Category: Notes

Can you believe this?

Notes

A former co-worker of mine, who know lives in Australia told me about this recent “Customer Service” story that happened to her: (emphasis are mine)

“OK so I tried to order from a USA food site, and shipping was $400.00 so I sent a complaint, here was the response:

Dear XXX,

Thank you for your email. We have checked into our site and we were having problems with our shipping quotes. Your items would most certainly not have been that amount to ship. We have thousands of customers in AU that are very happy with our service and would also never pay that amount for shipping. The cost would have been a fraction of that amount.

If you had been more pleasant we could certainly have checked into that excessive quote you got from the site and sorted out our problem. We are well aware of USAfoods and we would prefer if you would continue to shop with them or any other online options you have as we don’t appreciate rudeness. Please feel free to pass this on to anyone you wish.What a pity you choose to be so abrasive.

Regards,

Paula Greally” (my note: She is the OWNER)

So she admits the problem and then blames the customer?? Can you believe this? In today’s Social Media world, she actually says: Please feel free to pass this on to anyone you wish.

Ok Paula, happy to help! Feel free to comment here or pass along.

BTW, the site is www.cravingamerica.com

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Social Media is… (and isn’t)

news and notes, Notes, social media

So, since I’ve been doing a bit more speaking and networking recently (see the last post) I’ve been talking about what Social Media IS (and what it ISN’T)

  • Social Media IS a fundamental shift in the ways companies communicate to their ‘public’ and vice versa.
  • Social Media IS a cheaper/faster/(better?) way to communicate and exchange ideas.
  • Social Media SHOULD BE PART of your marketing plan, NOT your entire marketing plan.
  • Social Media ISN’T a panacea. It won’t make a crappy product or service better. You won’t get a million new customers just by having a Facebook page or a Twitter account. You need to work these ‘new’ channels just as you would work the old ones. Actually, even more-so.

What else? Let’s hear your comments on this one.

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Has Apple has killed the desktop computer?

Notes, tech

Here’s what I mean: when I first started consulting I had two computers – I had a desktop to do the majority of my computing work and I a (less powerful) laptop for my presentations and for when I wanted or needed to work remotely.

When Apple came out with the iPad and now the iPad2 and then a hundred or so plus compatibles, it may have killed the need for the desktop computer. Today’s laptops are just as powerful as the older desktop and have as much power as most people need. If you need extra storage space, hard drives are cheap- you can buy a terabyte hard drive for under $70 and you no longer need to buy an expensive docking station to attach a monitor and a keyboard -you simply plug them into a USB port.

So your laptop is now becomes your desktop and if you want something smaller and lighter and more portable to do to do presentations, you grab an iPad or Xoom or a Blackberry Playbook- that’s going to be the new laptop. You don’t need a desktop unless you’re doing hard-core video editing or something similar. Today’s laptops are just as powerful as 95% of the desktops out there and I think proper desktops, for the most part, will disappear within three years.

PS: I wrote this first on my iPhone using dictation software then did some minor editing on the iPad. No desktop or laptop at all!

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Right Side of Right

Notes

If you don’t know the story of Dave Carroll and “United Breaks Guitars” here it is in very short form.

Dave is a musician
He flys on United
They break his guitar
They won’t take responsibility
He writes 3 songs, produces music videos about it, they go viral.

(go see the videos)

Anyway, now he’s taken the experience to a whole new level.

Here’s Dave’s new site – Right side of Right.

Way to do it, Dave!

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