St. Louis County Putting Kids First: Please Vote Yes
With the presidential election just a few weeks away and the candidates continuing to make their cases that the other guy is bad (or worse) versus telling us why we should feel good about voting for them, it is good to know that there is something on the ballot in St. Louis County that one can feel good about voting for: Proposition 1.
Proposition 1 calls for a 1/4 cent sales tax to be used for providing necessary mental health services and substance abuse prevention to children in St. Louis County, Mo. It is on the ballot this November due to a bi-partisan collaborative campaign initiated by non-profits serving children and families in St. Louis County.
An assessment done in Spring 2007 ( 2007-st-louis-county-needs-assessment-1) revealed the extent of the unmet needs resulting from the decline in services resulting from continuing budget cuts for mental health and prevention services such as:
- More than 12,000 St. Louis County children and youth in need of services were going without help!
- Over 151,000 children and youth were not receiving beneficial school-based prevention programs.
- Nearly half a million lives are negatively impacted by the unmet mental health and substance abuse needs in the St Louis County area.
It will appear on the ballot as: “St. Louis County shall, solely for the purpose of establishing a community children’s services fund for the purpose of providing services to protect the well-being and safety of children and youth nineteen years of age or less and to strengthen families, be authorized to levy a sales tax of one-quarter of a cent in the County of St. Louis.”
When you see it on your ballot, St. Louis County, vote YES!
Thanks to Kathleen Buescher, President and CEO of Provident, Inc for making me aware of this.
Father’s Day
I lost my mother on May 24th at 96 and although I started a blog post about her shortly before she passed away, I have not yet gone back to finish it. Most likely that represents some psychological process somewhere between denial and the “magical thinking” found in Joan Didion’s book thanks to CK’s recommendation (which magically came with cookies; thanks, friend)
My parent’s were married for 41 years until at age 61 my father had a heart attack and was gone in an instant.
Their lives for those 41 years were inextricably weaved together and I was only a part of that quilt for 21 years. Yet, through anecdotes, stories, and even the faded B&W photos I thought I had a pretty good idea about the years that I missed. I realize now, I missed quite a bit.
Today is Father’s Day so this post is about my Dad; but its inspiration was found in my mother’s things; in her wallet and safety deposit box to be specific.
Her wallet contained pictures of her grandchildren and two pictures of my Dad. In recent years I had rummaged through her wallet many times looking for her Social Security number, Medicare card or credit card never really paying attention to anything but the item I was seeking. I had never notice her choice of wallet photos; frankly, I didn’t even know she carried pictures of my Dad.
One of the pictures I was very familiar with; taken shortly before he passed away, it captured him perfectly and we all had a treasured copy. The other one was taken during WWII and I have no idea, and now will never know, if there is a specific story that goes along with it or if there was a specific reason for its choice. I don’t recall ever seeing the photo before.
The other items were things that I HAD seen before, my Dad’s Bronze Star from WWII and the article from the St. Louis Post Dispatch about his award. What was noteworthy this time for me, was that when I read the article about his Bronze Star it was as if I were reading it for the first time. I thought I had read it but actually, I am still not quite sure if I had ever really read it before or had just seen it. I say this because this time I finally understood it.
My Dad was a supply Sargent in the US Air Force stationed on Guam during the War. He was also one of the most likable guys you would ever meet. He made everyone, including his oldest daughter, feel that they were the most special person in the world and for years after his death when I would run into someone that knew him I would invariably hear a story about how he had helped them, helped someone in their family or otherwise touched their lives.
For some reason, I had it in my head that he had gotten the Bronze Star because people, including his commanding officer liked him. I am not sure if this idea didn’t originate from my Dad. I had head him tell stories about how he had been able to “supply” many extraordinary things to his fellow soldiers on Guam: he was able to locate eggs for his unit that had been dining from tin cans and also cases of soft drinks that were unavailable except on the mainland at the time. He even had a side business ON GUAM for heaven sake, selling towels that he had imprinted with the words “Guam” and U.S.A.F.
His whole life, he was the recipient of gifts; sometimes a plate of food, a box of cigars or even a watch that someone used to say “thank you.” I guess I just thought that the Bronze Star fell somewhere into that category. OK, our childhood memories and impressions are often flawed, right?
So as I sat and read the article written by CPL. Wm J Fleischman, from “somewhere in the Marians” on April 6th (no year) I was struck by the headline: “St Louisian, Whose B-29s Never Missed Mission for Parts, Cited.” The article went on to explain that my dad’s job was to track supplies that kept the planes “pounding the Japanese” and that “in over a month not a single plane has missed a mission because it lacked parts.”
I had never thought that being a “supply Sargent” sounded too exciting. Sending airplanes off to fly wartime missions on the other hand had quite a different slant.
Now, my Dad had always been a hero to me. As a little girl, it seemed to me that there was nothing that he couldn’t do. I used to go to his office with him on Saturdays…he owned a building supplies company that he started whe he returned from WWII… and that was the highlight of my week. OK, and part of that was the unlimited candy, Coke, and office supplies that were quite limited at home by my more disciplined Mom.
But reading about his Bronze Star I saw for the first time that at a very young age, my Dad had already made a contribution that really mattered….he was a hero to others besides me. He was a war hero.
I was truly humbled. He was 30 years old and if he never did another thing, his life on earth had already mattered. As I mentioned, he died suddenly and there was no time to say goodbye. I have always regretted that I never had a chance to tell him how much I admired him…both his successes and his incredible perseverance in the face of adversity. But it was really not until I found this newspaper description of his Bronze Star, that I really appreciated that this was simply the way he had always lived his life.
Happy Father’s Day…..and if YOUR Dad is your hero, go tell him. Right now. And Tim Russert, what a loss for his father and his son and everyone whose lives he touched.
American Airlines: Listen!
Earlier this week fellow St. Louisian Bob McCarty who writes the blog Bob McCarty Writes sent me a link for some photos he had taken at Lambert St Louis Airport of the American Airlines pilots who were apparently picketing for their cause, customer service. Bob also posted about this.
Bob asked in his post whether protests like this do more harm than good. Finger pointing in the middle of a crisis often does more harm than good.
As everyone knows, this has just been a really bad week for the airlines business in general; especially American.
But that customer service sticky wicket.…
As American Airlines canceled flights last week, Hitwise noted a 74% increase in visits to social networks and forums. Customer service was most likely a hot topic.
As Internet Marketing Blog by NonanNight notes on April 16th , there were 134,000 results for “American Airlines sucks” on Google. Perhaps a data point for customer service.
Bruce Temkin at Forrester gives American a D+ for customer service as it related directly to their website. For his grades, he refers to his four componenets of good customer service, ACES:
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Accountability (take responsibility for fixing the problem)
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Communication (clearly communicate the process and set expectations)
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Empathy (acknowledge the impact that the situation has on the customer)
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Solution (at the end of the day, make sure to solve the problem)
American launched their own blog and assured the public on April 13th that AA Service Had Returned to Normal. If I were giving grades for blogs, this one would get an “F”. As passenger dissatisfaction continues to be expressed, they quickly moved on from “normal” to another topic, airline consolidation and then nothing on their blog since April 15th.
American Airlines and those folks on their own blogs and social networks may have a different definition of “normal.” Read what Janis Petit, Julie McManus, and Terry Maxon among others have to say.
So, calling all airlines including American, pilots, employees and management: this is made up of lots of messes; listen to what is being said.
Finally, I really do have a question for the picketing pilots: Have you all ever heard of Eastern Airlines?
Thanks for the link to your photos, Bob.
Amazon MP3 Store, ITunes and Strategy
Wendy Davis writes today, “Around 90% of the people who purchase MP3s from Amazon have never used iTunes, according to the NPD report, as per Ars Technica. Additionally, the stores are attracting different customers, with men accounting for 64% of Amazon buyers, but just 44% of iTunes buyers.”
She notes that the good news for Amazon, MySpace and other existing or new digital music stores because the market has plenty of room to grow. True. She also mentions the DRM-Free debate which is a whole other but related subject.
What I found noteworthy about the NPD finding that the digital music market is bigger than the current ITunes demographic is the lesson about strategy, targets, and technology. Not that Amazon needs a lesson in where to fish or strategy; just that it seems to illustrate the importance of having a strategy, defining a target and introducing technology that is appropriate for your target and your strategy.
Although the NPD data on the subject was not available first hand and the data reported by ArsTechnica didn’t really say what percentage of Amazon MP3 users were Amazon customers, I think that it can be implied that they most likely were a significant percentage. Amazon has been built on consistent customer focused strategies.
A recent Fortune article quoted Jeff Bezo as saying, “Customers want three things: the best selection, the lowest prices, and the cheapest and most-convenient delivery. ” OK, you start with book, lots of books at low{er} prices, ship quickly (quick, even with free option), great experience design and service which brings a satisfied loyal customer base. Expand from there.
The Amazon MP3 Store is an alternative version of the “fish where the fish are” strategy; Amazon fishes in their own customer pond ( CDs, book buyers) but stocks it with different kinds of fish.
As quoted on Ars Technica, NPD analyst Russ Crupnick said, “Based on US CD sales, Amazon is among the largest sellers of physical music and boasts a substantial and loyal buyer base—many of whom may not be in the iTunes market sweet spot.”
“90% of those purchasing MP3s from Amazon have never purchased from ITunes” sounds like a positive outlook to me. Extremely positive. Conventional wisdom might have said that Amazon would be competing directly with ITunes because that’s where the pay for tunes crowd is.
But maybe Amazon focused on their own customer and applied their “three things”model and their strategy went something like, leverage Amazon Brand equity and offer DRM-Free music downloads to current customers who
visit Amazon.com because of positive past experiences or new customers who heard about Amazon mp3 through positive word of mouth.
As Bezo said in a Business Week Interview in 2004, “We work hard at being very customer-obsessed and expressing that through innovation…we see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts.” Amazon is able to expand the market for digital music downloads because people trust Amazon and want to do business with them.
And let’s not forget the strength of the Amazon recommendation system, “recommended because you purchased X”, “people who bought X also bought Y”, “You may also like”….this is behavioral targeting personified. Of course they also have peer reviews, ListMania, author blogs and product picture uploads. And if you are an Amazon customer you have an Amazon profile page. The elaborateness of it and the privacy settings
are up to you. But Amazon is a social place; by design. Which brings me to the strategy, targets and technology lesson I mentioned earlier.
Marketers seem to know that they are supposed to have a copy strategy to create advertising and objectives and strategies to build a marketing plan. Yet, it frequently seems that when it comes to social media, the strategy rules are not applied; not necessary. Wrong! Scott Donaton at AdAge courtesy of Ted Defren’s blog called it the GMOOT (Get Me One Of Those)Syndrome…a desire to do something in new media, strategy not required.
And I have met too many marketers; some of them are clients (I am reasonably safe in saying this because although they want a blog, they don’t want to actually read one even though I tell then people are talking about them on line) who take the GMOOT path to social media….aka Ready, Fire, Aim.
Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff write about their P.O.S.T method for building a social strategy on their blog and in more detail in their book, Groundswell; POST stands for people, objective, strategy and technology. It’s “Ready, Aim, Fire 2.0″.
With the POST method you begin building with People; by determining where your target customer is on the social adoption curve or the social technographics ladder. In other words, in which pond should you fish.
O means you need to have objectives such as you want your customers who are already in the Amazon pond and who are interested in music, have an MP3 player or who are currently buying one, and therefore tech savvy enough to download music at the Amazon MP3 store even though they are not necessarily downoading at ITunes. The Strategy will be about enhancing the relationship with your customer; in Amazon’s case by offering a huge selection of MP3 downloads with Technology that is easy, quick, less expensive than ITunes and DRM-free.
I think their strategy completely explains why Amazon will grow the digital download market. They have the pond. The fish are ready to bite and the bait is of the highesy quality for the lowest price; and no DRM. And 90% is about as big as you can hope for. So aim. And read Groundswell.
You can buy it at Amazon….and review it, tag it and get other recommendations based upon its purchase.
Must Read: Groundswell (Con’t)
So, back to Groundswell and the reasons why I said, “must read.”
Groundswell is well researched (Forrester research data from around the world, 65 corporate examples and 25 full case studies), written by two great, knowledgeable writers and fellow particpants, Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, and is exceptionally readable at the same time.
Readability in a business book is of course a relative measure, but for me it relevance and time=value.
“Has value” means it is relevant to my work in real time (applicable right now, today; not 15 minutes ago) and therefore is a good (another relative measure and highly contextual) use of my time because yes, I have time deficit disorder that seems to never disappear regardless of which Circa or Hipster PDA strategy I deploy.
This translates into usefulness: I can use the information to support a recommendation to a client, add to a presentation, and/or as a catalyst for an idea or concept. Maybe even to write a blog post.
At the moment, I am writing a proposal for a client and using the social technographics ladder to support a recommended target for a program and to demonstrate how users will become involved and participate. Charlene and Josh have made this tool available on line.
I am also using their POST method as a framework for the strategy I am recommending. I find that for whatever reason, marketers seem to think that social media doesn’t need a strategy or a well defined target and is driven by technology. POST which stands for People, Objectives, Strategy, and Technology…in that order, please, really puts this perspective.
I have a client company whose marketing folks have been setting up Facebook pages. So, of course there is no cost other than their time for doing this. It seems to make them feel like social media participants. We are on Facebook, they say. They friend each other and their agencies and consultants. Add several wall posts and away they go. But where are they going?
And then of course there is ROI. Yes, Virginia, there is an ROI for social media. Remember the objectives and strategy? A recruiting blog? How many applications did you get? A private community? What was the value for that new product idea? Start there. Add out of pocket costs (platform, creative, moderation etc).
Speaking of ROI, buy the Groundswell. Buy a copy for your clients. Buy a copy for your prospects. It will provide many returns.
Forrester Marketing Forum 2008
In the world of marketing, there are only a few things that I believe are predictable with absolute certainty and one of them is that a Forrester Marketing Forum (or Consumer Forum) will exceed my expectations; and with each conference I attend my expectations increase.
Okay, so the evidence for my unabashed enthusiasm?
My collection of Forrester spiral notebooks: Forrester typically includes a spiral notebook for note taking with their conference package. When I leave, the notebook is usually full; filled with notes taken during the presentations and sessions as well as thoughts that I add during and after. In other words, a Forrester conference really stimulates thought and ideas and the spiral notebook becomes an ongoing useful archive for future reference. The conferences that keep on giving.
What else do I know for sure? The Forrester speakers include an outstanding lineup including Peter Kim, Charlene Li, Josh Bernoff, and Brian Haven. The non-Forrester speakers, panelists and moderators always include people and companies that I would include if I were making a wish list. This has included Henry Jenkins, David Armano, Ze Frank, Nicholas Negroponte, Andy Sernovitz, Karl Long, Sylvia Reynolds, Fed Ex, Dell, P&G, and many others.
The conference next week includes: Casey Jones, VP Global Marketing from Dell, Nancy MacIntyre, EVP Product, Innovation and Marketing at LeapFrog, Cathy Halligan CMO Wal-Mart, Emmanuel Brown, Director of Digital and Content at Nike’s Jordan Brand, Gary Skidmore from Harte-Hanks and Patrick W Jordan author of How to Make Brilliant Stuff that People Love.
Also, IT’S {A}Live, In a sense, going to a Forrester Conference is a life imitating art imitating life experience or in other words, when we talk and write about participatory media to our clients who sometimes seem not to “get it”, this is where it all comes together. So while we are listening to Charlene Li and/or Josh Bernoff talk about a Groundswell, we are right in the center participating in that transformed world of live blogging, twittering, photos, videos….just check out the Co-Brandit videos or the Critical Mass Beta Cam from past Forrester events.
And speaking of Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff and Groundswell you can now buy their book and they have an awesome site
and a really cool tool to profile your own customer’s social computing profile and then use to chart a social technology strategy.
Jeremiah Owyang posted that all conference attendees will be getting a copy of this awesome book. I will be posting a review shortly….so far it’s great!
So, I am looking forward to the Forum and joining Jeremiah in the “bloggers bullpen”. I am also hoping to catch up with Peter Kim! More to follow next week.
This Truth Is Not Inconvenient: Girlfriend, Use Your Purse, Your Peers, & Your Posts To Co-create A Happier Sustainable, World
Mary Hunt, author of In Women We Trust and Ecolutionary Selling and blogger at In Women We Trust and Smart Solutions for Sustainable Business has written the definitive piece on how we can really (REALLY) change the world just by directing the power women already have towards a “happier, sustainable world.”
#1 “the majority of the US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is made up of consumer goods and over 80% of them are purchased or influenced by women.”
#2 Women form groups; group of influencers: Big Green Purse author Diane MacEachern launched a one million women site.
EcoMom Alliance is organizing and educating the 82 million mothers in the US into a change agents.
The EcoMom Challenge: “making small changes in the way we shop, eat, drive and even clean, we can help stop global warming. ”
#3 Women are online, voicing their opinions, positive and negatice, on blogs, social network and online groups all over the web. In fact, according to a recent Pew Internet & American Life Survey on Content Creation, girls and young women are the most prolific online content creators.
So make your way over to In Women We Trust and see what Mary has to say about Changing Products, Changing Services and Changing the World and download Purse, Peers, Posts and the Power to Move Markets purses_peers_posts_and_the_power_to_move_green_markets_32508.pdf and send it to your girlfriends!
And catch Mary at Blogher Business in NYC next week along with other awesome women to trust, Toby Bloomberg, Yvonne DiVita, Susan Getgood, Connie Reece and many others.
Coca Cola’s Sustainability and a Smile (They MUST Be Kidding)
As Mary Hunt noted in a post few weeks ago, the most effective way for companies to get their green message across is to keep the message simple, personal and viable. Show {one’s} green side in a distinctive way and be ready to back it up.According to Ad Age Coca-Cola has launched a new $10 million green campaign that “broadens the definition beyond environmentalism, centering on the concept of “sustainable well-being.”
Ad Age states that the initial executions present Coke as a corporate concerned citizen who tries to meet consumer needs and support local education and sports. An unnamed Coca Cola spokesperson is quoted as saying, “We’re thinking of well being from a mental, physical community and environmental perspective that encompasses every part of our North American business. We’re using this to talk to all of our stakeholders and show our desire to be a better partner to all of them.”
Well the message IS simple and personal enough; but when you start talking viable and prove it, the new campaign as described in Ad Age seems to fall as flat as last night’s forgotten Coke can. Now Coke is on the 2008 Global100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World.
But Coke’s Dasani along with Pepsi’s Aquafina have had their hands slapped for promoting their respective bottles waters as something far beyond the tap water (or purified water sourced from the public water supply) that it turned out was their source. In fact both companies were forced into voluntarily labeling. A recent description of Dasani Plus described it as a vitamin enhanced flavored water beverage. Water beverage? Oh, like cheese food.
And while we are thinking about well being, do you think Diet Coke Plus with five essential vitamins and minerals and the great taste of Diet Coke is leveraging the concept of “sustainable well being” or is it just simply passive aggressive. Is this how we show our desire to be a better partner?
Coke also states in Ad Age that they were motivated to do this campaign because their customers were asking them where they stood on sustainability. Well, Coke is not alone. Consumer demand is driving both the introduction of sustainable products based upon sustainable standards as highlighted on this blog as well as a he introduction and re-labeling of many not so really sustainable products.
What I think is noteworthy about this campaign in addition to the $10mm price tag is the fact that Coke’s definition of sustainable which “broadens the definition beyond environmentalism, centering on the concept of “sustainable well-being’ is not all that different than for instance the Brundtland Commission.
Bob Bailey , Chief Fund Underwriting Officer for Commericial Business at Fireman’s Fund refers to SMaRT Standards for Sustainability as being the holistic benchmark that speaks to areas of control and concern beyond the environmental impact of the product itself. Coke has a holisitc approach in a sense but the emphasis is not on the environment at all.
What is different is that Coke is highlighting their “good deeds” which are not necessarily environmental good deeds which leaves the impression that they are trying to wrap themselves in green yet divert attention from what they are really doing. They may have committed to recycle 100% of their aluminum cans but they are still filling those cans with such oxymorons as vitamin enhanced Diet Coke.
So, Coke’s green message in a way is everything but green.
(Aside, I am such a committed Coke drinker myself that when it was announced that Coke was going to be replaced by New Coke I began hording the old stuff….just to say I am not biased against them; love the stuff, no vitamins necessary but wish they would spend the $10mm walking instead of talking.)
HP:Your Customers Think You Are Hiding {The Atlantis and Apollo Motherboard Issue}
As Toby noted in her post Social Media Means Nothing If Your Internal Processes are Broken, HP has over 50 blogs. Quite a commitment to social media one would think. So what would be the value of social media to a company like HP? Visibility perhaps?
When we present to our clients or prospective clients about the value of social media we emphasize among other things the value of listening to customers, building relationships based upon transparency, and learning what is important to customers.
Shel Israel has a great interview with Michael Dell, who was able to snatch victory from the jaws of social media defeat, commonly known as Dell Hell. However, there has to be a real commitment to listening and building honest relationships with customers. Michael Dell’s answer to ” Question #5: How has blogging changed Dell’s culture?
It has reinforced how important it is to listen to our customers. And when we see an issue in real time we have only one choice and that is to solve our customer’s issue and quickly too.
At HP, the value of a customer relationship and the value of social media seem to be as unimportant as product quality….of course valuing customers and providing a high quality product typically go hand in hand.
Social media would really not be of value if a company did not value their customers and produce a high quality product. Unless the company believed that blogging about value and quality and positive customer experience is the same as having those attributes.
I recently wrote about my son Sam’s laptop that at this writing is still MIA. His school work is suffering since the whole reason for buying the HP to begin with was so that he could have his own laptop to take to school.
I have found that we are not alone with the known issue, the Atlantis and Apollo motherboard failure, (it seems to be known to everyone except the “case manager” whose name and direct phone number I did not even bother to write down after he told me that it was not a known issue).
“Why is HP Hiding the Atlantis and Apollo Motherboard Issue?” is being asked at the Notebook Review Forum. Avoiding a recall? Or are they just hiding?
Companies in a crisis seem to forget or maybe just don’t get 2 important facts about the wired world: #1 that they can no longer hide from their customers (or hide product problems) and that listening to customers and solving their issues is not really a choice. Just ask Michael Dell.
Or Sam Richmond. He’s pretty mortified to be on his mother’s blog but his mother just wanted to make the point that a real kid is going to school on Tuesday February 19th with out his laptop, DAY 65 without a working laptop.
HP: Customer Experience Disconnect
In May 2007 I purchased my youngest son an HP Pavilion Notebook so that he would have a bright shiny new laptop to start high school with in the fall. We looked at several different options but what tipped the scale towards HP was Eric Kintz. Eric and I had “connected” via our blogs but hearing him speak about HP’s commitment to customer centricity at the Forrester Marketing Forum in April 2007.
Here are some of the things Eric highlighted (Thanks Josh): The importance of integrating the customer into driving the business, measure and manage what matters to the customer, and inspire employees to drive customer centricity. He talked about their understanding that customer service is an important touch point and how HP is focusing on customer experience training.
So, here has been our experience. The brand new shiny laptop that Sam took to school everyday to take notes on and help him keep organized (hat tip to Microsoft OneNote) stopped working in late November. My older son spent HOURS on the phone with HP tech support (we won’t even talk about the nightmare of their off shore tech support). I am not sure of the details but it was agreed at the end of the conversation that although they had gotten it booted up, HP would send a box so that at the end of the semester, it could be returned to HP to really fix the problem.
The box arrived. No instructions or paperwork inside. Well, we would wait till the semester ended anyway since the computer was kind of working. Problem was, the computer died again right before Sam’s finals. I began calling HP. Well, what turned out to be a system wide continuing issue surfaced: they couldn’t find any record of the original phone call. Although they give you several different numbers every time you call and ask for your phone number, they never seem to be able to find the records.
Even when I returned a call in February to someone in their so called executive customer service they began their typical “do you have a {fill in the blank} number” interrogation…I stated my name and said, I am returning your call.
So, in December, they apologized for the “no directions” box and said they would send another one right out. Weeks went by. No box. I called again. No records of the call. We begin again. They will send a box and I add the new set of numbers to be collection.
They box arrives. Of course unfortunately, a new semester had begun and Sam had to start school without his laptop. The computer arrives at HP. A flurry of emails announces all this. The status report states: Atlantis and Apollo Motherboard issue. An email arrives saying that though they would like to return the laptop but they do not have the part. Several more weeks go by and finally the laptop arrives home. Yippee!
The enclosed letter from HP thanks me for choosing HP to repair {their inferior} product. It says that HP “created this repair program to ensure it is repaired to the original product specifications {could that be the problem?}.”
The letter goes on to say, “HP is committed to creating superior products which offer the highest standards of quality, durability and reliability.” Sounds like Eric’s talk.
The first problem is that this letter says that the problem was a bad LCD and that they had replaced it. NOTHING about the Atlantis and Apollo motherboard.
The second and larger problem was that Sam had his laptop on for about 3 hours when it stopped connecting to the internet exactly like it had before it died the last time. Huh?
I called HP. Of course. No records. I finally get an English speaking customer service person who first tells me that although they were very sorry, the motherboard unfortunately was not repaired and that we would have to send it back. As we talked a bit more he said that this was a “known issue.”
So I will digress a bit here to the issue of the known issue.
Known issue? Have you heard that term before. “Known to who exactly.” About six months ago I got a letter from the Ford Motor Company telling me there was a “known issue” with my son’s 2003 Ford Explorer and all other Explorers model year 1992-2004. It seems that there is a defect in the cruise control that causes it to “catch on fire”, “possibly to blow up.” It advises not to park the car near your home. OK, so the letter is dated August 2007. Exactly when did this issue become known? In 2005 when apparently the problem stopped? Kind of reminds me of “The Formula” in the Fight Club
Of course, though we now all know about the issue, none of the Ford dealers in the Missouri or Illinois metro have the part in stock.
With T-Mobile, although I have Wi-Fi at home, in November I noticed that they were counting my Wi-fi at home minutes as anytime minutes. After being transferred all over the T-Mobile system just to find someone who even knew what I was talking about, he promised he was putting in a “help desk” ticket to investigate because it was not a “known issue.” Long story short, 2 1/2 months later, after dozens of phone calls from me (I have a collection of names and employee numbers) they decided it was in fact a “known issue”. As of this month, I still had to spend 45 minutes on the phone with billing straightening out the mess.
On another issue, that t-mobile says is not a “known issue” and not covered by the one year warranty,” the track ball falls out of my Blackberry Curve,I have been waiting 5 days for a “manager” to call me back within 3 business days.
I asked them about their announced upcoming pro-rated termination fees thinking that I would rather get an iPhone than buy a new Blackberry from t-mobile given their “too bad so sad” attitude. They didn’t know anything about it. $200 to cancel one phone contract, $600 to cancel all three. Thanks, it may be worth it.
Back to HP and the known issue of the Apollo and Atlantic motherboard. The rep said that he would “escalate” the problem (meaning he would overnight the return box) and that we should have the laptop back with a repaired motherboard in about 7 days. That was January 22nd. He gave me a whole new set of tracking numbers. He apologized and said if it happened again they had a program that might replace the unit; had to malfunction three times, not two.
Off it went. It was at this point that I emailed Eric Kintz and finally got a response by leaving a comment on his moderated blog. He put me in touch with the friendly folks at executive customer service that I mentioned above. Suffice it to say, that did not solve the problem. I was assigned a “case manager” who promised that his job was to provide one-to-one assistance in solving my problem.
What did that mean exactly? He said he would look into the availability of the “part.” He assured me there was not a motherboard known issue. Despite the fact that someone else at HP had said those exact words and the fact that it is all over the web, all over the HP Forums, and being blogged about by those experiencing the almost identical treatment that we have received.
KD Paine writes that she was a lifelong fan and is now a permanent skeptic. Political Thinking has posted some of his correspondence with HP.
Well one way he dealt with it is they removed the statement regarding the Atlantis and Appollo Motherboard from my “ticket” and replaced it with something about a service enhancement program. I think it is a warranty extension.
Does that mean that they will keep fixing the defect every time it breaks, forever and ever?? How special!
But the problem with my problem is that it is really my son Sam’s problem. He does not have his much needed laptop to take to school. After spending over $1200 at Best Buy on this HP computer just six months prior to its collapse I am left with no choice at this point but to buy him a new laptop. It will be a Mac.
Why buy a Mac? Take HP’s Eric Kintz’ three points from his Forrester talk and then think of Apple.
- Integrate the customer into driving the business
- Measure and manage what matters to the customer
- Inspire employees to care about the customer
I have heard representatives from HP, Sprint, Sony and many others speak at WOMMA and Forrester conferences about customer centricity and improving customer experience. I have experienced just the opposite customer experience.
Although I have never heard Apple speak on the topic at any of these venues, I have experienced Apple customer focus. I bought a MacBook following my negative experience with my Sony Vaio. If I have a question, I can call up and get an answer. If something isn’t working right, I can call AppleCare or take my MacBook to the GeniusBar.
There are free workshops offered in the Apple Store on various topics to enhance the user experience. If you need one-to-one help for $100 you can get private instruction once a week for a year with one of the inspired Apple employees who always give you just a little more than you ask for….instead of a lot less.
Bruce Temkin, the VP and Principal Analyst at Forrester who covers customer experience at Forrester recently quoted Morpheus from the Matrix in his blog post highlighting the disconnect between what their research indicates is the importance that theyplace on customer experience and reality: “Sooner or later you’re going to realize, just as I did, there’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path”
Let me put this in the most personal of terms. HP, my son Sam needs a computer. Isn’t that what we paid for?
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