Marketing for the Third Millennium
Real Results, Real Value, Real Quick
I have had this love hate relationship with Merrill for some years. I went to them after a long and arduous search to find an advisor and money manager who seemed capable, professional and we wanted to work with. We met, and liked Len in the San Francisco office and we gradually built a portfolio…
I hope he gets to the whole of the user experience (rather than just the – important – aspect of design), as tech is the area that needs it more than most. Design needs to be applied to the WHOLE user experience – from start to finish – in the same manner as the product and the packaging.
Starbucks & Peet’s – Compare & ContrastWe used to have this horrible expression ‘Eating your own dogfood“.
It turns out that eFax can actually cancel an account AND I discovered a credit on my credit card account – I assume for the two months it had left to run.Good job!
Then after I reserved the only seats available, in the back, they abandoned the seta reservations and refused to do anything about it…. They moved me over at the same status as I had with United (I just showed my mileage statement) and I have been there, happily, ever since.
We are planning to visit our friends who retired from Microsoft last week and are off to live in Rome for a year.I haven’t travelled much this year, so my Platinum Executive status will evaporate at the end of this year…. Book our tickets on the web, then call back and apply the upgrades.
Companies – and marketers – exist to profitably meet the needs of their customers.
Actually, they draw the boundaries a little differently ‘Tow topics: the works of Patrick O’Brian and everything else’.The list is packed with interesting people who have a range of backgrounds and expertise (they can sometimes be a little intimidating, not for nothing are they known as the “All Knowing List”) but who are also amusing, fun, erudite and inspiring.One who contributes a great deal is Gary Sims, a California engineer and desert dweller with a background in – amongst other things involvement in developing the GPS system…. As the car begins to fall toward a runway with a target painted on it, another coupe begins to accelerate down the runway.They are converging as this script is read:“Gravity will propel this Lexus IS over 4,000 feet in a matter of seconds.” [camera shifts to car on ground]“*This* Lexus IS will attempt to cover the same distance even faster.”[car on ground passes target just before the falling car impacts.]
Once again, I’m reminded that people are the most obvious – perhaps the most critical – touchpoint an organization has with its customers.I opened my new ‘upgraded’ Amex card today, to discover that the card had a new account number on it…. But the hassle of changing all the places and payments that are registered to my old account number was just too daunting.With a heavy feeling of dread, I call the customer service number.
Whilst quality is OK on my MacBook, I wanted the best I could get on business calls, and that means a handset. I researched and USRobotics do a USB handset AND – critically – provide Mac compatible drivers – most manufacturers don’t.So I order the handset via Amazon – it’s actually a merchant called Amperor Direct, but no matter.