Business Strategy
Memo to Intuit PR
Listening to this piece on NPR yesterday, I had one reaction to Intuit’s spokesperson’s claims that Intuit’s problem of handling tax filings on the evening of 4/17 was the fault, in the words of Harry Pforzheimer, of “late” filers and “procrastinators”.
Hey, Intuit: here’s a few other words I’d use: “customers” and “on time”. As in, […]
A TiVo innovation I’d love to see
I was meeting with Ad Age editor Jonah Bloom last week, and threw out a suggestion that didn’t cause him to burst out into fits of laughter. Which tells me that either it’s not a bad idea, or he’s really polite. I prefer to think it’s the former.
I’ve been a TiVo subscriber for over six […]
Accept all changes
Dick Costolo, writing at Ask the Wizard: “Why? Because no lawyer has ever used the ‘accept all changes’ button in MS Word, that’s why.”
Have truer words ever been spoken?
Conference spam
Bruce Allen wrote about the proliferation of conference spam at this year’s Legal Marketing Association confernece; I noticed the same thing ahead of this year’s TechShow. Bruce writes:
If the LMA had asked me (called opt-in folks) I would have been happy to receive information from vendors with products or services specific to my current needs… […]
Think Different
While everyone’s getting all excited about the pro-Obama remake of Apple’s 1984 ad, I thought I’d share another Apple ad, which I think is the absolute best one minute of video I’ve ever seen:
I can still remember the first time I saw the ad, and every time I see it still provokes the same visceral, […]
Ask the wizard
One of the gifts of working in a small company is the opportunity to interact with every aspect of the business. Not only is it rare for someone to look at a different part of the company and remark “That’s not my job”, but if the culture’s right, it’s actually frowned upon. I like that […]
Interview with Tyme White
Tyme White, community director at blog network 9 rules, recently asked her readers for questions about FeedBurner to send my way. The result is a two-part interview (part 1 and part 2) that covers a lot of ground. Tyme and I will be doing a podcast follow-up (probably next week). This was a great process […]
How Zune could beat the iPod
OK, here’s my crazy idea for the week: Microsoft should update the firmware for the Zune to add podcasting support, then cut a deal with T-Mobile/Starbucks so that every Zune owner within a few yards of a Starbucks would get free wifi access. The pitch? In the time it takes to order a coffee, your […]
Signs of the apocalypse
If you have the stomach for it, this 22 minute recording= of a phone call with Verizon Wireless customer service is just staggering. Throughout the entire experience, noone — not supervisors, not account reps, not even the supervisor’s supervisor — are capable of recognizing that .002 dollars is different than .002 cents. That this guy […]
Lenovo Rides the Cluetrain
In the Cluetrain Manifesto, David and Chris and Doc wrote that “markets are conversations”. Much has been made of the importance of listening to your customers, and engaging them rather than talking at them. Remarkably, even when the perils of ignoring customer feedback have been made abundantly clear, companies that go the distance in this […]
