image c/o johngaltfla.com

Hang on a sec. So, I did nothing to cause my card to be compromised, I now have no bank card and you’re telling me you want me to pay to get my bank card faster? And, this is why Bank of America sucks. When it comes right down to it, it’s all about the service you provide your customers and their service couldn’t be any worse. So, I ask to speak someone who can waive the fee. I get transferred to the supervisor. She apparently cannot waive the fee either and said I have to pay it. So I ask her if there is any person among the 200k+ employees at BofA who can waive the rush fee. She then tells me I need to speak with Customer Service (I thought I was talking to Customer Service all along) as they are the only ones who can waive the fee. I’ve now been on the phone for over 30 minutes and my board meeting is in an hour. After being transferred twice, I finally get the fee waived only to find out that “expedited” = 2-3 business days which still equates to almost a week given they can’t ship the card till tomorrow. The whole way around, this was a big bowl of fail. Oh and I get charged a monthly service fee for this amazing service too. Blech.

Big banks are like the computers that were built back in the 80s. Big, clunky, expensive, not user-friendly, not easy to adapt. The difference is that computers evolved into the sleeker, cheaper, easier to use laptops and tablets we use today. But the banks are still the same as they ever were except more expensive and even slower and less focused on the customer. It is amazing to me that the banking model has still not really evolved and there aren’t tons of choices for a new way to bank. When I Googled “bank of america sucks” I was faced with hundreds of entries of angry customers, including this one from John Galt who seems to second my emotion. (This key word phrase seems like a ripe Google Adwords campaign for ING Direct.) It made me wonder if BofA even listens to what people on the interwebs are saying? Seems like a big opportunity to connect with the people who buy your service but that requires expending time and resources and dollars to actually care.

So if I say to hell with big banks, where do I turn? From what I read, ING Direct seems to be the best option and Bob Griggs did a great write-up of the advantages (including great service and paper checks if you need them). It’s a pain in the ass to move your bank accounts but I am seriously considering doing it as I am sick of dealing with big banking and their complete inability to make it easy to be a customer.

Have you switched your bank account to an alternative to the big banks? Would love to hear your experience as I consider this move.

Share/Bookmark

Image courtesy of insurancemarketinghq.com

About this whole blogging thing. It’s not easy to produce good content and it’s even harder to find the time to write. The Insider Award nomination, in addition to being flattering and humbling, gave me the continued encouragement to keep writing, keep sharing and keep telling my stories. It might be about something as non-businessy as chivalry being dead or something with strategic insight like my opinion on why Kodak failed. I sometimes start writing and think, “who the hell cares about my opinion on <insert topic, rant or rave>?!” and then I tell myself, “write, dammit.” And so it goes. I am thankful that I started my blog back in 2008, even tho I had no idea what I was going to say. My first blog post was published just a few days after being laid off (for the first time) and realizing that social media was at the center of getting on my feet toward what was next. I always say that things happen for a reason. Had I not been laid off, maybe I would never have started my blog. If I hadn’t started my blog, I wouldn’t have a soapbox for my rants and raves. And, without my soapbox, there would be no BostInno Insider Award nomination. And here we are. Thanks for the nomination, guys. I am super-psyched.

PS: If I’m lucky enough to have you as a reader of my blog, I’d love your vote…#imnotworthy

Share/Bookmark

What I didn’t know at the time was anything about the camera market. For example, that Polaroid launched the first instant film camera and Kodak copied it and went through what ended up to be a 10 year legal battle over the copyright to the instant film. The sad end to the story was that Kodak was forced to discontinue making the film for my beloved camera because they were late to the game and couldn’t copy the technology without copyright infringement. Maybe it was foreshadowing for the recent news – the king of film files for bankruptcy protection.

In my opinion, the “what happened” is not a story of 35mm film going by the wayside and putting them into bankruptcy. It’s a story of what happens when you:

1. drink too much of your own koolaide
2. don’t anticipate what the customer needs
3. have blinders on when it comes to the competition
4. stop paying attention to how technology and your market are changing
5. forget that you can become a commodity (see #1 & #3)

Had Kodak perhaps kept their eye on Fuji and their Japanese competitors, listened and anticipated the trend to digital and put egos and boardrooms and the way it was always done aside, perhaps they would be in a different place today. The wikipedia page mentions

However despite high growth, Kodak failed to anticipate how fast these digital cameras would become commodities, with low profit margins, as more companies entered the market in the mid-2000s. Also, an ever-smaller percentage of digital pictures were being taken on digital cameras, being gradually displaced in the late 2000s by cellphones and tablets‘ cameras. In 2001 Kodak held the No. 2 spot in U.S. digital camera sales behind number one Sony, but Kodak lost $60 USD on every camera sold. The film business, where Kodak had enjoyed high profit margins, fell 18% in 2005. The combination of these two factors resulted in disappointing profits overall.^[17] Kodak’s digital cameras soon became undercut by Asian competitors that could produce their offerings more cheaply. In 2007 Kodak was No. 4 in U.S. digital camera sales with a 9.6 percent share but it has lost ground since then, and by 2010 it held 7 percent in seventh place behind Canon, Sony, Nikon and others, according to research firm IDC. ^[19]

It’s easy to say: we’ve always made this widget, so we’re going to keep making this widget and people will buy it. When suddenly your competition, who you never really paid attention to, starts making your widget even better and sells it for less. Some call that eating your lunch. I call it taking your eye off the ball. You know what happens when you take your eye off the ball…you miss it.

Listen to your customers. Pay attention to your market. Understand price pressure and how it could squeeze your profit margins. Understand this crazy dynamically changing technological world we live in. Eat and breathe it. It’s okay to think your company or your product is all that and a bag of chips. Just be sure that in your passion and love for what you do and what you’re building, you are looking for those indicators that, if missed, could one day put you out of business. RIP Kodak. I miss my instant film and it’s sad to see what was once such a dominant brand be shelved just like my camera.

Share/Bookmark

I walked out of an elevator with a bunch of guys the other day and not one of them stopped to let me go first. Like a herd of testosterone pouring out into the lobby. Yuck. I walked into an Au Bon Pain just a few days later and the guy in front of me, not only doesn’t hold the door, but doesn’t even offer to let me go ahead of him. Pathetic.

"He opened the door! Wow!"

It’s all so annoying because I grew up in a family where the men always treated the ladies like ladies – whether you were 5 or 50, your door was opened, you entered first and you were always looked after. What the heck happened?

I have a few hunches.

First, some guys never learned the simple rule: “Ladies before gentlemen.” I must say this to my 5yr old son 5 times a day. But it’s working and he now repeats it to my 8yr old daughter on the few occasions he remembers to let her go first or hold the door. But he’s 5 and learning and not a 35 old who should know better.

Second, some guys just don’t see a lady as someone who should be treated special. I believe this is also taught somewhere along the line and is a tragic trait to pass on. Not much to say here other than these are the guys that will end up very alone.

Third, it’s a cultural thing. Part of me says that I get this and believe it and part of me says it’s a cop-out. Maybe it’s cultural in YOUR country or if you just moved here a week ago…But if you’ve lived here for 15 years? I’m not buying it. I will say that I work with a team of Japanese men who are some of the most hospitable and courteous men I have ever met. They stand when I enter the room, they wait for me before they start walking or talking, they hold the doors and open them. That may be cultural but it is also chivalrous. I thanked my friend Masa the other day when he offered to carry my bag for me and I said: “Chivalry is not dead!” He had no idea what that meant. Case in point. He was just raised that way.

Or maybe feminism screwed us. I was discussing this topic with a friend of mine who said that he was raised to open the door and be chivalrous but that some girls feel like it’s sexist and don’t want their doors opened and want to do it all on their own. How confusing for a guy! As I thought about it, I couldn’t help but think how kind of bananas that is. I am the first person who believes in women’s rights, bringing home the bacon, frying it up in the pan, being strong and independent and all of that jazz but at the same time, I fully embrace the wonderful gift of being a woman. I don’t see a man opening the door as a sign that I’m weak or inferior, I see it as a polite gesture and one of respect for a lady. Oh, and I always say thank you.

So, what’s the deal, guys? It’s not that hard to help a lady with her coat or open the door – it’s called being a gentleman and paying attention. If you want the 101 on how to open a door for a woman, check out The Art of Manliness blog. Love it – especially the Man Skills section. Can we get more manly men, please?

Share/Bookmark

When you are deep in the cycle it is hard to see beyond your task list, your kids school project, that thing your boss asked you to do, the thing you volunteered for that you have no time for, a family obligation…whatever it is, it is easy to get bogged in checking things off the list and trying to move the ball forward. I have come to realize that I’ve never really lived for the journey…that is until now.

Image by Victor Shaw

You may be saying – “Well, who does!” We all have the pressures of life that make it feel impossible to live for the long and winding road. But, why does that stop us? It hit me hard because, for those of you who know me, my motto has always been “carpe diem” – but as I really look at it, seizing the day has always been about a goal – a vision in my head that I want to achieve, something I desire badly or want to/need to experience. My life hasn’t been about seeing where the road can take me…it’s been about how I’ve paved the road up ahead. The past year has been one of gentle winding roads that lead into hairpin turns – never really knowing what will be waiting around the corner. When you are used to controlling every bit of where your life goes, it’s hard to say: “Today, I am going to let it roll. See where the road takes me. Experience what life throws my way.” It’s like my personal demons sit on my shoulders and tell me: “Shelly, baby, that is crazy nonsense – you can’t possibly handle all of that uncertainty!!” Well, to my personal demons, I tell you that you are wrong. I am thankful for this past year’s roadtrip – it has helped me live for the journey and not for the stake in the ground that I planted 500 feet down the road. I will always be ambitious, vivacious and, as my mother says, “A girl who reaches for the stars.” But I am grateful to have spent the past year enjoying the winding roads and steering through the cliff-dangling turns only to find myself on the other side with my hair windswept, my lipstick slightly messed-up and my joy for living more present than ever. I have learned a lot about my short-comings, things that make me human and things that I need to – want to – improve. I have learned that what makes me happy is subjective and may actually make another human being mental. I have discovered that only I can be me and cannot expect everyone else to do everything exactly the way I would do it. I have learned to believe in myself and to shrug-off my own self-doubt and insecurities and let my energy shine through. It has been a year of tremendous personal growth – I have felt the thrills of the big wave and the calm of the perfect sea. I would not change it for one moment. It has made me who I am and propelled me forward on this fantastic journey called life.

And this I call joie de vivre. It is a step toward experiencing the under-rated art of living. To taking in every experience, learning, growing, sharing, and feeling a sense of completeness in your journey. Knowing that there is always more but choosing not to project manage and plan every step. Instead, letting life come your way, feeling grateful for the people who love you and make you better and always knowing that, around the next turn, there is something new to learn.

Share/Bookmark

I was looking at the upcoming local events at Rue La La and I had some ideas.

Join me on Rue!

First off, I must start by saying that Rue La La, or “Rue” as I call it among friends, is my favorite private sale site. Hands down. I love the exclusive feeling of “members only”, rewards for inviting friends and amazing brands, the fantastic copywriting (I am a sucker for great writing style). As I looked at the site today today and had my big idea for Rue La La, I went to my blog and started writing. I tried to find the Rue blog so I could link to it from my blog. I searched all over the Rue site – seriously all over – and didn’t see the word “Blog.” Call me a simple girl, but I call ‘em like I see ‘em. So, I started clicking on links and found “About Rue La La” is the blog. Huh. Not really what I expected. I expected the “About” page to tell me, well, about the company from a business perspective: Mission statement (which they have, well done), Team page (lots of ideas here on how to expose the super-talented team members who make it all happen), Investors (where da cash at), Press (who’s been talking them up), News (what’s happening in the industry). Now that’s an About page. Instead, the About was more like the “Account” page. <end rant> But, the good news is that they have a blog – a great blog – and it is so much of the “About” so I see why they made it the About.

So, I guess there’s are two ideas.

Second idea happened as I was watching last night’s Bruins game and they won in OT. Nice! And was thinking that it would be really cool if Rue had more local sporting events. I used to work for a Kraft Group company and was thinking about maybe a luxe offering – two tickets club-level to a Pat’s game, Sox, Celts, B’s. I know Rue has a local sports offering but when I looked up the upcoming events, there was only one sports event – World Series tixs. Hm, and Boston is out of the running! I would totally be in for a special sports events package. I also think about how Rue can attract more men to the site and believe that women would buy packages like that as gifts for the men in their lives for bday gifts, holidays and a special night out. Maybe even add in sports charity events – I love stuff that’s a great cause and something I love.

The amazing Marybeth Fratus, survivor and model - pretty in pink.

And then I was thinking about my Catwalk for a Cure event last week. And I was thinking about the photos I took from the end of the runway (so honored) and about the strong survivors who came out and showed their spirit. And the amazing designers who shared their passion and joy and created passion and joy. My friends were there to support me, to support the local Boston fashion scene and the  survivors who brought their pride, passion and strength and lit-up the runway. And I thought, next year, I need to talk to Rue La La about participating in the event. It’s a perfect match – two creative companies with aligned passions – fantastic experiences and amazing fashion. Rue, we’d love to have you help us next year!

So, I guess that’s three ideas and it’s only noon on Sunday:) See what happens when I have charisma to spare?

What say you, Rue?

Share/Bookmark

Here’s what we did.

I got the team together, including our designer who is a shared resource for other parts of the organization. Each person got a stack of index cards in a particular color (mine are pink, how fitting:). We spent 5 minutes writing down all of the projects we are each working on and then we organized them on a tackboard by person. Once that was done, we started running down the list person by person and prioritizing the work. Quickly, we recognized the benefit of doing this as a priority for our designer was not on his list because he was waiting for info from another team member. A new index card was added to the designer’s list and he now had his top priority for the week. We worked together to identify what is hot fiyah and what is not and gained alignment on the priorities for the week.

In the world of Scrum, it’s the Scrum Leader’s job to ensure there are no roadblocks and to minimize distractions. Sounds like a good job for me. The new process will give my CEO full visibility into everything we are working on and he will need to work with me to reprioritize or add/change requirements (I’m on to you, Dave). We spent about 45 minutes going through each project to make sure everyone understood the requirements and then we prioritized and aligned priorities across the team given high interdependence on other resources to get stuff done.

Another benefit – you quickly see who is over tasked and who has capacity. Our brandy new intern had just two things on his list. (Poor kid started on Friday!) Man, that changed fast. We were able to reprioritize projects on other team members’ lists and give those to the intern, thus freeing up other resources to complete the higher priority projects.

So, overall, a great start to Day 1.

Time spent scrumming: 60 minutes

Projects prioritized: 35

Number of index cards used: 64

Number of lives saved by having a process that creates organization and priority: 5

Stay tuned as I’ll give you an update next week to see what else we’ve uncovered as efficiencies and how we are using Scrum to make our team more effective. Are you using a Scrum process in your Marketing department? Would love to hear your experience!

Share/Bookmark

So I call probably once a week, give or take, to order dinner. Every time it’s a different girl – no joke. Every time she very nicely asks me my name. My address. My phone number. My order. Every time I tell her this information. Over and over and over. You with me?

Photo courtesy jmorganmarketing.com

Imagine if the next time I called, she asked me for my phone number. Then she looked up my name. My address. My order. Then she could say: “Michelle, same order as last time?” and I could say: “Yes.” She could say: “See you in 20 minutes” and I could say: “Bye.” Time that call. 30 seconds. Time the first call. I’ve timed it: 3 minutes (sometimes more like 5.)

The great thing for Sakurabana is that I keep calling back because the sushi is so damn good. Which is why I think about how much better the service and operational costs would be if they just made that simple change.

First, who doesn’t like to be remembered? Norm! Know my name, know what I like – make it super easy for me. Please? I will tell all my friends and sing your praises. Second, think about the operational costs. I’ve been to this restaurant in person. It’s a decent sized restaurant for a sushi joint but there are only a few servers and they are probably manning the phone too. So, whoever is on that night gets my call. What if the staff were trained to use an iPad to enter the orders? You only need 3 at $450ish – (fuzzy math): $1350. Monitor for the kitchen: $250. Maybe some small cost for the order entry app. Say you need 3 of those at $100 a year – (more math): $300. Wireless network: call it $400 w modem, router and cables. Total cost to the business: $2300. My gut tells me they would cover this cost in one night of sales. So, one night of sales in return for a a far more efficient serving staff, a much better customer experience and, I would bet, more orders and customers (ah, revenue.)

“The easier you can make it. The fewer steps involved. The better the service,” a friend of mine always says, is the key to great service. My friend, I concur.

Share/Bookmark

I put babes in videos and babes in a trade show booth and I don’t regret it for one minute.

Great, now we’ve got that over with, let me explain.

There are times in the life of a brand where you’ve gotta get scrappy. You know – no budget, no one knows who the heck you are, you have to spell your company’s name s l o w l y and fight the uphill battle of spending on brand awareness versus spending on lead gen/conversion. In this scenario, most marketers are willing to do one of two things.

Thing One: Wait it out. Use the traditional means of marketing, advertising, PR and whatever other tools they have in that fancy bag of tricks. Then, cross their fingers that the marketing programs will eventually work and people will start to know the brand and buy something.

Thing Two: Take a risk. This is where I add the “don’t try this at home” disclaimer as this isn’t for everyone. Taking a risk is just that – a calculated bet that the aggressive programs you run will leapfrog the wait it out approach. It does not always happen this way. In my case it did and here’s why.

The risk I took was to feature beautiful women in a variety of settings for a marketing campaign before we launched our product. I took the Take A Risk approach, if you didn’t catch that. My friends and marketing cohorts said, “How can you exploit women like that? You’re a chick?!” But, I am a Marketing Chick and maniacally focused on programs that will grow our business. And sometimes you need to pull out all the stops to make it happen. My company was in a cluttered space – big big companies with deep deep pockets all around us gobbling up every eyeball I so desperately tried to capture. I couldn’t buy enough advertising to tell our story or enough paid programs to make a difference. Our target audience was male and, let’s face it, guys like hot chicks. Hey, even I appreciate hot chicks. I thought that because our brand was different than all the other muckety mucks with the deep pockets, we should do something they would never do – use hot chicks to promote our brand. Different.

The critics might say, what does some randomly cast hot chick know about your product? The answer: nothing. But that’s not the point. I recently read an article by Christine Crandell about the ROI of booth babes and it spurred me to write this post. I agree with Christine’s position that dressing your product in a french maid’s outfit and sending it off to ‘sell’ is rather outrageous and, in my opinion, tasteless and a waste of marketing dollars. But, I do think that there’s a time and place for some brand sauce – you know a way to shake things up a bit, give the potential buyer something unexpected and do it in a tasteful way. The ‘butt-shaker’ videos, as they have been coined, did exactly what I needed them to do. They created a buzz. They created an aspiration for our potential customer (99.9% male) to achieve. They explained the product in a simple way and with a clever, unexpected hook. They caused a bit of a commotion that resulted in over a half a million views on You Tube for just one of the videos in the series. They were conceived with a strategy, a pithy pitch, a catchy hook, a top-notch video production crew and stellar execution. The result was a home run in breaking through the clutter and appealing to our audience. The video series increased leads, brand name recognition and credibility – believe it or not, customers loved that we were willing to do something different.

Now, the booth babes. So, we go to Vegas and it’s our ‘break-out’ show. I put two lovely girls – twins in fact – in jeans and a custom-made tank top. No boobs hanging out. No glitter bikinis. Fun yet tasteful. They knew enough about the product to attract peoples’ attention and did an excellent job mingling with our booth traffic.

Would I do it again then: yes.

Would I do it now: no.

Why? It played a very particular role for a particular time in our brand’s evolution. I go to these shows every few months and see the same companies with the same shtick. Booth babes and give aways and I think…really? Is that all you’ve got?

Part of being a good marketer is transforming your brand little by little. Innovating. Creating. Differentiating. The same old same old is too predictable. People like being surprised and delighted. I believe that brands and babes can live together in harmony if, and only if, they serve a very specific purpose. I also believe that it gets played out fast, so if that’s all you’ve got in your bag of tricks, you better stop at the trick store for some new ideas.

Share/Bookmark

When cable came down our street, my parents decided that not everyone in the house needed cable and that, apparently, since they paid the bills, only they did. So the crappy 15″ tv with the rabbit ears that adorned their bedroom bureau was outfitted with a cable box and remote. Along with a strict warning NOT to go in their room to watch tv. A kid’s dream come true.

via Wikipedia

I remember running home from the bus stop, turning on the tv and sitting mesmerized on their bed watching “Video Killed the Radio Star” for the first time. I was completely hooked. Duran Duran, Thompson Twins, Depeche Mode, Madonna, Billy Idol…the list goes on. Watching the songs I listened to on my boom box come to life on the (small) screen.

Then I heard my mom’s car come down the driveway and off went the tv, smoothed out the bed spread, lights off and back in my room doing my homework and dreaming of My MTV.

What was your first MTV experience?

#nostalgic #videodidkilltheradiostar

Share/Bookmark