April 20, 2006
Visit everyone in person
Chapter 16 of FIre Someone Today is titled Visit Everyone in Person. Kathy Sierra, in her post Why face-to-face still matters!, introduces some neurobiological explanations for why communicating face-to-face is so important, even in a world of email, instant messaging, and video chat.
Posted by Bob Pritchett at 7:52 AM | TrackBack
January 10, 2006
How clear is your sign?
Every year after Christmas the Boy Scouts pick up and recycle local Christmas trees. It is a great service that saves a lot of hassle and raises money for the scouts through donations.
Saturday was pick-up day, and on Friday I listened to the instructions on local radio as I drove out of my neighborhood. "Take all the ornaments and tinsel off the tree and leave it at the end of your driveway Saturday morning. The scouts will pick-it up for free, but they will knock on your door and ask for a $10 donation."
During this announcement I drove past yet another neighbor unloading a dead Christmas tree from his truck. He threw it onto the pile next to the Boy Scouts’ sign announcing the weekend collection and drove away.
My first thought was anger. What kind of person buys a live tree each year, has a vehicle that can carry it, and is so cheap that they won't give the scouts $10 for hauling it away?
Then I looked at the sign.
There is no mention of a donation, and it is not clear that this particular curbside, at the entrance of the neighborhood and in front of no house, is not where you are supposed to leave your tree. The pile of trees already sitting there only grants more permission.
Now the scouts have been doing this for years, and have gotten the word out in the paper and on the radio, so this reminder sign probably doesn’t excuse too many cheapskates. But I imagine it would be more effective if instead of "Sponsored by…" it read "Scouts will collect your tree at your curb and suggest a $10 donation." Drivers might miss the small print, but no one preparing to drop a tree would.
You can not put your whole story on every sign, but you need to make sure you put the important points there. Unless you want to haul off a bunch of deadwood for no compensation.
Posted by Bob Pritchett at 4:00 AM | TrackBack
December 26, 2005
The Price of Passion
Kathy Sierra writes about The Koolaid Point (via Barry Moltz's blog), where your users become so enthusiastic about your product or service that other users or non-users start to hate it, or you, or the enthusiastic users. (Think of the abuse a Starbucks addict gets from someone who hates Starbucks.)
No one has tattooed my logo to their chest yet, but years ago I visited one of our distributors and was surprised to see our logo (in cut vinyl) covering the back window of his car. We didn’t even have it on our company-owned vehicles.
Since then our users have only become more passionate. I’ve seen computers decorated with our graphics and homemade t-shirts made with our brand. People love our product.
Some people hate it, though. I have received near rabid emails from people who don’t like our software, or our web site, or, well, all-of-you-and-the-horse-you-rode-in-on. I used to be hurt, and to spend a lot of time trying to win these people over. But Kathy has it right: trying to please everyone can lead to death by mediocrity. It is better to build something people are passionate about, and to accept the detractors as the price of passion.
Posted by Bob Pritchett at 6:13 AM | TrackBack
December 22, 2005
"There is not enough vomit..."
In Dream Merchants and HowBoys: Mavericks, Nutters and the Road to Business Success, Barry J. Gibbons gets to the heart of my tension with shameless self promotion: it fascinates, works, and revolts all at once. Of flamboyant British entrepreneur Richard Branson, he says:
This man does fascinate me. I have high respect for what he has achieved, and for his undoubted intuition. But sometimes when I see that bearded face in (yet another) facile photo opportunity, I reflect that, sometimes, there just isn’t enough vomit in the world.
p. 26
Promoting yourself along with your business can bring lots of useful attention. People are more interested in people than businesses, so putting a person in front of the business can raise awareness and interest. But you have to be willing for people to be sick of you, not just your ad or brand.
Posted by Bob Pritchett at 6:32 AM | TrackBack
December 19, 2005
Don't torture your audience
There is no torture like being trapped in a room while a presenter slowly reads their way through PowerPoint slides.
Thankfully I do not need to watch or present a lot of PowerPoint. In our 100 person company communication is a lot more direct, and when we are out on the road selling we show the software, not our talking points.
But when I do need to prepare a non-demo presentation it sure is easy to use PowerPoint as an outliner. Unfortunately that also makes it easy to use the resulting outline in slide form as the presentation itself. And that makes me one of the torturers.
I am working to improve my slides; to turn them from bullet points to sharp, clear, visual reinforcements of my message. Shorter is better, but shorter takes longer, and well designed shorter…who has the time?
Garr Reynolds does, and you and I should make the time. His site has some great tips (though it will make you wish for an on-staff artist), and he has a great presentation blog. I particularly liked the posts on different presentation methods: Takahashi, Kawasaki, and Godin.
(Check out The Gettysburg PowerPoint Presentation.)
Posted by Bob Pritchett at 6:25 AM | TrackBack
December 14, 2005
Hello, my name is...
Scott Ginsberg wears a nametag 24/7 as part of a commitment to being friendlier and more approachable. Five years and counting, with a nametag tattoo for backup.
It is the simplest ideas that are the most powerful. Scott has built a career writing and speaking about approachability, and it looks like he has a lot of useful and thought provoking material. I’m looking forward to reading his book and more of his articles. But as soon as you hear that Scott wears a nametag all the time, the basic premise is both obvious and challenging: Being a nice person is not enough. Being truly approachable takes initiative and commitment. And that is true for businesses as much as for people.
Posted by Bob Pritchett at 6:31 AM | TrackBack
October 18, 2003
Power Talking
Two years ago I heard George Walther speak at a conference on the importance of the words you use and the message they convey. He teaches “Power Talking” techniques – using positive words and phrases to communicate more effectively.
The simple example that stuck with me was his suggestion to replace “I’ll have to…” with “I’ll be glad to…” in all your phone conversations. Just changing the phrase transforms the task from a burden to a pleasure in the mind of the speaker as well as the listener.
I shared some of Walther’s ideas with our customer service team and gave them the free copy of Walther’s book that I got at the conference. And then I forgot about it. Until I saw the sign.
Newly hung from the menu board in the very cool, very popular taco joint around the corner from our office was a red plastic sign with white letters. It looked like a thousand other signs that start “Warning!” or “Notice!” or “No Entry”. Only this one read:
To receive complimentary chips, a minimum purchase of $5.75 is required.
Standing at the counter below the sign making a $6.25 purchase I felt a little guilty. The very pleasant cashier offered a basket of their fantastic homemade chips, just like they’ve done on every visit I’ve made. But this time it didn’t seem as nice.
And then I thought of Walther and his “Power Talking.” This little sign, with its very reasonable message and small number of words, was talking to me.
The sign was saying that the chips aren’t a freebie, but rather a privilege for qualified customers – and there are requirements for qualification.
The sign was saying that the owner was annoyed with people who came in and ordered the cheapest thing on the menu just to get the free chips and to load up at the fresh salsa bar.
The sign was saying that if I was feeling like a $4 burrito instead of a $6.25 salad then I was not a qualifying customer. I might even be one of those college students (in our university town) who lives on free samples and condiment bars.
That’s a lot for a little sign, and probably a lot more than the writer intended.
What would it be saying if it read:
Free chips with $5.75 purchase!
It would be saying that chips are a free bonus with a minimum purchase.
It would be saying that this is a cool place – because free chips are associated with full-service Mexican restaurants, not order-at-the-counter taco joints like this.
It would be saying that while I might only want the $4 burrito I could order a cup of soup or a side and get free chips, too – what a deal!
As it is, I haven’t had chips since the sign went up. I find myself at the burrito joint around the other corner more often. They don’t have chips at all, but they’re always happy to see me, even though I keep ordering the $2.95 salad.
And I ordered another copy of Walther’s book. I’m worried that my words might be saying more than I intended, too.
Update: December 22, 2004
Today I noticed a new sign that reads "Complimentary chips with $5.95 purchase."