When I was a newspaper reporter, I had 2-3 bylines every day. In more recent years, my work tends to go uncredited or, when I ghost write, credited to someone else. So I was pleasantly surprised when I was prompted for a bio after writing an article for MSN Lifestyle. It’s part of a holiday package on The Evolution of Shopping:
I write so much about technology, I had forgotten how much fun it is to do a feature article!
We recently launched a podcast for our gaming blog, and it’s made a real difference in my public speaking. I joined Toastmasters years ago, and while it’s a great tool for some and definitely wins out in the social department, it never cured me of my ums and ahs.
But after three weeks of podcasting, they’re nearly gone. The key here is to edit the podcast yourself. Every speaking stutter during recording is one more edit you’ll have to make later. You’ll also get a really good sense of what your voice sounds like to others and how fast or slow you tend to talk, in case you need to make adjustments there too.
If you want to get started podcasting, here are the basic tools you’ll need:
That’ll get you started. Record something every week and see if your public speaking improves. I bet it does!
For the types of projects I do, I generally need to keep up with the latest technology. That, and the fact that I’m the early adopter type, led me to pick up Windows 7 Ultimate last week. I have three licenses, but initially installed it only on my secondary laptop – a two-year-old Alienware machine I bought when I started my consulting business back in early 2007.
I do like to play it safe, so I attempted to run the Upgrade Advisor program to confirm that my laptop would do well with Windows 7. Due to a glitch with my Vista system, I was advised that the Windows Installer had failed and that I should contact my “support personnel” for assistance. Uh, that would be ME.
I figured I would be OK with my relatively recent machine, so I took the plunge. After awhile, I returned to find that the Windows 7 install had failed due to remnants of Kaspersky antivirus software that I was sure I had uninstalled at least a year ago. After several failed attempts to uninstall it (resulting in that same message to contact myself for help), I found that most antivirus software companies have removal tools – and Kaspersky was no exception. (Get their removal tool is here.)
That did the trick. The rest of the install was smooth sailing, though it did take the better part of 6 hours to run since I chose the option to upgrade rather than wipe out my hard drive and perform a clean install. It was my hope that doing so would preserve the many licensed programs I had downloaded from Giveawayoftheday.com – but the track record here was a mixed bag. Some of the software does still work fine, but other programs have reverted to 30-day trials or require immediate purchase to be functional.
Most notable among these programs whose licenses did NOT survive the Windows 7 upgrade is Macrium Reflect, backup software I liked so much that I later bought licenses for two additional computers. Windows 7 Ultimate (along with other versions, including Pro) offers built-in backup software that can save files and a recovery image to a network drive, but I’m concerned that it states it won’t backup my installed programs – which would necessitate reinstalls should I ever need to restore from backup. No thanks. I’ll just shell out for another Macrium Reflect license.
Overall, my limited experience with Windows 7 is that it’s much zippier and programs seem to load much faster. My two-year-old machine now seems much quicker than I recall after spending a year on a newer, higher-powered primary laptop.
I’m not quite ready to upgrade our day-to-day work computers to Windows 7 (in part because our projects may require us to use Vista for at least another week or so), but now I am rather looking forward to it.
On a flight this weekend, I finally got to catch up on some magazines. In the Sept. 21 New York cover story, Neil Patrick Harris admits to a different method of acting that, quite frankly, reminded me of my own customer experience exercises that I’ve dubbed “The Lunchbox Method.”
Most actors try to get inside their character’s head and may even alter their physical appearance to match (think Robert DeNiro in Raging Bull). Not NPH. He works “from the outside in”:
When we were filming Dr. Horrible, I was imagining watching it in my living room. When I’m co-hosting with Kelly Ripa, I’m not thinking Neil the Actor. I’m thinking, Housewife, ironing clothes, 11 o’clock. What kind of thing does she want to see?
This floored me. I’ve studied cinema and acting for much of my life (as a hobby, mostly) and never heard of this self-visualization technique. What he’s really doing is thinking of his audience members and what they’d respond to. And then packing a performance with them in mind.
Considering his success, I’d say it’s working for him.
We continue our samples of work for The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with profiles we wrote for the Living Proof Project that just launched with a large publicity campaign (we previously contributed a Rotary International profile). These Living Proof profiles detail five organizations and the success they have had combating various health concerns worldwide:
Jacqui did all but the GAIN article, but we wrote in the same voice and edited each other’s work. We have more work for The Gates Foundation in the pipeline.
For some reason, relating the work I do to the customer’s experience of it comes naturally to me. I think it’s because I’m empathetic, which in high school made me pathetic but now, as an adult, it’s a job skill! I just instinctively look at a particular deliverable (be it a site, article or tool) and think, “How is the target end user going to experience this?”
I recognize that it’s not easy for everyone to put themselves into their customer’s place, so I developed a little exercise that I think might help. I call it the Lunchbox Method.
Have you ever made a lunch for a child or significant other? There are a number of ways to approach this seemingly simple task.
To meet the requirements of providing a lunch without much thought or effort, you could simply provide money or a debit card to buy whatever he or she wants. This is akin to being the CEO of a company: You decide to fund this “lunch thing” and don’t put any real thought or effort into it except to ensure the money’s there when it’s needed.
Moving beyond simply being a funder, you could assemble a perfunctory meal by grabbing some food from the pantry and/or refrigerator and tossing it in a bag. You’ve met the requirements of a lunch, but did you check to see whether the foods go well together? Are they part of a balanced diet, or will your loved one have a post-lunch sugar tirade followed by a late afternoon crash? Is there enough food to satisfy the recipient’s hunger?
At this level, you’re working as the project manager – trying to write a spec or plan for a healthy, filling lunch. To consider the customer experience, you must go even deeper. So you put together a good lunch – and there’s plenty of it – but does your loved one even like the foods you’re including? Have any of these selections previously met with disapproval at dinner time or returned home in lunch bags past only barely touched? Here you start considering customer data. This is akin to customer experience in that you are starting to focus on other people’s likes and dislikes (and not your own individual preferences and peeves). But you can still go deeper.
Now let’s look at how the food will be consumed. This is the heart of customer experience, because you are actually opening the bag in your mind and imagining how it will be consumed at lunch time. Does the food require a fork or a spoon to consume? Is it messy? If so, add any necessary cutlery and perhaps an extra napkin or two. Are there hot and cold foods included, such as a thermos of soup and a frosty beverage? If so, maybe you need two bags or a lunchbag with separate hot and cold compartments.
Let’s take it a step further. You want to delight your customer, right? (Especially since, in this exercise, it’s someone you personally know and love!) How about a special treat like a favorite homemade snack or even some leftover Easter or Halloween candy and a small personal note. When your family member opens her lunch bag, you want her face to light up – especially if she’s been very good and you’re overdue to reward her for some great behavior or a thoughtful gesture.
Finally, after the day is done, look at the remains to see how much of each food came back (objective data) and ask your customer what they thought (subjective data). Customer focus is not a one-time reality check you conduct at the end of a project, it should be an iterative process that you apply every step of the way. You need to validate your assumptions and course correct when you find you’ve diverged from a particular customer base’s needs.
Keep in mind that your customers’ tastes may change over time, as anyone with a 6-year-old can attest. The same is especially true on the Internet, where likes and dislikes evolve with every passing meme. And naturally, every project is different so consider differences in customer segments, though at the most basic level just thinking about how someone other than you approaches a particular thing is a step in the right direction.
Food for thought, I hope.
I spent several years refining the art and science of the home page headline at Microsoft.com. Some of these approaches may seem commonplace today, but they were quite original at the time they were published. These are just a few of the many thousands of headlines that I wrote:
   
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The key to good headline writing is to have a clear call to action in mind, the more immediate the better! Then think about what the customer wants to get out of the transaction. This generally requires both research (I often spoke to key players to gain insight) and customer empathy (really get inside a particular audience’s head).
You may write a dozen headlines that you toss out before you hit that winning concept. It’s also important to track clickthrough data (and, if you can, end actions) to see what performs well and analyze why. This feeds a cycle that can really improve your headline writing over time, particularly if you’re addressing multiple audience segments – as I was here. Over time, I really learned what each segment responded to and used that to shape my headlines.
For me, Windows Vista has been pretty solid. Apart from a few early hiccups, most of which were actually issues with laptop hardware, I’ve been pretty happy with it. I haven’t looked into the particulars of Windows 7 yet (being pretty busy in the here and now) but I’ve heard that it is miles better.
There are a few lingering issues that trip me up pretty much every day. If Windows 7 solves these, I’ll be very happy and even more productive:
I’ll pick up Windows 7 soon after it comes out, but wondered if these sorts of things have been addressed. What about you, any Windows peeves that you’re hoping will finally get fixed this year?
This is a tale about customer loyalty, and just how easy it is for one person to screw it up.
Car salesmen have a reputation for being slightly below pond scum on the evolutionary scale. I know this to be true, having encountered many sub-evolutionary beings while car shopping in Texas. The bar has been set so low that just one good experience can win customers for life – or until someone else screws it up.
Dave and I were loyal Saturn customers for more than a decade. The marketing focused on “A different Car Company” and car buying experience. Sales people were salaried, prices were fixed and the cars were decent compact family cars.
We first encountered Saturn in New Jersey, one week prior to a cross-country move. We had recently sold a second car and were preparing to move in a Pontiac Sunbird. Perhaps it should have been a Firebird, as catching fire is exactly what it did less than a week before the movers arrived.
Jobless, carless and soon to be homeless we took a leap of faith and went to Saturn. After practically blubbering in the salesman’s office, he sold us a battered but functional Saturn at cost and wished us well on our trip.
That simple act of mercy earned our loyalty and repeat business. You may remember the ad campaign that ended, “They’re Saturn People.” We were. We bought two more Saturns within five years, and used the dealership exclusively for maintenance. We fully expected to buy two more Saturns to replace them. But by the time we were ready for Saturn #4, the company we knew and loved was gone.
Technically, Saturn still existed – but General Motors had changed everything that made Saturn well, Saturn. The cars had expanded into gas-guzzling road hogs, and the prices rose to match. Finding out that GM killed the original electric car, a Saturn, was the last straw. Our faith was gone, and so was our loyalty. We decided to buy a Prius.
Having been Toyota shopping with others as a child, I frankly dreaded going to the dealer. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the company also had the “no dicker sticker” price tag, a major selling point for Saturn in the past. Plus we were generally treated well by the dealership, Toyota of Burien. The salesman did not have the ease or panache of a Saturn person, but we were content enough to buy a service plan and commit to a 30+ minute drive south for maintenance visits.
Which brings me back to Saturn. My current car is the last of our Saturns, and I’ve been reluctant to turn it around for many reasons. And until recently, I was happy to be one of the last Saturn People standing – even if my loyalties were leaning towards Dave’s Prius. I’ve known for a while that my next car would be a Prius. It wasn’t a matter of if, but when. A series of very expensive mechanical failures made the “when” decision for me.
On Friday, I finally decided it was time. We made financing arrangements and plans to shop on Sunday. I checked around all the Toyota dealer sites, and determined that Toyota of Burien, where we bought Dave’s car, was the only one with Priuses (Prii?) in stock. Having a history with the dealership made it the easiest choice to make all weekend. Dave called down to ask a few questions related to the down payment, and mentioned we’d be there on Sunday to look at Priuses.
On Sunday, we sacrificed our beloved sleep-in day to get to Toyota of Burien early. Our goal was to be wrapped up in time to drive my new Prius to lunch. Upon arrival, we found the place empty – but a receptionist rounded up a sales person quickly. We informed him we were in the market for a Prius, and he escorted us to the lot.
The Prius was locked, and the salesman went inside to get the keys. While he was gone, we determined that I really didn’t need to test drive a generic model, I just wanted to see the stock. The salesman returned and we asked to see the available stock. He blanched and told us that they don’t have any available, but we can test drive the model.
I brought up the Web site, and asked where all the cars were. He began talking about various government incentives (legitimate) but failed to answer the question: Why did you say you have them in stock if you don’t? I finally asked him to leave us alone so we could chat. The salesman literally ran into the building.
Before we could escape, the salesman and his manager came out. I reiterated that we had traveled a long way, and wished they had told us they didn’t have cars on the lot. His answer: Dave talked to Finance, they don’t know anything. Okay, fine. Perhaps you should tell the webmaster? He also brought up the tax incentives, which were driving business. Understandable, but again, I feel lied to here. Finally, he mentioned that there was a waiting list of 160 people.
We left.
As Dave drove, I called another dealership, Bob Bridge Toyota just down the road in Renton and reached a salesman named Dale. I asked him if they had any Priuses in stock. He good-naturedly responded, “Nope,” and asked if I was trying to beat the tax incentive deadline of July 31. Because if I was, he noted, I should try another dealership. If not, he thought he could have something in 2-3 weeks, depending on my needs.
I told him we’d be there in 10 minutes.
We spent about an hour with Dale going through everything from financing to timing issues. He answered every single question correctly, and even suggested an interior color that hides dirt while smiling at our grubby 6-year-old son. The dealership also gave our trade-in Saturn a once over in record time, saving us time later. We put a deposit down and headed across the street in time for lunch.
Based on the service we received today, we’ll be taking my new Prius back to Bob Bridge for service – and yes, it’s still about a half hour or so away from home – and we might be taking Dave’s there, too. Why? Because they were fast, efficient and honest. They didn’t waste my time and they didn’t play games. The salesman was confident and ready to lose the sale if it would benefit the customer. (At least, he allowed me to believe that.) And the only time he got his manager was when I asked him to – so I could compliment his work.
Today officially ends our time as Saturn People and reinforced our customer loyalty to Toyota – specifically, Bob Bridge. Because in the end, it only takes one bad customer experience to screw it up for everyone, be it a personal interaction or changing the brand so radically your customers no longer recognize it.
It’s too bad GM never learned that lesson.
