” So if you go buy a health insurance policy you now have to say, I’m going to buy a “financial services policy for my health.” Because if you have a preexisting condition you might not be covered. Because you could be paying a $5,000 deductible. Let me ask, what kind of “insurance is that?” In my opinion that is a sorry ass bill you have to pay all the while you and or your employer coughs up some dough every month to keep you showing up on a regular basis, am I wrong?

So I think it is time for the dictionaries to either update their definitions and meanings or for the insurance companies to actually change their names and be renamed financial services companies. Then we would see competition especially if the gold standard is to be “an insurance company.” This is all a bit simplistic, but I’m sure there are some lawmakers who can craft some language to make it work.

Now in the insurance companies defense, they have 2 huge forces working against them: Lawyers and Fraud. Both are formidable foes, but I’d like to see their names changed.

Think about this. Google, Sprint & Samsung combining efforts to create one super product the Google Android Sprint Samsung Moment. Wow that is a mouthful.

I finally broke down and got a new cell phone, a Samsung Moment. I stuck with Sprint. I did so for several reasons. First they really do provide great customer service both on the phone and in person. Second they offer decent pricing, I checked with AT&T on the iPhone and they wanted what seemed like a lot more money for less service. Third it seemed like Android was and is going to eclipse iPhones in the very near future. Forth, Sprint rewarded me with an “upgrade” phone which is something that the carrier will do when you have been a long time customer. (So I am thinking that customer loyalty does have its privileges.).

I first got the HTC hero from Sprint and I was unable to plug in my Google ID and password. Maybe it was me but it sure seemed difficult for the on screen keyboard to work. So I reluctantly sent it back. I then got the Samsung Moment. A phone I never heard of. But it was an Android phone and it had a keyboard. I’m on day 4 and so far so good. There is a lot to these little devices and it seems like there is a lot to learn which is kind of fun when you are waiting for a plane or a train you have something to challenge yourself with.

What I found more interesting was the ability of my 10 year old son and his ease of use to use the phone and basically tell me how to use it without ever using the printed manual. I think what will be even more interesting is the cell phone advances in the next 12 months since they seem to be moving so rapidly. At the end of they day I use a cell phone for texting and calling. I do minimal surfing on the web, but it is nice to know it is there when it is needed. As for my son he likes to play games on the phone and it keeps him entertained when we drive to our hockey games and practices.

I have a lot of respect for Marriott. As a matter of fact I love staying in the Courtyard by Marriott. I trust they will be clean. I trust the will be friendly. I trust they will not over charge me. I think they have they best breakfasts, bar none. Now they are going to ditch the Marriott Brand Name for a new brand name, called the Autograph Collection, but only on these select independent hotels.

But last I checked brands = trust. So creating a new brand is a lot of work. My only question is did they do the right research or is this just a hunch by a few people? Time will tell, but I expect them to do well with the new brand.

It is kind of like the War in Iraq and the War in Afghanistan. They are both huge diversions. Meanwhile the dog at home not only has a “bad case of fleas” the dog has also been hit by a “car.” (This dog don’t hunt any more). For America, the fleas are the 2 wars and the Bailouts. The car for America is whole economy, the devaluation of the dollar and hyper inflation. The fleas for the publishers are the ad networks and the bloggers. The car is Google.

Internet and alternative media and bloggers are game changers. Why? Look at it this way. IF before 1995 we had a couple of thousand radio stations and TV stations and a few thousand news papers we had a finite amount of “media.” Every so often there would be a few new newspapers or publishers offering a new slant on a traditional idea. Now here are some 50 Million + new blogs out there according to Cyberjournalist.net. While this number is large, not all of these blogs are actively being worked on. But the point here is there are now MILLIONS of new channels, MILLIONS of new publishers, MILLIONS of new journalists. Targeted advertising inventory has exponentially increased.

Meanwhile our dog back in his house on 6th Avenue in New York is scratching like crazy, chasing his tail, he is so busy he doesn’t know where his next bone is coming from, he has too many fleas to worry about all of his favorite couches and chairs have been infested with fleas….he can’t even lick his own walls any more.

In all seriousness, content and advertising are blurring. Even the FTC wants a piece of this and is asking the bloggers to declare if they have been paid or not. So do the publishers and media companies go with a more advertorial type business model like the bloggers or do they dig a trench and charge for the crossing of their bridge hoping that their content will be of higher value than the content providers outside the moat? Yup, we and they are at a big fork in the road….and the stakes are mighty high. Meanwhile look out for that car, because that car is gaining a lot of speed and there ain’t no slowing it down.

To share an example of this I have a project of my own that I want to embark on. For the past year plus I have been working in the behavioral health care field, “Drug Rehab” for short. I’ve met a lot of “treatment centers” over this past year and I feel it is now time for me to hit the road in 2010 and actually visit their facilities…..think long road trip…..really long road trip. Many of these centers are in some of the most beautiful places in North America. There are 11,000+ of them and they are growing by numbers all the time. Even better are the people, they are a lot of fun to hang around, many are recovering from one substance or another.

So like the dog with fleas, the time has come to scratch an itch. The 2010 America in Rehab Tour is being announced here. This is an opportunity for a 2 month long car commercial. A 2 month long daily wireless provider ad. (Does it get any better?) A daily camera show. Or a daily restaurant rating. Taking the ability to write, film, post, click and share not only do we have a fantastic model to entertain on we also have a fantastic model to advertise on. (But there is a catch). What if the shit breaks? What if it doesn’t go as planned? What if there is an accident? What if there is a bad experience? What if the driver is pulled over by the cops for texting? What if? What if? We have to stop living that way. What if….this is a huge success? Like reality shows? What if rock bands decide to copy this? I’m sort of copying John Madden in his Madden Cruiser.

Having an informing ride together back to Westport, CT from the NYC AdTech Show with Jonathan Yarmis he said and I quote, “advertising as we know it is dead.” So instead of dying with it I figured I be part of the disruption and see where it leads…..and it leads to open road.

While Obama is allowing for $13 billion in new lending for small businesses (33,000 of them) and a health reform plan to offer better health insurance programs offering a tax credit all of these moves are very welcome! He is also urging congress to to increase the maximum size of SBA loans.

I met Jim Ayer, a wooden jigsaw puzzle maker of J.C Ayer & Co. a few months ago through my son who wanted to stop by his Wooden Jigsaw Puzzle work shop here in Marblehead, Massachusetts. (He has a big wooden jigsaw puzzle piece outside his business as his sign and that attracted us to his business). Since the internet is perfect for niche businesses, this is the perfect niche business and I happen to be an internet marketing consultant.

Wooden Jigsaw Puzzles are not like the typical cardboard puzzles. (Jim gave my son and I a “loaner puzzle,” actually Jim said that back during the depression that puzzle makers used to “rent puzzles” so families could entertain themselves). Here’s what I found out. First off this wooden jigsaw puzzle was very well made. Each piece fit exactly together. In some ways I was wondering how the heck could anyone cut a puzzle so well that there appeared to be no room for the knife? The other thing I noticed was this puzzle was about the size of a 9″ x 12″ envelope but it filled up an entire table when the pieces were not together. The point here is that the the pieces fit so well together they create the illusion that the size of the finished work is 2-3 times the actual. I guess I’ve had this happen more than once in my life where I thought I was going to be doing more work based on first glance at the project, has the same happened with you?

What else was really special about this puzzle is there are special pieces cut out. Jim especially likes the piece he calls “Jane Bond” the girl figure with the gun, see the photo. While many of the special cut out pieces were obvious some of them were not until the puzzle was actually together. For example, there was a three part figure that appeared to be a Radio City Rockette dancing girl. Again there were illusions in the puzzles as there are in life.

What was even more interesting was the fact that this puzzle offered “perspective,” on everything I’m doing and we are doing. As I was building it if I walked away from it for a while and got a glass of water and walked back I was able to put together several more pieces almost magically. As with work if we get too close to it for instance and don’t take a break from it like a vacation our thinking can be distorted or a better word is clouded. I could see the wooden jigsaw puzzle much more clearly if I stepped away.

What is also interesting about this wooden jigsaw puzzle maker is that he can put messages in the wooden jigsaw puzzles like “will you marry me,” or “thanks for the 25 years of great work” if someone is giving the puzzle as a corporate gift. These puzzles can the perfect gift for the person who is hard to buy for.

As in building a puzzle it parallels in life. There is no direct route, sure you can assemble some of the big pieces i.e. education, career, family etc. Each piece requires effort and focus and with some patience and care somehow they all fit together. I also had a little help from my friends Sean Bohan and Chris Peake.

This one guy, happened to be an immigrant and successful entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk was doing his usual in your face wake up call to all of the willing participants, live and online (CNN was broadcasting on CNN.com). For some reason I like his style, “in your face authentic.” The real deal. He tells it like it is. If you don’t want the “truth” read a boring business book. Vaynerchuk was going on about scaling customer service, or CRM. He said someone said to him, “awe that’s just customer service, what about all the other stuff?” Garys’ reply: “That is the stuff!” Here it is:

Go to the 8:00 minute section of this video to see what I am talking about. What is interesting about this customer service comment he uses an example earlier how the cable TV companies are bundling their packages and Gary is paying for Japan TV which is something he does not want. More on that in a minute.

So where I want to go is back to customer service. Getting to 1 call resolution is great, lowering call times is great, getting customer service satisfaction surveys about the call center agent is great, we’ve all optimized these things to the nth degree. I can tell you that 98% of my customer service calls have been excellent. Where companies totally miss the boat is on the corporate policies. I would dare a Fortune 500 company to give a survey on their corporate policy. i.e. “Mr. Customer how do you like our bundled TV services at GiantCableTV, did you enjoy the basket weaving program in Swahili last week?”

I’ll give you an example. A couple of weeks ago I was in the mood to test the cell phone market. I’m a “double diamond” client with Sprint, or they might call them a preferred client, I’ve been with them for 10+ years, I pay my bills on time and I have an “all you can eat package”….but I hate my Palm Treo. It is ready for the recycling bin. It drops calls, the browser no longer displays graphics and I don’t feel like waiting on hold for 20 minutes to tell Sprint of my problem. However I knew that I could get a sales person on the phone pretty quickly if I said “I need a new cell phone ASAP.”

I like Sprint. Their coverage where I live is excellent for the most part. (However they went into ROAM mode at Harvard at the Gravity Summit). I do know that Sprint will be one of the first carriers to come out with a 4G wireless network, and Boston is slated to be one of the first cities to get it. This will be nice to get my desktop computer, LAN and Wireless all on one network, one bill, bundled package that I would pay for.

When I called the Sprint sales person I asked them if I could get a top of the line Blackberry. He said yes. I asked him for a “deal.” he gave me a GREAT deal, I did have to work him. I’m pretty sure it was a Tour, for a grand total of $49.00. I said, great. I’ll drive over to the Sprint store and pick it up. He said “hold on” you can only get this if we ship this to you. You cannot get this phone in the store for $49.00. I said, “I want to touch and feel it.” I even went to the Sprint store to see if I could hondle the guy down. No dice. But I could have it in the store for about $200. I didn’t get it.

I like Apple, and I would love to own an iPhone. (Love is a strong word). I called the Google 411 directory and asked for Apple. Hi, my name is Jim, I need a new cell phone ASAP.” “Great Jim we have iPhones.” The price of the phone was around $200. Not bad for the king of the wireless road. Then I ask about the cost of their wireless plans. I could get just over 2 hours for ~$120 per month, from AT&T. Hmmmmm….this is where the real deal is and isn’t, the old continuity program. Plus there was extra for a certain amount of usage on the data plan. (Who really counts that stuff other than the carriers, and I asked if I could be sent an e-mail when I was about to reach my monthly threshold? No Dice.) Plus I have a friend in Marblehead who can’t use his iPhone because AT&T’s reception sucks out on the Neck. Hmmmmm I think I would rather talk on a Sprint phone than look cool with an iPhone that does not work and that is more expensive.

OK Jim, get to the freaking point. The point is, all of their company policies suck. And what is worse is they don’t know it, or they do know and don’t give a hoot. Because they don’t ask. They hide. So, while I really don’t need a new cell phone ASAP, I really want one ASAP but I’m going to wait until I find what works for my situation. I’m just a tiny example of millions of wireless clients….and the big guys have “no clue” as to what we really want because they are “faking it” when it comes to the only thing that matter to guys like me and Gary Vaynerchuk and the millions of masses. Seeking someone who cares.

To take it one step further. Intuit. I ordered Quickbooks 2009 from Amazon. I thought I was buying a brand new copy of Quickbooks 2009. I registered the software and low and behold it was registered to someone else. I have just bought a used copy of the software. Damn, I had some serious bookkeeping to do before a certain deadline. I called Intuit and asked them to give me a new registration #. No dice. “Not our policy.” (Creating a sequential registration number is like the government creating new money, it is just a few one’s and zero’s, and it is totally free).

So I finally called Amazon. They promptly realized the error and sent out a new copy and I sent them the old copy back. Intuit said they were going to call their legal department. I don’t care how the error occurred. But I’m now blabbing about stuff that should have been to bed a long time ago, just give me the damn registration number and let me be on my way. Again company policy getting in the way of CRM or customer service. As Vaynerchuk states in the Gravity Summit, big companies are going to fail in this new economy.

Not to mention any names but there was someone speaking at Gravity Summit who was from Intuit. I reluctantly told them the story. He said “we are listening” to our clients. I said if you are listening then have the president of your company call me, he has a little problem with his distributor selling used software as new with your brand name on it, I’d like to give him an earful. As of 9-21-09 right now the silence is deafening, no phone call.

So the point of all of this is go out and do a company policy survey and see how your customers like your company policies. Wouldn’t it be great if the government did the same thing? I know, I’m really reaching on that one!

subscribe to a newsletter
fill out a web form
call an 800#
walk into a store
purchase a product online
download a white paper
etc

There are many ways to get people to come to the company web sites. The best way in my humble opinion is through the press. media has the most creditability and bang for your buck. What media also does is give you links. As many of us know Google wants two things: 1) quality content 2) quality incoming links pointing to your site. An article on the New York Times Business Home Page gives you links and creditability and traffic.

Hiring a press agency or PR Firm can be expensive, and the good ones deserve the money they get. I like to teach business owners how they can capitalize on using the media to their advantage. One such client is Intervention Services Inc. Mike Loverde landed a huge interview on CNN just after the Michael Jackson story. I have written a product that teaches people how to get on the Six O’Clock News.

The point here is that Mike took action on this “PR Test,” and it worked. He now not only has more traffic coming to his site and more inquiries but he now has a video he can share and reuse for new clients. The only cost of the “test” were his fees to me and his time which were small. The name of the game is to “test” for as small of an investment as possible and roll out when the test works and do more of it.

In another client situation my customer has an electronic sound machine. It is like a clock radio but also with sounds of sea gulls, a running river, chimes etc. He has found success in selling these products in big box stores, however his margins are much better in a direct sale environment. One area he has had success is in the hospital market. He has found that he is able to get multiple orders in hospitals. What I have recommended to him in starting to exploit this market is to test some advertising in newsletters that go to the buyers in hospitals. Again we have to find a newsletter(s) that won’t cost an arm and a leg (hopefully less than $500) with reasonable reach and see if it works. In the mean time we will be making a new landing page for this specific audience. it might sound like a lot of work but in actuality it only takes about a week to put these together.

In another healthcare related situation I received an e-mail today from a Drug Treatment Center asking my opinion of his videos. (I’m a HUGE believer in Video SEO as a matter of fact I am building a business around it to distribute online videos). But my question back to this prospective client was: “How many phone calls did you get from them?” And his response was: Good Question. I’m not sure what it took to produce the videos but they looked like they were well produced and professional, however, they were missing a lot of things. They were not tagged correctly, I only saw them on one video network, there was no call to action etc. So the point here is I commend this person for venturing out into video and testing it. He might have been better served hiring someone like me before producing and distributing them.

A bigger point to all of this is that testing is an investment. If this is true, then we want to maximize our investment as much as possible and stack the deck in our favor and give ourselves an unfair competitive advantage when we test. Too many failed tests cost a lot of money and it doesn’t have to be that way. One of the advantages my clients have is using my experience and many failed tests in learning what NOT to do. Here is one of my favorite quotes:

“If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur.” Red Adair

Save yourself a lot of time and money, hire someone with experience and results in their given field, it should serve you well.

French's Mustard Bottle Shrink 6 oz.

It seems like the consumer products that aren’t loaded with sugar or corn syrup are getting smaller and while the products loaded with corn syrup are being supersized here in the USA. I’m having a little trouble making the financial sense of it all. In the last week or so (Aug. 01, 2009) I went to my local grocery store to pick up some regular items and one of the things I needed was Frenchs Mustard. I like it because it is a condiment alternative to ketchup and it tastes good.

Low and behold I purchase the “new and improved” Frenchs mustard and I come home to realize (compare the old and the new) that the Frenchs plastic bottle shrank by 6 ounces from 20 oz. to 14 oz. We are talking more than 25% shrinkage. The price did drop however from $2.19 to $1.89. But I have seen the same thing with Columbo Yogurt and even did a post about Columbo Yogurt here on my blog shrinking from 8 oz. to 6 oz. another 25% shrinkage.

Columbo Yogurt Product Shrinkage

My bet is that the price of this product will creep back up to $2.19 and the size will be a puny 14 oz. bottle of Frenchs Mustard, meanwhile the “size” has been reduced significantly, but I do bet one thing will go up….Frenchs profits. Do you think this is a deceptive practice or is this just plain old capitalism at work here?