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Sunday, August 30, 2009
Friday, August 21, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Recommendation syste
Recommendation systems are great but here’s one that would never work - new blog post - http://htxt.it/5utV
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
The Dark Side of Twitter
I have been ‘Tweeting’ for nearly a year. It has been an interesting experiment and I have blogged more than a couple of times about what I am experiencing on Twitter. I still ask myself if and how Twitter.com can be used by our agency and our clients as a business application (there are a few examples where I think it works).
The seemingly greatest impact is the social aspect of disseminating information in real time. Events like the shootings in Mumbai, India in 2008 and the current upheaval in Iran were and are well-chronicled in the form of real time tweets. In India it gave the world its first knowledge of the terrible carnage as it occurred and in Iran it has become a way for the world to see what is really going on inside that troubled country.
When I started on Twitter the community appeared to be primarily composed of marketers, news agents and those interested and willing to share information in the form of links and pithy sayings. Then it evolved to become an environment with many people ready to show you how to make money on Twitter – to dominate and blow everyone else out of the water. Such joy! More recently I am seeing Twitter being used to promote pornographic photos (I have some new followers like Amber who wants to share things). Twitter is pretty good about shutting down inappropriate content but the tide is rising so fast that I think the wave may inundate the Twitter universe.
Like the early days of the internet there are Twitter squatters and all kinds of misrepresentation. Just yesterday Biz Stone (Twitter’s founder) acknowledged that Twitter is attempting to come up with a 24 hour response time to protestations about misuse of Twitter names. The Real Shaq has emulators who are all fake Shaq’s. Twitter is also working on a verification system which they say should be released shortly – and none too soon.
All this and there still is no model for Twitter to monetize what it is doing. Combine that with a universe of would-be ‘Twitter marketers’ that for the most part offer nothing much at all and I can easily envision Twitter entering an impending death spiral.
Twitter can be useful and even cool. But unless things change quickly the dark side may well soon overshadow and consume its universe and force it into a black hole.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Respect my time!
I have spent the better part of my professional career reaching out to prospective customers so I like to think I have a pretty good feel for what works and what does not. Back in the day (this is a relatively recent expression that has become seemingly ubiquitous but I always wonder why?) when I was a young sales guy there were secretaries, assistants and other gatekeepers. Also when I started working there were no individual computers on people’s desks. The old-fashioned letter and the telephone were the primary ways to reach a new prospect.
I heard some of the great excuses about why a prospect could not speak to me. One of the best was when I asked to speak to Mr. Smith the assistant/secretary responded ‘He’s in his office but he’s out of the office.’ Apparently Mr. Smith was a really tricky guy. I knew I needed to refine my approach and did.
Today I am the guy on the other end of the phone when someone calls looking to sell me something or get me to do something. So I respect and respond to a professional and even creative approach. Sadly those approaches are too few and far between.
I don’t have an assistant or (gasp!) a secretary. I never have. I rarely screen my calls. So while I am difficult to reach because of my travel and schedule I do pick up the phone quite regularly having no idea who is on the other end. I have an idea that many people that call me, once they go into voice mail they bail out.
A short summary on the types of cold calls I receive:
1)The young stockbroker - either they call and ask me to hold for someone else(I
hang up), or my first name is uttered and the broker goes right into his pitch(I
hang up).
2)Someone claiming to know a buyer who is buying businesses similar to mine. I simply ask them what my company does. They never seem to know (I hang up).
3)Other ‘professionals’ try to sell me some product or service. If I am not
asked if this a good time or not I give them 10 seconds, then I hang up.
I am hardly averse to be contacted by phone, email or postal or other mail. But keep in mind I may have absolutely no need or desire for your product or service. Ask me if I have a moment to speak or not – more often I will say no but that is a ticket to calling me back at some future date.
Don’t expect me to call you back after you have left me a voice mail in which you did not identify your company or what you calling about. In that instance I NEVER WILL CALL YOU BACK. EVER.
Do – send me a letter suggesting that you will contact me to discuss something you know is relevant to our business.
It’s not that hard folks – just respect the other person’s time.
I heard some of the great excuses about why a prospect could not speak to me. One of the best was when I asked to speak to Mr. Smith the assistant/secretary responded ‘He’s in his office but he’s out of the office.’ Apparently Mr. Smith was a really tricky guy. I knew I needed to refine my approach and did.
Today I am the guy on the other end of the phone when someone calls looking to sell me something or get me to do something. So I respect and respond to a professional and even creative approach. Sadly those approaches are too few and far between.
I don’t have an assistant or (gasp!) a secretary. I never have. I rarely screen my calls. So while I am difficult to reach because of my travel and schedule I do pick up the phone quite regularly having no idea who is on the other end. I have an idea that many people that call me, once they go into voice mail they bail out.
A short summary on the types of cold calls I receive:
1)The young stockbroker - either they call and ask me to hold for someone else(I
hang up), or my first name is uttered and the broker goes right into his pitch(I
hang up).
2)Someone claiming to know a buyer who is buying businesses similar to mine. I simply ask them what my company does. They never seem to know (I hang up).
3)Other ‘professionals’ try to sell me some product or service. If I am not
asked if this a good time or not I give them 10 seconds, then I hang up.
I am hardly averse to be contacted by phone, email or postal or other mail. But keep in mind I may have absolutely no need or desire for your product or service. Ask me if I have a moment to speak or not – more often I will say no but that is a ticket to calling me back at some future date.
Don’t expect me to call you back after you have left me a voice mail in which you did not identify your company or what you calling about. In that instance I NEVER WILL CALL YOU BACK. EVER.
Do – send me a letter suggesting that you will contact me to discuss something you know is relevant to our business.
It’s not that hard folks – just respect the other person’s time.
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