Bizsuccess

Tuesday, June 1, 2010
By Pattie Baker

I was at a Memorial Day ceremony in a public park and noticed a crowd gathered around a table.  Many people had clipboards in their hands and were busily writing something.  When I approached the table, I learned that an organization named Operation PAL was providing people with the opportunity to write a letter to an injured U.S. Marine, right then and there, and people were flocking to do so.  Each clipboard had a bunch of sheets of paper on it, with each sheet of paper listing the name of a specific U.S. Marine.  An accompanying binder on the table gave details about each Marine’s medical situation.  People were completely engrossed with this.

Additionally, the Operation PAL volunteers, which are mainly parents of Marines, were busy answering questions, handing out a sharp-looking brochure, and accepting donations on the spot.  Then, when I went to the Operation PAL information online, I found even more stories about the Marines and things my family and I could do to help.  In short, Operation PAL ran a tight ship both as a marketing event, and beyond. More »

Thursday, May 27, 2010
By Pattie Baker

Have you noticed this trend?  You make a doctor’s appointment and then a day or two before you are scheduled, you get a message telling you to call the office to confirm your appointment.  I know that this is an attempt to reduce no-shows.  I like getting the reminder phone call, but I resent having the onus put on me to then call back to confirm, especially since almost every doctor’s office phone system nowadays includes the necessity of spending at least five minutes navigating your way through a complex maze. This is not serving the patient.  This is serving the doctor.  And when you’re not serving the patient (client, customer), I don’t think your procedures make smart marketing sense.

A dentist I know has an alternative approach to this.  His office emails the patients prior to their appointments and then provides a way to simply click to confirm.  Yes, it still puts the onus on the patient, but it is so fast and easy to do that it doesn’t register as the same burdensome additional to-do list item as the return phone call does. More »

Tuesday, May 25, 2010
By Pattie Baker

I’ve been following the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and one of the many very interesting details that have emerged is that hair soaks up oil and therefore sending hair is a way to help.  Some unbelievable amount of hair is trashed every day in the United States at salons and at homes, where hairbrushes are cleaned without a second thought.  Apparently, one pound of hair can absorb a quart of oil in a minute.  I believe the hair is being stuffed into recycled nylon pantyhose and then can be wrung out and used again up to 100 times.  So, hair collections are currently being organized all over the country.  If you own a hair salon, this is a perfect opportunity to give your marketing an “up-do” and perhaps see an up-tick in your business as well.    You can: More »

Thursday, May 20, 2010
By Pattie Baker

There are lots of ways that people are stretching increasingly limited dollars during this extended down economy.  Doctor appointments not covered by insurance (such as dental and eye appointments) are being scheduled at longer intervals (the six-month dental checkup gets pushed to eight months, for instance), orthodontics are being delayed or skipped when recommended for purely cosmetic purposes, annual eye exams get forgotten and eye doctor visits happen only when a parent sees the child sitting too close to the TV or hears the dreaded words, “I can’t read the board at school.”  Shoes are wearing out.  Hair is getting longer (have you noticed this?) because it’s a whole lot cheaper to just pull it back in a ponytail than it is to get it cut every six weeks!  Little girls aren’t getting those indulgent mini-manicures so much anymore. And more kids are playing outside rather than riding in the back of a gas-guzzling car across town to expensive dance and karate lessons.

Folks are dropping the health club memberships, getting the house cleaned once a month and the lawn mowed every other week instead of weekly, or they are doing these things themselves.  Pets aren’t getting groomed, eating out is becoming a luxury, and staycations instead of trips to Disney have become the new norm. More »

Tuesday, May 18, 2010
By Pattie Baker

At least 20,000 people descended upon a couple blocks in my city this weekend for its first art festival.  I have never seen so many walkers and bike riders in my city before, and this increased foot traffic spilled beyond the festival tents to the local shops.  I paid particular attention to how these businesses addressed this opportunity.

Some businesses put that yellow caution police tape across their parking lots with signs that screamed, “Paying customers only.”  Others flung open their doors and handed out “welcome festival goers” special deal offers.  Let’s take a big fat guess which businesses not only rang up more sales this weekend but created more goodwill that will most likely result in future patronage from appreciative local citizens (ya’ wanna’ win a mom as a customer for life?  You let her child and her elderly mother use your rest room, whether or not they flung back a latte.  Trust me on this one.  I will be forever indebted to that Starbucks location.)

I heard chatter last week about some businesses that were angry that competitive types of businesses would be at the festival.  If there was any business that would have good reason to be resentful, it would have been the Smoothie King retail location, as a smoothie booth was slated to be located right outside its shop.  But guess what Smoothie King did instead?  It staffed up for the weekend and knocked out its high quality product with smiles and quality service.  Guess where I spent 13 bucks?  Yep.  Smoothie King.  It’s no wonder that Smoothie King was named #1 in the juice bar category in the 2010 AllBusiness AllStar rankings. More »

Thursday, May 13, 2010
By Pattie Baker

I didn’t renew my subscription for a magazine I’d been getting for years.  It had become sort of same-old, same-old to me, and frankly, didn’t seem worth the money anymore.  Then, lo and behold, the very next month after my subscription expired, I spotted a gorgeous, interesting, inviting magazine on the newsstand.  My old favorite!  Completely redesigned!  Just a bit bigger so that the cover photo was shown off more.  More elegant fonts.  Completely eye-pleasing and user-friendly layouts.  Some new features.  My goodness, it was great.  I bought it and enjoyed it in a way that I hadn’t for quite some time.  Am I renewing?  You bet.

The magazine incident reminded me of two local business redesigns I’ve seen that breathed new life into the businesses.  One was a dentist’s office.  Ho hum.  Well, after changing the lighting and color palette and adding some aromatherapy touches, it emerged as a dental spa focusing specifically on cosmetic dentistry but claiming to provide relaxation and rejuvenation along the way.  Rumor has it this dentist started attracting a more high-end celebrity clientele shortly thereafter. More »

Tuesday, May 11, 2010
By Pattie Baker

I wouldn’t say these recent experiences I had as a customer were necessarily bad.  They were more what I would call unfortunate.  That’s because I think they were just pretty much technology screw-ups.  However, they have provided me with a marketing recommendation for you today.

First, let me tell you what happened.  I went online to order the same thing I order for the same mother every Mother’s Day.  She loves it, and it has turned into an annual favorite.  The website told me to “sign in for faster checkout.”  I signed in.  I chose my selection, I clicked checkout and there was that screen asking me to fill in all the info.  A note said, “Sign in for faster checkout.”  Hmmm.  Hadn’t I already done that? I clicked, I signed in again, and then that screen came up again.  “Sign in for faster checkout.”   Ouch.  Awkward.  I finally just entered all the information and called it a day.  But I may just as easily have called it quits.

The second experience involved another online order where when I clicked “place order” after all my info was entered, I saw no indication that my order went through.  I clicked again.  Still nothing.  I clicked a third time and got nothing again.  I quit.  But then, sometime in the next ten minutes or so while perhaps washing dishes and gazing out at the birds eating all my veggie seeds yet again, it occurred to me that I had perhaps placed three identical orders.  I called the 800 number and got some weird phone message.  I then sent a message to the company via its Twitter account, but never received a reply. More »

Thursday, May 6, 2010
By Pattie Baker

I swung by my neighborhood CVS pharmacy and saw a tag for sale at the check-out counter.  It was called a GreenBagTag and it was shaped like a leaf, had a lanyard attached to it (like a luggage tag) and was attached to a piece of cardboard.

The cardboard indicated that if I put this green tag on my reusable bag and presented the bag and tag, and my CVS ExtraCare card, the next four times I made a purchase, I’d get a dollar in Extra Buck points.  Whoa, a whole lot going on in that sentence, huh?  But, you know what?  I got it instantly.  It made total sense.  Just use my own bag and get credit for it.  Considering that I know of only two stores that give you anything at all for using your own bag, and it’s just a nickel, this 25 cents per visit seems like a big step forward.  But I’m not sure why I need the little tag, however.  I can see myself losing it really quickly, although my ExtraCare card is always on my keychain.  Why can’t I just use that?  Questions, questions.  But here’s what I like about this marketing effort: More »

Tuesday, May 4, 2010
By Pattie Baker

Wanna’ drive customers to your business?  Smart marketing helps.  Wanna’ help citizens drive?  Smart marketing doesn’t really matter, since frankly, it’s the dreaded Department of Motor Vehicles or nothing.  But good customer service never hurts, and frankly, that’s what we got yesterday when I brought my teenage daughter for her learner’s permit.  This was not her mother’s DMV!  This one had that techno-ticketing system that meant we didn’t have to stand in endless lines but could instead sit comfortably in the seats provided until our number was called. The process was streamlined, organized and friendly, and what I remember as a horrid experience (I’d rather get a shot than go to the DMV!) turned out to be a pleasant experience, and I hope a happy memory for her.  (And yes, she passed the tests—and now the real test begins—of my ability to let go of the wheel!)

Anyway, so I got curious.  Were the websites for Departments of Motor Vehicles nationwide changing to reflect increased customer service?  I mean, I love how easy the U.S. Postal Service has made it to put a hold on mail via its website rather than having to go in with the little card and wait on line (I inevitably forget about this until just before leaving for vacation and I can tell you for sure I’d rather be buying suntan lotion and packing sandals rather than hanging out at the post office!)

A quick search disappointed me.  The DMVs of almost every state I reviewed are boring and bureaucratic.  Ho-hum.  But then I fell upon this, DMV. Org, the Unofficial DMV Guide.  Have a question about anything related to driving in your state?  You’ll find an answer here.  What’s more, you’ll find a user-friendly tone, such as this copy from the About Us page: More »

Thursday, April 29, 2010
By Pattie Baker

So I’m walking through Costco the other day and I come upon the new Sun Chips bag, which is the first compostable chip bag in the world and which crinkles so loud that you would never, ever be able to sneak any of these during the night while anyone in your house is sleeping (not that you would, now, would you?).  I read the package and see that the company, Frito Lay, claims the bag will decompose in something like three months in a home compost pile.  Now, I don’t know about your neighborhood, but I’m the only one in mine who has a compost pile, as far as I know.  So that tells me that the majority of folks who buy these bags will just be trashing them.  However, Frito Lay is on to this and says to go to its Sun Chips site to find out more about getting a nice, hot compost pile going on at your home. More »