The Puppetmaster's Realm

2008-06-12T12:16:00.000-07:00

Jack recounts our recent customer experience shipping a proposalJack recounts our recent customer experience shipping a proposal

The other day I had front row seats for an amazing display of terrible customer service. I was in a printing and shipping store. I don’t want to give out the name, but it rhymes with Binko’s. The guy behind the counter was a real clown, so let’s call him Binko. Binko was helping me print and bind a document when another customer jumped in to ask him a question. It was clear that the other customer had been there for a while and was coming back for more help. I gracefully stepped aside and let him finish his business.

Whatever service the guy needed, Binko for some reason could not help him. Binko was not only dismissive, but he suggested another printing store around the corner at the first sign of frustration by the customer. The customer warned that he was about to lose a long time client, who regularly shipped multiple items at $20 a piece.

Binko could not care less. No empathy, so apology… not even eye contact as they spoke. My jaw was on the floor. Binko was making the DMV look like Hospitality Heaven.

The frustrated customer gave Binko several chances to salvage the situation, but this only annoyed Binko even more. Keep in mind that there were only three or four people in the store, so it’s not like Binko had too much on his plate.

After the guy had left the store, for his last time ever, Binko turned his attention back to me. He brought over my completed document and I paid. But it turns out I that needed a quarter inch trimmed off one side of the document in order to fit it into a special box. Binko went off to the paper cutter and returned… having only shaved off an eighth of an inch. The document needed to fit perfectly into the box, so I sent him back to the paper cutter to take off another eighth off. Finally, the document fit and we shipped it off. Just as I was thanking Binko, he chimed in that he really should have charged me $1.49 for the cutting.

It took every ounce of my restraint not to crumple two dollars up in a ball and throw it at his face. But I did not want Binko to win. I thanked him and walked out of the store, maybe for the last time ever.

Jack Campisi

2008-06-06T08:47:00.000-07:00

Bad Salesmen hurt your businessBad Salesmen hurt your business

This is a screenshot of an email promotion from a training company I have used. First, the sales man harassed the hell out of me, calling daily even though I specifically asked to be contacted via email. Secondly, he didn't provide me with any relevant communications when he did get me on the phone. I finally had to ask him to stop calling. Now about a month later I get one of the worst email marketing campaigns broken images and all.

The training was good from this company and I would have used them again. But a single salesman with good energy, but horrible skills killed my enthusiasm for them.

2008-05-28T07:44:00.000-07:00

Mac Strikes from WithinMac Strikes from Within

http://www.marketingtwo.com/mac-strikes-from-within.html | Comments

One of the big shifts in the marketing paradigm today is in the relationship of customers to the sales process. The broadcast marketing model was all about persuading customers to buy (by interrupting with effective, outbound messages). The P2P marketing model is based on inspiring customers to both buy and advocate your brand to others (by providing relevant products, service, content, and dialogue).

Last week’s BusinessWeek cover story showed the new model at work – in the nascent growth of Mac computers in corporate environments. The Mac may finally be getting some traction in companies outside of the traditional niche of design and communications firms.

The intriguing part of the story is that this growth is happening despite the fact that Apple has no corporate sales force. This is intentional. Steve Jobs has argued that companies can succeed by focusing on corporate or consumer buyers, but not both. (Agree? Comments? Counter examples?)

What is driving the Mac’s entry into the corporate environment is that managers are finally giving in to growing requests from employees to bring a Mac into the office place. Companies like IBM and Cisco are allowing pilot programs where a few dozen employees are allowed to switch from Windows to Mac OS, in order to gauge the impact on the organization. (Has any manager ever been faced with employees clamoring to allow Windows into the workplace?)

Part of this shift may be driven by the catastrophic roll-out of Microsoft Vista last year (like many, I’m sticking to my XP guns). But the Mac “pilot” programs are also testament to the power of inspiring a community of customers to support your brand, rather than persuading them to buy from you because they have no other viable choice.

[marketing 2.0]

2008-05-28T07:41:00.000-07:00

The BoxThe Box

http://weeklyramble.wunderman.com/index.php/weblog/the_box/

Harold Burson always answered his own phone. He encouraged us to do the same. “Clients pay to speak with you” – not with layers of gatekeepers…was his lesson.

[Weekly Ramble]

2008-05-28T07:35:00.000-07:00

The top 8 mistakes in usability (and companies investing in it)The top 8 mistakes in usability (and companies investing in it)

Mark Hurst Describes the top 8 mistakes in usability in his Good Experience newsletter.

1. Not conducting any customer research.

2. Conducting "pretend" research.

3. Conducting research, but the wrong type.

4. Conducting one-on-one research, but with tasks defined beforehand.

5. Not inviting stakeholders to attend research.

6. Not prioritizing findings.

7. Not relating to business objectives.

8. Missing the larger picture.

http://goodexperience.com/2008/05/the-top-8-mistakes-in.php

2008-05-20T06:50:00.000-07:00

.NET Building Blocks: Custom User Control Fundamentals

Find out the gritty details required to create, test, use, inherit, install, and distribute .NET User Controls of all types.

http://www.devx.com/dotnet/Article/37931

2008-05-18T18:16:00.000-07:00

Why Project Management Tool Demands Integrated Help Desk?

Customer feed back is key to developing software that works. We enter customer feedback into our sprints so all developers hear about every support incident. Many times, new features are born, and useless features are eliminated. Integration without CRM case tracking system would be wonderful. The article below does bring up a good issue. Our Brainstem product does have SOA built in, and we did so because we feel that this is the most cost effective way for external systems to integrate. Our CRM system, Microsoft CRM has a SOA as well. Because of these two interfaces, we can easily build an agent that could be triggered by a new Case being entered. More work for the developers. :)

Article

Interesting question. No, we don’t want to create bloatware with thousands features, complex UI and 100MB installation package. We have clear goal – help agile teams to complete projects in the most efficient way. In fact I think Help Desk/Customers Area is one of the most important modules, it helps to manage customers feedback. And customers’ feedback is the MOST useful thing you can get to

[Agile Development Blog - TargetProcess]

2008-05-18T18:07:00.000-07:00

Software's Classic Mistakes--2008

An important read for all developers, especially managers and executives. We continue to repeat the mistakes of the past and they are easier than ever to address.

Agile

In 2007 my colleagues at Construx Software and I updated the list of classic mistakes from my 1996 book Rapid Development . Throughout 2007 we conducted a survey to determine the frequency and severity of these classic mistakes. In other words, we wanted to get a more quantitative sense of just how "classic"...
[10x Software Development]

2008-05-08T08:21:00.000-07:00

Security Lost in Web 2.0 ShuffleSecurity Lost in Web 2.0 Shuffle

Article

An under-reported story in all of this Web 2.0 euphoria is that all of these sharing applications and new interactive applications can increase security risks. Users now ingest new widgets and applets with nearly reckless abandon, and that can be problematic. On the development side, web publishers can't forget to prepare for the traffic that hopefully will arrive when you launch a new destination or service. As GigaOm points out, malicious types who are envious of others success can attempt to bring down upcoming Web 2.0 destinations out of spite. So before you download another toolbar add-on or widget, remember to consider the source.

[MarketingShift: Daily Crash Course in Marketing Technology & Brand Management]

2008-05-08T08:20:00.000-07:00

AJAX performance analysis

http://ngenroom.n-genstudios.com/node/160 | Comments

Big Blue brings us a thoughtful article on how to profile AJAX interfaces, with a view to increasing speed, of course.

Toolkit focuses on Firebug and YSlow.

Article

AJAX Resource Center

[N-GEN Room - N-GEN Studios Blog]

2008-05-07T17:36:00.000-07:00

Silverlight, WCF and LINQ to SQL

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CodeBetter/~3/285682304/silverlight-wcf-and-linq-to-sql.aspx

I've had some requests lately to write some articles that work with LINQ to SQL. I've ben focusing on the Entity Framework a lot due to its vast nature and that fact that its still relatively unknown to many people. So I am going to work on a LINQ to SQL project that ties into a multi tier model. I am also going to show how this can be hooked into a Silverlight 2 UI that connects through WCF to the lower layers.

I'll probably be demonstrating these first at an event I am trying to set up with Joe Healy of Microsoft in Tampa this coming August. The demos will be ready way before then, but I wanted to have some cool materials for this event. There is no title nor date yet, but once the event is set I will be sure to let blog about it. It should be a great day overall.

I also plan on giving some love to the Entity Framework, regular persistence/mapper models, MVP patterns and more. I just have to find a way to work it all in and still give enough to each topic. Of course, this means all demos are subject to change, but the content will be fresh and cool for certain.

Here is a very poorly and quickly thrown together diagram of one of the demos I am tweaking.

Cross posted from johnpapa.net

[CodeBetter.Com - Stuff you need to Code Better!]

TSQLUnit

2008-05-06T04:01:00.001-07:00

http://tsqlunit.sourceforge.net/index.html

We'll let you know how it goes.

Unit Testing SQL Server

2008-05-06T03:58:00.000-07:00

I am investigating ways to unit test SQL Server stored procs and queries. I will be posting links here as I find them.

Here is the first:

Unit Testing Tips for SQL Server