Who’s driving your company? Is it your line or your staff?
In Vegas, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing the inside workings of many hotels. Some are driven by the line. Some are driven by staff. The difference is dramatic. The difference ebbs from efficiency to morale to revenue.
Of course, you need staff. You need accountants, data-processing experts, etc. to maintain controls. But, corporate staffs have a remarkable knack for swelling and usurping the powers of line executives. Before you know it, they are establishing procedures, making policies and creating forms to fill out forms. Sure, some policies are needed, but the ones that impede progress and decrease line executive empowerment are not for me.
In the tug-of-war between line executives and staff, I vote for the line. They are the ones bringing in the money. They are the ones in the trenches, getting their hands dirty. Line executives understand the customer and see the dangers and pluses long before the staff does.
Every so often, take a step back. Are you line driven? If not, why?
I waited three years to hear half of the answer I always wanted. Turns out I didn’t need or want to hear the rest. The answer only brought the past I had erased crashing back.
Sometimes, the answers you think you need aren’t what you need at all.
For some reason, I keep coming back to the below image tonight. I can’t decide whether I agree or disagree. Does it speak to settling or does it speak to taking action with whatever you have?
Sometimes, we, and the people around us get so caught up in the “cannot’s” and the minute details that we forget to feel empowered. We forget to set a date, roll with it and get ‘er done. Remember, make a decision. Roll with it.
via FFFFound
Dear Vendor,
I would like to spend money with you. I would like to form a long term partnership with your company and throw money your way.
In these times, I find it unlikely that you have massive amounts of potential clients knocking down your door. In fact, I know you were a cutback with several of your clients. However, you have made my life extremely difficult and have done the following:
- You were 30 minutes late for a phone call (Fine. I understand phones freezing)
- You refuse to give me a product demo until I’ve been vetted by 3+ of your counterparts. I’ve already been vetted by two.
- You insist that what I’m currently using is sufficient. REALLY!? You understand my business model and needs enough to say that AND refuse my money?! Okay. I’ll be more than happy to take my business to your competitor. Not only has your competitor been extremely easy to work with, but they’re also flying out for an in-person introduction.
Sincerely,
A Lost Partner and Missed Opportunities
This is a rant that’s been sitting in my drafts for awhile, but since I haven’t posted in a bit, here it goes:
I don’t know about you, but I’m sick of “experts” telling me that Facebook and Twitter are the places to be, MySpace is worthless and everything else doesn’t matter. Ummm, NO.
Facebook and Twitter are for the experts with big egos who are hoping to drive mainstream buzz. To me, mainstream buzz is worthless and unqualified. It’s like the loyal Lexus owner who enters to win a Nissan 370Z. They are not Nissan’s customer and they never will be. The Lexus owner isn’t going to talk about Nissan and they’re never going to buy anything but a Lexus. That mainstream name and email address is worthless to a Nissan Marketer.
Same thing with Twitter. While it’s more easily searchable than blogs and forum threads, is it worth a brand’s time? Don’t you think it’s more worthwhile for a brand to pay attention to the people actually talking about them (positively and negatively), wherever they may be?
That’s where the “work” comes in. That’s where the listening phase should not only be about simply listening, but also about finding where exactly your customers are most active.
Personally, I think brands are scared of going where their “real” advocates are. Going past the mainstream requires more engagement. It requires the persona behind the brand to know, understand and be passionate about the brand vs. just spewing the mission statement that their boss handed them or the line from PR.
Oh yes, Twitter and Facebook are easily accessible. But, it’s not always the right or most qualified place for your brand to be. If you’re putting together a social media strategy as part of your overall marketing plan, I hope to god it includes more than just a Facebook Fan Page and a Twitter stream.
It’s the 80/20 rule. While 80% of people complain, less than 20% of people act.
Remember the outrage over Facebook’s Terms of Service? Oh my. The cries of indignation went on for days. In fact, the critics were so vocal that for the first time ever, Facebook reversed one of their changes. Then, Facebook revised their Terms of Service and for a period of x weeks allowed users to weigh in on them. Facebook did a fantastic job of promoting the ability to vote to its users. The call to action was everywhere – messages at the top of news feeds, ads, virtual gifts, news feed stories of friends who voted and reminders on their blog. Yet, how many people took the time to vote?
Well, a whooping 650,000 users voted. Facebook expected 60 million. That’s kind of a big difference. Like a 99% difference.
While there’s a lot of screamers out there, how many of us are do’ers?
The takeaway? Take what your critics have to say with a grain of salt. They like to yell a lot. Tomorrow they’ll be screaming about something else 
On a side note, I’d love to see a company not respond and track what happens vs. those companies that did respond.
This month something shocking happened. My mom got an iPhone and she knows how to use it. She’s texting and sending picture messages for the first time ever.
I love it and I hate it.
I love it because we’re better connected. We now “talk” in short bursts throughout the day vs. having one longer conversation at the end. With picture messages, we can easily see and experience what the other person is seeing and experiencing. In addition, we can communicate on our own schedules. She texts me early in the morning and I text her late at night without worry of waking the other up. I’m also more involved in the smaller details of her life; things that don’t warrant a full phone conversation, an interruption, but can be asked via text.
I hate it because we’re conversing less. Now, because we text throughout the day, going a day or two without talking is less of a big deal. Part of me misses that interaction. I miss hearing my mom’s voice. I miss hearing about the bigger picture; the things that can’t be communicated in 160 characters.
The same thing is happening with friends. Instead of Sunday catch-up calls, we send text or facebook messages. We’re interacting more because it’s conveniently done on our own time. When everyone is in different time zones, these technologies make interacting easier. But again, we’re missing the things that can’t be communicated through delayed conversations.
Sure, we’re interacting more. We’re getting more of the little, daily experiences of a person’s life, but what are we losing? To interact more what have we sacrificed?
Despite my frustrations with BDA’s, the majority get the big pieces right. They offer support, a bird’s eye perspective and competitive data and recommendations.
But recently, I encountered the other type of agency. It’s still a gut feeling, but I feel I’m being taking for a ride.
Maybe I’m taking it the wrong way, but here’s a few odd things:
- - Told me that website copy/content had NO effect on SEO rankings and not to worry about it. To end the conversation, the Account Manager said, “Many of our top ranking sites have no content at all.” This post seems to disagree with that.
- - They insist that a fax number should be a required field in an email sign up form. However, they didn’t include fields for physical address or cell number. Hmmmm. To clarify, in my world, due to legal issues, physical address is a REQUIRED field.
- - Let’s just say I’ve seen display buys perform significantly better than the SEM campaign they’re currently running.
- - They offered to build me customized Google Analytics reports. Naturally, I asked for a few. I’m still waiting. Based on the initial email response, I have a feeling I’ll be waiting indefinitely.
- - I asked what they thought about other analytics software and how they compared to Google Analytics. The reply? We don’t utilize other analytics software.
- - They’re building a microsite. The main navigation is below the fold.
It’s things like the above that put a bad taste in my mouth for all agencies. One bad apple ruins the whole bunch.
Comments (0) 
Themocracy