it’s not really customer service when you do that

it’s not really customer service when you do that

I understand times have changed and the way we service our customers has also changed. But listening and responding — assisting customers — is the same as it’s been for as long as I can remember. Some do it well… others not so great.

One thing that DRIVES ME CRAZYand that happened to me just today — is when a form response is sent that doesn’t really apply to the problem for which the customer requested assistance. I explained my issue and the response I received was a canned reply.

That tells me my problem wasn’t important enough to even read my request for assistance. And to end the correspondence with something like, “Thanks for being the best part of XYZ company,” is like an exclamation point after the jack slap to the face.

You can’t call because there’s no support number… that’s pretty standard anymore since support teams are often located outside of the US. So as a customer, I sit and simmer knowing it’s going to be another 10 hours before I get a response that I should’ve gotten upon my first request if the company cared more about me and less about my monthly payment.

If you’re in business — pay attention and actually read trouble tickets created. If you don’t, your customers will be looking for alternatives to do business elsewhere… just like I am.


In other news, the old Wyze cam outdoor isn’t outdoors yet. Still, it sends alerts. Most of them are triggered by the same thing…

How severe the pandemic is in the places where people I care about are located…
Daily new COVID-19 cases (7 day moving average):
Indiana-80.6 (down a tad); Jackson Co – 114.3 (up slightly) — 5.5% infected (same); Florida 36.5 (up a bit); Nevada – 83.3 (up)

I placed two covid germs as placeholders as the map changes… 🙂

covid map

TIL (Today I Learned): In 1995, an inmаte sued himself for $5 million saying that he was drunk at the time of the crіme, which caused him to violate his religious beliefs and civil rights by getting arrеsted. He reasoned that as a ward of state, and unable to work, the state should pay him the money. He lost.

only half a day left and I’m still kickin’

only half a day left and I’m still kickin’

Another full day in the books and a partial day tomorrow to go. Live events are hard for a multitude of reasons. Virtual, live events pose even more challenges.

First, you’re at the mercy of your Internet connection. Scott lost connection near the end of a VIP session while interviewing a guest speaker today. My blood pressure peaked. The speaker carried on (which was amazing!) and I figured I’d be ok wrapping up that event — not a huge deal. But I had no earthly clue how to kick off the next general session that was to begin 5 minutes later. Scott came back using his phone as a hotspot — and his Internet came back up within minutes. Whew!!

You don’t know what your guests are going to say. You may have a good idea what they talk about and you know their style, but sometimes they don’t follow along with the outline. One speaker today said, “Watch this shit“… and I won’t lie… I cringed. He changed it to, “watch this poo poo” and everyone thought it was funny. I guess it was all good. Attendees seemed to love him.

You have to work to keep people involved and engaged. This is always true, but even more so when events are virtual. And on a weekend. The good thing is that the people there are paying to listen — even on a weekend — so they are invested. That, of course, puts more pressure to ensure they receive value.

I utilized the items in my swag box! I drank coffee from my Distinction Summit mug, iced tea from my Distinction Summit Yeti, and wore my Distinction Summit hat. If I don’t make it through this last 1/2 day… don’t y’all let them bury me in it.

TIL (Today I Learned): Ken Allen, a Borneo orangutan in the San Diego Zoo, has escaped his enclosure three times. He never acted aggressively towards anyone during his escapes, and just wandered around the zoo looking at other animals. Read more about Ken right here…

Daily new COVID-19 cases (7 day moving average):
Indiana-24.6 (up); Jackson Co – 37.8 (up…HOLY SMOKES); Florida 12.6 (same); Nevada – 19.6 (up)

this is how to market to buyers in 2020

this is how to market to buyers in 2020

I received an interesting email this morning that has me thinking about how 2020 marketing has changed. It seems as if it’s now really cool to be offensive! The email was a request for my brother to review a book.

Here’s a portion of the email that included a direct author quote:

“You probably shouldn’t read this book if you’re easily offended. If you’re a judgmental dick and generally ignorant, then I can promise that this book isn’t for you.”

Basically, if you don’t read this book (and review it if you’re my brother), you’re an ignorant, easily offended judgmental dick.

I know I’m old… and I guess the old phrase, “rude, crude and socially unacceptable” simply doesn’t apply anymore. Rude and crude IS acceptable in this new normal. Obviously.

Something else I thought I’d never see is a letter to employees outlining restrictions on personal vacations. Crazy that I’m not really opposed to what they’re doing. Pepsi says employees get 2 weeks unpaid quarantine if they travel to any state with a COVID-19 positive test rate higher than 10%.

The list of locations change as the positive test rates change. (You can refer back to the URL I provided earlier to see what your state/county 7 day rolling average is.)

I understand the need to stop the spread. I’m just not smart enough to know how this works with the shortage of the reagent to complete tests in a timely manner. For example… my sister-in-law is so very sick and says her lungs feel like “ice” — all the while unable to get test results until 5-7 days have passed (explain how contact tracing will work well with this scenario).

And because this entire post is negative, I’m going to close and pet my dogs.

TIL (today I learned): Both a human and a dog’s blood pressure decrease while the human pets the dog. Read about it here…

pet your dogs to lower blood pressure
is this a new phase for business?

is this a new phase for business?

The very second the World Health Organization uttered the word “pandemic,” our business (events) came to a screeching halt. All events were put on hold as business leaders grasped for information and scrambled to figure out a plan. Not one of our clients wanted to talk about doing anything virtually. We stopped all marketing.

Any event — no matter how large or how important — was near or at the bottom of the priority list for every company in the US and beyond.

I’ve noticed within the past week, companies now seem to have practices in place (if possible) that function. And, they’re realizing they need to bring content to their people to help them navigate this phase of conducting business. My phone is ringing again. Nothing close to the level we were performing, but not flat-lined anymore either.

Merida makes up for the downtime I could have. Today, I opened the window to let in a little fresh air and she figured she could just push that screen out and play in the yard.

lemme out!

Quick stats as of 8:30 PM ET 4/27/2020 (day #52 of isolation for me)
118 cases in Jackson County (up 4 since yesterday – 0 deaths)
15,961 cases in Indiana (up 963 since yesterday)
844 Deaths in Indiana (new 31)
987,022 cases in America (up 23,854 since yesterday)

Merida – 1 : Screen – 0

The daily growth number in Jackson County remains about the same (under 10 per day usually), but the number of cases in Indiana seems to be going up by a greater number each day. Almost 5,000 cases just in Marion County (Indianapolis) alone.

I’m still hangin’ out here at home. 🙂

the work life balance myth

the work life balance myth

There’s no perfect work life balance. There’s always going to be a time you want more minutes with your family, friends or dog. And, there’s always going to be occasions when you need just one more hour to finish that work project.

You need more dog time!

If you Google “work life balance,” you’ll find a bajillion articles telling you how to improve yours, employers that are the best, etc. I didn’t find one online publication that simply said: do the best you can and deal with it.

Working from home or being your own boss? Good luck with that. Sure, you can take a long lunch at anytime during the day or go to your granddaughter’s school program. But when there is “X” amount of work to be done that takes “X” amount of time to do, it doesn’t shake out to be a fairy tale. You do the best you can and deal with it.

But the work from home scenario — and about every other job on the planet — does win over retail management during the holiday season. I’m feeling bad for poor ole’ Perry during the Thanksgiving holiday, you guys.

Wal-mart’s management is provided time on Thanksgiving for a family meal. I’m sure on the corporate level they will even brag about it. The statistics will look great! But the clear picture from the inside is totally different…

Walmart management (at least at Perry’s store) regularly work five 10-hour days with two days off per week. During the week of Thanksgiving (and Black Friday), they take away one day off and split-shift Thanksgiving Day. While that might be ok if you live in the town where you work, that split can still mean arriving at 5:00 AM and not being finished with your day’s work until midnight!

With Perry’s schedule — if all he does while home is sleep (NO TURKEY FOR YOU, PERRY!) — he will log 11 hours of rest from Wednesday morning through Friday night to carry him through 33 hours of work-time PLUS 12-hours of drive time to get there and back.

I can see the headlines now on Forbes and Business Insider: Walmart gives employees time off with their families on Thanksgiving!! Perry’s Thanksgiving holiday will be more of a work coffee balance… no life allowed.

You're going to need coffee!