As I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts, one of my favorite movies is The Commitments. It’s the fictional story of a group of scruffy people who banded together to form a 1960s-style rock and soul revue in the unlikely city of Dublin in the late 1980s. They were supposed to meet and presumably jam with music legend Wilson Pickett. The day came. The band waited. He didn’t show. Imagine how bummed they must have felt. To elevate the mood, the most experienced player in the band (the trumpet player, who claimed to have worked with Elvis Presley and other legends) referred to the missed meeting as “it was poetry – you raised their expectations.” Whether or not Wilson Pickett even knew about the meeting, for a brief while the band members had something to lift them out of their grind and aspire to something greater.

I’ve had more than a few of those moments in my career, such as…

Interviewing for a marketing leadership role at a company I’ve worked with and long admired. Another with a company I’ve competed against and always wanted to join.

Project managing all workstreams related to product and service award submissions, identifying and partnering with subject matter expert contributors, and serving as the internal champion, and then waiting for the award announcement. Sometimes your name is called, sometimes it isn’t.

A company I worked for was invited to bid on a $16 million deal – one of the largest opportunities in the company’s history – as a direct result of my relationship with an analyst firm. Even though the prospect was a Tier 1 for the company, the salesperson was unaware of the opportunity. The company lost because the bid was significantly more expensive than another supplier. Not a cry for help but a statement of fact, the marketing function of the organization (that would be me) is not involved in pricing.

Spending countless hours researching, roleplaying, and giving it all you have, only to come in second in literally hundreds of interview situations.

So how do you rebound from a setback?

Allow yourself to (briefly) feel disappointed: It’s normal to feel disappointed or upset. Allow yourself to acknowledge these feelings without judgment. Take some time to process the rejection and reflect on what went well during the interview process and think about what areas you could improve in your presentation.

Stay positive and maintain perspective: This is especially true in the analyst RFI and awards submission processes. It’s important to maintain a positive attitude and keep things in perspective, especially if this is your first award or you’re working with team members who are new (to the process, the company, or to you). Remember that this rejection does not define your worth or product/service value. Keep in mind that there are other opportunities out there, and this setback is just a step closer to a win.

Keep moving forward: Use this setback as motivation to continue pursuing your goals. Stay resilient and determined. Although the Commitments broke up when Wilson Pickett didn’t show, you can pick yourself up and keep moving forward.

One of the attendees on a recent video call asked me why I have a piñata in my office. The answer is not only a story about the piñata, but also a lesson in the art of following up on a sales call.

The concept of the piñata is believed to have originated in China and was part of the Chinese New Year celebration. The celebrations had colorful figures of animals that were filled with seeds. Striking the animal figures to let the seeds fall out was seen as a sign of good luck. The tradition eventually made its way to Europe and ultimately Mexico. Over time, piñatas have transformed into colorful, intricate works of art that are part of many ceremonies.

Fast forward to early 2021. Because offices were closed in the dark days of COVID and people were working remotely, the concept of sending a gift to an office was no longer feasible. To paraphrase Michael Crichton, commerce finds a way. Practically overnight this whole industry of people sending stuff to home addresses magically appeared. Nearly every week, someone would ping me on LinkedIn to ask if they could send me a piñata through the mail. Probably a dozen companies asked to send me a piñata. Why a piñata crept into the zeitgeist and not some other form of gift is a mystery, but I responded to the more credible requests. The responses were usually met with deafening silence. Did these companies vaporize as soon as they formed? Was offering to send a piñata no longer attractive for a salesperson? My cynical New Yorker brain thought these may have been thinly disguised attempts at securing home addresses for nefarious purposes. Fortunately, that didn’t happen – but the lack of response from these solicitations was concerning.

Finally, one company did send me a piñata. You didn’t have to whack it with a stick to open it. Senor piñata had a trap door on the top. The candy inside didn’t look very appealing and was soon discarded. The next day, the salesperson who sent it called me. Package delivered, transaction completed, customer surprised and excited. This transaction would prove to be the exception.

I kept this one in my office. Why did I keep it? Not because everything else in the office is white or beige and I needed a splash of color on video calls. It was because these guys delivered and followed up. The other piñata people either ghosted me on LinkedIn, or shipped and I never heard from them again. That is the lesson. If you are a salesperson, outbound demand generator, job candidate, or anyone offering their services, following up with the prospect is as crucial as taking that first step.

I’ve been in job search mode for the last quarter of 2023. Although a lot has changed in the few years since I’ve been in this mode (for example, LinkedIn has become the most used and reliable job board), there are still a few old pains that continue. Here are just a few mild rants directed at a few business practices:

To staffing firms: How hard would it be to tell the applicants something about your client? Is your client a law firm, luxury brand, sports team, retailer, etc.? Are they looking for someone with B2B or B2C or B2G experience? Add a descriptive phrase or two. As a marketer who has sought named client testimonials and case studies in the business process outsourcing industry (where non-disclosure language is standard with most client contracts), I am certain that saying something basic about your client will not betray their confidentiality. It is a screening measure that may also deter candidates who don’t have relevant experience from applying, which may decrease the number of applications you’ll have to review. Wouldn’t it be better to be seen as a hero?

To companies with applicant tracking systems (ATS): The good news is that the clunky Taleo applicant tracking system has gone the way of the 8-track tape! Newer ones such as Workday and Greenhouse are much better from this applicant’s perspective, but there are still a few questionable processes out there:

• Why are candidates required to set up an account on your ATS, when you are merely going to reject my application in a few hours? It is unlikely that I will apply for another job at your company, so why put people through the motion? This is a master class in customer dissatisfaction.
• Why do I have to fill out the EEO statements multiple times? I’ve already told you about my ethnicity, race, gender, citizenship, sponsorship status, and disability status once in the form. Why do you ask me to do it again – are you concerned that I will change my answers?
• Aren’t topics like age, race, marital status, and sexual preference still illegal to ask in job interviews? If they are, why are they OK to be asked on the job application/ATS?

To companies that assign a task to candidates: As a hiring manager I have done this. When I was hiring for a content writing role, I gave a writing assignment (usually 500 to 1,000 words on a topic) to finalist candidates. The goals were to see how they project-managed, and in the days before ChatGPT how they wrote and presented their ideas. All finalist candidates had the same number of days to turn in finished work. So I understand the tactic. But make sure it is fair and don’t use what the candidate sends you.

To companies where I interviewed but didn’t get the job: Provide feedback! It is cowardly to just ship a generic form letter when a candidate has invested hours in preparation, presentation, follow-up, and the interview itself. I’ve even interviewed with the CEOs of some companies, only to receive a generic letter. Provide feedback! Tell the truth – are you looking for someone with different experience than I have, or you’ve re-thought the role, or I said something that triggered a red flag, or my presentation was less than expected, you didn’t think I would fit into your team? Let me know. This is someone who has had rocks and firecrackers thrown at him when he has played concerts. I have pretty thick skin and can take it. If you are concerned that a candidate will try to sue or use it against you, think again. This candidate is only interested in continuous improvement and helping his next employer to succeed.

Here’s to a productive 2024!

Are you familiar with the concept of unconscious bias? It is when people make judgments or decisions based on prior experience, their own personal deep-seated thought patterns, assumptions or interpretations, and at times they are not aware that they are doing it. The Oxford Learner’s Dictionary defines it as an unfair belief about a group of people that you are not aware of and that affects your behavior and decisions.

I’ve been on the receiving end of it for nearly nineteen years. And I can pinpoint my move from DC to Dallas – which was the result of a corporate relocation that I chose to make and am glad I did – as to when it began. I don’t ever recall being asked if I’ve always lived in New York or DC in the decades I lived there. But if it comes up in a discussion (maybe with a work colleague, or vendor, or client or prospect) that I am based in Dallas, immediately the other person assumes I have never been anywhere else. Why? Where did the notion of a hermetically sealed Lone Star State come from? Texas has undergone a considerable transformation in recent decades, and its urban centers may well be among the most diverse environments in the country. The state has experienced countless corporate relocations over the years, with companies from all over the US bringing a lot of workers with them. Most of my neighbors are newish Texas residents because of corporate relocation. We had a block party a few years ago, and learned there were only 3 families out of 20 on this street who were native Texans. People moved here from Illinois, California, Maryland, Arizona, Georgia, Rhode Island, and even other countries. So why do people outside of Texas not realize this? You’d think that the tons of cities in Texas named after other places (Fredericksburg, Roanoke, Bedford, Arlington, Palestine, Rome, and Dublin, to name a few) might provide a clue to the large number of transplants here.

I’ve tried to find answers online, but unfortunately there are no clear answers. Anyone who has heard me speak would quickly find an indication of a life lived to the north or east. I’ve made an icebreaker US football analogy about working my way through the NFC East. My digital footprint is sprinkled with some hints that although I live in Texas now, I’m not from here. Since you’re reading this blog post, scroll up to the photo at the top of the page. You’ll see that same bridge on my LinkedIn profile. Recognize it? If you think it is somewhere in Texas, guess again. It is the bridge portion of the Robert Moses Causeway on Long Island. Robert Moses was an urban planner who is regarded as one of the most powerful and influential individuals in the history of New York, despite never having held an elected office. The Robert Moses Causeway (or as the locals affectionately call it, the Bobby Mo) connects West Islip to the barrier beach islands. My high school was a few yards from the bridge, and my family would sail toward it on frequent sailing excursions. It serves as a nice reminder of my Long Island roots.

Do you know where the title of this blog post comes from? Here’s a hint. It is the last line spoken on the first side of an album that was released 50 years ago this year. And I’ve visited the site of the album cover.

The annual Burning Man festival is in the news this week, more as a debacle than a celebration. Although I’ve never been, I’ve always associated Burning Man with concert festivals such as Lollapalooza, Warped, and the veritable but not forgotten HFStival. Turns out it was something else again.

The weeklong event—known for its art, communal activities and atmosphere, and burning of effigies—is held in a 7-square-mile temporary city on the Black Rock Desert playa. This is one of the flattest and driest places on Earth, and this year it saw nearly 3 months’ worth of precipitation over the course of 24 hours. Tropical Storm Hilary brought heavy rains to the Burning Man site, causing a gate closure for guests ahead of the festival’s start. The downpour almost immediately transformed the dry desert surface into mud. Most vehicles became trapped and officials urged attendees to shelter in place and conserve resources, while some made the hike (5 miles) to the nearest town. Traffic for the 72,000 people getting out of there was brutal to say the least. Reading these stories reminded me of a concert at what was then called Nissan Pavilion near the Bull Run battlefield in Virginia. The concert ended in a sudden downpour, and the drive for 20,000 people up the narrow road to Route 66 took longer than the concert itself.

Back to Burning Man. The event was founded with the best of intentions. According to https://burningman.org/about/10-principles/ these are the ten principles…

Radical inclusion, Gifting, Decommodification, Radical self-reliance, Radical self-expression, Communal effort, Civic responsibility, Leaving no trace, Participation, and Immediacy.

They sort of have the right idea. But it is increasingly expensive. A former work colleague was a somewhat regular attendee. Their first Burning Man was 2002, and back then it cost around $40 a ticket. The last year they went was 2016, and the cost exceeded $400 a ticket. Now it’s at least $700 + a car fee. Way too much for a spot in the desert. And my colleague noted that in 2016, they waited 8 hours in line to get in, along with 3 hours in line to leave a day early. Brutal indeed.

So where did Burning Man go wrong? First of all, there is logistics. Burning Man erects a temporary town in the Nevada desert. Supply lines and an infrastructure need to be put in place. Something the organizers did not count on was climate change. Rain in the desert? Check. Aside from the logistical challenges that arise from planning large events, and the possibility of external emergencies, there also is the risk of festivals failing because of poor management.

Burning Man will likely go on next year, as will so many annual events.

Confession time – I haven’t been involved with organizing such a large and complex event as Burning Man. But I’ve organized tons of events involving hundreds of attendees, coordinated tens of thousands of flights and reservations, been on countless site visits, trusted untold number of vendors and partners, and spent hours anticipating/countering anything that could possibly go wrong. Something always does. It is how you respond that makes the difference.

One of the more fun things about getting your colleagues more famous is doing podcasts. I’ve been a podcast champion for years and have encouraged my PR partners to secure them.

So now I am looking to start one of my own, and recently connected via LinkedIn with someone who has been running them for about 8 years. Big shout out to Adam Merino at Influencerr TV https://www.linkedin.com/company/influencerrtv/.  He’s a pro. We were discussing how to launch a podcast today, and he said to visualize one of three people – someone you know that want to help, someone you visualize, and yourself from ten years ago.

Several people that I’d want to help, and each for different reasons, and those will be future topics. I’ve put together campaign playbooks that utilized a Mr. Potato Head approach (the headshot of one person on the bio of another on the demographics of still another) so visualizing the second person is easy. On that third person, my mind immediately went to the Yardbirds song “Happenings Ten Years Time Ago” from way back in 1966. The Yardbirds were the breeding ground for Eric Clapton, then Jeff Beck, then Jimmy Page. Although their most memorable songs were written by outside writers, they had a few of their own. “Happenings Ten Years Time Ago” was one of them. They were in their early twenties when they wrote it, and it is about looking back yet not sure if it was a dream. The surviving members are in their late seventies now, so looking back that long probably seems like a dream now. To commemorate his tenth year in the music business, one of Philadelphia’s greatest cultural icons, Todd Rundgren, devoted half of his 1976 album Faithful to incredible covers of that Yardbirds song and others popular in that year such as “Good Vibrations” and “If 6 Was 9.” Confession time – when I’ve played the Beatles’ deep cut “Rain” I am more familiar with Todd’s version than the original, so that is the one I play live.

Back to the podcast. So what would I say to myself of ten years ago (that would be 2013 for those of us not good at math)?

• Remind yourself to take the meeting. And don’t be afraid to take a day away.
• Turning sixty isn’t nearly as scary as turning forty. You will still have most of your own hair and it will be in the original color. Own it.
• ProTools is only half the Satan that Dave Grohl says it is. Sometime in the next ten years, you will purchase a licensed copy and will learn to not hate it.
• Embrace new technologies such as ChatGPT and NightCafe, just like you did with blogging a decade earlier. Play with them and see how you can work them into your toolkit.
• Cherish every conversation – in person, over the phone, or digital – with your parents. You never know when it will be the last one.

My two cents. Podcasts will not take the place of blog posts. There are many channels out there. Embrace all of them that work for you.

Today’s blog post is inspired by a recent article from Crystal Theis, The Clash of the Titans in Our Minds. Here is a mind-bending concept – the maps and mapping programs that we use today were based on assumptions made centuries ago. Wait, what?!? This is true. Europe was basically the center of the known world, so the maps were drawn from a European perspective. So imagine completely changing your perspective. You may get a different view, but you will never create the permanent change you’re looking for without fully adopting the new perspective. So, if you find you’ve been vacillating or struggling to make a change, then you may need to revisit your perspective and the underlying assumptions.

If you’re looking at something that looks like a rock, look a little closer. Be wary of the assumptions that look like rock but are nothing more than Styrofoam. The assumptions used to build the Pyramids were rock. We know that because they’re still standing!

Sure, the Pyramids were built on rock-solid assumptions. But what about the Tower of Pisa? And that thought got my mind in motion. What if the Tower of Pisa had been built on something more solid, and it didn’t lean? Would we still care about it? Would it even still be standing? Perhaps the tower with a better construction would have been bulldozed to make way for a shopping mall or a parking lot. So the flaw is actually the differentiator!

Embrace the imperfections that can make a difference. One of the most famous models of my generation is Cindy Crawford. She has a birthmark (also known as a beauty mark) on the right side of her face. Modeling agents asked her to remove it, but she pursued a modeling career anyway. This minor imperfection helped get her noticed.

Another imperfection that turned out to be a difference maker is in the British Invasion band the Kinks. They were not exactly the tightest band, nor were they stellar musicians. But they had something in that ragged grandeur. Sir Raymond Douglas Davies, their bandleader and primary songwriter, once said the reason for his band’s popularity was Flaws. People love our flaws.

The key takeaway: embrace the flaws. Look carefully at what appears to be a rock. It could be Styrofoam.

One of the most talked-about technologies today is chat, and in particular a chat bot technology known as ChatGBT. The technology has a lot going for it – it is easy to get started, easy to use, and (best of all) it is free. And a little addictive.

I attended a webinar recently that discussed ChatGBT’s role in the marketing mix. The webinar presenters created email subject lines with a human writer and with the chat bot, and attendees got to pick which was which. It was really hard to tell! I liked some of the bot-written subject lines better than those written by humans. There was also some recent controversy about school systems banning students’ use of chat bots in creating term papers.

So I downloaded an instance of ChatGBT for my personal use. I was listening to a lot of Lou Reed and Warren Zevon that week, and for fun I asked ChatGBT to write songs in the styles of these late legends. The instructions were to write a song about Dirt Farming in their respective styles. Lou Reed, like me, was a Long Island native so dirt farming would be pretty far removed from the experience. Warren Zevon was from California (which he predicted would slide into the ocean in his incomparable “Desperadoes Under the Eaves”), and probably never farmed anything either.

Exhibit A: Song about Dirt Farming in the style of Lou Reed

Verse 1: Out in the fields, under the sun Working the land, it’s where we come from Dirt farming, it’s the way of life From dawn till dusk, we work through the strife

Chorus: Oh, dirt farming, it’s what we do Sowing the seeds, watching them sprout anew Harvesting the crops, feeding the land Dirt farming, it’s what we understand

Verse 2: The earth, it’s our mother, our provider We tend to her, with love and desire Our hands, they may be calloused and worn But our spirits, they are never forlorn

Chorus: Oh, dirt farming, it’s what we do Sowing the seeds, watching them sprout anew Harvesting the crops, feeding the land Dirt farming, it’s what we understand

Bridge: The seasons may change, but our work remains From the early spring, to the summer rains Through the autumn breeze, and the winter frost Dirt farming, it’s never lost

Chorus: Oh, dirt farming, it’s what we do Sowing the seeds, watching them sprout anew Harvesting the crops, feeding the land Dirt farming, it’s what we understand

Outro: Out in the fields, under the stars We work the land, without any scars Dirt farming, it’s the life we choose And we wouldn’t have it any other way, it’s true.

Exhibit B: Song about Dirt Farming in the style of Warren Zevon

Verse 1: Well, I grew up in the country, out in the fields Tending to the dirt, it’s where my heart yields Planting seeds and watching them grow There’s just something about it, don’t you know

Chorus: Dirt farming, it’s a way of life Working hard from dawn till night Harvesting crops, feeding the land Dirt farming, it’s the life we planned

Verse 2: I remember my father, a man of the earth Teaching me everything, from birth Sweating under the sun, digging in the soil Hard work and dedication, it’s our toil

Chorus: Dirt farming, it’s a way of life Working hard from dawn till night Harvesting crops, feeding the land Dirt farming, it’s the life we planned

Bridge: The seasons come and go, but we stay true To the land, and all that it’s due From the seed to the harvest, we give our all Dirt farming, it’s our call

Chorus: Dirt farming, it’s a way of life Working hard from dawn till night Harvesting crops, feeding the land Dirt farming, it’s the life we planned

Outro: Dirt farming, it’s not for everyone But for us, it’s where we belong The land, it’s our heart and soul Dirt farming, it’s how we roll.

The moral of the story – chat bots are here to stay. The technology will continue to grow and improve. This could be a great inspiration for marketers who are stuck in writing the next line. But I don’t think a chat bot will be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame any time soon.

A few months ago, a friend posted a story on Facebook about a recurring dream. His dream involved having tea with Roger Daltrey and Pete Townsend of the Who. Pretty interesting stuff, especially since Roger is an avid tea drinker and Pete is better known for much harder stuff. Their conversation included kids, life on and off the road, and plans for the summer. My friend posed a question about recurring dreams especially during the pandemic, and I shared my recurring dream.

I’ve actually had two recurring dreams, which started decades ago. The first one involves Jimmy Page, one of a few people who have been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame twice (first as a member of the Yardbirds and later as a member of Led Zeppelin). In the dream, I am on a layover in London’s Heathrow airport and I’ve stopped at an Admiral’s Club. Mr. Page is seated at the bar and I grab a seat next to him. He has been interviewed countless times, and has been described as curmudgeonly, dismissive, and sometimes downright combative. Do I care? Nope, I’m about to chat with a legend. So I decide to ask him guitar nerd questions, thinking he would enjoy the conversation. Led Zeppelin’s music is known for its layered sound, accomplished with numerous tracks of overdubbed guitars – a few Les Pauls, a Telecaster or two, the odd Danelectro, and maybe an acoustic – building up to a cavernous sound. I wanted to know how he translated that sound to the concert stage. When I asked him how he arranged all those guitar tracks into a single play onstage, he shot me an awful look. I could swear the paint on the walls was boiling. He looked baffled, and was clearly not amused. No matter how many times I’ve had the dream, he never spoke an answer.

The second dream is a little more varied. I am looking out a window but each time the scene is different – the window has been in a city bus, a subway train, a taxi, and a jet. What am I looking at? There is a choir of street people right outside the window. And they are singing Lou Reed’s “Satellite of Love” in a beautiful harmony. A Capella. Always that early 70s deep cut from one of Long Island’s finest songwriters. The harmonies are different; I remember one being barbershop style, another sounding like the Beach Boys, and another a Himalayan chant.

What does it all mean? Way too big a question. But don’t be afraid to dream. A music legend might just get around to answering your question.

This one is a blog post that I wrote and published on the HGS website, about my insights and takeaways from the Next Generation Patient Experience conference.

 

The full post is https://www.teamhgs.com/blog/5-ngpx2019-insights-first-time-attendee.

 

 

Gearing up for a major trade show usually means “show specials,” or specific promotions designed to help spur business at the show. The other day a colleague asked me if I was finished creating a flyer for a promo we had discussed. After spending most of a day in promo flyer mode, I didn’t have any ideas left to start work on that one. So what did I do? With a lot of other projects I was working on, I turned my attention to some work that had been on the back burner. Something totally different. I related to my colleague the story of the “Battle of Evermore” from Led Zeppelin’s fourth album. The song is a radical departure from what you’d associate with Led Zeppelin. The song has very little instrumentation, just an acoustic guitar and a mandolin. Very soft percussion. The vocals, a duet with Robert Plant and Sandy Denny, are sung in a whisper. Band leader Jimmy Page once explained why he wrote “Battle of Evermore,” saying he picked up bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones’ mandolin, and made up this quiet song to clear his head. The idea came to him quickly, and it was unique. So I explained that in order to clear my head and focus on the promo flyer, I needed to work on something different.

Sometimes you have too many ideas going through your head and they are not connected. Sometimes you get stuck. There are a lot of ways to get unstuck, connect the ideas, and get the juices flowing again. I wrote a blog post about retraining your head. My blog post Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters is about taking something familiar and placing it in an entirely different context.

You may not have to learn a new instrument to have a new idea. Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics was asked to identify the secret of his success as a songwriter and producer. He said if you’re struggling for an idea, put it away you’ll get another idea eventually. Work on something else. Trust your creativity. And that from a guy who has been on the ballot for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and has produced Mick Jagger, Daryl Hall, Bob Dylan, and a few other people you may have heard of.

The idea is to do what you have to do to keep your creativity fresh despite deadline pressures, writer’s block, and an ever-mounting workload. Put it away if you have to and come back to it. You’ll find the idea tree full of fresh fruit before you know it.

Ireland, rhythm and blues, and the thrill of being in a new band. Sounds like a perfect mix, right? They were all plot elements of the 1991 movie The Commitments, in which a group of scruffy people banded together to form a 1960s-style rock and soul revue in the unlikely city of Dublin.

During one of the band’s earliest practice sessions, the most experienced group member urged his bandmates to dress like their heroes (think Sam & Dave, Wilson Pickett, the Temptations) who wore suits onstage. His advice: “You always play better when you wear your suit.”

What does that mean in our day-to-day lives? I am not advocating that anyone wear a suit to work unless your role calls for it. That went out of style decades ago. But whatever job you do, dress right for the part. Even if you work from home, and I will say more about that later.

Early in my career I was between jobs and joined a club for others in job transition. The club leveraged the knowledge of its members and volunteers to train people in prospecting, resume writing, and interview preparation. One of the people I met there was a senior executive in financial services who lost his job when his employer was acquired by a competitor. In those days, financial services people wore suits and ties to work. A suit was this executive’s standard working uniform, and he told me that when he was doing research and job prospecting, he wore a suit. It was how he felt comfortable and ready for business. Putting on a suit got him into the mindset of potential employers; plus if he got a call for an interview that day, he was ready to go.

Since I primarily work from home, I have the luxury of dressing any way I want for work. My typical working uniform is business casual – khaki pants or jeans, button-down shirt, and shoes. I’d wear the same if I worked in an office. It helps me get into the role and keeps me focused. Similarly, I would be ready to roll out to a customer meeting.

If you are comfortable and productive in your job, dress for the part. You’ll play better when you are wearing the right suit for you.

Let’s face it – there are lots of people who want to be around celebrities. Every industry has them; they don’t have to be in pop culture. There are people who are noted for being good at what they do while others are legends in their own minds. As a marketing professional, I’ve run hundreds of trade shows, client conferences, and employee events. Adding a celebrity to host or serve as the drawing card for your event can be a blessing or a curse. This blog post presents two blessings and two curses. Three are well-known in their respective fields and one is no longer with us.

Blessing – Tim Sanders

When I worked for a company that provided customer care for the world’s leading brands, we hired Tim Sanders (early-stage employee of Broadcast.com who stayed on as Chief Solutions Officer following it’s sale to Yahoo, now a published author and speaker) as a featured speaker at our annual client conference. My role included vetting the speakers to ensure there was continuity of message, briefing speakers on the audiences, and helping any way I could with their speaking slot. Although I usually glanced through their books, I read Tim’s “Love is the Killer App” and enjoyed every paragraph. So our conversations flowed nicely. Tim was a total pleasure to work with and wowed a very tough crowd. He was the only speaker that received 10 out of 10 rankings from the 100+ customer experience experts in the audience.

Curse – the Cash Cab Guy

With every blessing there is a curse. The same company’s client conference featured evening entertainment – dinner on a mountaintop in Aspen, a black-tie special event complete with red carpet at Universal Studios, you get the drill. My colleagues and I thought the audience could use a laugh that year, so we sought a comedian. We viewed hundreds of clips and decided that Ben Bailey, the host of “Cash Cab” (a trivia game show that takes place in a Manhattan taxi), was the one. His clips were good, clean fun. Remember the Beatles’ “Paul is Dead” rumors? Perhaps Ben was replaced by a lookalike when he took the stage. Being no prude, I was raised by sailors and swear like the best of them. But this guy took working blue to a whole new level! Every sentence had expletives. No filter. The audience hated the experience so much that the company did not hold the event the following year.

Curse – Spoonman

A former employer held a major product launch party following an industry trade show in Seattle. We hired Artis the Spoonman (a local performance artist and the subject of the Grammy-winning song by Soundgarden) as the evening’s entertainment. Big mistake. Neither Spoonman nor his handlers took any of my pre-event phone calls. We became concerned that he would be a no-show. He showed up but was late and left the audience waiting. When I outstretched my hand for a handshake, he held his arms behind his back and coldly replied, “Spoonman does not shake hands.” OK, I get it. Beware of people who refers to themselves in the third person. That was the highlight of his performance. He seemed to not want to be there and left the second his performance ended.

Blessing – Tim Conover

Another blessing and one of the finest individuals I’ve ever worked with. When I joined an 80-year-old radio manufacturer, we wanted to add some pizzazz to our trade shows. A colleague suggested a magician named Tim Conover. Tim was no mere magician. His first career was as an engineer who had co-developed the modem. He combined the technical smarts to understand the products with the stagecraft of a master. I merely sent him some product catalogs and he created magic tricks about them! Who could have imagined the Project 25 standard for intereoperability as a rope trick! He thrilled every crowd and loved hanging out with us. We considered him an indispensable member of our intrepid little band. The job title on his booth badge was Traffic Magnet, and Tim kept our booth packed with the right people. Year upon year. He died tragically a few years ago. Godspeed Tim.

The lesson in all this? It is OK to hire a celebrity for your event. Just make sure you partner with the celebrity to ensure they understand your brand, your audience, and your expectations.

 

 

 

Many organizations prefer to group Sales and Marketing together. The head of such a combined organization typically has SVP of Sales and Marketing in their title. The executive presides over two very different organizations. But which one are they? Are they a sales person or a marketing person? The truly rare bird has been both in their career. I am proud to say that I am one of those birds. I began my career as a highly successful B2B sales person for a subsidiary of a Fortune 1000 company, selling CD-based training programs to corporate safety directors, industrial hygienists, and human resources leaders. Not to toot my own horn too loudly, but I sold the biggest deal in the product line’s history. So I know what it takes to put a capture team together, to shepherd a deal from initial contact to service delivery, and to ask for the order. I’ve done it numerous times. The marketing aspects of the job – creating the sales tools, developing the campaigns, and running the events – held more interest for me, so I focused on marketing as a career path. Those 3+ years as a sales person were the best education a marketer could ask for.

Back to sales and marketing. Not every sales person is a marketer, and not every marketer is a sales person. These two vital roles are often confused in the organization. Which becomes increasingly clear in every job search I’ve undertaken. Read the job description, not just the title. Jobs that are posted as “Director of Sales and Marketing” are usually sales reps that are required to do their own lead generation. Such roles do a disservice to the companies and ultimately the employee. Similarly, I applied to a “Marketing Director” position with an outsourcing firm. The description in the posting sounded like a great fit. It described developing marketing plans, creating sales tools, segmentation, budgets, campaigns, and events. But when I called the company to follow up on my application status, I got an earful. The HR person said they are looking for someone to call on companies within a territory to sell their services. She said the Marketing Director is expected to have their own rolodex of prospects to call on, and should make at least 50 outbound calls and 50 outbound emails a day. Sounds like a sales position, doesn’t it? I was told that they titled the position “Marketing Director” because sales people cost too much. So the solution is to bolt a marketing title onto a sales role, save some money, and maybe nobody notices. Sales and marketing, all the same, right?

Truth is, sales and marketing are different roles. The relationship is symbiotic. Not to oversimplify but Sales people need a pipeline, a credible product/service to sell, and the right sales tools to make their quota. Marketing, in turn, is the provider of pipeline, visibility, sales tools, and (in some organizations) the product. The success of the two roles are inextricably linked. Sales cannot sell without Marketing laying the ground work, and Marketing cannot be effective if Sales does not sell using what Marketing provides.  One, but not the same.

This is Part One of a series…

 

Your customers have a multitude of channels through which they can interact with you. Does that make them omnichannel or multichannel? It doesn’t really matter, so long as your customer service team has visibility into all of the communication channels your customers use. This applies to everyone who faces your customers, whether they are store employees, in-house call center team, or outsourced partners. Consistency of customer experience across these disparate channels is key. A customer can start a query on her phone, check online reviews on a website, open a web chat to verify further, and then complete the purchase at the store. Any point along the way is a potential gain or loss. A successful customer experience involves minimal effort on the part of the customer and seamless integration.

My recent experience with a telecom carrier is a case study in omnichannel confusion. I wanted to set up direct bill of my cellphone to my corporate credit card. Should be an easy transaction, right? On the first call, the carrier was more interested in changing my password than in my billing. Every time I called their call center, they would only reset my password. On one call they suggested I visit a brick-and-mortar store, but the store had no record that I was already a customer. I called ten times and spoke with ten different agents, who reset my password ten times. My new password is an alphanumeric anagram of the atomic weight of Promethium, the birth dates of two childhood pets, and two Rickenbacker guitar models. But no direct bill. So I took to Twitter. The carrier’s Twitter team couldn’t verify that I was their customer. To further complicate matters, the call center agents had no visibility into the Twitter team’s records or my store visit. Apparently the three channels use separate databases and vendor partners that have neither an intersection point nor the ability to share data. Thus the seeds of channel discontent are sown. My personal case should not have taken multiple calls, a store visit, half a dozen tweets, and hundreds of hours of frustration.

The lesson learned is whatever the channel(s) your customer chooses, make sure the channels can reference the same contact information and customer interaction activity. Omni channel can be a beautiful thing when properly executed. Channel compatibility can make for an exceptional customer experience.

 

 

The world was stunned this week by the sudden death of David Bowie. He released an album only last week (on his 69th birthday) and from this fan’s perspective it was great to have him back in the spotlight. Bowie defied almost every convention over a five-decade career that spanned multiple music genres, movies, theater, art and more. Someday, a dictionary will show his photo as the example of “chameleonic.”  He taught the world so much.

Here are a few lessons learned from the man born David Jones:

Reinvention as an art form

Ziggy Stardust? The Thin White Duke? Elephant Man? He had numerous alter egos and personas, each perfectly matched the music to the character. The muscular guitar figures of the late great Mick Ronson of the Ziggy era were nothing like the sinewy funk lines of Carlos Alomar and Earl Slick of his Thin White Duke period, which presaged the Stratocaster  pyrotechnics of Stevie Ray Vaughan on Let’s Dance. He ditched the disco getup for the tailored suits and serrated guitar work of Reeves Gabrels for his Tin Machine days. These personas and musical styles had a common thread – the unmistakable voice and compositional chops of Bowie.  The lesson learned is, don’t be afraid to try or be something new.

Collaboration across generations

Bowie worked with so many different and varied artists who helped shape his sound and vision. One of the more bizarre television appearances I’ve ever seen was his duet with Bing Crosby on a Christmas special. With an age gap of more than 40 years, Crosby had no idea who this strange creature was singing with him. But that didn’t stop them from sounding great together! Their accomplishments in music and the movies actually gave the two stars significant common ground. Another Bowie collaboration grew out of a conversation at a dinner party. John Lennon and David Bowie discussed the path to fame, and once a level of fame is achieved the famous try to deconstruct and downplay it. The resulting song displays some of Lennon’s finest guitar work.  Bowie would later re-record the song with Queen Latifah (born Dana Owens), then an up-and-coming singer.  One of my favorite songs from the 1980s is Under Pressure, the brilliant duet that Bowie recorded with British rock legends Queen. He had been friends with their singer, Freddy Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara) for years and they shared a love of presenting rock as a visual spectacle. Can you sense a pattern with his collaborators?

Great Risk Great Reward

His innovations stretched into the unlikely worlds of finance and technology. Bowie was one of the first celebrities to offer bonds on his back catalog. Bowie Bonds were asset-backed securities of current and future revenues of the 25 albums (287 songs) that Bowie recorded before 1990. The idea was pioneered by investment banker David Pullman, and the bonds issued by Prudential in 1997. At one time, Bowie Bonds had  a higher rate of return than a 10-year Treasury note!

His footprint in technology was also significant. In September 1998, Bowie launched his own Internet service provider, BowieNet. Subscribers to the dial-up service were offered exclusive content, as well as a BowieNet email address and regular Internet access. Although the service was closed in 2006, Bowie was again a pioneer in another world.

One of the true originals has left us, and made an indelible mark on our world. The stars do look very different today.

Six strings, four strings, it’s all the same, right? Wrong (imagine Dana Carvey as John McLaughlin in his most bellicose bellowing)!  The ukulele and the guitar may both be stringed instruments, but there are many differences in how they are strung, tuned, and played. I’ve been playing guitar for decades and can voice most chords on the guitar without thinking. Which is where the little uke comes in. It has only 4 strings (from low to high: G, C, E, and A) for you to express yourself.

As a musicianship exercise, last weekend I took a few songs that I knew well on the guitar and rearranged them for ukulele. The point of the exercise was to get me thinking about chords, structures, and shapes in a new way. Liberate my thinking a little. My first rearrangement was “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters,” one of the most beautiful and under-appreciated songs in the Elton John catalog. Pick up his 1972 gem “Honky Chateau” and you’ll find it is full of treasures.  In fact, Rolling Stone ranked it number 357 on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time (2003 version of the ranking).  The song was inspired by Elton’s lyricist Bernie Taupin hearing gunshots outside his hotel room during his first trip to New York. So the song states that “Rose of Spanish Harlem” is just a myth, rose trees never grow in New York City – powerful stuff to me, since I grew up half an hour by train from New York and have sworn I’ve seen many trees alive and well.

I’ve been playing the song on guitar for years and can usually play it from memory. But the C, A minor. and  other chords in the song are much different on the ukulele. Your fingers wind up going to places you (and they) never thought they’d go. Be ready to take your mind to different places too!  The transition to a different instrument taught me a lot about the song and showed me things I didn’t know were there!

Which brings me to the topic of this post. There is an opportunity to stretch yourself in everything you do. You are never too old, too set in your ways, or too structured to learn something new. Even if you think that you know something well, looking at it differently can teach you new things. So go back over that customer engagement survey and look for some new insights. Ask a client if what you do in another vertical could work in theirs. Look into a new cloud technology. As the song says, turn around and say “good morning” to the night.

The other day I attended an excellent webinar by Grant Leboff named What the Sex Pistols Can Teach You About Marketing. That’s right – The Sex Pistols. Johnny Rotten, Steve Jones, Paul Cook, Glen Matlock, and his replacement Sid Vicious. As a fan of the group, whenever “Anarchy in the UK” is on the airwaves I test my car stereo’s volume limits. And with such an intriguing title to a webinar, I just had to join!

Marketing lessons from bands always pique my curiosity. I wrote a  blog post to express my thoughts on the excellent book Marketing Lessons From The Grateful Dead, and was positively stoked to attend this webinar. San Francisco’s jam-happy Dead can be considered the antithesis to London’s loud and fast Pistols. But both bands have much to teach marketers.

Consider the Sex Pistols. The group was put together by Malcolm McLaren, a British entrepreneur who had advised punk progenitors The New York Dolls. McLaren also owned a clothing store in London, and the band members were habitues of the store. Although the band was of limited musical competence, their career lasted less than three years, and their catalog consisted of one proper album, we are still talking about them more than 35 years after they disbanded during a disastrous US tour.

Why? Mr. Leboff offers a few lessons. First, it is not about the music. Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols responded to a critic during their late 1970s heyday: It has nothing to do with about music at all, you silly cow! Looking back, they were about the total experience of music, fashion, and attitude.

Lessons learned:

• Marketing is not a means to an end. It has to have value. Don’t just market your product or service because you have to; make it a true value to your business.
• Find your influencers. McLaren had connections, and he knew how to open doors. His guidance provided access to the mainstream British media and the underground press that was championing the punk movement.
• Marketing is not about products and services. Marketing is about people. Your customers are more than just account numbers; make your customers your heroes. The Sex Pistols made their fans the hero, which predated social media by decades.
• Marketing is about building communities. Fans of the Sex Pistols were known as the Bromley Contingent (many of the early ones were denizens of this London neighborhood). Fans were eager to spread the word about the band. They gave their time, which is as important as giving of their wallets.
• Capture imagination with an ethos behind your business. What’s your ethos? Back in 1975 (when the Sex Pistols were getting started), Microsoft had the ethos of “a computer on every desk top.” Back then the phrase was two words, and Microsoft helped make the phrase synonymous with the computer. Your ethos informs your value proposition. Steve Jones described the Sex Pistols’ ethos as “we aren’t into music, we’re into chaos.” Disruption, anyone?
• Context is everything. How did a band with very little output, that repeatedly dropped F bombs on live television, and turned sneering into a spectator sport, become so popular? They were disruptive and manipulated the media by thinking like them.

Marketing professionals, think like the media. Make your customer the hero. Don’t be afraid to be disruptive. Perhaps you too can be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (the Pistols were inducted in 2006).

These days I am in full-time job search mode, which I would not wish upon anyone. This is an emotional roller-coaster. You spend your days developing and maintaining contact lists, spending hours applying to positions, wrestling with applicant tracking systems, making follow-up phone calls, preparing for interviews, (if you are very lucky) interviews, and trying to contain your anger when you learn that the position you thought was right for you was filled internally . Every day.

Having begun my first career in sales, I dutifully make a follow-up phone call on every resume I send. Those calls rarely go well. I am astounded at the number of people who do not take phone calls. If you do catch a live person (and I do believe they are out there), their mood can usually be characterized as surly or dismissive.

When I make these follow-up calls, people on the other side of the conversation often remind me a song from 1975 or so, “Don’t Call Us, We’ll Call You.” This song, by the Colorado-based band Sugarloaf, tells the story of the band channeling their frustrations of little interest from record companies into bubblegum sarcasm. The song’s title and chorus was all they ever heard, if they received any response at all. The band got into some trouble because the song mentioned the phone number of a record company executive, who was apparently less than welcoming. That errant use of a phone number in the song made it a fluke hit.

The phrase has even crept its way into software coding. The Hollywood Principle is a software design methodology that takes its name from the cliché response given to auditioning hopefuls in Hollywood: “Don’t call us, we’ll call you”. Wikipedia tells us that it is a useful paradigm that assists in the development of code with high cohesion and low coupling that is easier to debug, maintain and test. I much prefer the fluke hit.

Maybe I need a fluke hit, because I hear the chorus every weekday.

A client recently asked us to develop a PR plan. Great, we can work with them to develop their key messages and help influence how their audience perceives them. Later that day, the same client asked for a social media plan as well. Wait a minute, shouldn’t they be one plan? Sure, you can involve public relations, social media, advertising, community relations, and events, but make sure the channels fit together into one plan.

Why only one plan when there are so many channels? Consider your audience. People will find out about you through web searches, advertising, newspapers, email, articles, events, and social media. Wouldn’t you want them to receive the same consistent message, regardless of where they find it?

Putting your communication plan together involves asking yourself a lot of questions. The questions all relate to the following four statements.

• Articulate what you do, and what you do better than anyone else. Describe what your business does in one sentence; feel free to include the products or services you provide. Now the tough part – what does your company do better than anyone else? Ask yourself and your customers this question. The customer’s answer could be a real eye-opener. For example, I once worked for a telecom equipment manufacturer that was about to roll out a “quality products” themed global marketing campaign. We were certain that product quality was our differentiator. But our customers had other ideas. A customer focus group told us that our products were terrible! A customer said the only reason he bought from us was because we replaced the faulty stuff with no questions asked. So the true test is how your customers would answer the “what do you do better” question.
• Define the audience. Who do you want to reach with your communications? Are you targeting the local business community, customers (current and potential), investors, business partners, employees, or combinations of the above? Once you have defined your audience, make a list of what is important to each of them.
• Identify your key messages. Now that you’ve identified your audience and what you do for them, you can list what are the most important things you want your audience to know about you. Whether you are the innovator, the low-cost provider, or the communications counsel to the stars, make sure the key points are in your messaging.
• Identify the channels. Back to the idea of the single communications plan. Where does your audience go to learn about new products, services, and developments? What do they read? Do they prefer digital or traditional media? Are they active on social media? Do they attend trade shows or conferences? What kind of content do they need? The answers will lead you to the right channels.

Present a single communications strategy with all of the channels as components of an integrated strategy. There is (hopefully) only one you. Regardless of where you want your name to appear, roll out the same consistent message to all of your communication channels.

My favorite band, The Who, is now in the final throes of their 50th anniversary tour. Half a century together, and half of the band is still with us.

“5:15” is one of my favorite songs by The Who, and for many reasons.  We the listener are treated to Chuck Berry-style guitar riffs, a cascade of real horns, staccato passages, the caterwauling drum extravaganza that was Keith Moon, and Roger Daltrey in full-throated cry.  Who Heaven for 5 whole minutes. The intro to “5:15” pops into my head whenever I write something new.  It starts cold and quiet, with a piano and guitar trading choppy riffs, and Pete Townsend asking the listener, “Why should I care, Why should I care…,”

And why should I care? It is the duty of every writer – whether you are writing a press release, case study, white paper, blog post, radio commercial, or work of fiction – to ask yourself why the reader should care. Every word should draw the reader into the story. Make them yearn for the next sentence.

Try asking yourself, why should the reader care, with every word you write.

Then I dare you to get the crashing horn sounds out of your head!

Everybody is busy. Your boss is busy. Your colleagues are busy. Your customers are busy. The people who cut the grass, the mail carriers, the construction workers waving the flags. Busy. Even the cat is busy, if the task of converting everything in the house into a cat toy can qualify.  Why we are all busy is another blog post but everyone has their reasons.

Yesterday it hit me. Nobody is really any busier than anyone else. Really. We all work at a different pace and respond to requests for our time and services in different ways. But if I am someone’s customer (defining the term as someone from whom I am expecting some material goods or service or intellectual property), the last thing I want in a response is “I am busy.”

Here is what hit me. Telling me you are busy is really telling me that I am unimportant. The needs of someone else come before mine.  OK, maybe someone is paying more for your service, or has been your customer longer than me, or has a more stringent deadline, or someone else got in your queue ahead of me. I get all that and it is likely you do too. A response of “I am busy” does not artificially inflate your demand. Hopefully I am not your only customer, acknowledge that to yourself but never make your customers feel like you’ve consigned them to the queue.

So don’t tell your customers that you are busy. Nobody wants to hear that. Treat them like they are your only customer. How do you think that will impact your customer retention efforts?

The concept of the webinar has been with us for more than a decade. The whole idea, as its name implies, is a web-based seminar. I am proud to say that I’ve introduced the concept to two different companies and consider it a communication channel of choice. You can gather as many people as your connection can stand, pontificate on the topic at hand, entertain questions, and truly share knowledge for a very reasonable cost. These are all reasons why the webinar has become so popular yet at the same time have driven the channel into a funk.

At one time my heart would skip a beat when I received an invitation to a webinar. Really. The very thought of being invited to a web-based opportunity to learn something and to have some instructive dialog with an industry expert was a highlight of my day. Turn up the speakers (or in my present work space, crank up the headphones) and enjoy the learning. Then something happened. They became something to dread. My desk phone would ring, and a distant voice with a difficult-to-understand accent would call to invite me to a webinar that was way outside my areas of interest. Forget about asking them for clarification on the topic; the voice (is that a vacuum cleaner in their hand? have they figured out how to talk through a fuzz box?) is only there to push attendance. Content has been dethroned.

What went wrong? At the risk of sounding like Andy Rooney, I’ve identified the following list of why webinars have become passé.

• Invitations have become invasive. Just send me one email to invite me. And only one call per day is acceptable. One such provider called me 5 times on Friday!
• Sign-up forms have become opportunities for that distant voice to shove a white paper or demo down my throat. Just because I signed up for a webinar doesn’t mean I want every piece of content your company provides.
• Lame login process. The mere act of logging in has become a challenge. Click on the email link to visit a landing page to visit another landing page with a “webinar will start shortly” message plastered on it. Then wait.
• Actually I’m late. Is punctuality extinct? Why does every webinar start late? Why does it sound like the presenters just rushed into the room, completely unprepared? Does anyone rehearse anymore? From now on I will charge the webinar host $200 every time I hear an “um” and $100 every time I hear the word “actually” – the word seems to be used in lieu of punctuation. But I digress; “actually” is another blog post.
• Content, once King, is now crap. Whatever happened to content? Most of the webinars I’ve attended recently have been really boring. After about 10 minutes I have figured out that this isn’t for me and bail out on the party.
• The webinar has morphed into a thinly-disguised attempt to sell me something. I am not at all against commerce, I would rather learn about a new application or technology without sitting through an infomercial. Sell me something when I decide that I might be a prospect for you.

OK, so the webinar may still have its benefits and uses as a communications channel. But please, Oh Webinar Purveyor, please limit to only one invitation.

The London Olympics, incredible as they were, are now just a memory. Something struck me during the opening ceremony and then the closing one – there were more people-of-a-certain-age involved than I ever remember seeing during a Games. The opening ceremony called to attention the several athletes who were in their sixties and even older. Bob Costas, 60, noted with pride that he was younger than several Olympic athletes. And who was the closing act of that opening ceremony? None other than Sir Paul McCartney (didn’t he write the book on the sixties?) who had turned 70 a few days before the Games began. Here’s to rocking into your wheelchair years!

And who could forget the closing ceremony? There were performers of all ages. The Who (combined age of the two surviving members is 135) and their contemporaries Queen, and people in their 40s or a bit older – Spice Girls, Blur, Beady Eye, and George Michael. The show organizers dug deep into the vaults to resurrect Take That, Madness, Pet Shop Boys, and Annie Lennox. One artist I was hoping to see was Kate Bush (one of her songs was used), who is likely still gorgeous at 54. All in all an incredible cross-section of English music, a brilliant bunch of performances, and a gentle reminder that we all get old someday.

The only people who don’t get old are the gymnasts. In fact, their age seems to decrease every year. It seems that not long ago, Nadia Comaneci and I were about the same age; we still are, but now we are old enough to be the parents of the current crop of gymnasts competing. Time marches on.

Remember the “forgot password” button that used to be on most websites? The one that used to send you your password if you couldn’t remember which one of the dozen you used? Forget it, it is about as dead as Milli Vanilli. What replaced it is a “forgot password” button that forces you to reset your password immediately. No time to think, just type.

I am not one for excuses, but this is the reason why I haven’t entered anything on my blog in such a long time. Apparently my host, WordPress, reset passwords a while ago. They didn’t accept the one that I not only entered correctly, but carefully wrote it down. WordPress made me create a new password then told me it wasn’t strong enough. Then I could not reuse the old one. Gotcha twice.

What’s in a password, anyway? According to an article on Yahoo a month or two ago, one of most popular passwords is supposed to be 12341234. I didn’t realize there were still so many Ramones fans out there! Glad to see that Forest Hills’ Finest is still making an impression.

The point here is do not expect a website to store or remember a password for you. Write it down, but if you forget it, “Sheena is a Punk Rocker” would make a great one and probably strong enough for any website.

Driving in to the office this morning, I heard the Coldplay song “Viva La Vida” on the radio. So naturally I turned it up loud and sang along; the band is one of my favorites. Their creation story – four guys who met at university freshman orientation went on to form a band, and steadily grew in their musical confidence – strongly resonates with me. In my opinion they haven’t made a bad album.

But there is one line in that song that usually makes me chuckle yet this morning it got me thinking.

“Now in the morning I sleep alone, sweep the streets that I used to own” is the line. Yeah, we have all been there. What caused my mind to race this morning was the notion of sweeping the streets when you used to own them. Did you sweep the street when you owned it? Why the heck not? Now, that would be impressive. It was your street, so own the work.

No task is too small if you own the place. Embrace your inner entrepreneur. Take ownership. Sweep the street.

One of the earliest comments my parents made about me was that I “always had my nose in a book.” That is still true today; I am often reading one book for professional development and another for pleasure. One recent book – Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead by David Meerman Scott and Brian Halligan – was a little of both.

Although not technically a deadhead, I have seen the band in concert a few times and own a couple of their albums. I’ve always admired their approach and their pure love of music. Mr. Scott and Mr. Halligan tie much of the Grateful Dead’s activities to marketing lessons. For example, the band was practicing social media back in 1965 or so, long before the term was coined. Their mailing list was meticulous, even though their stage demeanor may have been a bit on the lackadaisical side. And rather than try to close down the merchants in the parking lots at their concerts, the band embraced them (albeit keeping the brand attributes intact by making sure the merchants knew how not to stretch or skew the logo). Embracing was a key to the Grateful Dead ethos. Nobody, no matter how weird, was considered a misfit.

I could go on and on about the book because it is a great poolside (or short flight) read. Truth is, the Grateful Dead taught us many lessons about running a very successful business in a not very conventional way. We have a lot to learn. Listen to the band.

Begin at the beginning, but visualize the outcome. Decide who you want people to know you for and then build toward that goal. Here is an example.

My previous employer was doing many innovative things with their products (in fact, beating the 800 pound and 500 pound gorillas to these innovations by a year or two), yet the company was not known for its innovations. So we decided on a strategic use of communication to position the 80-year-old company as an innovator. Every press release, case study, article, white paper, web site page, product spec sheet, and PowerPoint presentation was developed to support this theme. My media outreach also centered on innovation. The tactics are simple: befriend the industry press, help them out wherever possible, invite them to your booth during trade shows, and ask for their feedback. When I planned to include an online news room in the new website, I asked the trade press what they needed in the site. Their feedback made the site one of the best in the business. But I digress from the innovation story…

The results of the innovation positioning speak for themselves. Within a year, the target audience awareness of us as an innovator increased by 50%. The company won three consecutive “Hot Product” awards in 3 years, and received several innovation award nominations. Now many of our products have a first name of ‘award-winning.’ Although it may take some time before this effort translates into sales, it definitely positions the company in the forefront of a dynamic industry.

By now, the news of Ann Curry’s commencement speech at Wheaton College has circled the globe a few times. To make a long story short, she confused the college in Massachusetts (where she was speaking) with a similarly named school in Illinois.  Ouch. But to her credit, she did apologize and say she was “mortified” by her mistake.

What can we learn from all this?A few lessons…

Check your research. Check it again. Even if you are reading it off the teleprompter, make sure what you are reading is true. Own your research and stand by it.

Own up to the mistake. Sure, you confused two similarly named colleges that are half a country apart. But admit you were wrong, admit you were sorry for the gaffe, and move on.

Take corrective action. Learn from what you did wrong. Put corrective measures in place. Perhaps this means take a little more time with your research, trust but verify what is put in front of you, install checkpoints, find an additional set of eyes to review, whatever it takes. Sure, these measures take longer than what you were doing before, but the extra time will be worth it.

Oh, and Happy Memorial Day!!!

Your company’s messaging should pervade the entire organization, not just the output from your marketing department. Think of your messaging as that wonderful smell of fresh bread baking in the oven. You can usually smell it throughout the house. Below is an example of behavior that not only is totally out of whack with the company’s messaging, but it stinks up the joint like last week’s boiled cabbage.

I’ve applied for a position at a company that goes to great lengths (not to mention expense) to brand themselves as fun, friendly and easy to like. But when I called to follow up on the status of my application, my request was met with something not far removed from “how dare you call us, we do not accept calls from the likes of you.” Wow. Nothing fun, friendly, or likable in that message. Perhaps they should change their corporate theme song to that 1970’s rarity “Don’t call us, we’ll call you.”

The key takeaway: slogans and messages are wonderful (and I have been blessed  to have come up with a few good ones) only if they are pervasive and consistent throughout the entire organization. Make sure everyone in the company understands and lives up to the slogan – especially the people who are customer-facing.

You never know when or where you will meet a friend.

When I was first establishing my cadre of vendors in Dallas, I received a call from someone who sells marketing specialties. You know, stuff with your logo on it that you give away at trade shows (or trade them with fellow exhibitors if the show is really slow). My former employer’s target audience was government officials, so there wasn’t a huge call for such items. But he asked for the meeting and I obliged.

He arrived at the meeting bearing a gift – a New York Islanders key chain. The Islanders are my home town team and still my NHL favorite. That sparked quite a conversation. It turns out that we grew up about 15 miles from each other and graduated high school the same year. Had he gone to parochial school we would have been classmates! Small world, isn’t it.

He is more than just someone who sells marketing specialties. He is a savvy businessman who has been one of my trusted advisors and cheerleaders during my job search.

Lessons learned: take the meeting. Don’t be afraid to bear or receive gifts.

Did you ever think you would learn about respect for your customers at a rock concert? Let me tell you about it.

In November 2003 I attended a Duran Duran concert at the Warner Theater in Washington, DC. The original lineup of the band had reunited after nearly twenty years, and they were playing smaller theaters to test the waters of this reunion.

A minute or so into the second song, one of guitarist Andy Taylor’s Vox modeling amps broke down. Singer Simon Le Bon told the audience, “We have a full-blown catastrophe here, and we need to fix it. We want to give you the best show possible so we will stop the show for a little while and fix the amplifier.” Simon went on, “We will turn the house music back on, and by the way, the bar is open. Please have a drink on us while we sort this out.”

This is the respect for the audience that I alluded to at the start of this post. Instead of slogging through what could have been a mediocre show with a blown-out guitar amplifier (after more than 30 years of playing on the road that is something I wouldn’t do), they admitted they had a problem and stopped the show to fix it. While they were hunkered down in repair mode, they made sure the audience still had a good time. Simon took the stage periodically to provide updates and tell jokes. Who knew that this dynamic frontman was also a stand-up comedian?!? After nearly an hour they fixed the amplifier and resumed the show. They played longer than their standard set and with an enthusiasm that was contagious.

Lessons learned: Duran Duran not only put on a phenomenal show, they gave a clinic in customer service – respect your audience, admit when you’ve done something wrong, fix it, keep the audience engaged, and come back with your best.

Even though I had been a fan for 22 years, their performance that night and their respect for their fans confirmed that I would be a Durannie for life.

Searching for a job is hard work. Perhaps the hardest part is the countless hours on the telephone. This directly relates to the vanishing voice of the customer, so please read on…

I recently saw an ad for a position with a telecom service provider for which I would be ideally suited. The ad clearly stated apply on our website. Unfortunately, the job was not posted anywhere on their website, so I called the company. I then entered into the “deaf to the customer zone.” Nobody answered during business hours, so I tried my luck with the dial-by-number directory. The employee mentioned in the job ad was not in the directory. I attempted dialing into the customer service queue. Its greeting began with “Please enter a name. We can only respond to customers who call us by name.”

Allusions to Dante’s circles of hell and the futility expressed by Kafka began to become extremely clear. This was yet another company, whose very product and service proved to be its greatest barrier to customer intimacy. They made themselves deaf to their own customers.

Welcome! My blog will cover a range of topics that are pertinent to marketing communications, media relations, social media, lead generation, and sales tool creation.

Although the purpose of marketing is to sell stuff (or services), the purpose of this blog is information rather than the slinging of hash.

Your comments are most welcome.