Success stories should extend the reach of your sales force.

Your marketing documents should act as natural extensions of your sales efforts. They need to be good enough to pay for themselves by consistently generating leads, appointments and closed business.

Take a look at your documents. Are they living up to that promise?

Where can you get more bang for your buck? I recommend stepping up your case study development process.

Case studies or success stories are perfect for a company your size. They speak directly to targeted industries and show prospects “social proof” of customers who’ve already succeeded with your solutions.

Now ask yourself: Do you have time to do the interviews, write drafts, follow up, edit, revise and get everything approved and set for layout?

I can help.

I’ve been writing case studies for leading technology companies every month since 1995.  Even better – I’ve sold millions of $$$ worth of software, hardware and custom solutions by telling customer success stories in print.

Check my site to see some of them.

If you like what you see, take me up on my latest special offer: Book me for 5 case studies by July 15, 2010, and I’ll throw in a free copyedit of any other piece of collateral (up to 10 pp).

Call me at your earliest convenience (949) 244-9440, or email me dunn@qualitywriter.com.

P.S. My project queue fills up quickly whenever I send out these letters, so please call as soon as you can. Thanks.

This article originally appeared in John Forde’s excellent email newsletter The Copywriter’s Roundtable (some call him Jack Forde). The newsletter offers priceless insights for all kinds of professional creatives, including the folks mentioned in the article below. I highly encourage you to sign up and enjoy the weekly value feast that is uniquely Forde.

WARNING TO CREATIVES PART I: YOUR CAREERS ARE UNDER ATTACK

If you’re a creative professional, you may have noticed a bothersome trend. In an effort to reduce expenses, clients are getting creative with the ways they deconstruct projects, bid them out and re-assemble the final product. (This applies to lots of different creatives including, freelance copywriters, strategy folks, designers, social media marketers, SEO specialists, content developers and Web developers).  

As a result, some of your work is becoming commoditized, broken into pieces and performed by someone other than you. There are lower-cost, dubious-value options out there waiting in the wings to snap up pieces of projects.

I’m not arguing that this is a particularly intelligent, productive or encouraging trend. I’m just saying that it’s happening in a number of settings, and, in many cases, you’re complicit. Yes you.

Let me discuss a few examples to illustrate my point.

Deconstruction and the Road to Mediocrity

Software developers used to scope, design and test a piece code from start to finish. That’s not always the case nowadays. Outsourced, off-shore software testing is becoming more and more common. Specialized shops that test applications and the platforms they run on (like testing a new Web app on every conceivable phone, OS and browser combination) eliminate this task from a typical coder’s project. There’s a company in Austin, Texas that’s doing this with great success. Everything’s managed stateside, but the grunt work is done cheaply elsewhere. Think of it as global specialization – where the “assembly line” is decoupled, sent to multiple specialists, then reassembled before launch.

You may have noticed the SEO copywriting trend, as well. For better or worse, companies are farming out articles to writing sweat shops and instructing them to assemble articles that are optimized for specific keywords (including headline and subhead instructions for keyword repetition). Then they send the completed article to a professional writer for editing, fact checking and re-writing.

As a professional writer, I find the practice ludicrous. It’s a process that’s flawed, spammy and basically ass-backwards. But I can’t deny it’s happening. Shameful admission: one of my clients in Eastern Europe pays me to write headlines and subheads for articles they’ve developed (they identify the keywords they need highlighted, and I try to make it work). Some of the articles are professionally written and some are atrocious. I flag the bad ones and have them re-written (via myself or another editor they use).

The trend is similar to the software development one. Publishers are attempting to decouple production and then reassemble the pieces. OnDemand Media’s Pluck is one example of this kind of low-cost, assembly line publishing.

With these types of approaches, some value is lost (maybe not so much with the software development example). You may have seen similar trends with your projects. Does the following sound familiar? A client asks you to produce a site, some graphic art or some copy that’s just like “competitor X’s site.”

The marketing director identifies someone else’s work that they like, and they encourage you to paraphrase, emulate or copy it. “Just make it like theirs, ‘borrow’ from it and you [as the creative] won’t have to do so much work,” they say. The result is unoriginal copy or design. [BTW - my advice is strap on your Pumas and run away from these clients as fast as you can.]

The point is, you can see, taste and smell the loss of value in these types of projects. Think about all those India-looking templated sites out there. They’re sterile. You know them when you see them. The treatments are flat, the colors predictable, and the layouts pure boilerplate. Some are worse than others, of course. There are, however, some nice WordPress templates that are produced by very talented designers and coders (and SquareSpace ones and Tumblr.. many others, I’m sure – this is a trend I’m watching closely).

Similar problems occur when people take short cuts with photography. How about those bland “business people at work photos?” Earnest looking professionals glare into the lens. They wear JCrew blue and khaki, and they always seem to be in these scrubbed, gleaming Formica white rooms. There are dozens of them on iStockPhoto, and they pop up all over the Web.  Anyone can get that stuff. Anyone can produce it. It’s a commodity.

Your Talent and Real-Time Creativity is Your Trump Card

The deconstruct and “farm out the pieces” train is gathering steam. Seth Godin talks about this in his book Linchpin. In a previous era, the strategy was applied to automobile manufacturing. Henry Ford developed detailed assembly processes that could be carried out by very specialized, low-skilled laborers along the line.

These days creative work can be made into an assembly line without borders… without a building.

Where does that leave you? In some sense your career is under attack. If important disciplines comes under assault as satellite teams are assembled and everyone meets up in places like BaseCamp and Google Docs, then there’s real value erosion from the client’s perspective. You may (like me) even have a hand in it. Heck, you may even use this approach to assemble teams of creatives. So, who knows where this is headed.

There are some easy answers, however. First – you must scamper back to value. Focus on originality and core competency. Your creative work, your artistry is what wins. You can beat a monkey on a typewriter. Your brilliance in the here and now beats any templated mash-up that a sweat shop can produce. That’s what brings the real dough. That’s what wins today’s contracts.

Think of it as a way to improve your gross margins. “How can you be remarkable?” as Godin might put it.

The companies and clients that don’t want the type of talent you offer are probably settling for mediocrity. They will be lost in the sea of noise. Their ads will not stand out, their white papers will not be downloaded, and people will land on their sites and get that ‘oh this was designed by low-level goons in Eastern Europe’ feeling.

So, if you’re a designer you need to be the one who pays attention to typography, usability, color choice and very specific business requirements. You have to listen. And, you have to find the clients who communicate their uniqueness, their goals and their fears directly to you.

Incorporate that into your designs, then collaborate with the Web development team, the writer, the photographer. Don’t be afraid to work with difficult people. Don’t be afraid to challenge your client. Argue with them (not argumentatively but in a Socratic way) with the fears, benefits, goals and aspirations of the company in mind.

If you’re a blogger or a ghost writer for blogs, stop regurgitating the messages of others. Stop chasing the link deals and trying to spam your way into Digg mentions, StumbleUpons, etc.

Promote your best, most unique ideas – even if it means taking a day or week off. Yes, you need to produce content consistently. . but you’ve got to rise above the noise and say something useful and unique each time you publish. Or else.. your days are numbered.

Bring ***thoughtfulness*** to your projects – as Tom Peters might say. (BTW his new book “The Little Big Things” is great.)

It’s important to understand some of these trends. The playing field is getting fluid with globalism, Web 2.0 trends, and unique developments at play. You need to pay attention.

Keep your eyes peeled for Part II of this article. There’s an interesting new technology wrinkle at play (it’s actually much more than a wrinkle – you’ve seen hints of it in Facebook’s recent announcements, and two of my uber-deep technology clients are raking in tons of cash by farming Web data – that’s all I’ll say). The point is, it directly affects you as a marketing and Web development creative. Stay tuned.

Please comment below and keep the conversation going. I’d love to hear your feedback and insights.

My attempt at concrete imagery.

When I think about design, layout and presentation, there are two books that I frequently come back to:

1) Colin Wheildon’s Type & Layout: Are You Communicating or Just Making Pretty Shapes

2) Garr Reynolds’ Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery

Wheildon’s book is a frontal assault on the lame-o typography mistakes that continue to occur today (especially in the amateur design Web arena). His findings are backed up by in-depth research about comprehension and reader retention.

Reynolds’ book is a more elegant assault on similar miscues in the world of PowerPoint and Keynote… or just presentations in general.

My simple recommendation?

Buy these books. Dog-ear these books. Keep them near Strunk and White. Savor them, review them, revere them, spoon them.

They’re gold and will help you win projects and the hearts of your clients.

Here’s a taste from Presentation Zen that talks about the “picture superiority effect”:

“When information recall is measured just after exposure to a series of pictures or a series of words, the recall for pictures and words is about equal. However, the picture superiority effect applies when the time after exposure is more than 30 seconds, according to research cited in Universal Principles of Design (Rockport Publishers). ‘Use the picture superiority effect to improve the recognition and recall of key information. Use pictures and words together, and ensure that they reinforce the same information for optimal effect,’ say the authors… The effect is strongest when the pictures represent common, concrete things.”

And from Wheildon’s masterpiece:

“.. the average advertisement is read by only four percent of the people on their way through the publication it appears in. Most of the time this is the fault of the so-called “art director” who designs advertisements. If he is an aesthete at heart – and most of them are – he doesn’t care a damn if anybody reads the words. He regards them as mere elements in his pretty design. In many cases he blows away half the readers by choosing the wrong type. But he doesn’t care. He should be boiled in oil.” [my emphasis]

These two guys think deeply about design, and they offer lots of undeniable proof for their theses.

If you’re a copywriter, art director, Web designer, SEO monger, marketing director (or VP or CMO), or a layout/design guru, please pick these up and study them. Your job is not finished when you complete your piece of the creative puzzle. You need to understand the other disciplines to make sure you’ve created something that’s usable, appreciated, and understood by your consuming audiences.

Do you have any other book recommendations that are crucial for publishing/Web development creatives? Please comment below and share your favorites. Thanks – Phil.

Are you a freelance copywriter, marketing creative, artist/designer, social media marketer, SEO specialist, content developer or Web developer? Now’s the time to understand why and how your power is vaporizing.

If you’re a creative professional, you may have noticed a bothersome trend. In an effort to reduce expenses, clients are getting creative with the ways they deconstruct projects, bid them out and re-assemble the final product.

As a result, some of your work is becoming commoditized, broken into pieces and performed by someone other than you. There are lower-cost, dubious-value graphic artists, Web designers, social media marketers, SEO specialists, content developers, programmers, freelance writers and others waiting in the wings to snap up pieces of projects.

I’m not arguing that this is a particularly intelligent, productive or encouraging trend. I’m just saying that it’s happening in a number of settings, and, in many cases, you’re complicit. Yes you.

Let me discuss a few examples to illustrate my point.

Deconstruction and the Road to Mediocrity

Software developers used to scope, design and test a piece code from start to finish. That’s not always the case nowadays. Outsourced, off-shore software testing is becoming more and more common. Specialized shops that test applications and the platforms they run on (like testing a new Web app on every conceivable phone, OS and browser combination) eliminate this task from a typical coder’s project. There’s a company in Austin, Texas that’s doing this with great success. Think of it as global specialization – where the “assembly line” is decoupled, sent to multiple specialists, then reassembled before launch.

You may have noticed the SEO copywriting trend, as well. For better or worse, companies are farming out articles to writing sweat shops and instructing them to assemble articles that are optimized for specific keywords (including headline and subhead instructions for keyword repetition). Then they send the completed article to a professional writer for editing, fact checking and re-writing.

As a professional writer, I find the practice ludicrous. It’s a process that’s flawed, spammy and basically ass-backwards. But I can’t deny that it’s happening. Shameful admission: one of my clients in Eastern Europe pays me to write headlines and subheads for articles they’ve developed (they identify the keywords they need highlighted, and I try to make it work). Some of the articles are professionally written and some are atrocious. I flag the bad ones and have them re-write them – by myself or another professional writer.

The trend is similar to the software development one. Publishers are attempting to decouple production and then reassemble the pieces. OnDemand Media’s Pluck is one example of this kind of low-cost, assembly line publishing.

With these types of approaches, some value is lost (maybe not so much with the software development example). You may have seen similar trends with your projects. Does the following sound familiar? A client asks you to produce a site, some graphic art or some copy that’s just like “competitor X’s site.” The marketing director identifies someone else’s work that they like, and they encourage you to paraphrase, emulate or copy it. “Just make it like theirs, ‘borrow’ from it and you [as the creative] won’t have to do so much work,” they say. The result is unoriginal copy or design. My advice is strap on your Pumas and run away from these clients as fast as you can.

The point is, you can see, taste and smell the loss of value in these types of projects. Think about all those India-looking templated sites out there. They’re sterile. You know them when you see them. The treatments are flat, the colors predictable, and the layouts pure boilerplate. Some are worse than others, of course. There are, however, some nice WordPress templates that are produced by very talented designers and coders (and SquareSpace ones and Tumblr.. many others, I’m sure).

Similar problems occur when people take short cuts with photography. How about those bland “business people at work photos?” Earnest looking professionals glare into the lens. They wear trendy blue and khaki, and they always seem to be in these scrubbed, gleaming Formica white rooms. There are dozens of them on iStockPhoto, and they pop up all over the Web.  Anyone can get that stuff. Anyone can produce it. It’s a commodity.

Your Talent and Real-Time Creativity is Your Trump Card

So your career is under attack. Every day sub-contractors attempt to deconstruct creative work and farm pieces of it out. Seth Godin talks about this in his book Linchpin. In a previous era, the strategy was applied to automobile construction, for example. Henry Ford developed detailed assembly processes that could be carried out by very specialized, low-skilled laborers along the line. These days creative work can be made into an assembly line without borders… without a building.

Where does that leave you? It’s easy, really. You scamper back to value. You focus on originality and core competency. Your creative work, your artistry is what wins. You can beat a monkey on a typewriter. Your brilliance in the here and now beats any templated mash-up that a sweat shop can produce. That’s what brings the real dough. That’s what wins today’s contracts.

The companies and clients that don’t want that type of talent are settling for mediocrity. They will be lost in the sea of noise. Their ads will not stand out, their white papers will not be downloaded, and people will land on their sites and get that ‘oh this was designed by low-level goons in Eastern Europe’ feeling.

So, if you’re a designer you need to be the one who pays attention to typography, usability, color choice and very specific business requirements. You have to listen. And, you have to find the clients who communicate their uniqueness, their goals and their fears directly to you. Incorporate that into your designs, then collaborate with the Web development team, the writer, the photographer. Don’t be afraid to work with difficult people. Don’t be afraid to challenge your client. Argue with them (not argumentatively but in a Socratic way) with the fears, benefits, goals and aspirations of the company in mind.

If you’re a blogger or a ghost writer for blogs, stop regurgitating the messages of others. Stop chasing the link deals and trying to spam your way into Digg mentions, StumbleUpons, etc. Promote your best, most unique ideas – even if it means taking a day or week off. Yes, you need to produce content consistently. . but you’ve got to rise above the noise and say something useful and unique each time you publish. Or else.. your days are numbered.

Another Warning: Legitimate Technology Trends Will Strip You Naked

This should probably be another article.. but, heck, I’m going to put it in here, because it closely parallels the “deconstruction” trend.

If you’re a marketer, you need to realize that subjective, off-the-cuff analysis of markets is a vanishing practice. Creative, “gee I like this, let’s run with it” moments are gone. David Ogilvy and Claude Hopkins did their best to kill it off, but it’s still the fall back position for lazy marketing departments.

Here’s where technology is taking a bite out of marketing departments. The following trends are eating away at staid practices:

1. Real-time analytics from real-time search like Twitter, Facebook and Google real-time results
2. Web scraping (real-time and sophisticated, in-depth, behind-the-Flash, behind-the-login-page scraping)
3. #1 and #2 combined with contextual analysis
4. Multivariate testing (Google Analytics, Optimizer)
5. Twitter testing and AdWords testing of titles, subheads and concepts

Analytics beats any whim or subjective position you have. Yes – I know – if you’re creating art, then you can be content with your own subjective analysis. But, it’s rare that those of us in the business world can produce art without being accountable for results. At some point, you have to sell something (even artists need to fill galleries).

So these five techie developments show us what sells, what gets clicked, what’s working, what the crowds think. Testing (Claude Hopkins, Ogilvy- style) is more relevant than ever!

One of the buzz phrases going around marketing circles is contextual sentiment. This is what Facebook is up to with their “Like” buttons all over the Web. Fact is, you could do this with some sophisticated software previously. If you run scraped keyword streams from Twitter or Facebook through an sentiment analysis tool, you can see all kinds of actionable information. For example, let’s say you launch a new soda flavor. You can quickly understand consumer sentiment by monitoring channels like Twitter and Facebook. At the root, it’s the transformation of unstructured data into actionable information. It can be used for all kinds of scenarios – public relations troubleshooting, customer service, R&D, polling/sampling opinion (without the focus group), product development and more.

Big brands are already integrating this “social media” sampling technique into their Business Intelligence (BI) solutions. One of the big benefits is that they get a clear indication of sentiment and the “reality on the streets.” In the past, they had to rely on focus groups with preconceptions and gamed reporting from their own internal departments (sales, finance, product development, etc.).

Bringing it All Back Around to You – The Creative

Creatives in every line of work – Web development, art, writing, publishing, etc. – need to consider these trends carefully. From my perspective this trend looks like a boon to creatives. But, to many organizations, it could mean that some of their services will go away. You can’t consult, for example, if your consulting guidance is based on premises that are counter to factual Web analytics. You may have to integrate these new technologies into your offerings.

How is it a boon? Creative matters even more today than ever before. People need you to test out ideas, push them out of their comfort zones and try new things. Companies need to round up whatever data and research exists then hand off projects to creatives that get it. Then you test… then you commit to what works. That’s a good recipe.

What’s become a commodity is the big agency’s powerful research and testing groups. They’ll be moving to new technologies and techniques. But these new methods should be fairly low cost. You may not need an army of people to pull it off. And as information becomes more available at a lower cost, you’ll see small agile creative firms making moves.

Some Extended Thoughts

Everyone has access to this now. This new world is here. Soooooo….

• Tips, info and tools are commodities unless they’re strikingly original
• Pricing for boilerplate, templated or paraphrased/hi-jacked content and design is being ground down to zero. It’s a race to the bottom. That work is going overseas, or it’s going to the lowest common denominator companies.
• Analytics (real-time) are showing companies who are willing to put in the sweat and the money exactly what’s going on with their products, services, brands, competitors, customer service, market perception… everything.

The information you have at your fingertips – your information tool box – is becoming irrelevant. There’s plenty of free information out there that describes what you know, best practices, tips, tools, strategies and so forth. That stuff is being commoditized. Dan Pink goes into this in detail in his book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. “McKinsey & Co. estimates that in the United States, only 30% of job growth now comes from algorithmic work, while 70% comes from heuristic work,” writes Pink. (That algorithmic work is the non-creative stuff – the process work that can be duplicated in far flung locations.) “A key reason routine work can be outsourced or automated; artistic, empathic, non-routine, work generally cannot.”

Experience matters. Value matters. A creative, original filter matters.

What to Do? – Creatives, Get Back to Basics!

How do you win in this wild new world of shifting marketing and production trends? You focus on the key differentiators. Seth Godin talks about this a lot in Linchpin. You’ve got to continue to develop strong relationships. Stellar customer service, a sparkling attitude, personality, and your underlying creativity and uniqueness are the keys. Execution wins business as well – think about speed of execution, shipping on time/on deadline, and delivering a consistent, quality product. Of course you need to deliver value, meaning quality, differentiation and uniqueness, mind-boggling star power, and ’something extra.’

In short, you need to become more remarkable now.

What do you think about this discussion and these trends? Are you seeing the same things I’m seeing? If so, what are your strategies for combating these trends or adapting to them? Am I delusional or off-base here? Please comment below.

A lot of people come to my site (via Google, Twitter and elsewhere) for information about marketing writing and freelance copywriting pricing. These include people in the market for writing services and freelance professionals that need guidance with respect to specific projects. I usually direct them to Steven Slaunwhite’s resources. He’s considered the pricing guru in the biz and does a lot of research to back up his info and reports.

I recently came across a great comment thread about freelance copywriting pricing, however. And it’s a useful eye-opener for anyone involved in this trade – buyers and sellers. Ignore the obnoxious headline and read the thread below that. There are a lot of gems in there (along with some duds and silliness). The range of pricing discussed is huge, but you can get a sense for what the more serious companies pay when they’re looking for quality writing.

I was having a glass of wine with a friend last night – a Malbec, which by the way, was sheepy, barn-yardy and yucky.. some Malbecs just baffle me (I don’t dig it, so I opened a different bottle) – and he said something interesting.

He said, “To be honest, Phil, I don’t think anyone cares what the buildings are like. There’s no connection between the maintenance crews and the customer desire.”

This was part of a long conversation about a timeshare development that’s teetering on the brink of disaster. So I couldn’t resist and said, “Are you going to let me know when you switch back to dishonesty?”

I love this little joke and try to fit it in every once in a while, even though it’s really annoying. I wrote it about a long time ago (Eliminate Honesty from Your Copy), and it’s covered in-depth in my eBay Marketing book, which is now available on the Kindle.

The main point is this. When you’re speaking or writing – especially if you’re involved with a persuasive presentation or document – it’s best to stay away from words like “frankly,” “honestly,” and “to tell you the truth.” Consciously or subconsciously people are going to notice and wonder why honesty all of a sudden became an issue.

Instead, use facts, logic and proof to construct your pitches and explanations. You don’t need to qualify your virtue when clear, compelling information is at hand.

That other stuff sounds “salesy” and a bit cheap. You’re better than that.

And, yes, please use my joke when you’re out with friends. It’s a real show stopper.. but it might just get you a face full of Malbec, so be careful.

Are you stuck on a sentence right now?

Can’t find the right word?

Having doubts about a particular approach?

Having trouble starting a writing project? (large or small)

Stop what you’re doing. Don’t get distracted or procrastinate. Send me a quick email with the copy in question. I’ll send you some options, ideas and a high quality alternative to your existing sentence.

I’m thinking about writing and communication methods all the time.

For the past 15 years, I’ve spent every day helping companies write quality content for the web, direct response campaigns, and in print (articles, white papers, case studies, trade show scripts, special reports, data sheets, brochures… you name it).

Send me your sentence right now. If I can improve it, I’ll fix it (I’ll also tell you what’s working and what you’ve done right).  No strings attached. No charge. It’s just my little way to offer help and show companies how I work.

dunn@qualitywriter.com

I have a short, “real life” story to tell which demonstrates some of the dangers of customer communication in a social media world. It’s also relevant to larger marketing and brand discussions. First the story:

I activated one of our company phones with the local Costa Mesa T-Mobile store the other day. The rep was great, I got the pricing I needed.

During the sign up process I told the rep that the charger jack on my phone doesn’t work so well. You have to connect the cord just right to get it to work. He told me to sign up for their $6 insurance plan and then file a claim with Asurion, T-Mobile’s mobile phone/cell phone claims company. I’d get a new phone and be set, he assured me.

Sounds too good to be true, ay? But you know what they say, “Sales people are the easiest people to sell to.” I’m a marketing guy, but I consider myself a sales pro, too (it’s part of the whole process – selling with words). So I was caught up in a feel good sales process, getting a new plan set up, and looking forward to getting the Blackberry Curve activated and working. I love this phone. I’ve had others, but this is my favorite.

Anyway, a few days later, I ask James, the sales rep, how to start the claim process. He emails me back with the phone number of a company in Fountain Valley (CA) that repairs phones.

I scratch my head and then call James to figure out what the deal is. I explain to him who I am and what he suggested when we first set up the account. He says I should file a claim with Asurion but that they’ll charge me a $130 deductible. “Really?” I say, “because you didn’t mention that earlier.” So he says that the repair place can fix the charger problem in a matter of minutes. I just take my phone in and they’ll resolder some wires. Quick fix – no problemo.

That sounds good to me. So I ask James if he can cancel the $6 insurance plan. He tells me to check out the repair shop first and then make sure it’s worth it. I scratch my head again.

I call the repair place, and they charge $85 for the repair. Hmmm. I’m starting to feel like a sucker at this point.

So, in the final analysis, communication and misunderstanding are at play here. I think there was some deception involved, too. If James were transparent about the deductible from the get go, I never would have wasted time tracking down service and claims options (or writing this article, for that matter).

But here’s the kicker.. and the crucial moment where an opportunity for a solution was fumbled away. During my first visit with James, I told him that I really like the new Sidekick LX. I mentioned that I’d probably upgrade to that sooner or later because I had one of the first gen devices and loved it (just a bit too clunky, but they’re slimmer now).

The thing is… James probably could have sold me one there and then. It was the solution to a *specific* problem I was having. They had 2008 models in the for $100 (less than a $130 deductible, cough, cough). And I was there as a new customer in activation mode.

But now I don’t want to give that store my business. I’d rather get an unlocked Sidekick on Craigslist or eBay and then bring it in an have them hassle with the activation and migration – which is a big, costly customer service exercise for them. I take up more of their staff’s time, I divert their attention from other customers, and other customers get peeved because I’m hogging all the time with this complicated migration issue.

From a marketing and customer service perspective, the whole situation is a lose-lose-lose for T-Mobile.

James doesn’t know that I’m a technology blogger and SEO consultant with a big following on Twitter, Facebook and elsewhere. I didn’t tell him, because I don’t want to be “that guy.” I’m sure they have lots of people pull the blogger card.

So, I’ve got good keyword density in this post. I’m reminding my marketing and advertising clients/readers about customer service in this brave new social media/social networking world. And, I have a place to vent about T-Mobile, Asurion and cell phone repair shops.

By the way, don’t ever get the insurance plan. The numbers don’t work out (as you can see above). And the repair places seem kind of scammy, too. James was telling me that this is a 5 minute procedure to fix a bad charger jack. $85 for 5 minutes is not reasonable, especially when you can find them all over craigslist and ebay.

I’m sure you’ve had experiences similar to this with a wide range of companies. Please comment below to tell your story or post a link to your own blog. Meanwhile, I’m off to Twitter and Facebook to link this post.

Happy Friday, btw. Phil  – not bitter, just smarter today

Another note: I’ll be scheduling this one on TweetLater, too. What do you bet a T-Mobile Twitter monitoring employee contacts me (if they have a clue)?

If you’re like most people, you’ve upgraded your monitor over the years. Maybe you went from a CRT to a flatscreen… or from a standard 3:4 monitor to the larger cinema-style formats like 16:9.

Well, with a bigger screen or a different size ratio, you probably noticed that Microsoft Word docs (I’m using Microsoft Word 2007) look smaller on the bigger screens. This is a function of the zoom slider in the lower right-hand portion of the page. It has a range from 10% to 500%. Slide it and you’ll see what happens.

So, how do you change Microsoft Word’s default settings so you can see the same size page every time you open a Word doc or start a new document? Here’s the quick solution:

1. Go to the File menu => click Open => then locate and open the template you want to modify (This will usually be the normal.dot template)
2. The file is usually located here: C:\Users\<name>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates where <name> is the name of the user or computer you’re on (search your computer for the Templates folder if you can’t find it)
3. Locate, select and open Normal.dot
4. Change the Zoom level (lower right) on this particular document to whatever percentage you prefer (You can also change any of the template’s text and graphics, styles, formatting, macros, AutoText entries, toolbars, menu settings, and shortcut keys)
5. Save the document and close it
6. You’re done

For years I struggled with music players. I bought cheap MP3 players, and I bought cell phones that I thought would be good all-in-one solutions for music, texting, calling and so forth.

Recently, I broke down and bought an iPod Touch… and it makes me a little sad. I’ve wasted a lot of time struggling with cruddy software interfaces, inane syncing schemes and just plain dumbness of design.

Yes, Apple products are good. No surprise here, and that’s not what this article is about.

This article is about specialization and why it makes sense for your business. You see, I bought the iTouch because I wanted a product from a company that specializes in the music experience. It comes with a lot of other cool stuff – like wi-fi, which I love. Yet, it’s the music experience that I’m after. Yes, I know I could have bought an iPhone and added mobile phone capability, but I don’t like touch screens for texting. So I’m keeping my cell phone separate from my music/game toy for the time being. When Apple comes out with a nice chicklet keyboard iPhone, I’ll be the first one in line.

Anyway, this discussion brings me to the following maxim: Don’t buy generalist products, and don’t be a generalist producer.

I wanted the right music player, and I finally bought it. If you want good chocolate, get it from the company that breathes and bleeds chocolate – the one that obsesses over cocoa, not coffee or nuts or some other diversion. If you want a good wine recommendation, get it from a proven expert.

In business, this is imperative. If you want a good graphic artist, buy services from someone with experience in your particular industry. If you want a good writer, get one who knows your turf.

If you go to the agency that says yes to everyone, regardless of their experience with the project or industry, you’re going to get a generalist solution and perhaps something worse. You’ll get a provider that’s ok at a bunch of stuff but not really good at any particular thing. It reminds me of the Nike Trainers when they first came out. It was the shoe that was ok for a handful of sports but not really exceptional for any specific sport. Yuck – in short.

If you keep this in mind when you’re buying and selling, you’ll be in good shape. It’s particularly relevant when you’re building your career. Don’t try to be the best at everything. You’ll end up with fewer customers, lower pricing and poorer performance.