This is probably a little out there, but nevertheless, somewhere someone ought to give it a try.
I have heard numerous times that Wikipedia is somewhat a miracle. It’s just hard to imagine that in such a short period of time, a few people (roughly 5,000) is able to build something so powerful and beneficial to the entire population on this planet.
When you give up control and simply provide a platform for your customers, one of two things usually happens: total chaos or in Wikipedia’s case, with just a few simple rules and minimal moderation, something absolutely amazing.
Have you ever thought about letting your customers design your website, your product or your company? Hand over control and eliminate boundaries. Maybe what you fear is precisely what you need the most.
Relationships (business or personal) fail because people sometimes treat them as destinations: as soon as the relationship is formed, one or both parties immediately assume that their job is done and stop making any efforts to better it. And they wonder how things always seem to go downhill from there.
The best relationships are journeys: no one should ever stop moving forward regardless of the up’s and down’s throughout.
A couple days ago I saw this video on BoingBoing. I then shared it on Triiibes.com, a closed online community with several hundred users. Today, it has made its way to Seth Godin’s blog with hundreds of thousands of readers.
It rarely matters where the movements start; it’s where they end up that will truly make a difference.
- Turning down Pepsi.
- “I don’t work. I just play all day long.”
- “Happy…or smile”.
- When people have the choice, they will buy/try it.
- “Drink less!” …Really? Doesn’t that also mean buy less?
- The important thing is to set yourself apart and provide your customers something that nobody else has.
- “I WANT to give the full price to the customers!”
And of course ALL the sodas! But above everything else, his passion just brings a smile to my face.
*Wobo is just a word I made up to call those businesses who aren’t honest with the customers.
Here is a typical Wobo using online IQ tests:
You are asked to take an online IQ test with a few questions. The answers are really irrelevant. You are told that the results will be text messaged to you, so you need to provide your cell phone number. You will then be texted a pin code to enter on the quiz.
Once you’ve done that, Voila! You have just subscribed to a $9.99/month subscription.
Innovations come cheap these days, but usually they are just some variations or improvements of old technologies or ideas. They mostly come from people who avoid risks/criticisms and look to please everybody with their designs.
Uncomplicated:to innovate, you simply need to have the courage to do something that has never been done before.
Researches have shown that people who illegally download music from the internet also spend more money on music than anyone else.
Of course they do.
People who watch “free” movies online also go watch more “real” movies.
People who sit and read at Borders also buy more books.
Now if only the geniuses in the movie or music businesses could realize that, and start acting like Borders and treat these people as assets instead of enemies.
Today, Michael Arrington of Techcrunch.com published an article titled, “Scamville: The Social Gaming Ecosystem Of Hell“. In it, he talks about how some advertisers use a variety of unethical methods (ie. surveys or free trials) to lure gamers into scams which end up costing the users a lot of money.
As I have mentioned before, this is something which I feel very strongly about (it was the reason I started WeWobo.com), and I am glad that an accomplished website such as TechCrunch is willing to take a strong stance on the topic.
The fact of matter is, though, scammers or unethical businesses have always existed in our society. They have evolved over the years: from door-to-door, direct mail, telephone, infomercial to today’s Internet scam. Furthermore, the anonymity nature of the Web and the next-to-nothing investment of building a legitimate-looking website today, guarantee that there will be more businesses or individuals trying to figure out more ways to scam people, than we ever thought possible.
Assuming that we are not ready to give up the low cost entry barrier of starting something on the Internet, I think perhaps it’s time for us to take a closer look at finding new ways to hold people accountable for their actions online. We can start by: a) creating an easier online method for verifying one’s true identity and b) letting users “label” scam websites in search engine results.
I saw this quote today: “everyone leaves a trail on the Web”. So why doesn’t someone work on making it easy to trace the trail back to its origin? I mean, at the very least, make it as difficult/risky to run a scam online as it does offline.
As businesses, you spend a lot of your time and effort on ensuring the quality of your products and services. Unfortunately, there will be times when you have no control over what’s gonna happen.
Last week, when I was eating at the Boiling Crab — they serve the best crawfish in the LA area — I saw this sign:
The original market price for live ones should be about $10 per pound. Even if they don’t reveal the fact that there are “no more live crawfish” or reduce the price in half, I am sure most of the customers there won’t complain or even notice the difference.
My point? From this point forward, unless otherwise convinced, I won’t have any doubts about the freshness of their ingredients.
Sometimes, it’s worthwhile to reveal your own weaknesses and maybe take in some short-term losses, so that you could gain something much more valuable in the long run.
Here is a great article from CopyBlogger on why what you learned back in school about writing might not work so well today, especially if you write for the Web.
1. Trying to sound like dead people School writing aren’t usually bad, but what kills it is that it’s boring. In fact, students go out of their way to be boring.
2. Expecting someone to hand you a writing prompt Spending time looking for topics for this blog is one of the most enjoyable and challenging parts of my day. My suggestion? Read more.
3. Writing long paragraphs Not entirely sure about this one. Long or short, whatever works, works.
4. Avoiding profanity at all costs
5. Leaning on sources For online writing, you have the unique ability to link to your sources without having to quote them in your article.
6. Staying detached If you don’t invest your emotions in your writings, why should your readers invest theirs?
7. Listening to “authorities” more than yourself The only person who is absolutely required to enjoy reading your articles, is you.
iPhones are a little different than PC’s and laptops in the sense that the value lies in the platform instead of the hardware.
When I heard about the price slashing on the device earlier this year, my immediate reaction was: “is Apple running out of innovations that they had to cut their prices?” But I think i was wrong.
As I was watching the keynote @ WWDC ‘09 on iPhone OS 3.0 — not the hardware, the software — I was completely blown away by the things which the software developers were able to accomplish with the platform. It in turn led me to believe that one day, we will not only use a device like iPhone as a desktop or laptop replacement, but also have the possibility to use the SAME mobile device as car keys, remote controls, credit cards, textbooks, and much much more. I sincerely hope that’s the big picture Apple is aiming at.
Even though the cost of building hardware continues to drop at a historical rate, the price for innovations stays infinite.
If you haven’t been building an audience for your products (or your services or yourself) for the last 2 years, chances are, when you want to sell something now, it’s extremely difficult to find any listeners.
Knowing that, what are you doing today to ensure that you have someone to sell to two years down the road?
Amazon.com has just begun to roll out same day delivery service in select US cities. If an eligible item is ordered before 10 a.m. or 1 p.m. (depending on the city) Amazon will have it delivered on the same day.
Remember the days when we used to have doubts about making purchases online? Our reasons were: untrustworthy websites, long delivery time, difficult return/refund process, impersonal customer service, etc. Those were the reasons why eCommerce could never replace retail storefronts.
But what happens when websites start to: establish trustworthy brands; offer same day delivery; have a 365 day return policy with free shipping both ways; figure out a way for you to experience the products without ever leaving your living room…all at lower costs?
My parents has just recently ended their 2 year long relationship with Comcast, and here is the farewell letter they received:
We are sorry to hear that you would like to discontinue your Comcast service(s). We value you as a customer and thank you for allowing us to connect you to what’s important in your life. This e-mail serves to confirm the disconnection of your Comcast service(s) which will take place on 11/09/2009.
Please remember that any equipment provided to you for your service must be returned to Comcast. If you have any questions on how to return your equipment, please click here.
[Introductions to their cable, Internet, and phone service]
If you would like to place an order with us in the future, you may do so at any time by visiting www.comcast.com or by calling us at 1-800-COMCAST (266-2278).
If there is anything we can do to assist you further, please let us know. We look forward to the opportunity of serving you again soon.
I think they could’ve done a much better job. After all, this might be their last (free) opportunity to deliver an anticipated and personal message to my parents. It’s funny how sometimes businesses like Comcast are willing to spend millions of dollars on advertising, but are unwilling to invest in what seems to be a much more effective way to communicate with their customers. Here is a situation where they have gotten the customer’s undivided attention; the customer is waiting to be impressed; and they chose to dump it on some email template with a robot filling in the customer name.
Yes, it’s hard to say goodbye to your customers, but that doesn’t excuse you from doing a lousy job. Personally, I’d go with something like this:
This e-mail serves to confirm the disconnection of your Comcast service(s) which will take place on 11/09/2009. Please remember that any equipment provided to you for your service must be returned to Comcast. If you have any questions on how to return your equipment, please click here.
We are sorry to hear that you would like to discontinue your Comcast [Cable] service. It has been a pleasure serving you for [the past 2 years].
As a farewell gift for being such a loyal customer to us, we would like to cover your next month’s [Cable] bill. Simply send us your new statement and we will send you a check.
If there is anything we can do to assist you further, please let us know. We look forward to the opportunity of serving you again soon.
I understand this method is much more expensive, but you accomplish at least 2 things this way: 1) leave a long-lasting impression so that the next time the customer thinks about switching, he will think about you first; and 2) a chance to find out where your customers are going, and why.
It sure beats a 30 second commercial on Fox, doesn’t it?
Among many other things, the Web is the perfect medium to amplify true passion. It also helps to break down the geological and time barrier, which makes it easier for you to connect with others around the globe who posses the same true passion.
I see true passion as something you choose to pursuit in spite of criticism or the lack of ROI.
I sent in my Lenovo laptop for service today. The whole process was easy: I called the customer service line yesterday afternoon; the box was overnighted to me with a next day shipping label included; all I had to do was simply to put the laptop in the box and drop it off at the nearest UPS store. In less than 24 hours, the laptop was out of my hands.
Don’t get me wrong here: I am NOT complaining. But this got me thinking a little bit.
You see, if the exact thing had happened 10 years ago, I would be so impressed that I wouldn’t be able to stop talking about it for 2 weeks. 10 years from now? It probably won’t even reach the minimum industry standard.
As for today, it’s hard for me to imagine that Dell, HP or Acer aren’t doing something similar for their laptops. In other words: good, but also average.
I challenge you to take a look at the way your business is being run today: customer service, sales calls, RMA, accounting, shipping, whatever. What used to be excellent 5 years ago is probably just average now.
Don’t ever stop pursuing perfection (even if you never get there).
Wolfram Alpha just launched a $50 iPhone app. Yes, you heard it right, $50 for an iPhone app. Now you may ask, “who is gonna pay for that?” And the truth is, I have absolutely no idea.
Do you remember how much an iPhone cost when it was first introduced?
Of course, I am not comparing the app with iPhone — that’s not the point — nor am I insisting that you should look to increase your prices.
What you should look into, though, are: a) don’t try to fit in just to avoid criticism; b) it’s okay to make people uncomfortable with some elements in your design; and c) the market, not you, will set the right price.
Here is something interesting in a somewhat obvious way: Airlines that charge bag fees lost more money than airlines that didn’t. When you read an article like this, the word “duh” comes to mind, doesn’t it?
My question, then becomes: if this is so obvious to see, why did the brilliant business men and women at United, Continental, and Delta still decided to do it? Furthermore, here we are, a year later, with data to prove that the decision was in fact wrong, will any of them make any changes anytime soon?
As a business, at what point do you admit that you are wrong?
