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Congratulations to 70s Teen, the winner in this week's Blog2Print/Fuelmyblog contest! 70s' caption was selected as the winner. This week's photo is posted here. If you think of a caption, just leave it in the comments, and you'll be entered in the draw. Each caption you submit counts as an additional entry in the contest.
Given that I find a marketing lesson in, well, everything, the one we got delivered to us yesterday morning by JPMorgan Chase was a no-brainer.
Hastily, JPMorgan Chase increased its offer for the critically-injured Bear Stearns five-fold, from $2 to $10 per share. Now why, we ask, would the acquiring company voluntarily agree to a quintuple multiple on an already accepted bid?
Because the Bear Stearns shareholders, screaming like proverbial stuck pigs, felt maligned. Not to mention poorer than when they acquired the stock. So, in order to calm the waters, JPMorgan Chase is coming up with the cash.
The marketing lesson? Glad you asked.
Bear Stearns traded for around $30 the Friday before it sold for $2. The week before that, it traded north of $70. Around a year ago, it was around $180. With this as the context, why offer $2? Why not zero?
At least if you offer zero, you get to be the hero! “Look, guys – as the acquirer, we’re taking on responsibility for your dodgy sub-prime deals, to the tune of $30 Billion. You’re tapped, so we’ll take it from here, and protect you from going completely under.”
Instead, it was as if they hosted a dinner for 6 at Le Cirque and left a $5 tip. The $2 offer, seen as insulting, had the opposite effect of the message they had intended, that of financial saviour of the venerable brand.
Now they’re up to an offer of $10/share to allow everyone to save face, and to stave off potential lawsuits and whatever else. Yes, this is an egregious oversimplification of a complicated financial transaction, but there’s a very simple point at the bottom of the whole mess.
You see, in today’s wired world, EVERY action sends a message that is delivered almost instantaneously, and EVERY message becomes a touchpoint that your constituency uses to form and revise their opinion of your brand. In this case, protectors get seen as pikers, because one portion of their actions made them seem penurious. Perception once again equals reality.
A good lesson for me, anyway. How about you?
This past Christmas my parents gave me a day calendar of "The Stupidest Things Ever Said". A week ago, the day's quote was from a sign posted on some door somewhere:
"If door does not open, Do Not Enter"
Should I be concerned that this sign makes a lot of sense to me? I know, I know ... the funny thing about it is that if the door doesn't open, then you can't enter. Thus there is no choice in the matter.
But choice is at the very heart of user experience.
I consider a very analogous web design (that is getting more and more use) - the grayed-out button concept. You'll see it any time you install new software on your PC. There is usually a set of software terms that they want you to agree to before you are allowed to play. So they show you a big scrollable legal text block and a 'Continue' button at the bottom of the page. But the button is gray, and clicking it yields no action. Only when you notice the small check-box above it that reads "I agree" and click it that your continue button becomes active.
But suppose this were the first time you stumbled upon this design? You might think there was something wrong with your PC. You might think that there was something wrong with the software. You might think all kinds of things, because there are too many possibilities for something being broken or wrong.
Telling the user that the button is intentionally deactivated is vital. They have to understand what is happening in order give their acceptance. Otherwise, they are lost and the software goes unused.
A good rule of thumb is to bear in mind that nothing is universally clear. And when a user is on a mission to get what they need, sometimes they need a little extra help. Even if it means stating the obvious.
Our contest with Fuelmyblog continues this week, with a Comedy Captions twist! The new photo is posted here, and you can now leave your thoughts for a caption on the Fuel blog, or here. Each time you submit a caption, you will be entered into the draw, which will take place on Monday.
Congratulations to Sugar Queen, the winner in this week's Can You Guess What It Is? contest with Fuelmyblog. Sugar Queen guessed correctly that last week's photo was of a salt grinder, and was selected as the winner during today's live draw.
Stay tuned ... this week's photo will be posted on the Fuel blog tomorrow, and I think you can expect a new twist to the contest.
This is the photo for this week's contest with Fuelmyblog. If you think you know what it is, you can leave a guess in a Fuel to us here. Word has it that the live draw will take place on Monday at 11:30 a.m. EST. Details to follow ...
Two interesting experiences happened to me during the past week or so: we launched a new release with plenty of exciting new features, and I had a road bike race – the season opening bike race. I spent a lot of time and energy planning and executing on these two projects, and once again was surprised to discover how similar bike races and software projects can be.
Planning, executing the plan, reacting fast to changes and of course: racing to the finish line, when you have to think fast – real fast, if you want to win the race or launch the new software release are very similar.
Planning
Before you start developing a set of features, you have to pay careful attention to what each feature entails. What does it do, what can go wrong, how are you going to implement the feature, etc.
Before you go on a bike race, you do exactly the same: carefully learn the race course, what does it entail, what can go wrong (sharp turns, hills where escapes are likely to occur, etc.), and prepare a race plan, specifying exactly what to do, and when.
Executing the Plan
Once the planning is done, the fun begins.
In software projects, coding is the most creative part. You can do it on your own, and it’s even better to do together (pair programming is an important practice in SharedBook). Teamwork is especially important in software projects. You work together with your teammates, brainstorm together on difficult issues, and you know that if something goes wrong (and it normally does in software projects) you can rely on your teammates.
Bike races are the same. The race starts, you follow your plan, and you keep looking around for your teammates. Working together with them, knowing that if something goes wrong (and it normally does in a race) you can rely on them.
Reacting Fast to Changes
In every software project, eventually there are changes to the plan. If you are smart and alert, you quickly notice them, and react fast. These two qualities: noticing quickly and reacting fast are essential for every successful software project.
Bike races are all about creating changes to someone else’s plan and reacting fast to someone else’s changes. So you have to be very alert all the time. Quickly noticing and reacting fast to every change: fast acceleration after a quick turn, or a break attempt at the hilly part of the course – if you don’t notice them quick and react fast – you’ve lost the peloton, and lost the race.
Racing to the Finish Line
Software projects tend to go wild towards the end. Suddenly, two days before launch – everything seems to break (did someone call Murphy?). This is the time when a manager has to analyze the situation quickly, assign priorities and act. Fast thinking is critical at this phase.
Road bike races are all about the finish sprint. And much to my surprise I discovered that if you want to win the race in a sprint, not only do you have to bike fast, but you have to think fast. Analyze the situation, find a lead candidate, draft on his wheel while carefully calculating the distance, speed, your energies, and physical power, and then go out sprinting at the right moment.
Sweet Victory
How sweet is the moment when you’ve realized that you’ve just successfully launched another software project? Watching your new features in production? Watching the beautiful books created using those features is an exhilarating experience!
In a bike race, till the very last moment, you can’t tell whether you’ve won a race or not. I still remember the surprise and excitement I felt to find out eventually that I won the race (by a fraction of a second). What a sweet moment.
And What Do I Do Afterwards?
All the focus and concentration required in managing a software project can leave me exhausted and mentally drained. All the focus and concentration required in a bike race can leave me exhausted and mentally drained. What do I do to relax afterwards? That is simple: in both cases, I just go out running. J
* Special thanks to the SharedBook team that makes it all happen, delivering one successful project after another.
Congratulations to Daddy Papersurfer for correctly guessing last week's photo - a lightbulb - in the Can You Guess What It Is? contest with Fuelmyblog! The contest continues with a twist - this week's photo was provided by Daddy Papersurfer.
If you think you know what the picture is, submit your guess via a fuel to our blog here. The winner will be selected from a live draw on Sunday. Stay tuned for details ...
Continental Airlines was dead in my crosshairs after my flight to Israel on Sunday. To their credit, they made a comeback, but the lesson of the importance of Customer Service was nonetheless brought home, vividly.
The SharedBook team has R&D in Herzlia, just north of Tel Aviv, and we had a company meeting there this week. My flight from Newark was nothing less than execrable, with essentially every customer touchpoint past check-in screaming “WE’RE Continental – YOU don’t matter.”
Boarding was chaotic – the announcements were mumbled with no apparent understanding that with a multi-language passenger list, everything is best spoken slowly and clearly. The result was a scrum at the gate.
On board, it was freezing – the doors were open because of late delivery of food, and it tends to be cold in New York at 11 at night in winter. Surprise!
The “in-flight” entertainment system was sporadic, and my monitor was dead. Attendant reaction was, “Huh! Well.” No offer of assistance.
The crew was nonchalant and mostly indifferent. Carts were crashing into seats along the aisle. One attendant even gave me the in-flight version of a “no-look pass” – she actually offered me a cup of ice backhanded, while standing in front of my row, never even turning around. Perhaps, as in basketball, if I hadn’t been alert, she would have just dropped it, and said “look alive!”
My morning meal included a croissant, looking as if it spent the night pressed between two dictionaries, flat on a tray that included a brick of egg-like material. At least there was OJ.
There’s more, but you get the point: a lot of things happen when companies serve the public, not all of them good. And how the public responds to a company is often dependent on the behavior of the company representatives when things are at their worst. Even when events are beyond control, the consumer has to know that their business, and their interests, are of the highest level of concern. Period. Anything less, and not only is the business lost, but the customer tells as many people as possible about the perceived slights.
Interestingly, Continental did everything right that they had done wrong on the return flight. And it helps a little, but not much. Why? Some years ago I attended a conference at which it was reported that a happy customer tells, on average, 3 people about their experience. An unhappy customer? Eleven people hear about it. Human nature, I suppose.
To borrow a phrase from an old airline, from a better time in air travel, in Customer Service you earn your wings every day. We’ll try not to forget that lesson here.
Congratulations to Voodoo Maher, the winner of last week's Fuelmyblog contest! Jim guessed the picture correctly, which was a string of garlic, and was selected as the winner from last night's live draw.
Sylvie posted this week's photo here. The winner will receive their choice of a Blog2Print book or another SharedBook title of their choice.
If you think you know the answer, all you have to do is leave your guess in a fuel to us here. Good luck! This week's winner will be selected in another live draw on Sunday.
