Comments

Sprint has done more, better, faster, and cheaper for our corporate communication needs than any of the others were able or willing to do. Steve, do you think you happen to be one of a small percentage who has had a bad customer experience with Sprint, or do you think Sprint is trying to reposition themselves away from the single person customer and toward the corporate customer? In my experience, they don't suck, in yours they do. There must be a reason for two totally different customer experiences. As an individual customer, I have no experience with
Sprint, but I don't think Verizon or AT&T are any better--from long and bitter experience.

Posted by Mike at September 1, 2005 9:22 AM

Wonderful Steve

I just love that reference to marketing and I agree with you.

When are we going to recognise that marketing will not hide crap service or products. Crap will always be crap.

Staff at the front line simply just know when they are dealing with crap and even if you spend a million dollars a day on marketing crap it .. will always be crap

Sorry .... I am in a crappy mood today :-)

Posted by Trevor Gay at September 1, 2005 9:28 AM

Why are many marketing decisions just make up? I think that when a strategy or policy or tactic reaches the depth of a company´s structure it is the fear of the management that makes it impossible to carry on.

What you are telling is what i call epidermic management. A management concerned with appearances, but not with results.

Posted by Felix Gerena at September 1, 2005 9:37 AM

Mike:

I, like Steve, had a a very bad, individual customer service experience with Sprint. I found the store staff, extremely deficient in knowledge. Of course, this was six years ago, but I have not gone back. Maybe they are going after the corporate customer rather than the individual.

Unfortunately, most of the others have not been much better, with respect to customer service. The main reason I have gone with Verizon is that I feel their coverage is better, and in the end, I want to be able to have a conversation without losing signal, getting disconnected or hearing a lot of static.

So in my case, I went for performance, regardless of the so-so customer service experience.

Posted by Rick Garcia at September 1, 2005 10:19 AM

>Crap will always be crap.

Indeed it will - and it'll continue to sell. Stupidity is pervasive - and many folk'll continue to buy whatever's foisted upon them... often because it mets their primary requirement of being available and affordable.

Posted by gulliver at September 1, 2005 10:23 AM

Hey, other mike. Wonder if the difference in perception could be a segmented market? You have a great experience with your corporate communications. Big dollars from a few sources. The bad experiences have been from individual service. Small dollars from many, many sources. Who loves you most? The corporate account executive chasing big commissions or the part-time clerk in a store front?

Simple answer and we know most simple answers are simply wrong.

Posted by Mike C at September 1, 2005 11:21 AM

I'm about 140 years old and I remember when there was just THE PHONE COMPANY. All service was crap then, too. Remember the famous SNL skit with Lily Tomlin? "We don't care, we don't have to--we're THE PHONE COMPANY." Breaking up Ma Bell was supposed to change that, remember? So now we have many phone companies who are all offering crap. There isn't a lot of choice for local service where I live. It's pretty much a
Verizon monopoly. Long distance is your choice, though, and I use AT&T due to their international rate plan. We moved about a year ago and went through the required paperwork and notifications to both companies. Surprise--neither of them got it right. Both customer service call centers were in other countries--one in India and the other in what sounded like Jamaica. Ten calls, lots of stress, a ridiculous phone bill, and over 3 months later they got it figured out--sort of. Point is, neither of them were Sprint and they were still crappy, so what choice do we have? Instead of one monolithic company offering us crap service, we now have many. VOIP broadband phone service you say? Great, until you need to dial 911 or unless you can't get broadband in the first place. For some reason tellecommunications just seem to be the black hole of any company's ability to do well. Speaking of marketing, I wouldn't use Vonage if they paid me due to the totally annoying advertising they use. I must really be out of just about everyone's marketing target these days because about the only advertising I relate positively to are the Geiko ads.

Posted by Mike at September 1, 2005 11:27 AM

I feel better just having read your email - it's like a weight off my chest! I, personally, think all cellular companies suck with their ridiculous 2-year contracts that make it nearly impossible to have choice as a consumer. Every time you make a change they re-commmit you to another "term". And they can give crappy service because you literally can't afford to leave them. And, even if you do, next thing you know, they'll merge with your new carrier and you're right back with them. As Charlie Brown would say....UHHHGGGGG!

Posted by Darci at September 1, 2005 11:35 AM

I just walked through our admin area and saw this crinkled yellow t-shirt with the words "Yes you can" in black ink across the chest. Turned it over and I found a new Sprint logo on the back (we're a Nextel customer). What a butt ugly promotion! Was this supposed to engender confidence in a loyal Nextel business customer? If so, they missed the mark!

I took a picture and would gladly send it along, if someone at tompeters.com will provide me with the appropriate email address.

I have never seen a t-shirt so crunched and wrinkled and messed up. Weird.

Thanks,

BT

Posted by BT Hathaway at September 1, 2005 12:36 PM

Mike, I agree. I'm pretty immune to ads too, but I do have a soft spot for funny ads.

Like this one from Sweden:

There's a father standing in a supermarket checkout line with his child. The child asks for candy and the father says no. The child stamps his foot and demands candy and the father still says no. The child flings himself on the floor and starts screaming and kicking and wailing and moaning. Everybody in the supermarket turns to stare at the child's father. He looks embarassed, mortified even. Then a picture of a condom in a wrapper appears. The caption was in Swedish, but as far as I could tell, the idea was that there were ways to avoid these kind of situations.

It's the egotistical, self-involved, self-loving ads (and the ones trying to relentlessly hammer their message into my brain) that cause me to switch off.

Someone should send Sprint a tee-shirt with the words: In Your Dreams on the front and an Amble logo on the back. But wait. What am I saying? Some brain damaged advertising executive somewhere will think that's a really neat idea and pitch it to Nextel.

Posted by Noel Guinane at September 1, 2005 1:48 PM

Mike, I agree. I'm pretty immune to ads too, but I do have a soft spot for funny ads.

Like this one from Sweden:

There's a father standing in a supermarket checkout line with his child. The child asks for candy and the father says no. The child stamps his foot and demands candy and the father still says no. The child flings himself on the floor and starts screaming and kicking and wailing and moaning. Everybody in the supermarket turns to stare at the child's father. He looks embarassed, mortified even. Then a picture of a condom in a wrapper appears. The caption was in Swedish, but as far as I could tell, the idea was that there were ways to avoid these kind of situations.

It's the egotistical, self-involved, self-loving ads (and the ones trying to relentlessly hammer their message into my brain) that cause me to switch off.

Someone should send Sprint a tee-shirt with the words: In Your Dreams on the front and an Amble logo on the back. But wait. What am I saying? Some brain damaged advertising executive somewhere will think that's a really neat idea and pitch it to Nextel.

Posted by Noel Guinane at September 1, 2005 1:48 PM

Oh please Sprint...leave nextel alone! I switched from Sprint at my own cost as my company used Sprint corporate wide...I think it was a cost thing...certainly wasn't a service thing. I switched to Nextel and have been very pleased. Hmmm...I wonder...what Chrysler did to the Mercedes, Ford to the Jaguar, GM to the Saab...will Sprint do to Nextel? Oh Please...NO!

Posted by Mike Neiss at September 1, 2005 2:20 PM

Steve, I would like to make a suggestion. We all know that if a business lacks substance, marketing can't put it there or really make us believe it is there for more than couple of minutes. So how about hearing more about companies that are putting cutting edge ideas to work in marketing their products and services. Let's hear about who's doing it right and debate the merits of them.

Maybe you could put up the ten or twenty things (one at a time?) you think companies should be doing differently and why they should be doing them. This way, we might learn something we can apply to our business rather than just commenting on posts that encourage complaints, as justified as they may be.

I don't mean it as a criticism, but there are thousands of hopeless mediocrities out there and probably always will be. I'd be much more interested in hearing about the successes; one of the reasons I enjoyed reading In Search of Excellence. It gave hope.

Posted by Noel Guinane at September 1, 2005 3:55 PM

Folks,

Read this......i thought its really cool....

A professor at IIM (Indian Institute of Management) was explaining marketing concepts:

1. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and say: "I am very rich. Marry me!" - That's Direct Marketing

2. You're at a party with a bunch of friends and see a gorgeous girl. One of your friends goes up to her and pointing at you says: "He's very rich. Marry him." -
That's Advertising.

3. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and get her telephone number. The next day, you call and say: "Hi, I'm very rich. Marry me." - That's
Telemarketing.

4. You're at a party and see gorgeous girl. You get up and straighten your tie, you walk up to her and pour her a drink, you open the door (of the car)for her,
pick up her bag after she drops it, offer her ride and then say:"By the way, I'm rich. Will you marry me?" -That's Public Relations

5. You're! at a party and see gorgeous girl. She walks up to you and says: "You are very rich! Can you marry ! me?" - That's Brand Recognition.

6. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and say: "I am very rich. Marry me!" She gives you a nice hard slap on your face. - That's Customer
Feedback.

7. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and say: "I am very rich. Marry me!" And she introduces you to her husband. - That's demand and
supply gap.

8. You see a gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and before you say anything, another person come and tell her: "I'm rich. Will you marry me?" and she
goes with him - That's competition eating into your market share.

9. You see and gorgeous girl at a party. You go up to her and before you say: "I'm rich Marry me!" your wife arrives. - That's restriction for entering new markets.

Posted by K.Sriram (from India) at September 2, 2005 1:40 AM

i agree with Mike

Posted by web designer at September 2, 2005 7:17 AM

K. Sriram--EXCELLENT! I love it. The humor of the items aside, effective teaching really relies on analogies that the student can relate to and keeping the concepts SIMPLE. Good post.

Posted by Mike at September 2, 2005 8:12 AM

I got a Sprint cell phone 4 years ago, and the only problem I've ever had was that there were quite a few gaps in coverage back then. But I was never suprised that it didn't work in the mountains or on long stretches of two-lane highway. As the years have gone by, however, they've been steadily filling in the gaps. Now, I can make a cell call from the kitchen of my family's very remote summer place, and I'm the only one in the family who can.

I'm sorry for all those who've had a hard time with Sprint, but I have to weigh in on the positive side. I can only hope that their attempts to diversify don't disrupt my great service.

Posted by cathy at September 2, 2005 12:52 PM

Many of these posts are talking about the new debate: word of mouth vs. advertising.

The big questions:
How does WOM impact your advertising?
How does your advertising impact WOM?
Does advertising inspire or inhibit WOM?
Does product experience replace marketing?
Are you part of the conversation?
Are happy customers your greatest ads?
Is WOM marketing or a corporate philosophy?

We're having a big debate on this topic at our new blog: http://ads.womma.org - jump in!

Posted by Andy Sernovitz at September 5, 2005 9:20 AM

As many individuals are not paying attention –and the rising (super) powers are battling to take over the global economy, many corporations are not compliant with their responsibility. If they are engaged in “self-denial” mode, they will need to wake up call like never ever before. They might wake up too late into a nightmare. Then everything will be too late. Some of these corporations are within Fortune 100, WOULD THEY LIKE TO PERTAINING TO ROSTER OF LOSERS 100,000? Some food of though from Peter Drucker: “The most efficient way to produce anything is to bring together under one management as many as possible of the activities needed to turn out the product (service). ”

The impending is Part 4. I will here keep on to venture some ideas, principles or tenets (label it as you wish) that a corporate manager (trans-leadership exerciser) may wish to consider. These are ideas to be applied by business settings (here “creative tension” has been invited to exercise mind expansion). Between one idea and the other, the reader is the only one who makes the connection. Some are to be understood metaphorically ones, others are literarily. NOTA BENE: This is a call of business re-imagination. As follows:

SET # 53 - (metaphoric ideas for updated management practitioners)

Get yourself free to evolve a group of designs. Then select one appealing shape, modify it, and evolve it further.

SET # 54 - (metaphoric ideas for updated management practitioners)

Be better able to forecast and change action.

SET # 55 - (metaphoric ideas for updated management practitioners)

Invest in integrating with the technology of their partners to do business with them.

SET # 56 - (metaphoric ideas for updated management practitioners)

Breathe a new life into existing processes, making them better, faster, and cheaper.

SET # 57 - (metaphoric ideas for updated management practitioners)

Save money, create value, grow new businesses, and restructure your organization, transforming them and the economy in the process.

SET # 58 - (metaphoric ideas for updated management practitioners)

Close the loop of continuous improvement by incorporating learned experiences into your processes.

SET # 59 - (metaphoric ideas for updated management practitioners)

Disrupt static processes and operate at the edge of chaos.

SET # 60 - (metaphoric ideas for updated management practitioners)

Explore the learning value of failure.
SET # 61 - (metaphoric ideas for updated management practitioners)

Keep your “lineup” fresh by introducing new people often.

SET # 62 - (metaphoric ideas for updated management practitioners)

Establish a policy of turnover to continually refresh the idea pool.

SET # 63 - (metaphoric ideas for updated management practitioners)

Maximize useful instability.

SET # 64 - (metaphoric ideas for updated management practitioners)

Build a business model around flexible technologies and processes.

SET # 65 - (metaphoric ideas for updated management practitioners)

Take good ideas, regardless of their origin, and use them as a key virtue.

SET # 66 - (metaphoric ideas for updated management practitioners)

Pursue multiple, diverse strategic options.

SET # 67 - (metaphoric ideas for updated management practitioners)

Overturn the status quo in its particular realm.

SET # 68 - (metaphoric ideas for updated management practitioners)

Become more and more able to make experiences cross code from the digital to the biochemical realm.

SET # 69 - (metaphoric ideas for updated management practitioners)

Explicitly look to other disciplines, particularly psychology, to learn how individuals with these presumed attributes behave.

SET # 70 - (metaphoric ideas for updated management practitioners)
Convert the future from an enemy into an opportunity.

SET # 71 - (metaphoric ideas for updated management practitioners)

Be constantly aware of the likelihood of malfunctions and errors. Diversify your risks.

SET # 72 - (metaphoric ideas for updated management practitioners)

Make forward-looking choices.

SET # 73 - (metaphoric ideas for updated management practitioners)

Spin the roulette wheel.

SET # 74 - (metaphoric ideas for updated management practitioners)

Go forward with the very essence of risk taking, that is “gambling”.

SET # 75 - (metaphoric ideas for updated management practitioners)

Distinguish games of change from games in which skill makes a difference.

SET # 76 - (metaphoric ideas for updated management practitioners)

Get profound insights out of unexpected problems, novel experiences, random conversations, and newly discovered facts.

Posted by Andres Agostini at September 13, 2005 10:35 AM