BizCoachDeb's BizBuzz -

Archive for February, 2009

In a time when many are bemoaning a slacking economy, the promise of free food will undoubtedly cause people to run scurrying to any place making such an offer.

Denny’s tried this tack after the Super Bowl, and IHOP did it on “Fat Tuesday”, using a charity bent, so it’s no surprise the sandwich giants are giving it a similar shot. Subway launched their “Five Dollar Footlong” campaign, (not free, but certainly cheap) adding a clever jingle that goes along with it. Denny’s and IHOP took a little heat over the long lines and shortages (and an alleged Nicky Hilton skirmish), but the campaigns went relatively smoothly. Why not get on the cheap/free food bandwagon, right? Everybody’s talking about it and it’s free press…well kind of.

Enter Quizno’s: the Denver-based company decided they would hitch themselves to the “giveaway/charity” variety campaign, providing coupons online for a free sandwich, calling it the Million Sub Giveaway. In addition to the coupons, they have a nomination process for people helping in the community, winners getting a year’s worth of subs – it’s noble, right? Unfortunately, they didn’t work the particulars out with their franchisees, and the backlash is only just beginning.  (This is a situation when the language “at participating locations” really comes into play.)   The rest of the story...

Not a brag, but in the last  3 weeks, I’ve partnered with 4 new clients, each of which had an eerily similar bad service issue with their previous vendor. What was it? Lack of communication. These are the things I heard:

“We’d send an email and not hear a word for a week or more.”

“When I call, I always get voicemail, never a person and it takes forever for them to call me back.”

I’ll make this short and sweet: your clients and customers expect that you will call them back, answer emails, and do so in a timely fashion. Part of your service to the customer is communication. If this is an area that comes up short for you,  consider doing any or all of the following:   The rest of the story...

An amazing thing happened around the world on February 12, 2009. People gathered in venues, grand and small, to partake in a fundraising effort, punctuated with the use of Twitter. Our local version got coverage in the mainstream press, and around the globe, other people have begun to see that Twitter is more than a spot for people to gather and gab; it’s actually a place for things like Twestival to take root and grow. If money can be raised to the tune of better than $250K, then what else can it be used for?

Not just another office water cooler or a place to update people on what I’m doing, I consider Twitter a place to:  laugh, help, vent, share, learn, support, cry, validate, disagree, inform, advise, and stand in awe.  That’s my short list and it grows daily. It’s not just for business, it’s not just for fun.

What uses do you see it providing? Share your purpose with Twitter.
(photo credit snaps photostream)

Every company under the sun wants to promote themselves. They can spend truckloads of money on advertising and pricey giveaways, but do you know the one thing that could get your name out en masse without breaking the bank? Stickers. What does a sticker give you? Exposure, an audience, and people walking around promoting you, whether they know it or not.  Quick! Name me three companies you’ve seen stickers for, and here are mine: In and Out Burger, Sex Wax, and Sector Nine. All use very cool stickers, all enjoy success and an army of people promoting them for the cost of a sticker.   The rest of the story...

Here are a couple ways to use stickers to promote your business, based on the way others are already doing it:

• Clothing Tags: Right there on the shirt, pants, shoes, socks, whatever. Easton Hockey does it.  Their clothing tags are actually built with a sticker on one side, ready to peel and use. Instead of the tag going into the trash, it goes on car, bike, board, stick, locker, wall, wherever the rabid hockey fan wants to share their love of the game.

It’s easy to get overworked during the course of a day or even the week. An occasional nap, though, for the cube-dweller or person on a company time clock can be dicey, and may be excuse enough for an employer to sack you. Here are a couple of things to say when sleep overtakes you at work, but you’re caught in the act:

NUMBER 5: “They told me at the Blood Bank this might happen.”

NUMBER 4:  ’This is just a 15 minute power nap they raved about in the time-management course you sent me to.”

NUMBER 3: “Whew, those Sharpies are toxic! You probably got here just in time!”

NUMBER 2: “Did you notice you can make your keyboard sound like running horses, without even pressing the keys all the way down?”

NUMBER 1: (Raising your head slowly) “…Amen.”