Is there such thing as good customer service anymore?

Seriously. No matter where I’m shopping, eating, or out and about, I am always having to deal with terrible customer service. There’s the retail employee who is just rude and avoiding all contact. There’s the waiter/waitress who would rather stand there taking your order rolling their eyes, writing, snapping the gum, without saying a word, or the coffee house worker who hates their job so much … you get the idea.

What gets me the most is that businesses choose to keep these type of employees. Why? I’d really like to know…

Tags: bad attitude, going out of business, poor customer service

It’s been a while

Man, I am getting terrible at keeping this blog current. There has been so much going on over the past few months that I haven’t even had time to sit down for a family dinner.

Family. Dinner. Life. Success. Family.

I’ve spent many days and nights thinking about the words above. Okay, not dinner but family, life, and success. Due to all of my thinking (and stupid-crazy busy life), I’ve got some big decisions to make that will impact all three of those things in a big way. In no way, shape, or form, is it easy to juggle balance all three and win. Something is going to lose.

I’m not going to drag this post out and give you my life story over the past few months but I will say that it’s been way too crazy-busy.

I’ve got some big decisions to make…

Hosting Companies Unite to Provide Relief for Haiti

On January 12th the World was notified of an earthquake that devastated Haiti. The severity of this earthquake has not only caused mental and physical pain and suffering, there has been a critical shortage of supplies and assistance to help the Haitian people through their crisis. Numerous individuals and businesses from around the World have come together to provide assistance in any way they can and today, the company that I work for along with other hosting providers in the industry are joining these forces.

Today, the hosting community is coming together as an industry to do our part. We’ve set aside our competitiveness and joined in numbers to help in the relief effort by launching a new Web site – Hosting for Haiti (http://www.hostingforhaiti.com/).  We are grateful to be able to take part in this relief effort along side The Planet, Rackspace, GoGrid, and ServInt.

We’ve partnered with the American Red Cross to provide support, which may include mobilizing relief workers, sending relief supplies, and providing financial resources for recovery. Every dollar donated through our Hosting for Haiti site goes directly to them, an organization that can make the biggest difference in disaster relief.

We hope that you will join us by making a donation – we know that together, we can make a difference.

If you’re one of our industry partners and want to join us, contact us at info@hostingforhaiti.com about joining the cause. Please help spread the word by sharing the link and information to help provide much needed relief for those in Haiti.

You can follow the progress of these efforts on Twitter by following @hostingforhaiti http://twitter.com/hostingforhaiti (use the hash tag #hostingforhaiti).

Tags: American Red Cross, Fundraising, Haiti relief, hostingforhaiti, natural disaster

If Sales is the prime objective then why is it part of Marketing?

There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding when it comes to Sales and Marketing in business today. Sales is the end result, that’s a given and Marketing is a driver. Or is it? Some say that Sales and Marketing should feed off of each other in a never ending cycle, others say Marketing is just a tool for Sales. What about Product?

Trent Fierro, Director of Marketing at Avenda Systems says, “I’ve never worked anywhere where marketing was the primary driver. Marketing usually reported into sales, never vice versa. At Cisco the goal was to provide sales with the ammunition they needed to either start or stall a competitive opportunity, then sales had to close the deal.”

John Hibel, Director of Sales at West Interactive says, “If the goal is sales, you also need a product or service in order to achieve the goal and complete a sale. Does it then follow that product development should report to sales? The functional leaders in a business need to work together to achieve a common goal regardless of reporting structure. While there is some overlap, marketing and sales do have some distinct differences in the skillsets and priorities needed for success. You need good leadership to balance these differences– it’s easy for sales to drive marketing into a short term lead generation machine that doesn’t position the company for long term success. It’s also easy for marketing to get lost in an ivory tower of branding that does little to help sales in the short term. One of the things you’ll notice in business is there are two organizational structures: one defined by the org chart, and the other defined by how people work together to get stuff done. They rarely overlap as much as you might think.”

There is an ongoing discussion on this very topic that you can take part in and share your opinions by clicking here.

After reading many opinions and thoughts from experienced Sales and Marketing executives and others, it’s understandable why the confusions (misconceptions?) arise. In this discussion, the original question was that if Sales is the prime objective, why is it a part of Marketing, however others add the placement of Product in this mix. Can’t have Sales without the product, right?

Join the discussion.

Tags: business, Marketing, Product, Sales

PARENT – Job Description

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POSITION: Mom, Mommy, Mama, Ma, Dad, Daddy, Pa, Pop

JOB DESCRIPTION:
Long term, team players needed for challenging, permanent work in an often chaotic environment.
Candidates must possess excellent communication and organizational skills and be willing to work variable hours, which will include evenings and weekends and frequent 24 hour shifts on call.  Some overnight travel required, including trips to primitive camping sites on rainy weekends and endless sports tournaments in far away cities!
Travel expenses not reimbursed.  Extensive courier duties also required.

RESPONSIBILITIES:
The rest of your life.  Must be willing to be hated, at least temporarily until someone needs $5.00. Must be willing to bite tongue repeatedly. Also, must possess the physical stamina of a pack mule and be able to go from zero to 60 mph in three seconds flat in case, this time, the screams from the backyard are not someone just crying wolf. Must be willing to face stimulating technical challenges, such as small gadget repair, mysteriously sluggish toilets and stuck zippers. Must screen phone calls, maintain calendars and coordinate production of multiple homework projects. Must have ability to plan and organize social gatherings for clients of all ages and mental outlooks. Must be willing to be indispensable one minute, and an embarrassment the next. Must handle assembly and product safety testing of a half million cheap, plastic toys, and battery operated devices.
Must always hope for the best but be prepared for the worst. Must assume final, complete accountability for the quality of the end product. Responsibilities also include floor maintenance and janitorial work throughout the facility.

POSSIBILITY FOR ADVANCEMENT & PROMOTION:
None.
Your job is to remain in the same position for years without complaining, constantly retraining and updating your skills so that those in your charge can ultimately surpass you

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE:
None required unfortunately.
On-the-job training offered on a continually exhausting basis.

WAGES AND COMPENSATION :
You pay them! Offering frequent raises and bonuses. A balloon payment is due when they turn 18 because of the assumption that college will help them become financially independent. When you die, you give them whatever is left. The oddest thing about this reverse-salary scheme is that you actually enjoy it and wish you could only do more..

BENEFITS :
While no health or dental insurance, no pension, no tuition reimbursement, no paid holidays and no stock options are offered; this job supplies limitless opportunities for personal growth, unconditional love, and free hugs and kisses for life if you play your cards right.

Forward this on to all the PARENTS you know, in appreciation for everything they do on a daily basis letting them know they are appreciated for the fabulous job they do…or forward with love to anyone thinking of applying for the job.

FOOTNOTE: ‘THERE IS NO RETIREMENT   –  EVER!!!

Tags: Humor, Job description, parent appreciation, parenthood, planned parenthood