Recently, there was an article on CNN regarding travel sites. As I am rapidly approaching my very long pretty-much round-the-world trip, I am looking for information on Munich, Sao Paulo, Jakarta, Cape Town, and back to Delhi. One of those sites was: www.maiden-voyage.com.
I visited the site and registered for their service. As part of the signup, you receive an automated responder email letting you know that they will call you personally to confirm your identity. I replied, saying, "Really? Are you serious? Don't make me wait or I will go elsewhere..."
Within two hours, I got a call from "Carolyn", who let me know that she was just about to board a plane, but that she'd SMS the office and get my confirmation done right away. I thanked her for her service, and went on my day. I was able to access the site within an hour. Two days later, I receive an email to see what I liked, didn't like about the site and they asked if I had any questions on using the site, with links back to the site ( I hate having to look it up or guess). I clicked through and found a couple of issues and that their list of cities did not include Cape Town. I received a reply within the hour stating that the issues were being worked on, and Cape Town had been added to the list. She also, (and this I really liked) gave me the recommendation and a link to a women-friendly hotel in Cape Town. :-)
Customer service should always be this swift and this personal. Even if the site doesn't become my browser home page, I'll remember that brand for this interaction. It wasn't Marketing or Sales, or Finance that made that me a loyal influencer for their brand, it was the woman on the other end of the phone, the usually undervalued customer service rep. Now, I'm pretty sure this is a small company, so the actual person was probably higher up the food chain, but I digress. Customer service is one of the cornerstones to building a successful business. Respect the people who do this work well. May all the shi**y ones burn in hell for not understanding how important they are.
Onwards...
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
TEDx Gurgaon
TED India was a total waste of time. I was super excited to be watching the live streaming from the conference and was able to watch about 59 minutes of it. The guy talking discussed the miracle of the TATA Nano, a cheap car for the masses. How is that innovative? He said it would change India. I agree. If it takes off, India will become the leader in the worst infrastructure, worst air pollution in the world. There aren't adequate roads to handle current traffic, let alone adding more. Building a fossil-fuel based car feeds the human addiction for oil. If the TATA Nano had been powered by hydrogen fuel cells, THAT would have been innovative and disruptive. The Nano, to me, is just another cheap car. I want those 59 minutes back.
Today, I attended TEDx Gurgaon.
I walked up to "Registeration" and told them it was misspelled. The women just smiled at me, never intending to fix it.
Attendance was about 100 or so people, more than Barcamp last year... The first announcement was that "hopefully more people will arrive before lunch."
The first presentation was a video of Chris Anderson discussing why TED was formed and why he was excited to be a part of it, followed by a folk dance performance, Kishore, CEO of Linkaxis and considered one of the forefathers of the Open Source movement in India, presented the first talk about photography. As a self-professed "geek", his talk came from the view point of technology, not art. I didn't agree with many of the things he said, because as an artist, I think of photography as a raw material, much like paint. One interesting point that he mentioned (and something I would have liked him to expand upon) was that more cameras are sold by cell phone manufacturers than any camera company. That got me thinking about how competition is becoming disruptive. Your competitor tomorrow most likely won't be coming from within your industry. Another example is the music industry - who would have thought that a computer manufacturer (apple) would dramatically change the distribution channel and grow what was considered to be a dying industry, which, admittedly had an archaic business model that had to be forced to change. Something the newspaper industry still has to learn.
I'm working with a print publication in the States that wants to merge an online blog with the online version of their magazine. I'm thinking that this is a good opportunity to build my vision for Journalism 2.0. This requires the integration of all the aspects of internet technology to build an interactive site that enables readers to not only experience the news through multiple media types (read/watch/listen), but also share their own content, comment, forward, and expand. The newspaper industry needs to figure out a way to monetize this in order to pay for their content development (which goes back to a previous post about startups). Banner advertising is cheap. Really cheap. And you need to have enough eyeballs to generate a decent cost per thousand impressions (CPM). How do you package that and sell enough ads as well? Niche markets (like the readers of this magazine) can ask for a higher CPM due to its demographic, but it still won't be enough... How else can we monetize?
Microsite sponsorships can be one way. Either a topic, stream, or maybe even a particular writer. Online events with live streaming could be another. Downloadable deliverables could also be monetized. I'm struggling with what to do to make more revenue... I'm thinking subscriptions for archives and additional content (like special reports), and access to other services... anyway...
A 15-minute break was announced, which became more than 45 minutes. IST (Indian Stretch Time) strikes again. I have to say, they had excellent music playing during the wait time: Donny Hathaway, Marvin Gay, Etta James... very pleasantly surprised.
Priyas Abhinav, an "urban geographer" and "city spinner" was next... His first slide said "If you know where you want to go, we'll be sure you never get there", which looked interesting. Unfortunately that was the highlight of his um... ah.. speech. (If you were there, you know what I mean.) He presented a video of himself wearing some f*ked up shoes that blink when you're in a place the shoes have never been before (WTF?), then finished.
Osama Manzur wants to change the world as CEO of Digital Empowerment Foundation. Reach the people in rural communities in ICT. Okay, this was definitely worth my time. Osama brought up specific examples of how bridging the gap on the digital divide makes sense for literally half of humanity. I'm with you, girlfriend. Let's talk. Unfortunately, I had already given away all of my business cards, and this guy was the only one who was business card worthy, but I got his.
After that, I was bored. They played a bunch of videos from past Teds, including Pranav Mishra's presentation of Sixth Sense (I couldn't tell if there was a commercially available product yet, though). Then Atul Chitnis was introduced. Now, I was told that this was going to be good and I had looked forward to it, but it was clear that he missed the "good old days" of bulletin boards and forums. Sad really. He felt that the new, cool kids on the block like Facebook, Twitter and the rest of the social media were worthless and that there were no conversations of value was being done because most of them were populated by "marketeers".
Excuse me. I so wanted to retort, but I promised people I'd behave. While I realize the dude is very well respected for his work in Open Source, he needs to leave my shit alone. Social media is here to stay and it works as people want it to... today. This isn't the 80's anymore. I had a bulletin board back then, too. Either you learn the new shit or get out of the way.
By this time, not only was I bored but I wanted my hour back. (What happened to presentations only being 18 minutes long?) We got tea, then left. Next month, we'll be presenting at the National Seminar on Open Source Opportunities in Entrepreneurship. I'll be talking about how to start up a startup. We'll see what people think of it...
Today, I attended TEDx Gurgaon.
I walked up to "Registeration" and told them it was misspelled. The women just smiled at me, never intending to fix it.
Attendance was about 100 or so people, more than Barcamp last year... The first announcement was that "hopefully more people will arrive before lunch."
The first presentation was a video of Chris Anderson discussing why TED was formed and why he was excited to be a part of it, followed by a folk dance performance, Kishore, CEO of Linkaxis and considered one of the forefathers of the Open Source movement in India, presented the first talk about photography. As a self-professed "geek", his talk came from the view point of technology, not art. I didn't agree with many of the things he said, because as an artist, I think of photography as a raw material, much like paint. One interesting point that he mentioned (and something I would have liked him to expand upon) was that more cameras are sold by cell phone manufacturers than any camera company. That got me thinking about how competition is becoming disruptive. Your competitor tomorrow most likely won't be coming from within your industry. Another example is the music industry - who would have thought that a computer manufacturer (apple) would dramatically change the distribution channel and grow what was considered to be a dying industry, which, admittedly had an archaic business model that had to be forced to change. Something the newspaper industry still has to learn.
I'm working with a print publication in the States that wants to merge an online blog with the online version of their magazine. I'm thinking that this is a good opportunity to build my vision for Journalism 2.0. This requires the integration of all the aspects of internet technology to build an interactive site that enables readers to not only experience the news through multiple media types (read/watch/listen), but also share their own content, comment, forward, and expand. The newspaper industry needs to figure out a way to monetize this in order to pay for their content development (which goes back to a previous post about startups). Banner advertising is cheap. Really cheap. And you need to have enough eyeballs to generate a decent cost per thousand impressions (CPM). How do you package that and sell enough ads as well? Niche markets (like the readers of this magazine) can ask for a higher CPM due to its demographic, but it still won't be enough... How else can we monetize?
Microsite sponsorships can be one way. Either a topic, stream, or maybe even a particular writer. Online events with live streaming could be another. Downloadable deliverables could also be monetized. I'm struggling with what to do to make more revenue... I'm thinking subscriptions for archives and additional content (like special reports), and access to other services... anyway...
A 15-minute break was announced, which became more than 45 minutes. IST (Indian Stretch Time) strikes again. I have to say, they had excellent music playing during the wait time: Donny Hathaway, Marvin Gay, Etta James... very pleasantly surprised.
Priyas Abhinav, an "urban geographer" and "city spinner" was next... His first slide said "If you know where you want to go, we'll be sure you never get there", which looked interesting. Unfortunately that was the highlight of his um... ah.. speech. (If you were there, you know what I mean.) He presented a video of himself wearing some f*ked up shoes that blink when you're in a place the shoes have never been before (WTF?), then finished.
Osama Manzur wants to change the world as CEO of Digital Empowerment Foundation. Reach the people in rural communities in ICT. Okay, this was definitely worth my time. Osama brought up specific examples of how bridging the gap on the digital divide makes sense for literally half of humanity. I'm with you, girlfriend. Let's talk. Unfortunately, I had already given away all of my business cards, and this guy was the only one who was business card worthy, but I got his.
After that, I was bored. They played a bunch of videos from past Teds, including Pranav Mishra's presentation of Sixth Sense (I couldn't tell if there was a commercially available product yet, though). Then Atul Chitnis was introduced. Now, I was told that this was going to be good and I had looked forward to it, but it was clear that he missed the "good old days" of bulletin boards and forums. Sad really. He felt that the new, cool kids on the block like Facebook, Twitter and the rest of the social media were worthless and that there were no conversations of value was being done because most of them were populated by "marketeers".
Excuse me. I so wanted to retort, but I promised people I'd behave. While I realize the dude is very well respected for his work in Open Source, he needs to leave my shit alone. Social media is here to stay and it works as people want it to... today. This isn't the 80's anymore. I had a bulletin board back then, too. Either you learn the new shit or get out of the way.
By this time, not only was I bored but I wanted my hour back. (What happened to presentations only being 18 minutes long?) We got tea, then left. Next month, we'll be presenting at the National Seminar on Open Source Opportunities in Entrepreneurship. I'll be talking about how to start up a startup. We'll see what people think of it...
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Screw the Queue
A few months back, I broke my shoulder in an accident on a train heading toward Rishikesh. I've been seeing a doctor at Sitaram Bhartia Clinic every few days for physical therapy and the like.
One my biggest pet peeves here in this country is personal space. As an American, I feel VERY uncomfortable if a person comes within three feet of my body. It's just the way Americans are. You can always spot the Yanks at international conferences because they'll be the ones with their backs up against the walls from stepping backward away from people they perceive as being too close to them. Funny really...
When I stand in a line, I leave enough space between me and the person in front of me for my personal comfort. I can feel the breath of the person standing behind me. People don't actually line up, it's more of a mob of people around the window all shouting for attention. The queue is merely a suggestion. Women typically don't wait in line and just simply walk right up to the front and interrupt whatever is going on. This happened while I was paying my bill at the clinic.
Me: "Hi, I'd like to pay my bill?"
Customer Rep: Certainly, Madam." We exchanged information and he began entering the information into the computer. An older lady approached the desk and started asking him questions, while he was processing my payment.
Me: "Do you mind? He's working with me right now."
Auntie: "I'm just asking him a question." And then she continued to talk with him.
Me: "I DO mind. Wait your turn."
Auntie: "Who do you think you are?"
Me: Who do you think YOU are?"
Auntie: "I'm an Indian."
Me: "Congratulations. You want fries with that? I was STILL here first. Wait your turn."
Auntie: "My mother in law is having x-rays..."
Me: "I don't care. You can still wait your god damned turn."
At this point, everyone else in the building had arrived at the front desk to watch this including a few of the doctors.
Auntie: "You think you can talk to me like that? Shit! Shit! Go back to your own country."
Me: "This is my country. I live here. I pay taxes. I have every right to pay my bill without your interruptions. Wait your fucking turn."
Everyone's eyes were on me now. The pain I was experiencing made me more susceptible to any additional discomfort from dealing with her crap. I had no patience with her and wasn't going to let her force her way in front of me. Sure, it was a small thing, but this was just the last straw. She shut up and waited.
The Customer Service rep was clearly uncomfortable, but he hurried up with the bill and processed my payment quickly and we left. I can imagine the conversation that followed.
Look. I'm in India because of what it does right and it does a lot of things right. The bullshit I vent about on this blog are not exclusively Indian nor an attack on their culture - just look at the nightmare we call the Department of Motor Vehicles or the Unemployment Office in the States. I'm just as much of a bitch at home as I am here. I stick up for my rights, I do my best to ensure that I'm not cheated, and I demand that people I'm working with, be them doctors, accountants, or my coworkers try to respect my time just as much as I try to respect theirs (that means not being late for meetings or appointments). Cultural issues ARE difficult. My language, the tone of my voice, the way I speak, even my body language can seem like an attack to many people here and makes them defensive. I don't mean to come off like that. Even people in my own country call me intimidating (including my 6'6", 250 lb. ex-business partner). I am direct to a fault. It's something I need to work on, but the truth is, there are a lot of people, both back home and here, that value my honesty and directness. They are fiercely loyal to me (and me to them) and everyone else who wants to just sit back for an hour sipping tea and chatting before getting to the point, can bite me.
My method for streamlining my personal waiting in a queue process is simple. People trying to cut in line here get body blocked first. Then a comment, like, "I'm next," in a very firm voice accompanied by what has come to be known as the "Heydecker Death Glare". :-) This works remarkably well in train stations. I actually wait in the lines, instead of being pushed ahead because I'm a foreigner. I don't see myself that way. I'm not a rich tourist and I don't deserve special attention just because of the color of my skin. I do, however, expect the country I'm living in to understand that I'm not from this culture. I may make mistakes, but miscommunication works both ways. A "yes" most of the time doesn't really mean yes here, because confrontation is not socially acceptable. Demanding a commitment on, say a delivery or a repair, should be honored and most times, it's not. I think these things are unreasonable and should be in any culture.
Lately I've been questioning whether my personality is simply unsuitable for India. I'm wondering if I should just pack it all in and head elsewhere, where people will understand or accept me better. The issue, though, is that in some of the companies I've worked at here in India, the bosses that have given me a free hand to make change received huge benefits from my "different" perspective. Other bosses, that have wanted me to fit in to the Indian culture have had a much poorer experience with me. My fierce determination to do the best work possible in the most efficient manner and at the lowest possible cost is diametrically opposed to my personal experience dealing with the bureaucratic minutiae, backtracking and passive aggression I experience in Indian companies from those who feel threatened or disrespected by me.
And this respect thing is a BIG deal here. Layers of management don't mingle. Your boss is Mr. Somebody, not Bob. You use a more formal, subservient Hindi when talking to him (and it's 99.9% a him, BTW - I'm typically the only woman in an executive level or leading a group). American's don't play this game. Not at all. In fact, I'll say "Sir" to my driver, who gets a big kick out of it, just because to him, it's so wrong for me to do so.
I'm heading to Barcelona tomorrow, another culture with it's own idiosyncracies. At least I'll just a visitor there...
Onward...
-- Jeanne
One my biggest pet peeves here in this country is personal space. As an American, I feel VERY uncomfortable if a person comes within three feet of my body. It's just the way Americans are. You can always spot the Yanks at international conferences because they'll be the ones with their backs up against the walls from stepping backward away from people they perceive as being too close to them. Funny really...
When I stand in a line, I leave enough space between me and the person in front of me for my personal comfort. I can feel the breath of the person standing behind me. People don't actually line up, it's more of a mob of people around the window all shouting for attention. The queue is merely a suggestion. Women typically don't wait in line and just simply walk right up to the front and interrupt whatever is going on. This happened while I was paying my bill at the clinic.
Me: "Hi, I'd like to pay my bill?"
Customer Rep: Certainly, Madam." We exchanged information and he began entering the information into the computer. An older lady approached the desk and started asking him questions, while he was processing my payment.
Me: "Do you mind? He's working with me right now."
Auntie: "I'm just asking him a question." And then she continued to talk with him.
Me: "I DO mind. Wait your turn."
Auntie: "Who do you think you are?"
Me: Who do you think YOU are?"
Auntie: "I'm an Indian."
Me: "Congratulations. You want fries with that? I was STILL here first. Wait your turn."
Auntie: "My mother in law is having x-rays..."
Me: "I don't care. You can still wait your god damned turn."
At this point, everyone else in the building had arrived at the front desk to watch this including a few of the doctors.
Auntie: "You think you can talk to me like that? Shit! Shit! Go back to your own country."
Me: "This is my country. I live here. I pay taxes. I have every right to pay my bill without your interruptions. Wait your fucking turn."
Everyone's eyes were on me now. The pain I was experiencing made me more susceptible to any additional discomfort from dealing with her crap. I had no patience with her and wasn't going to let her force her way in front of me. Sure, it was a small thing, but this was just the last straw. She shut up and waited.
The Customer Service rep was clearly uncomfortable, but he hurried up with the bill and processed my payment quickly and we left. I can imagine the conversation that followed.
Look. I'm in India because of what it does right and it does a lot of things right. The bullshit I vent about on this blog are not exclusively Indian nor an attack on their culture - just look at the nightmare we call the Department of Motor Vehicles or the Unemployment Office in the States. I'm just as much of a bitch at home as I am here. I stick up for my rights, I do my best to ensure that I'm not cheated, and I demand that people I'm working with, be them doctors, accountants, or my coworkers try to respect my time just as much as I try to respect theirs (that means not being late for meetings or appointments). Cultural issues ARE difficult. My language, the tone of my voice, the way I speak, even my body language can seem like an attack to many people here and makes them defensive. I don't mean to come off like that. Even people in my own country call me intimidating (including my 6'6", 250 lb. ex-business partner). I am direct to a fault. It's something I need to work on, but the truth is, there are a lot of people, both back home and here, that value my honesty and directness. They are fiercely loyal to me (and me to them) and everyone else who wants to just sit back for an hour sipping tea and chatting before getting to the point, can bite me.
My method for streamlining my personal waiting in a queue process is simple. People trying to cut in line here get body blocked first. Then a comment, like, "I'm next," in a very firm voice accompanied by what has come to be known as the "Heydecker Death Glare". :-) This works remarkably well in train stations. I actually wait in the lines, instead of being pushed ahead because I'm a foreigner. I don't see myself that way. I'm not a rich tourist and I don't deserve special attention just because of the color of my skin. I do, however, expect the country I'm living in to understand that I'm not from this culture. I may make mistakes, but miscommunication works both ways. A "yes" most of the time doesn't really mean yes here, because confrontation is not socially acceptable. Demanding a commitment on, say a delivery or a repair, should be honored and most times, it's not. I think these things are unreasonable and should be in any culture.
Lately I've been questioning whether my personality is simply unsuitable for India. I'm wondering if I should just pack it all in and head elsewhere, where people will understand or accept me better. The issue, though, is that in some of the companies I've worked at here in India, the bosses that have given me a free hand to make change received huge benefits from my "different" perspective. Other bosses, that have wanted me to fit in to the Indian culture have had a much poorer experience with me. My fierce determination to do the best work possible in the most efficient manner and at the lowest possible cost is diametrically opposed to my personal experience dealing with the bureaucratic minutiae, backtracking and passive aggression I experience in Indian companies from those who feel threatened or disrespected by me.
And this respect thing is a BIG deal here. Layers of management don't mingle. Your boss is Mr. Somebody, not Bob. You use a more formal, subservient Hindi when talking to him (and it's 99.9% a him, BTW - I'm typically the only woman in an executive level or leading a group). American's don't play this game. Not at all. In fact, I'll say "Sir" to my driver, who gets a big kick out of it, just because to him, it's so wrong for me to do so.
I'm heading to Barcelona tomorrow, another culture with it's own idiosyncracies. At least I'll just a visitor there...
Onward...
-- Jeanne
Monday, February 8, 2010
Don't Drink and Ask for a Recommendation on Linkedin
I got an email the other day from Moez, some random person on Linkedin, asking for a recommendation. I don't know this person. Never met him.
Linkedin isn't Orkut. It's for professional networking. It's for adults who want to enrich and further their careers, build their networks, etc. I was really pissed off that some idiot wanted me to use my reputation to further himself without understanding what he was asking from me. When someone says to me, "I recommend this person", I take into accountwhat I know about the person who I'm speaking to. Are they professional? Am I impressed with the quality of their work? Would this person they're recommending be an asset to my team?
When I recommend someone, I do it because I have experience with them. I know their capabilities. If I say they're a star, I stake my reputation on it. Clearly this person has no understanding of how this works. I'm questioning whether he even understands English...
Here's a screen shot of his linkedin page. He actually posted it.
Linkedin isn't Orkut. It's for professional networking. It's for adults who want to enrich and further their careers, build their networks, etc. I was really pissed off that some idiot wanted me to use my reputation to further himself without understanding what he was asking from me. When someone says to me, "I recommend this person", I take into accountwhat I know about the person who I'm speaking to. Are they professional? Am I impressed with the quality of their work? Would this person they're recommending be an asset to my team?
When I recommend someone, I do it because I have experience with them. I know their capabilities. If I say they're a star, I stake my reputation on it. Clearly this person has no understanding of how this works. I'm questioning whether he even understands English...
Here's a screen shot of his linkedin page. He actually posted it.
Enjoy.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Heading to Mobile World Congress in Barcelona
Two weeks from now, I will be heading to Barcelona for Mobile World Congress, the biggest GSM conference in the world. VNL and Shyam, two of my companies, will be exhibiting across the aisle from each other in Hall 2, so I'll be supervising the building of TWO different booths this year. Exciting? Yes, but also a TON of work. The space is challenging - I'm dealing with three large columns that restricted our options on layout, but we came up with a set of matching designs using the same materials to illustrate the connection between the two companies. I can't wait to share the photos.
VNL will be continuing to demonstrate its village deployment solution, a small, easy-to-assemble solar powered base station that can be transported to any corner of the planet. Shyam Telecom will be introducing a bunch of new products that I'm really excited about.
VNL is also up for two awards - Green Telecom and Technology Innovation. The second day of the show will feature the announcements on these... I'm hoping we win this year. I'd like to see Rajiv make his way to the podium and thank a room full of industry leaders for one or both of the awards!
I'm also looking forward to visiting Spain and eating lots of interesting foods and drinking lovely wines... meeting people from all over the world... meeting up with staff that work on other continents... good times.
See you in Barcelona. :-)
VNL will be continuing to demonstrate its village deployment solution, a small, easy-to-assemble solar powered base station that can be transported to any corner of the planet. Shyam Telecom will be introducing a bunch of new products that I'm really excited about.
VNL is also up for two awards - Green Telecom and Technology Innovation. The second day of the show will feature the announcements on these... I'm hoping we win this year. I'd like to see Rajiv make his way to the podium and thank a room full of industry leaders for one or both of the awards!
I'm also looking forward to visiting Spain and eating lots of interesting foods and drinking lovely wines... meeting people from all over the world... meeting up with staff that work on other continents... good times.
See you in Barcelona. :-)
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
How NOT to Use Linkedin for Marketing
Today, I received this lovely email from a gent in Bangalore who wanted to sell me something:
On 01/05/10 11:19 PM, CHAKRAVARTHI BEZAWADA B tech(biotech),MBA(IB) wrote:
--------------------
dear sir
i am chakravrthi from bangalore, India .i have done engineering and masters in business administration.i have started an add agency named as laser ads .which is very innovative and effective .i am an young entrepreneur .presently we are having few young dynamic brains for this project.we are providing services at low cost and more effective manner.we are cost effective because we are expecting very few renumeration.we are working for building of strong brand.
we offer
company brand recall
product information
our ways of promotion
paper cups
water cans
green ads
sand ads
these are the some vehicles of our ad promotions.all our ads are eco friendly and effective.as our name laser our ads are more penetrative in nature.as we are young and dynamic we are commited to work hard for building trust on brand.as we are young please give us an opportunity so that we will
provide best service.
thanking you
LASER ADS
B.C.VARTHI
My response to this gentleman:
Are you for real? First, I'm not a sir as you can plainly see in my avatar. Second, my first language is English and what you wrote is barely English. If you want to sell something to me, figure out who I am, and present yourself in as professional a manner as possible. Why would I expect you to provide me with quality products when your email is so very poorly written? Why would I expect you to have any attention to detail with my order?
Don't contact me again. In marketing, you have 30 seconds maximum to make me interested. Instead, I am repulsed. There are so many things wrong here, I can't even begin to describe the issues...
Good luck.
Here on my blog, I can get into more detail. First, I don't know this person at all. He's not connected to me except through some random group I'm connected to on Linkedin. What I found so appalling was the obvious mass emailing that the person did without any regard to netiquette. (I suspect it was one of the green group because he does mention "eco-friendly"...)
1. Why would I care what his educational background was?
2. He says his "add agency" (sic) is innovative and effective. How? Why should I believe him?
3. What the hell does this mean? "
4. And what the hell are these?
Serious issue? No contact information in the email. No web site. Let me say that again - NO WEB SITE. And that only took me a minute. Think about how much more appalling it would be if I really wanted to comment on the grammar and punctuation! :-)
On 01/05/10 11:19 PM, CHAKRAVARTHI BEZAWADA B tech(biotech),MBA(IB) wrote:
--------------------
dear sir
i am chakravrthi from bangalore, India .i have done engineering and masters in business administration.i have started an add agency named as laser ads .which is very innovative and effective .i am an young entrepreneur .presently we are having few young dynamic brains for this project.we are providing services at low cost and more effective manner.we are cost effective because we are expecting very few renumeration.we are working for building of strong brand.
we offer
company brand recall
product information
our ways of promotion
paper cups
water cans
green ads
sand ads
these are the some vehicles of our ad promotions.all our ads are eco friendly and effective.as our name laser our ads are more penetrative in nature.as we are young and dynamic we are commited to work hard for building trust on brand.as we are young please give us an opportunity so that we will
provide best service.
thanking you
LASER ADS
B.C.VARTHI
My response to this gentleman:
Are you for real? First, I'm not a sir as you can plainly see in my avatar. Second, my first language is English and what you wrote is barely English. If you want to sell something to me, figure out who I am, and present yourself in as professional a manner as possible. Why would I expect you to provide me with quality products when your email is so very poorly written? Why would I expect you to have any attention to detail with my order?
Don't contact me again. In marketing, you have 30 seconds maximum to make me interested. Instead, I am repulsed. There are so many things wrong here, I can't even begin to describe the issues...
Good luck.
Here on my blog, I can get into more detail. First, I don't know this person at all. He's not connected to me except through some random group I'm connected to on Linkedin. What I found so appalling was the obvious mass emailing that the person did without any regard to netiquette. (I suspect it was one of the green group because he does mention "eco-friendly"...)
1. Why would I care what his educational background was?
2. He says his "add agency" (sic) is innovative and effective. How? Why should I believe him?
3. What the hell does this mean? "
we offer
company brand recall
product information
our ways of promotion
4. And what the hell are these?
green ads
sand ads
Serious issue? No contact information in the email. No web site. Let me say that again - NO WEB SITE. And that only took me a minute. Think about how much more appalling it would be if I really wanted to comment on the grammar and punctuation! :-)
Sunday, December 6, 2009
India Telecom
India Telecom is the largest telecom conference in India held annually in New Delhi. My marketing team attended the exhibition on Day 2, expecting to see lots of innovative telecom equipment, especially considering the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference was just around the corner. Instead, we saw a lot of Chinese component manufacturers, and nothing much new from the big multinationals that did show up - there were notable non-players. We didn't see Huawei, Kathrein, Powerwave, ZTE, or LG... (if they were there, we didn't notice them.)
The three of us walked into their booth in the secondary hall (18) and was greeted by a young lady that clearly did not want to be there. I asked about their solar-powered solutions. She pointed to the left and put her hand back under her chin. I stared at her for a second and said, "Where? Who am I supposed to speak to?" With a sigh, she got up out of her chair and walked to a table of men clearly in a meeting. She interrupted them, a man excused himself and asked what I was interested in, and upon finding out I was interested in solar, he pointed to the left and said to speak to that gentlemen there. There were two exhibitor staff and one visitor having a discussion. We walked again to the left, smiled and waved at the two booth staff. One looked at me, then looked back at his colleague who was talking to the visitor.
I said, "Excuse me, I'm interested in learning more about your solar powered telecom equipment?" He shushed me and asked me to wait. "Wait?" I looked around. There must have been ten or twelve booth staff and about four visitors. I mentioned this to my staff in a loud voice, stating why should we have to wait... With a sigh, the gent listening to the other gent talk, walked us over to a solar panel and pointed at it. "This is our solution."
"Hmmm." I noticed the large metal cabinet filled with batteries. (There must have been 4 or 5 batteries per shelf; the entire cabinet was the size of a refrigerator.) I asked where the inverter was. No answer. At this point, the other gent approached and asked if he could help. He told us that they use an 80-panel array requiring 6,000 sqm to power a tower that used that sized battery bank. (Can you imagine?) He stated that they were working with Aircel and Airtel and that they had 270 sites live in Orissa and MP. (To be clear, 270 times 6,000 = 1,620,000 sqm minimum devoted to powering telecom equipment in Orissa & MP. Wouldn't that land be better used, for say... growing food in a developing country?) He wouldn't be more specific. He refused to name a price for their product then handed me a brochure that merely discussed the benefits of renewable energy solutions. No technical data, no pricing, no capabilities, no requirements. He promised to send me this information. I'm not too confident, although he was the only person at the show representing Nokia that seemed informed, professional and courteous.
Luminous Teleinfra Limited (SAR Group)
When we walked into their booth, we were pretty much mobbed by the booth staff who seemed very eager to meet us. I asked about their solar telecom solutions and they seemed to have one. They seemed to have a bit of everything, actually. There was a wind turbine, and a diesel generator as well. They seem to be more of a services company sourcing equipment and customizing the solution per site. They said their solutions started at $10K US, but they wouldn't say exactly which of their solutions that detailed (was it solar? solar/wind combo? back up generator, what?). They stated that their projects were "All over India, but mainly in Orissa and MP." Both companies mentioned these two states. Luminous stated they were working with Airtel, so it seems that Airtel is leading the solar deployments in India (at least based on what the players at India Telecom had to say). My impression of Luminous was that they had no focus based on what they had to tell me. To every question I asked, I got the same answer: "Yes, Madam." I'm not sure they understood my English. :-)
No one at Airtel could answer anything except about their consumer solutions. It appeared that they had focused on consumer services and did not expect to hear any questions as to their network infrastructure. (I hope this changes. If consumers began asking what percentage of their networks were using renewable energy and basing their buying decision on that, it could make a significant impact on the mobile operator's onus to build out responsibly.)
Vodaphone also focused on consumer products, the selling of phones and services. They also couldn't answer what percentage of their network deployment in India was powered by renewable energy, but then, their booth staff were pretty lame and uniformed even about the products that they were distributing brochures for. Asking questions from left field just gave them a dazed and bewildered look.
Ericsson had the largest presence at the show and had a little of everything in their booth. Their network rollout literature mentions nothing about renewable energy-based solutions and it seems that they are focusing on BTS swaps and site management services.
Okay, I'm just going to say it. Trade show booth programs are expensive and difficult to do well. Unfocused programs and untrained staff makes for a waste of resources - both in cash and staffing. There is nothing worse than providing a bad visitor experience, online or offline. Be easy to access, provide the information the person wants quickly, allow them to interact as they want to, and provide feedback. Send them on their way with a thank you.
Some of the things I do to make a trade show visit memorable is introduce something interesting about me as a person as well as part of the conversation. It helps to provide an interesting point about the person as well as the company. It's pretty easy for me since I'm an American living in India partially off the grid so it ties in well with what my company does, yet adds that intangible you can't get from a "booth babe". When they get an email from me, my response rate will be just that little bit higher. Remembering facts about them (written on the back of their card) written into your email helps as well. It's all about developing relationships, and trade shows are just like speed dating - you have three minutes, tops, to engage and send them away, hopefully with something nice to say about you and wanting to learn more. Once you figure out how to spend those three minutes of engagement as a company and train your staff on how to go about it, you will have a much more successful program.
The Solar Players
Nokia Siemens NetworksThe three of us walked into their booth in the secondary hall (18) and was greeted by a young lady that clearly did not want to be there. I asked about their solar-powered solutions. She pointed to the left and put her hand back under her chin. I stared at her for a second and said, "Where? Who am I supposed to speak to?" With a sigh, she got up out of her chair and walked to a table of men clearly in a meeting. She interrupted them, a man excused himself and asked what I was interested in, and upon finding out I was interested in solar, he pointed to the left and said to speak to that gentlemen there. There were two exhibitor staff and one visitor having a discussion. We walked again to the left, smiled and waved at the two booth staff. One looked at me, then looked back at his colleague who was talking to the visitor.
I said, "Excuse me, I'm interested in learning more about your solar powered telecom equipment?" He shushed me and asked me to wait. "Wait?" I looked around. There must have been ten or twelve booth staff and about four visitors. I mentioned this to my staff in a loud voice, stating why should we have to wait... With a sigh, the gent listening to the other gent talk, walked us over to a solar panel and pointed at it. "This is our solution."
"Hmmm." I noticed the large metal cabinet filled with batteries. (There must have been 4 or 5 batteries per shelf; the entire cabinet was the size of a refrigerator.) I asked where the inverter was. No answer. At this point, the other gent approached and asked if he could help. He told us that they use an 80-panel array requiring 6,000 sqm to power a tower that used that sized battery bank. (Can you imagine?) He stated that they were working with Aircel and Airtel and that they had 270 sites live in Orissa and MP. (To be clear, 270 times 6,000 = 1,620,000 sqm minimum devoted to powering telecom equipment in Orissa & MP. Wouldn't that land be better used, for say... growing food in a developing country?) He wouldn't be more specific. He refused to name a price for their product then handed me a brochure that merely discussed the benefits of renewable energy solutions. No technical data, no pricing, no capabilities, no requirements. He promised to send me this information. I'm not too confident, although he was the only person at the show representing Nokia that seemed informed, professional and courteous.
Luminous Teleinfra Limited (SAR Group)
When we walked into their booth, we were pretty much mobbed by the booth staff who seemed very eager to meet us. I asked about their solar telecom solutions and they seemed to have one. They seemed to have a bit of everything, actually. There was a wind turbine, and a diesel generator as well. They seem to be more of a services company sourcing equipment and customizing the solution per site. They said their solutions started at $10K US, but they wouldn't say exactly which of their solutions that detailed (was it solar? solar/wind combo? back up generator, what?). They stated that their projects were "All over India, but mainly in Orissa and MP." Both companies mentioned these two states. Luminous stated they were working with Airtel, so it seems that Airtel is leading the solar deployments in India (at least based on what the players at India Telecom had to say). My impression of Luminous was that they had no focus based on what they had to tell me. To every question I asked, I got the same answer: "Yes, Madam." I'm not sure they understood my English. :-)
No one at Airtel could answer anything except about their consumer solutions. It appeared that they had focused on consumer services and did not expect to hear any questions as to their network infrastructure. (I hope this changes. If consumers began asking what percentage of their networks were using renewable energy and basing their buying decision on that, it could make a significant impact on the mobile operator's onus to build out responsibly.)
Vodaphone also focused on consumer products, the selling of phones and services. They also couldn't answer what percentage of their network deployment in India was powered by renewable energy, but then, their booth staff were pretty lame and uniformed even about the products that they were distributing brochures for. Asking questions from left field just gave them a dazed and bewildered look.
Ericsson had the largest presence at the show and had a little of everything in their booth. Their network rollout literature mentions nothing about renewable energy-based solutions and it seems that they are focusing on BTS swaps and site management services.
Other Notes
I was surprised to see Motorola there. Having lived near to their Death Star headquarters in Naperville Illinois, USA, and having watched them implode upon themselves since 2002, I wasn't thinking they'd be continuing to market through trade shows. Anyway. They were presenting consumer equipment, but also had a minor play in in-building wireless solutions. They were really unfocused with WiMax products mixed in with IBWS (don't say they're the same thing - I've been assured they are not), the displays made no sense. They only had product literature for some products and not others. Ah, well. Motorola... Fair thee well...Okay, I'm just going to say it. Trade show booth programs are expensive and difficult to do well. Unfocused programs and untrained staff makes for a waste of resources - both in cash and staffing. There is nothing worse than providing a bad visitor experience, online or offline. Be easy to access, provide the information the person wants quickly, allow them to interact as they want to, and provide feedback. Send them on their way with a thank you.
Some of the things I do to make a trade show visit memorable is introduce something interesting about me as a person as well as part of the conversation. It helps to provide an interesting point about the person as well as the company. It's pretty easy for me since I'm an American living in India partially off the grid so it ties in well with what my company does, yet adds that intangible you can't get from a "booth babe". When they get an email from me, my response rate will be just that little bit higher. Remembering facts about them (written on the back of their card) written into your email helps as well. It's all about developing relationships, and trade shows are just like speed dating - you have three minutes, tops, to engage and send them away, hopefully with something nice to say about you and wanting to learn more. Once you figure out how to spend those three minutes of engagement as a company and train your staff on how to go about it, you will have a much more successful program.
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