After 72 hours on the web, Dave Carroll's guitar heart breaking video story of United bungled customer service ends. United calls CNN and announces:
"We want to use this unique opportunity to make things right and use this video internally to insure better customer service."
Once again people are more important than policies and this just shows the power and speed new media can turn the dinosaurs on their heads. One short video that goes viral and hits the main stream media can get faster results than a long year of letters, calls and no,no, no.
What ideas does this give you for better customer service or a way to facilitate human conversation between old and new worlds and bridge the CS gap that exist today?
Personally, I was surprises at the speed of the response. I wanted to track it and do a follow up story in 30 days. That was like so 1995 time when you have the right message. I called Dave this morning, left him a message that I could get his money back and wanted to interview him on the Whale. I had more than enough takers for such a fun project to be the "Un-masked Avenger".
Business lessons to be learned from Dave's misfortune on how to create viral videos:
(1) People love David and Goliath stories.
(2) The video was well produced.
(3) Music is a very large butter knife when it comes to spreading a message.
Dave! You are probably still cleaning out our voice mail but if you get to mine, I still want that interview Dave! Your new fan, Chad.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
United Guitar Hero?
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
United breaks guitars
Very creative response to a customer service problem. Saw this one when it had 425 views. In 30 days I will post a new story how many views this video will have and if United will help this guy after one year of hell, favorite guitar broken and then to end in "Sorry, we can't help you!"
The large airline franchisees are just not equipped to act in a human rational way because of their size. Small is the new big.
Power to video. Enjoy.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Healthcare collaboration in virtual worlds.
At a healthcare new media conference in Arizona this week, I found a great young mind deeply embedded in Patricia Anderson’s new age soul. As she put on a headset and communicated to a virtual audience and real world audience simultaneously, she proceeded to blow the doors off both realities. Back to Patricia in a moment.
The exciting part of the conference for me, wasn’t just the presenters, but the crowd. As I looked around while Patricia was presenting and Lee, the head of Mayo’s Social Media and Shahid, CEO of hitsphere.com, Netperspective and prolific healthcare blogger, I noticed something that gave me goose bumps.
Only 20% of the audience were really listening.
This was 100 of the top marketing and advertising people that controlled Billions of dollars a year in healthcare revenues paying a lot of money to come and learn from the best. Blackberries buzzing, laptop surfing, glazed eyes glazing…you get the point. I likened it to putting a onesie on your grandmother. Something just didn’t fit.
The average age in the audience was probably 50, that wasn’t the problem the problem was they have just been doing things a different way for so long, it was maybe too late in the game to change things now. “If we let in the spiked hair and tattoo’s, what’s next, nipple piercings for Bob in Accounting?! “It’s just not the way we do things!”
The goose bumps I had were, lumps of opportunity. We have a 10 trillion dollar a year market that is ripe for a Thanksgiving carve because so many people are happy the way things are. I confirmed my thesis in the lunch line. I commented to a guy wearing a salmon colored shirt that was branded as “a golfer color.” He said, “I know, we cannot wear these at work, it has a logo.” I looked and there it was very subtle but I could see it now. “Why can’t you wear logos to work?” He had a look on his face like I just took a dump on the desert tray, “Because we can only wear non-marked or logos that are from-------------------. (Insert large bay area health organization). He went on to tell me about some young kid last week, came to work with a 49ers sweatshirt and he was taken aside before the CEO saw him. I told him; “maybe it’s time to hire a CEO who likes the niners?” He said, “Yea right, before you know it, people will be wearing their favorite teams to work.” Exactly! “That’s the whole point isn’t it?” From the look on his face it did not appear that our conversation would be anywhere near the employee suggestion box. (Note in Moleskin, make sure no stock in that company exists in the Harris family tree.)
Which leads me back to Patricia. Her grey hair covered a beautiful young mind. After her presentation I caught her in the hall and said to her, Patricia, “you have a wonderful young mind!” With a grin she said in an almost conspiratorial whisper, “I really do, I can’t turn it off.”
Maybe things are easier to market in second life because just the idea of building a virtual island opens one’s mind to infinite possibilities and nothing seems too ”outrageous” in a virtual world. I get the feeling that dress codes are not a big deal in the virtual world.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
One man’s struggle to market on the web leads to 1,500 franchisees.
I caught up with Ron McArthur the President of WSI as he was heading out to Mexico for a conference. He is building an international franchise system that focuses on how to market products over the internet.
I asked Ron, “What would you avoid if you went back in a time machine to help you build your company faster, better, stronger from the start?” His number one answer might surprise you.
What I learned from Ron, and keep in mind he has 14 years of data to back this up. In the early stages of building a company you tend to give concessions to the early adopters. Those concessions can come back to haunt you because you end up creating two sets of rules to nurture growth, you can create a culture of “pioneer” rules and “late stage” franchisee rules. You are better off sticking with one set of conditions throughout your growth because early adopters tend to also take up the highest amount of your time. Try and build your franchising system with one set of standards and you will find it will be better in the end.
He also gives us valuable insight about how to build an effective conference program.
Embed ongoing training as a mandatory component in the franchise agreement to keep your network up to speed.
Case study model, supplier driven market that will deliver your product or service may be more powerful than a direct delivery model.
Entrepreneur Magazine (January 2008) has recognized WSI as the #1 Internet and Technology Franchise for 7 consecutive years.
Invest 13 minutes and listen to Ron’s take on how to build a global franchising system. Thanks for sharing Ron.
www.wsicorporate.com
Listen Here:
Thursday, June 11, 2009
The complete Idiot’s guide to financial crisis.
I had a great chat with Tom Gorman, NYU MBA that has done the corporate rounds over the years and decided to shed some clarity on economics for the non academic.
The “rise of the nomad” and why the freelancer created by the recession will only gain strength going forward was very interesting stuff. Tom also offers job search tips, ways of getting out of debt and obtaining health insurance.
Tom, leaving the corporate chicken farm over a decade ago, illuminates why the jobs are not coming back and shows where the growth is ahead. I agree, we have entered, free agent nation feeding a new entrepreneurial boom that lies ahead. All of the little functions your accounting department, IT guy, HR, Operations, Finance did for you unnoticed as you worked in a large corporation become areas you need to outsource if you are an entrepreneur. Pods on niches can flourish as people need to get stuff done but do not have the bandwidth to do it on their own. Licensing your idea to someone else or franchising someone else’s idea may become the new, new thing in the years ahead.
I love big cycle books like this. Check out the short 9 minute overview and jump to www.idiotsguides.com and search Tom Gorman to see all of Tom’s books.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Why marketing your bathroom is a clean idea.
Awhile back I wrote a post about marketing an interstate gas station franchise by focusing on its bathrooms. I just felt, “food, gas, beer” might be a horse called platitude that was ridden way too hard.
A different approach.
“Forget the gas, you should see our bathrooms! Everyone welcome!” Or “Bathrooms so clean, you will forget to buy gas!”
This would force me to pull over or my wife would kill me.
Anyway, if you want to read the entire post and what prompted my marketing the crapper first idea here is the entire post:
http://franchisewhale.com/2008/01/gas-station-food-fuel-and-beer-blah.html
Now I have bathroom on the brain again, this time at restaurants. About 2 miles from my home sits a wonderful seventies style farmhouse that was converted into a restaurant. Joes Farmhouse Grill .The grounds are as impressive as the menu but the real show stopper, the one you bring guests from out of town is the bathroom. Anyone can make bacon tacos packed with fresh avocado, carne asada, cilantro and jalapeno mayo right? But the real show stopper is when you go into the bathroom and have a TV running kitchy GI Joe, Barbie videos with plastic spaceships and trucks propelled by a sticks. The voiceover alone will make you forget where you are.
While you are at the urinal, the idea of “How did they shoot this footage or where would one buy a video like this just makes the place absolutely unforgettable.
By the sink they even have encased dolls in their own displays staring back at you to make sure you washed your hands. As you exit the spotless bathroom, the outdoor soda fountain with tables under giant trees doesn’t hurt either.
Can you obsess on the commode to much?
Apparently one Chinese entrepreneur does not think so; he has opened a restaurant called “Modern Toilet” that has grown to a six location franchise. You actually sit on toilets while you eat out of toilets, yummy! Not sure if I would eat there but you can guarantee I would go there and isn’t that what marketing is all about?
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Red Mango CEO Dan Kim Interview how to brand yourself.
In Phoenix, nobody told the soft serve yogurt market a recession has been in the works for awhile. As I travel, it does not seem to be limited to desert dweller taste buds and wallets.
The franchising team at TCBY might feel vindicated that their soft serve fortunes are looking up as of late, but in my opinion, companies that trade up the consumer price band, not down will be the winners in the end. Fast, fresh and healthy aside, all business is the show business. The alchemy behind one brand, Red Mango should make any retailer still mixing its product on a board very nervous. After having a chat with Dan Kim their CEO, you know he understands clearly the difference between selling a product and selling an experience.
If you would like a 10 minute branding lesson taught first hand by someone who is growing his yogurt cult following out of 50 stores, listen to this 10 minute audio.
To find what territories are still available for development, Dan and his team can be found at Redmangofranchising.com
Or jump out to redmangousa.com to see what you are missing.
Listen Here:
Friday, May 29, 2009
Why medical insurance is not really insurance.
Have you ever thought of how the insurance world is completely different when it comes to medical insurance? What I am about to show you will change your thinking when you are selling your daughter on future son-in-law picks. Forget good golfer, attorney or engineer. A CEO of a medical insurance company should be on your "Son-in-law shortlist" when it comes to your retirement account.
Here is why:
If your roof caves in, you can stop paying the premium on your home owners insurance and the insurance company still NEEDS TO PAY OFF the claim. If you switch to a new insurance company on your home, they are NOT obligated to pay for your roof, your old insurance company is, because you have been paying premiums for so many years.
That's insurance.
Medical insurance is a completely different animal. If you get hospitalized and stop paying your premium, the insurance company will NOT PAY OFF your claim. If you try and switch to a new insurance company, the new company needs to pay off your old claim. This makes it almost impossible for a new insurance company to insure the sick. The years you have paid premiums does not guarantee your claim will be paid, when you are busted up in the hospital. How long can you really keep paying the premiums?
That's not insurance.
What's the alternative? Pay the doctor directly to save him from hiring billers, coders and collectors and get preventative and routine visits for a knockout price. Then take your HSA and buy a catastrophic policy for the big stuff, saving you 80% on monthly premiums, co-pays and deductibles.
The market is ripe for entrepreneurs to bundle and re-price labs, mammograms, C-Scans, emergency room and specialist visits, all on a direct cash basis. When your insurance bill shows you were charged $400 to hang an IV bag that costs $1.20, Clubs like the No Insurance Club will go through the medical food chain like Pac Man.
No Insurance Club, has a creative, market based solution to the health care crisis. Check out the intro video I loaded below and let me know what you think.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
One legged man leads to marketing epiphany.
I was jogging this morning as a backlash to my Memorial Day pool fest. At the particular clubhouse we were at, my wife and I noticed that an inordinate amount of skinny, fit, tan people in our same age bracket were there.
It was packed full of families, we had a great cabana, great DJ, events… good times, but the thinness of our pool mates seemed to have cast a storm cloud over my waistline. “I need to get in shape!” Fat, red and happy makes a great bumper sticker, but poor tombstone copy.
So I am out running this morning, fantastic desert air on a fabulous dirt trail, trees, water, “why am I not doing this every morning” when it happened. I get passed by a guy with one leg! He looked great, even his fat, black lab looked at me in scorn. What the crap was he feeding his prosthetic anyway! I turned off and cut through a commercial plaza to hide my shame and it hit me like a ton of bricks, “look at all this prime retail commercial glass with nothing on it, why not advertise!” Thanks one legged man!
Now this might not be a new novel idea, but it was to me. The depth of my running depression was exceeded by my Everest of marketing brilliance. I Googled later and Manhattan alone has 16 million sqft of space open in just 68 major properties. Think of the virgin glass waiting to have someone organize an advertising company around. The lag of rentals would assure advertisers in prime spots for months at a time splitting revenues between the owner and advertising company with a built in sales force of realtors to sell the ads.
Well there you are, hope you become fabulously rich. Meanwhile, I am planning a different route to run tomorrow.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Seesmic funny name, not so funny anymore
Seesmic is on a tear! Every two weeks as of late it seems as if they have a fantastic list of upgrades and flawless roll outs so far that is just incredible. Their latest attacks the growing problem of Twitter spam head on!
The reason I am so excited about Friend Feed is the ability to block followers and it automatically will block them from your search pool as well, very cleaver. Still the tethered feeling can not equal the Feed Friend experience but if I was tied to one desktop all day, Seesmic would be one of my good buds, can't wait to see what comes next. Bye bye TweetDeck, Loic you rock!
.Ability to view and enter comments into Facebook
.Added spellcheck feature with the ability to enable and disable
.Now supporting pikchur and yfrog to share images on Twitter
.Added spam reporting feature to help send spam warnings to Twitter's @spam account
.Ability to block users who are following you on Twitter
.Ability to use Tweetshrink before sending messages (see http://tweetshrink.com/about)
.Access to view favorites within your Twitter account timeline
.Improved profile enhancements (added follow/unfollow within a profile along with the ability to reply and direct message)
.Option to start Seesmic Desktop at login
.Verification dialog box upon deletions of Userlists, Searches
.For OSX: Added standard buttons for OSX and improved idle CPU usage
.Displayed version information in update tab
Bug fixes
.Fix posting to Facebook with non-US characters
.Issues with same usernames showing multiple times - solved
.Issues with not removing messages when account is removed - solved
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Why I get up in the morning
I was on the phone with an investor today. He asked me "how do you keep all the details together?" The short answer, the details seem to be as obedient as an ant colony on a food patrol, when we show people the big piece of cake that is waiting at the end of the long march. If you surround your big idea with smart, nice people and draw the unique talents that everyone has, the cake will arrive on your front door before you know it.
Beyond details, I guess the real answer that drives me everyday can be found in this video.
We are all entrepreneurs, you just might not know it yet.
I would like to hear your big idea.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
The madness of crowds rides again.
I was reading about Rutherford Hayes elected President by a one vote margin in 1876 and went on to open up the markets to the great “robber baron age”. The players in that era would make the characters in an Ann Rand novel look like preschool teachers! In 1876 they needed a new leader to pull them out of a long three year international banking collapse. The decline worldwide was caused by the European banks getting themselves into a mortgage squeeze and not knowing which US banks could be trusted to bail out, the interbank lending rates shot through the roof and wholesale bank failures ensued. Now remember I am talking about something that happened over 130 years ago. Hum… Insert “Popular delusions and the madness of crowds”. It is a must read for historians, entrepreneurs and CEO’s. You will learn that we just never change as humans when it comes to boom bust cycles. Getting skinned has been around since the serpent slipped Eve a rotten apple.
The Libor rate shooting up to historic levels in 2008 is just the same old boom bust with different characters. This should give you peace of mind, not restless nights knowing the future really is predictable on a broad scale because human nature never changes. Predictability however in the short run is a quick trip to the “Its different this time” poor house. Lesson learned.
Collectively we are getting smarter but we never change our behavior when it comes to the boom bust cycles. We are too human.
What makes us sleep well is the fact that the bust our great grandfather went through in 1876 led to Edison starting a little company that became General Electric with 50,000 patents and millions employed over the years.
The bust our grandparents went through in 1929 led to breakneck innovation we have never seen before.
The bust we are experiencing will also lead to another boom and eventual bust. We are not entering a new road to socialism but a temporary cul-de-sac of alliance building so the big boys can engineer the next big bubble. By the way, with 17% of our GDP going to healthcare today, it already smells like we have found our next bubble candidate. Healthcare 2.0 entrepreneurs get ready to pull the rip cord as billions of dollars are throw at the market to make it “more efficient”. When you hear the words “Its different this time” it might be too late.
