ListenUp!

Holiday Vacation

Taking a bit of a break as I celebrate Christmas with the family. I've been off work since December 19, and I haven't been near the computer more than once or twice. (Remember, I'm relegated to dial-up since I live in the rural part of Snohomish County, well outside of town.)

Our family has been ice skating, swimming, shopping, and playing. Still to come, snow boarding (if the roads cooperate).

We had snow on Christmas Day (just a trace, but the kids thought it was magical), and we're expecting more tonight. We live too close to the Pacific Ocean to get much snow (usually just a few times a year), so everyone's excited. Especially since we don't have to commute to work on icy roads!

Happy New Year!

Business is Personal

Jennifer Rice comments that she's working to make her blog more personal. Darren Rowse, Wayne Hurlbert, and David St. Lawrence pick up the conversation. Like me, they're finding it challenging to strike a proper balance between professional, relevant and personal, human. I know I probably don't write enough about my own motivations, frustrations, challenges, or mistakes. I know my management team (occasionally) visits my blog, and I know regardless of my personal feelings, I represent my company to some degree (dispite my disclaimer!).

When it all comes down to it, I'm not sure we can (or should even try to) disconnect the personal from the business. Brands are about reputation. Business is about trust and reciprocation. Contracts are covenants. Marketing is communication. Selling is a dialog. Business partnerships, even at a transactional level are about shared goals, common vision, commitment to each other.

The thing that appeals to me about blogs is that they allow a deeper conversation to occur. They reveal the person behind the words. The motivation behind the advice. The human behind the company.

To me, the biggest problem in business (and in communities, and in schools, and churches, and in marriage, and in nearly every social situation) is lack of trust. And trust can only come when people know your motives. And that can only come when people really know each other.

My blog continues to evolve, but like Jennifer, I'm working on being more open, not less. If people don't want to wade through my posts about my kids, or my frustrations, they can move on to other posts, or for that matter, other blogs. I like hearing about Robert's wife and his relationship with his son. I like hearing about Beth's robot dog, and Dare's frustrations with Robert, and Diane's triumphs at work. It helps me realize they're not corporate drones who only care about selling more Microsoft software.

In the meantime, the value I've found in blogging comes from getting to know others that share common values of mine, whether it's customer connection, management values, personal development, work-life balance, or family connection.

Winter Fun

The Windows XP team put together a handful of very fun applications to celebrate the holidays. My family especially likes the Winter screen saver, where you can add your own photos, and watch snow fall through a window. It's all free, and easy to download if you have Windows XP.

I'll kick off the fun by adding my own Santa photo to my blog...

Sing Like An Angel

Nothing says Christmas like 150 elementary school kids singing in a Christmas concert!

Steven's school put on its annual Christmas Pagent and Concert last night. I was impressed by the level of energy, the enthusiasm, and the joy this group of kids demonstrated. Jeri and I were so proud, and it made the season pretty much complete.

Simplification Can Be Complicated

Simplification of complexity requires a system equivalent in complexity.

I couldn't agree more. In a newsletter (remember those?), David Allen, author of Ready For Anything and Getting Things Done, writes about a subject I'm a bit obsessed about recently.

"Controlling something with lots of variables, details, and horizons requires a matching number of parts and processes to control the whole. If you try to manage something complex with too simple a system, you will do nothing but add to the complexity. An elegant dinner requires multiple tools (pots, pans, plates, utensils) and procedures (recipes, cooking, serving) for its preparation and enjoyment. Trying to cook a six-course dinner with nothing but one pot and a spoon would get quickly out of control. Having all the tools, content, and processes that map to all the moving parts of an event, and having them at the ready, as needed, is critical for elegant simplicity with an experience."

Over the past few days, we've been dealing with some problems with a couple of our information systems. And on four separate occasions, I've had to give the "you can solve this problem with a bandaid, or you can overhaul the system" speech. I've been struggling with how to put into words what David Allen did so succinctly.

I'll leave you with a few quotes from the newsletter. I'm inspired...

I would not give a fig for the simplicity on this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity. - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Organizational progress parallels that in science and technology, permitting ultimate simplicity through intermediate complexity.
- Thomas Sowell

Only great minds can afford a simple style.
- Stendahl

Your Economics Professor Was Wrong

Seth Godin has an interesting article in Fast Company this month called "The Scarcity Shortage."

"Scarcity, after all, is the cornerstone of our economy. The only way to make a profit is by trading in something that's scarce. This is why the music and movie industries are so terrified by the millions of people who download entertainment from the Internet every day. Downloading threatens to make supply virtually unlimited, and that could make their offerings about as valuable as those of some kids down my street who recently tried to run a stand selling freshly made mud.

The same thing is true for doctors, Web sites, T-shirt shops, sushi restaurants, thumbtack manufacturers, and brands of blank CD-ROM disks. There are 100 major brands of bottled water. Someone opened a fancy ice-cream parlor in Manhattan, and then there were six.

If it's remotely digital (like music), then it's easy to mimic. And if it's easy to mimic, someone wins if they can knock off the original--the sooner the better. "

Of course this topic is covered in business school, since it's the basis of the "demand curve" and the foundation of Macroeconomics. But what it doesn't take into account is technology.

Land is the classic example of scarcity: once it's gone, it's gone. But what if houses could be built five to an acre because of better water and sewer systems? Of what if farms can yield three times the crops due to better pesticides and lower fertilizer costs? What if land that was once useless could be used due to better water management, better irrigation?

Technology will always progress, allowing us to do more with less--breaking the laws of scarcity. And with the rapid adoption of technology, it's happening even faster.

So Seth's right: it's going to take smarter, more dedicated people to make real money, and the rest of the world is going to resort to operating on the razor-thin lines of zero profit due to perfect competition. What's really scarce? Wisdom. Courage. Honor. Relationships.

New Kids on the Blogs

Found a handful of great, new marketing blogs, so I thought I'd share:

Brand Autopsy Starbucks superstar marketers share their thoughts
Brand Mantra Brand Strategy News and Views by brand and strategy consultant Jennifer Rice
Creating Positive Context Buyer-centric innovator Chris Lawer
Mutual Marketing researching and rethinking marketing strategies for the "relationship age"

And while I'm at it I should mention Xbox Realm. Damon Friend, a high school kid, is giving me my best Xbox intel. I'm regularly forwarding his posts to the product team down the hall.

Users? Consumers? Customers? Buyers?

Jennifer Rice of Brand Mantra asked Chris Lawler a great question: What is the difference between buyer-centricity and customer-centricity?

I was just having this conversation yesterday with Diane Reischling, when I used the term "end user" with her--it just about sent her over the edge. When I apologized and used the phrase "Consumer" she about gagged. We settled on "Customer," but in giving it some thought, I'm not all that sure it's much better...

I'm going to have to delve into Chris's definitions a bit further, but he argues that one focuses on the transaction, while the other focuses a bit more on the mutual fulfillment of needs (one getting revenue and meeting company goals, the other getting something they need or desire).

I've often thought the most powerful way of thinking of customers and clients is as partners. It's what frustrates me when I see poor customer service, and it's what excites me when I see the possibilities that true customer-centric CRM could possibly offer.

Semantics, you say? Maybe. But Jennifer and Chris make a great point that I firmly agree with: Language often is the basis of new concepts, and new ways of thinking.

Anyone have a better word than "customer?"

The dullest blog in the world

A classic that's been around for a while. Doc Searles blogged it, so I thought I'd forward the link...

The dullest blog in the world

Know. Feel. Do.

In the past few weeks since meeting Bill Jensen, I've used the "Know, Feel, Do" style of writing email, and I've been amazed at the results. I've since passed it along to several co-workers, and they report similar results.

KNOW: What Does the Email Recipient Need to Know?
FEEL: How Do You Want Them to Feel?
DO: What Do You Want Them to Do?
Sum it all up in a 3x5" space ("above the fold" in email).

A few emails I've sent recently are attached so you can see what I mean:

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From: John Porcaro
Sent: Friday, December 5, 2003 10:55 AM
To: H&E Sales & Marketing
Subject: Who is Shopping at Retail: Voice of the Customer Focus Group video clips

Thanks for attending yesterday’s meeting. It was inspiring and thought-provoking to hear from our customers—in their own voice—describe their experiences shopping at retail.

If you didn’t get to attend, I really think you would enjoy seeing these short video clips yourself. And I encourage you to share it with others who didn’t see it.

The slide deck with embedded video clips is linked on the Channel Research B/R/S Segmentation Study SharePoint site.

----------------------------------------------------

From: John Porcaro
Sent: Monday, December 8, 2003 1:16 PM
To: H&E Sales & Marketing
Subject: Worldwide Marketing Communications

Sharing information across teams, between subsidiaries, and with our partners (retailers, sales associates, vendors, agencies) can be frustrating and time consuming. But free-flowing communication is the key to better collaboration, saving time searching for people, documents, or digital assets, increasing partner satisfaction, and making our own jobs easier by leveraging work already done.

Our H&E Marketing Communications Team is dedicated to making things easier for you and your partners. We’ve been newly chartered with building communications tools and procedures that support our division’s efforts worldwide, including the brand-new HEDweb, coming soon. And we’re working closely with the SharePoint 2.0, Office 2003, and MSWeb teams to leverage a lot of the cool features you’ve seen in demos of the new Office System.

What We Need From You:
1. We are working on gathering requirements for upcoming projects, and we need your suggestions. We’ll be contacting many of you individually in the near future, but if you have questions, comments, or suggestions, feel free to contact me directly.

2. If you’re deploying SharePoint team sites, Extranet Portals, or have partner-facing web sites, we’d love to hear about your business requirements. It might make sense to leverage assets, or simply learn from each others’ plans.

For more information, visit our team website on HEDweb. A good rollup of our plans can be found in a recent presentation we’ve given to many of you. Feel free to contact us individually if you have any questions. We look forward to hearing from you.

Read on if you’re interested in the details: