By Posted on Posted in Customer Service as Marketing, General Commentary, Uncategorized

On the same day I wrote about how a certain electronics company actually threw away the money I already spent with them, I got a mailing from Verizon–a glitzy thing, custom paper size, elegantly designed, a self-mailer with two folds.

This mailing was properly targeted: the right issue, the right offer, to the right audience. It discusses changes in the way secure URLs are handled on the Web, and I (as the owner of several e-commerce websites) am exactly the person who should be receiving this. There’s an offer of a free White Paper, very good–and even a sweetener with some urgency: a free MP3 player for the first 100 respondents. That actually got it out of the low priority, do whenever pile and into the do right now, since I must be the last person in Massachusetts without an iPod.

So what’s the problem? This company spent some substantial chunk of money to bring me to the site, actually overcame my substantial sales resistance–and what happened when I got there? I entered the URL–and what did I get?

We’re sorry….
We are not able to process your request. To continue, please select
one of the following options:

* Return to the previous page.
* View the verizon.com site map.
* Go to the verizon.com home page

Sure am glad it’s not my money being squandered!

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By Posted on Posted in Customer Service as Marketing, General Commentary, Uncategorized

Yesterday, I went to the store and bought a new Internet router. And then I tried to set it up.

It said on the software CD that if you run a non-Windows computer (I use a Mac), double-click on a certain file. The file opened in my Internet (but from the CD). However, I tried three different browsers. All I got was a blank colored panel in Firefox, a complete blank in Internet Explorer, and a small question mark in the middle of my Safari page.

So off I went to the website to see if I could download the driver. I identified the product I’d bought and hunted unsuccessfully for the Mac driver. I did find a note that the Mac operating system is in fact supported, so that’s good.

Since I couldn’t find it, I tried to contact support. the contact page had no phone number or e-address, only a webform. So I filled in all my requested information, laboriously typed in the serial number, and tried to register–and got told to enter a valid serial number.

Worse, the page had reverted to blank; I was able to retrieve my filled out form only by hitting the Back button several times. Otherwise, I would have had to select the product and add all the data again.

My number had characters that could have been either zero or the letter O, so I tried switching one of the Os to a zero. No dice.

Guess what product I’ll be returning on my next trip to town. And guess what company has been permanently crossed off my vendor list (OK, so I’m not naming them here.)

Keep in mind, this was a completed sale. They had my money. All they had to do was make themselves available to give me a two minute explanation of how to set up the product and they’d have had a very happy customer. Instead, they’re toast in my mind.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: user experience counts far more toward the customer’s perception of the brand than all the logos, ads, and slogans in the world.

Want examples of companies that do it right? My book, Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First, offers several chapters that explore this idea.

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By Posted on Posted in Business Ethics, Marketing Trends/News, Uncategorized

I just posted,

Within 12 hours, I read two newsletters with deeply disturbing stories–one about the media, and the other in the retail world. Both of them made me want to jump out with a big protest sign that says “Ethics are Important…Ethics are Profitable!”–but in both cases, I’d have rather too many targets to picket effectively.

So what’s the other story? Roy H. Williams, in his Monday Morning Memo (another favorite of mine despite its weak title–consistently provocative and visionary) talks about “the cashier con,” where offers turn out not to be as they were presented.

His examples include a computer clerk who offered a cheap software upgrade–without disclosing that it involved filing for a manufacturer’s rebate…and an oil change franchise that flat-out lied when Roy started the interaction by asking if they do state inspections.

I agree wholeheartedly with Roy that these are short-sighted and stupid, as well as unethical. He says…

In the short run, these cashier cons are likely to elevate profits. But can you think of a faster way to grind away brand image and erode brand loyalty? I traded with these companies because I believed in them. And now I don’t anymore. I let them keep my money. But I did not let them keep my heart.

I share these stories with you only to alert you to the dangers of shallow, short-sighted marketing. Quicky-tricky profits often come at a terrible long-term price.

Personally, on the inspection sticker con, I would have demanded an immediate refund and filed a complaint with the state Attorney General. The outfit wasted half an hour of his time, did not deliver what was promised, and could have caused him to get an expensive ticket for an outdated sticker.

If your business delivers what it promises, gain the marketing advantage by signing the Business Ethics Pledge.

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By Posted on Posted in Business Ethics, Marketing Trends/News, Media Ethics, Uncategorized

First of Two Disturbing Trends: Paid News Placement

Within 12 hours, I read two newsletters with deeply disturbing stories–one about the media, and the other in the retail world. Both of them made me want to jump out with a big protest sign that says “Ethics are Important…Ethics are Profitable!”–but in both cases, I’d have rather too many targets to picket effectively.

Joan Stewart, in her excellent weekly e-zine, The Publicity Hound, writes that more and more media are taking the old concept of paid product placement (to which I’m not particularly opposed on the entertainment side) and extending it…to news stories. Unfortunately, I can’t find it on her site or on her blog.

Whoa, pardner! If people have to pay in order to get covered in the news, it’s not news anymore. And it means that what is news may be bounced in favor of the advertorial stuff. Not good! And yet it’s happening, and not just in small markets. her article cites examples of TV stations in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

KRON-TV Channel 4 in San Francisco, for example, once a well-respected
news operation, now offers “product integration fees” to people who want
to be included in news stories. In February, the station broadcast an
11-part “Spa Spectacular,” in which each featured spa paid a fee and
bought advertising. Anchors offered viewers a chance to buy half-price spa
certificates at the end of each segment.

Of course, this ties in with the related bad idea of airing Video News Releases (VNRs) and pretending they are the original work of the station. And the other important story about consolidation of print media, dismissal of long-time and highly competent reporters, etc., all around the country.

Time to get the bean counters out of media management, I say! Yes, a true news department is expensive–but it can be subsidized by the highly profitable mindless fluff that’s cheap to produce–or perhaps by small cuts in the outrageous compensation of media execs and on-air personalities. We don’t need personalities; we need news. News–do I really have to verbalize this?…

  • Keeps the politicians and corporations honest
  • Creates an informed citizenry that can bring public pressure for change
  • Generates a historical record that will show future historians a contemporaneous account of earth-shaking events as they unfold

    It’s bad enough that the news has been so dumbed down that for the most part, it’s doing a very poor job. Switching to a paid model will be the nail in the coffin, and we’ll have to get all our news from bloggers. Don’t get me wrong–bloggers are great. But there’s also an important, even crucial, role for the professional journalist. (See the post I just made on the Pulitzers.)

    Let’s reverse this trend!

    PS: If you believe as I do that ethics are not only important but contribute to profitabillity, I invite you to sign the Business Ethics Pledge.

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    By Posted on Posted in Events, Media Ethics, Uncategorized

    I first learned of the Pulitzers going to New Orleans and Biloxi’s newspapers for Katrina coverage (and heroism)from the blog on journalism published by Poynter.org. Some very human reportage of how the newspapers covered the floods.

    Nice to see something that makes me proud of my rather troubled profession–unlike the post I’m about to make.

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    By Posted on Posted in General Commentary, Marketing Trends/News, Media Ethics, Uncategorized

    1. My friend and colleague Denise O’Berry, down in Floria, was born to blog. She’s a natural-born connector and networker. I stopped counting the times I got mentioned in some relatively obscure publication and got a clip of the article postally mailed to me with a personal note and Denise’s business card–and this was loooong before I met her in person two years ago. So it shouldn’t surprise me that Denise has put together a wonderful directory of business blogs. Now I just need her to set up an ethics category so I don’t have to try to shoehorn my own blog into one of the existing categories, none of which are quite right for this hybrid beast I’ve created.

    2. More and more bloggers are functioning as journalists–but unlike professional journos, we are self-directed, in most cases have no direct supervision (e.g., a boss), and aren’t necessarily schooled in getting the story behind the story, knowing what’s true and what’s rumor, and how to behave responsibly. (Of course many bloggers do have journalism training and experience, including me–but many do not, and there have been consequences).

    Cyberjournalist.net has jumped into the breach with a Blogger’s Code of Ethics. I quote it in full here:

    Be Honest and Fair
    Bloggers should be honest and fair in gathering, reporting and interpreting information.
    Bloggers should:
    • Never plagiarize.
    • Identify and link to sources whenever feasible. The public is entitled to as much information as possible on sources’ reliability.
    • Make certain that Weblog entries, quotations, headlines, photos and all other content do not misrepresent. They should not oversimplify or highlight incidents out of context.
    • Never distort the content of photos without disclosing what has been changed. Image enhancement is only acceptable for for technical clarity. Label montages and photo illustrations.
    • Never publish information they know is inaccurate — and if publishing questionable information, make it clear it’s in doubt.
    • Distinguish between advocacy, commentary and factual information. Even advocacy writing and commentary should not misrepresent fact or context.
    • Distinguish factual information and commentary from advertising and shun hybrids that blur the lines between the two.

    Minimize Harm
    Ethical bloggers treat sources and subjects as human beings deserving of respect.
    Bloggers should:
    • Show compassion for those who may be affected adversely by Weblog content. Use special sensitivity when dealing with children and inexperienced sources or subjects.
    • Be sensitive when seeking or using interviews or photographs of those affected by tragedy or grief.
    • Recognize that gathering and reporting information may cause harm or discomfort. Pursuit of information is not a license for arrogance.
    • Recognize that private people have a greater right to control information about themselves than do public officials and others who seek power, influence or attention. Only an overriding public need can justify intrusion into anyone’s privacy.
    • Show good taste. Avoid pandering to lurid curiosity.
    Be cautious about identifying juvenile suspects, victims of sex crimes and criminal suspects before the formal filing of charges.

    Be Accountable
    Bloggers should:
    • Admit mistakes and correct them promptly.
    • Explain each Weblog’s mission and invite dialogue with the public over its content and the bloggers’ conduct.
    • Disclose conflicts of interest, affiliations, activities and personal agendas.
    • Deny favored treatment to advertisers and special interests and resist their pressure to influence content. When exceptions are made, disclose them fully to readers.
    • Be wary of sources offering information for favors. When accepting such information, disclose the favors.
    • Expose unethical practices of other bloggers.
    • Abide by the same high standards to which they hold others.

    As the moving force behind the Business Ethics Pledge, I welcome this, of course. Maybe some of the ethical bloggers will find their way to the Pledge.

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    By Posted on Posted in Business Ethics, General Commentary, Uncategorized

    A few quotes from Robert J. Shillman, Chairman and CEO of a phenomenally successful company, Cognex Corp. of Natick, Massachusetts–as interviewed in the April 10 Wall Street Journal by Joann S. Lublin.

    We never paid starting bonuses. It’s morally corrupt.

    The most important thing the package includes is a great place to work. [And] I am going to give you a bonus and options package that will hopefully make you a multimillionaire someday. If you are coming for the short term, I don’t want you here.

    The 15-year perseverance award is a trip for you and your spouse to one of the wonders of the world, like the Great Wall of China. All you do is show up. You get $1,000 in spending money and an extra week vacation.

    For 25 years’ service, we set up a charitable-gift account and make the employee the trustee. We put $25,000 in, and they can contribute it to any IRS-approved charity anytime in any amount. I want them to feel the joy of giving…How many people get to be a philanthropist? Most people never give away $25,000 in a lifetime. I care more about morale below the top.

    Remarkable from anyone. Particularly remarkable from the CEO of a very profitable technology company. The whole article is full of wonderful stuff about his attitude toward employee and executive compensation, and how his goal in starting the company was to make a difference in the world. It’s not just rhetoric, either. When he felt he had enough “toys” in his life–“So I’ve been able to go out and buy a big house, fast cars and some pieces of art. I also have donated more than $17.5 million worth of shares to charitable causes”–he stopped taking compensation and has his substantial package donated to charity.

    All I can say is “Wow!” and “Bravo!” Somehow I don’t think we’ll see him in court facing ethics violations changes any time soon.

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    By Posted on Posted in Business Ethics, Ethics in Government, General Commentary, Uncategorized

    How much more evidence to we need? Every time I turn around, it seems there’s another revelation about lies told to the American public by this corrupt and incompetent administration. Now, the Washington Post reports that the government knew all along that those two trailers it found in Iraq, and used to belatedly justify the invasion, had nothing to do with biological weapons production.

    If ever there was an argument to be made for a parliamentary style of government, where a crisis forces new elections, it would be this administration. With its lies, its finger pointing, its illegal and thuggish tactics (can you say “Valerie Plame”? It seems that GWB can and did when he gave the authorization to blow her cover, according to Scooter Libby), and its very scary politics, this administration has been an ethical and moral disgrace from the get-go.

    What kind of scary politics?

  • Going to war without justification
  • Stonewalling the 9/11 Commission
  • Rushing through legislation, like the Patriot Act, that is a direct threat to freedom and democracy
  • Illegally spying on its own citizens, and then trying to make it legal after the fact when it got caught
  • Overturning so much of the progress made on environmental and social issues over the past fifty years
  • Oh, and let’s not forget the deliberate decisions to let New Orleaneans face their flooding city without meaningful assistance, and then to repeatedly deny that they had days of warning and chose to do nothing

    • And we won’t even discuss the whole passel of personal enrichment scandals that taint so many Bush allies

    Enough is enough, already. We don’t have a parliamentary democracy here–but we do have an impeachment process. It is time to impeach both GWB and Cheney.

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    By Posted on Posted in Business Ethics, Ethics in Government, Uncategorized

    I do find it interesting that there’s so much attention to Bird Flu these days on the part of the government. Especially with all the news stories breaking out (82,600 of them) about Donald Rumsfeld’s extremely lucrative connection with the company that developed it. Rumsfeld has never impressed me as being particularly concerned about human life–certainly not in Iraq–or about doing the right thing (he seems remarkably unconcerned about the torture of prisoners that has occurred on his watch).

    But he took quite a bit of stock in Tamiflu developer Gilead Sciences when he left his position as Board Chairman to take his current job in the Bush cabinet. The stock had appreciated to $30 million worth, so he sold off some shares and took a $5 million capital gain.

    In this administration, one does have to ask if it’s a coincidence that this firm gets to develop the virus drug and sell it to the government.

    And I further submit that this gang of rich rogues is completely out of touch with the needs of working Americans who don’t have a few extra million around with which to wheel and deal.

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    By Posted on Posted in Business Ethics, Ethics in Government, Ethics-International, Uncategorized

    Why do these people think for a moment that they can pull this crap and not get caught? Once again, we see proof that unethical behavior not only gives you a guilty conscience, but when (not if) you get caught, it’ll blow up in your face. Even if it doesn’t seem to be working in the scandal-ridden US government at the moment, it will. Meanwhile, Japan’s opposition party has just shot itself in the foot, big time, by faking an e-mail alleging connection to a corporation under investigation.

    Party leader Seiji Maehara and his lieutenants stepped down after the party’s credibility was torpedoed by one of its own lawmakers, who used a fraudulent e-mail in an apparent attempt to discredit Koizumi’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

    The funny thing is I’m sure they could have found some real dirt–no need to make any up. then the scandal would have played their way.

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