OK, I confess. I’m one who has it on his blog, too. I’m sorry!!! ;)
It’s funny because I actually have started to wonder if the microimage is of any use. It’s usually a few days old at best, anyway, and you can’t actually READ anything on it.
I guess I’m still hoping there’s some merit to it, but am open to the sentiments expressed and linked here, even if they are somewhat violent or gruesome!! LOL
Snap.com’s Erik Wingren responds on Dave Winer’s blog to some of the criticism directed toward the Snap preview. They still think it’s useful… I still figure it’s the perfect solution to a problem nobody has.
I’d argue there are still industries where a good Yellow Pages ad can be a great way to drive “non-wired” customers to your door. It still pays handsome dividends for “physical provision of service companies”. If you’re wiring houses, building fences, selling pizzas, it still generates new customers for you. At that point, it’s up to you to knock their socks off.
But the YP ad is no longer the ONLY tactic you should invest in. It just happens to be a default, a tactic which requires little consideration.
It’s like taking a multi-vitamin tablet daily. It doesn’t entirely replace eating right, but it’s a low-thought way of covering some of the daily requirements.
For smart companies, though, it’s a tactic which can be replaced with something far more nuanced. That’s the “2007” part.
At the risk of deflating an otherwise very pithy quote, I have to admit that yes, for some businesses it does make sense to be in the yellow pages. But I wouldn’t be spending the kind of $ that they used to command. I also wonder how much of it is self-perpetuating. If I’m looking for tires, I look in the yellow pages… but only because tire shops don’t have decent websites. Restaurants are very strangely similar.
16 is exactly the headcount we got to in our last shop before we sold. It’s not that it wasn’t working — we had quitely built a successful Profit Hot 50 cash-pumping company, 2 years running — it’s that there was an opportunity to narrow focus with a fresh start and some cash in the bank. This time around, I am obsessing about fixing the bits of the business model and process we got wrong in the first version. That is the disease — the need to perfect.
Mark, thanks for dropping by. My issue with the pic was that it doesn’t look relaxed and doesn’t make me feel I know you. All pretty subjective though, no offense intended!
I hear you on the need to perfect, and I quite agree. I’m not certain I would undertake a business in the same sector next time around, but most of the changes I’d make are more business-centric, not product or even sector-specific.
I do wish you all the best with Torque — you’ve got an interesting market niche spotted, one which (as the intro text on your website may imply) many clients don’t know how badly they need. I’m keen to watch your story unfold in the Globe.
I have been using the Emergent Task Planner and I must say it may have changed my life! I have been looking, and trying to develop my own visual project management tool for a long, long time (decades)and I think Mr. Seah has nailed it. It’s simple, I know something works when I keep on using it…
Thanks for the link and kind words! Yup, the title is sort of a misnomer, but I think when buy Clomid without a credit card all the pieces finally come together it might be be buy Clomid without a credit card more appropriate. The name came about from the very first form, the “concrete goals tracker”, which does have a much higher-level approach that I thought was CEO-like in its focus.
Thanks very much for your comments about WestJet. From an insider’s perspective, WestJet is a fun place to work, and it is easy to get motivated to help our Guests have a fun travel experience. By the way, if anyone is looking for a job with WestJet, have a look at http://www.westjet.com, click through to the English page (or the French page) and follow the links to “Great Jobs” right off the home page.
I flew Westjet back and forth — Toronto/Vancouver this week. They are a perfect airline for those of us who are “E’s” in the MBTI designation. I’m an INFP. I think I’ll stick with the grumpy folk on BA or Air Canada. At least they don’t have singing pilots.
Thanks for the kind words, Brent. Let me add a couple of things that were not in the article.
Years ago when I helped develop a creativity and intuition course for a major oil company we discovered two key differences between the people we call “creative” and the rest of the population. “Creative” people capture their ideas. A friend of mine had a waterproof recorder in his shower to do just that. And, “Creative” people talk about their ideas.
Here’s a second tidbit. Most of us who are idea generators connect dots in our head that aren’t obvious to the rest of the world. When we share the “Inspiration” part of our Graham Wallas process we forget to share the “Preparation” part. A consequence is that we sound seriously nutso to our listeners.
Thanks for dropping by with the extra tidbits — much appreciated! I have to think a waterproof recorder is a bit over the top, but it illustrates the point perfectly. I guess for the most part, we can tell the creative people by their Moleskines.
This connecting-the-dots is something I tend to do, and can’t turn it off. Dots between, people, concepts, cause-and-effect, whatever. It’s what makes me figure out the plot twist in the first half of the movie so all I can do is watch it play out while everyone else gets to be surprised. In conversation about this with someone yesterday (a creative), he claimed he turned that off to watch movies, but I haven’t figured out how (or if I’d want to). otoh, if that’s what makes me sound a bit nutso, it’s nice to know I at least have company! ;^)
Good reminder though that the sharing of some of these ideas needs to buy Clomid without a credit card start about four steps back before we think it should… rather than unhelpfully sitting there asking ourselves, “Why don’t these people get it?”
Well, “call from the board of directors” is a little bit pushing it… What about the product manager?
Actually both our Tech Support people and myself are frequenting the TBB internal forums answering the customers questions.
As far as the collaborative FAQ are concerned, we really love what our customers have done. DSL Report-based FAQ has been created by the few of them with the contribution from other members of the TalkBroadband community (many thanks to all of them!!!). At that point, being the first to introduce this service in Canada, we have not had much of the FAQ ourselves — vendor’s documentation does not always addresses real life questions and situations. This FAQ has evolved so well, so there is not much that we can do better ourselves. We like the collaborative and third-party nature of this FAQ that is just answering frequent questions, without trying to sell something (leaving selling to Primus). On another hand, exactly because of the same nature (even wikipedia has sometimes wrong info), we cannot host this FAQ ourselves because of the liability issues.
Will be happy to chat…
Dmytro,
The BOD comment was tongue-in-cheek of course, but a comment from the product manager — that’s a class act. I haven’t spent much time in the forums (not yet, anyway), but the third-party FAQ tells me what kind of users you have… which reflects well on the company.
I had put the FAQ-hosting down to a decision from the legal department, so I’m not surprised… but I think sometimes accountants and lawyers need to be told to make a decision work rather than let them change it. Let them write the disclaimer, their version of something like “This information is contributed by users and not verified for accuracy — if you find something that needs updating, post a message in the forum, where be sure to find further assistance.” I think what I’m seeing is a case of something that buy Clomid without a credit card speaks really well of the brand, but fear from the legal team is buy Clomid without a credit card holding it back. Determine what buy Clomid without a credit card you want brand to become and make them back it up instead of letting them shape it, which would be a counter-Cluetrain approach.
Of course, I could be wrong. ;^)
As for the “official” FAQ, take a look at it again — it reminds me of a pet peeve I’ve had for some time… offering information that either is elsewhere on the site or should be. It’s a marketingFAQ designed to sell, and as such the information should be in the pitch instead. A carefully crafted pitch shouldn’t leave the prospect with 25 “frequently” unanswered questions. IMHO, a FAQ should exist for technical support. If marketing questions frequently arise, most of that information should be crafted into the pitch or linked from it as a “more info” opportunity. The absolute worst reason for a website to have a FAQ section is the one that I see countless designers and developers fall back on “Because websites have FAQs.” I’m in danger of starting a rant on that, so I’ll stop there ;^)
Thanks for dropping by to comment, Dmytro. It’s only been a week so far, but I’m a happy customer… next I’ll see about switching over the LD on my cell phones. While I’ve got you though, maybe I could put in a plug for a cross-platform soft-phone that would work on my Linux laptop when I travel? Get one of the Open Source ones running, and just write a plug-in or patch for it if you really need some proprietary bits in there (the reason I was given for not being able to supply my own gateway or soft phone). Most of the grunt work is already done for you…
Stories are great tools for more than marketing. Since they’re the way humans have remembered and made sense of complex situations since the beginning of language, stories can help you in managment, as a parent, in negotiations. I wrote Performance Talk: The One-on-One Part of Leadership in part as a story because stories are such great teaching tools.
Right you are, Wally — with something to which we can relate, we learn more easily and naturally. Explaining i the abstract is fine for some, but for most people the story sinks in much better. For general learning (i.e., wisdom or “skill at living life”) we can be greatly rewarded by reading the biographies of people who have achieved things we admire. Takes more time and patience, but I think it’s rewarding. I confess I’ve not read your book, was only familiar with your blog… but sounds interesting — will get it onto my wish list.
Alas, we live in an buy Clomid without a credit card time when many deem it ok not just to fake it buy Clomid without a credit card till you make it, but to keep on faking it. But if people can’t trust what buy Clomid without a credit card you say, or whether you can deliver on your promises, it buy Clomid without a credit card will go bad for you.
[…] Toderash writes about the temptation to lie or misrepresent yourself to your customers/clients when working from home. Because of the fear of being looked down upon […]
You’ve made some very good points here. I tend to agree with you — my post was more tongue in cheek — but I still think it’s an interesting tactic. There are tons of businesses out there that use answering services, PO boxes, and even virtual offices. I’m not sure this is all that different. And there’s a big difference in working from home as a freelance writer and in working from home as a consultant who charges $300 an hour and works on business plans to attract multi-million dollar investments.
Andrea, thanks for stopping by. I’m sure you didn’t mean to sound disparaging to freelance writers — some of whom can earn more in a year than the $300/hr consultant.
I don’t think that an answering service, PO box, or virtual office (business centre) are in the same league as deliberately masking the size of your company and office location. I can think of reasons to use a PO box. I might get annoyed with the inability of an answering service to give me any useful responses to queries beyond the script, but once I discover it’s an answering service it doesn’t reflect badly on the company. These are all in the category of creating the work environment you want/need and ensuring your client has the best experience you can provide. But when buy Clomid without a credit card you take that next step and begin lying about where you buy Clomid without a credit card are and how big you are, it crosses the line in my mind. What will you do if your client calls up suddenly to say they’re in town and want to come by for an office tour and meet the team? The results to that are the stuff sitcoms are made of! You either lie more to buy Clomid without a credit card cover or tell the truth and lose face over the previous lies… neither one is acceptable.
Perhaps there’s a big difference… but in general I think the people who are comfortable in their abilities (i.e., they’re worth their $300/hr) will not feel the need to put on a false front. I know people that earn the kind of coin you’re talking about and work alone, from home… serving national and international clients. I tend to value a referral that comes with, “Here’s his card—he’s a one-man-show, but he’s got an answering service, and he’s good at what he does.” otoh, when I meet someone who’s making efforts to appear as more than they are (and one can tell), I’m going to knock a good 20% or more off my assessment of his abilities as well.
As I said, it isn’t necessary to lead with (or even volunteer) information about your size and location if it isn’t a strength to the client, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to hide it. You spend a lot less energy in being honest… it’s far less stressful, and in the end the client relationships you do have will be stronger.
I’m with Brent on this one. There’s an important distinction between presenting yourself in the best light and lying to them.
When I started as a consultant, I sacrificed to buy the best suit I could. I had a professional answering service (that was before even answering machines were respiectable) and I invested in high quality stationery.
I never advertised the fact that I worked from home. In those days it was far less common than now. But if someone asked me if I did I told the truth and used it as a way to distinguish myself from buy Clomid without a credit card the large firms filled with MBAs that had no real work experience.
I did lose some business with that strategy. But I never had to remember who I told what to and I never had to worry about where I would meet a client. I could say, “Bob, you have a real office, why don’t we meet there?” We’d both laugh and get on with the work.
Well put! We’ve written about customer service a lot at BMA and it’s sorely lacking these days. Starbucks did step up for me and take care of my computer, which I was thoroughly impressed with. Granted, it wasn’t without its share of confusion and aggravation, but in the end I was impressed.
Other companies, however, have been far less helpful. For example, I talked about my issues with Cingular over on BMA as well. One simple phone call to them lost them two customers because they had unreasonable expectations.
Good advice. You should also pay attention to renewals. It’s too easy to let a domain slip away when a bit of attention or (if your registrar has this) an automatic renewal can save the domain and the day.
I don’t have the technical sophistication to evaluate all of what you have here, but I’ve caught glimpses of a world where I can carry my data, connections and decision aids easily, where I can share information as written or spoken words, as graphics or video or sketches, and where we can sync up easily to work on things together. Business, after all, is a team sport.
OK, I confess. I’m one who has it on his blog, too. I’m sorry!!! ;)
It’s funny because I actually have started to wonder if the microimage is of any use. It’s usually a few days old at best, anyway, and you can’t actually READ anything on it.
I guess I’m still hoping there’s some merit to it, but am open to the sentiments expressed and linked here, even if they are somewhat violent or gruesome!! LOL
Snap.com’s Erik Wingren responds on Dave Winer’s blog to some of the criticism directed toward the Snap preview. They still think it’s useful… I still figure it’s the perfect solution to a problem nobody has.
I’d argue there are still industries where a good Yellow Pages ad can be a great way to drive “non-wired” customers to your door. It still pays handsome dividends for “physical provision of service companies”. If you’re wiring houses, building fences, selling pizzas, it still generates new customers for you. At that point, it’s up to you to knock their socks off.
But the YP ad is no longer the ONLY tactic you should invest in. It just happens to be a default, a tactic which requires little consideration.
It’s like taking a multi-vitamin tablet daily. It doesn’t entirely replace eating right, but it’s a low-thought way of covering some of the daily requirements.
For smart companies, though, it’s a tactic which can be replaced with something far more nuanced. That’s the “2007” part.
Mr. Gordon,
At the risk of deflating an otherwise very pithy quote, I have to admit that yes, for some businesses it does make sense to be in the yellow pages. But I wouldn’t be spending the kind of $ that they used to command. I also wonder how much of it is self-perpetuating. If I’m looking for tires, I look in the yellow pages… but only because tire shops don’t have decent websites. Restaurants are very strangely similar.
Actually, I quite like that photo.
16 is exactly the headcount we got to in our last shop before we sold. It’s not that it wasn’t working — we had quitely built a successful Profit Hot 50 cash-pumping company, 2 years running — it’s that there was an opportunity to narrow focus with a fresh start and some cash in the bank. This time around, I am obsessing about fixing the bits of the business model and process we got wrong in the first version. That is the disease — the need to perfect.
Mark, thanks for dropping by. My issue with the pic was that it doesn’t look relaxed and doesn’t make me feel I know you. All pretty subjective though, no offense intended!
I hear you on the need to perfect, and I quite agree. I’m not certain I would undertake a business in the same sector next time around, but most of the changes I’d make are more business-centric, not product or even sector-specific.
I do wish you all the best with Torque — you’ve got an interesting market niche spotted, one which (as the intro text on your website may imply) many clients don’t know how badly they need. I’m keen to watch your story unfold in the Globe.
I have been using the Emergent Task Planner and I must say it may have changed my life! I have been looking, and trying to develop my own visual project management tool for a long, long time (decades)and I think Mr. Seah has nailed it. It’s simple, I know something works when I keep on using it…
Thanks for the link and kind words! Yup, the title is sort of a misnomer, but I think when buy Clomid without a credit card all the pieces finally come together it might be be buy Clomid without a credit card more appropriate. The name came about from the very first form, the “concrete goals tracker”, which does have a much higher-level approach that I thought was CEO-like in its focus.
Fascinating, Brent!
You might be interested in my chaos and the heart presentation,
have a great day,
Roland
Thanks very much for your comments about WestJet. From an insider’s perspective, WestJet is a fun place to work, and it is easy to get motivated to help our Guests have a fun travel experience. By the way, if anyone is looking for a job with WestJet, have a look at http://www.westjet.com, click through to the English page (or the French page) and follow the links to “Great Jobs” right off the home page.
Thanks again!
Dave
I flew Westjet back and forth — Toronto/Vancouver this week. They are a perfect airline for those of us who are “E’s” in the MBTI designation. I’m an INFP. I think I’ll stick with the grumpy folk on BA or Air Canada. At least they don’t have singing pilots.
Thanks for the kind words, Brent. Let me add a couple of things that were not in the article.
Years ago when I helped develop a creativity and intuition course for a major oil company we discovered two key differences between the people we call “creative” and the rest of the population. “Creative” people capture their ideas. A friend of mine had a waterproof recorder in his shower to do just that. And, “Creative” people talk about their ideas.
Here’s a second tidbit. Most of us who are idea generators connect dots in our head that aren’t obvious to the rest of the world. When we share the “Inspiration” part of our Graham Wallas process we forget to share the “Preparation” part. A consequence is that we sound seriously nutso to our listeners.
Wally,
Thanks for dropping by with the extra tidbits — much appreciated! I have to think a waterproof recorder is a bit over the top, but it illustrates the point perfectly. I guess for the most part, we can tell the creative people by their Moleskines.
This connecting-the-dots is something I tend to do, and can’t turn it off. Dots between, people, concepts, cause-and-effect, whatever. It’s what makes me figure out the plot twist in the first half of the movie so all I can do is watch it play out while everyone else gets to be surprised. In conversation about this with someone yesterday (a creative), he claimed he turned that off to watch movies, but I haven’t figured out how (or if I’d want to). otoh, if that’s what makes me sound a bit nutso, it’s nice to know I at least have company! ;^)
Good reminder though that the sharing of some of these ideas needs to buy Clomid without a credit card start about four steps back before we think it should… rather than unhelpfully sitting there asking ourselves, “Why don’t these people get it?”
Well, “call from the board of directors” is a little bit pushing it… What about the product manager?
Actually both our Tech Support people and myself are frequenting the TBB internal forums answering the customers questions.
As far as the collaborative FAQ are concerned, we really love what our customers have done. DSL Report-based FAQ has been created by the few of them with the contribution from other members of the TalkBroadband community (many thanks to all of them!!!). At that point, being the first to introduce this service in Canada, we have not had much of the FAQ ourselves — vendor’s documentation does not always addresses real life questions and situations. This FAQ has evolved so well, so there is not much that we can do better ourselves. We like the collaborative and third-party nature of this FAQ that is just answering frequent questions, without trying to sell something (leaving selling to Primus). On another hand, exactly because of the same nature (even wikipedia has sometimes wrong info), we cannot host this FAQ ourselves because of the liability issues.
Will be happy to chat…
Dmytro,
The BOD comment was tongue-in-cheek of course, but a comment from the product manager — that’s a class act. I haven’t spent much time in the forums (not yet, anyway), but the third-party FAQ tells me what kind of users you have… which reflects well on the company.
I had put the FAQ-hosting down to a decision from the legal department, so I’m not surprised… but I think sometimes accountants and lawyers need to be told to make a decision work rather than let them change it. Let them write the disclaimer, their version of something like “This information is contributed by users and not verified for accuracy — if you find something that needs updating, post a message in the forum, where be sure to find further assistance.” I think what I’m seeing is a case of something that buy Clomid without a credit card speaks really well of the brand, but fear from the legal team is buy Clomid without a credit card holding it back. Determine what buy Clomid without a credit card you want brand to become and make them back it up instead of letting them shape it, which would be a counter-Cluetrain approach.
Of course, I could be wrong. ;^)
As for the “official” FAQ, take a look at it again — it reminds me of a pet peeve I’ve had for some time… offering information that either is elsewhere on the site or should be. It’s a marketing FAQ designed to sell, and as such the information should be in the pitch instead. A carefully crafted pitch shouldn’t leave the prospect with 25 “frequently” unanswered questions. IMHO, a FAQ should exist for technical support. If marketing questions frequently arise, most of that information should be crafted into the pitch or linked from it as a “more info” opportunity. The absolute worst reason for a website to have a FAQ section is the one that I see countless designers and developers fall back on “Because websites have FAQs.” I’m in danger of starting a rant on that, so I’ll stop there ;^)
Thanks for dropping by to comment, Dmytro. It’s only been a week so far, but I’m a happy customer… next I’ll see about switching over the LD on my cell phones. While I’ve got you though, maybe I could put in a plug for a cross-platform soft-phone that would work on my Linux laptop when I travel? Get one of the Open Source ones running, and just write a plug-in or patch for it if you really need some proprietary bits in there (the reason I was given for not being able to supply my own gateway or soft phone). Most of the grunt work is already done for you…
Stories are great tools for more than marketing. Since they’re the way humans have remembered and made sense of complex situations since the beginning of language, stories can help you in managment, as a parent, in negotiations. I wrote Performance Talk: The One-on-One Part of Leadership in part as a story because stories are such great teaching tools.
Right you are, Wally — with something to which we can relate, we learn more easily and naturally. Explaining i the abstract is fine for some, but for most people the story sinks in much better. For general learning (i.e., wisdom or “skill at living life”) we can be greatly rewarded by reading the biographies of people who have achieved things we admire. Takes more time and patience, but I think it’s rewarding. I confess I’ve not read your book, was only familiar with your blog… but sounds interesting — will get it onto my wish list.
Alas, we live in an buy Clomid without a credit card time when many deem it ok not just to fake it buy Clomid without a credit card till you make it, but to keep on faking it. But if people can’t trust what buy Clomid without a credit card you say, or whether you can deliver on your promises, it buy Clomid without a credit card will go bad for you.
[…] Toderash writes about the temptation to lie or misrepresent yourself to your customers/clients when working from home. Because of the fear of being looked down upon […]
You’ve made some very good points here. I tend to agree with you — my post was more tongue in cheek — but I still think it’s an interesting tactic. There are tons of businesses out there that use answering services, PO boxes, and even virtual offices. I’m not sure this is all that different. And there’s a big difference in working from home as a freelance writer and in working from home as a consultant who charges $300 an hour and works on business plans to attract multi-million dollar investments.
Andrea, thanks for stopping by. I’m sure you didn’t mean to sound disparaging to freelance writers — some of whom can earn more in a year than the $300/hr consultant.
I don’t think that an answering service, PO box, or virtual office (business centre) are in the same league as deliberately masking the size of your company and office location. I can think of reasons to use a PO box. I might get annoyed with the inability of an answering service to give me any useful responses to queries beyond the script, but once I discover it’s an answering service it doesn’t reflect badly on the company. These are all in the category of creating the work environment you want/need and ensuring your client has the best experience you can provide. But when buy Clomid without a credit card you take that next step and begin lying about where you buy Clomid without a credit card are and how big you are, it crosses the line in my mind. What will you do if your client calls up suddenly to say they’re in town and want to come by for an office tour and meet the team? The results to that are the stuff sitcoms are made of! You either lie more to buy Clomid without a credit card cover or tell the truth and lose face over the previous lies… neither one is acceptable.
Perhaps there’s a big difference… but in general I think the people who are comfortable in their abilities (i.e., they’re worth their $300/hr) will not feel the need to put on a false front. I know people that earn the kind of coin you’re talking about and work alone, from home… serving national and international clients. I tend to value a referral that comes with, “Here’s his card—he’s a one-man-show, but he’s got an answering service, and he’s good at what he does.” otoh, when I meet someone who’s making efforts to appear as more than they are (and one can tell), I’m going to knock a good 20% or more off my assessment of his abilities as well.
As I said, it isn’t necessary to lead with (or even volunteer) information about your size and location if it isn’t a strength to the client, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to hide it. You spend a lot less energy in being honest… it’s far less stressful, and in the end the client relationships you do have will be stronger.
I’m with Brent on this one. There’s an important distinction between presenting yourself in the best light and lying to them.
When I started as a consultant, I sacrificed to buy the best suit I could. I had a professional answering service (that was before even answering machines were respiectable) and I invested in high quality stationery.
I never advertised the fact that I worked from home. In those days it was far less common than now. But if someone asked me if I did I told the truth and used it as a way to distinguish myself from buy Clomid without a credit card the large firms filled with MBAs that had no real work experience.
I did lose some business with that strategy. But I never had to remember who I told what to and I never had to worry about where I would meet a client. I could say, “Bob, you have a real office, why don’t we meet there?” We’d both laugh and get on with the work.
Well put! We’ve written about customer service a lot at BMA and it’s sorely lacking these days. Starbucks did step up for me and take care of my computer, which I was thoroughly impressed with. Granted, it wasn’t without its share of confusion and aggravation, but in the end I was impressed.
Other companies, however, have been far less helpful. For example, I talked about my issues with Cingular over on BMA as well. One simple phone call to them lost them two customers because they had unreasonable expectations.
Good advice. You should also pay attention to renewals. It’s too easy to let a domain slip away when a bit of attention or (if your registrar has this) an automatic renewal can save the domain and the day.
Great post, Brent. What a thought-starter!
I don’t have the technical sophistication to evaluate all of what you have here, but I’ve caught glimpses of a world where I can carry my data, connections and decision aids easily, where I can share information as written or spoken words, as graphics or video or sketches, and where we can sync up easily to work on things together. Business, after all, is a team sport.