Ouch!
I am still not exactly sure what kind of super-powers my son has. He does posses the strength to break unbreakable LEGO pieces. In my youth, I lost my first tooth by prying apart LEGO bricks with my teeth. It soon became a ritual. Every loose tooth led to LEGO munching. Still, my son does not understand how to harness this super-power. He broke into tears when he cracked the leg off of this guy.
In sales, the ultimate goal is to win the mind of the customer. Service is where a company will win the customer’s heart. With tears flowing, I went online to find LEGO Customer Service. A quick form entry and some checking to see which set our broken train conductor came from was all that was needed. A quick electronic response (less than 5 minutes) let me know that a replacement piece was on its way. Free of change and no questions asked. In 2 weeks, the package arrived. Here is where I was really impressed with LEGO Customer Service.
First, the letter was personal. An agent took the time to write a real personal letter to my son.
Second, LEGO apologized to one of their pieces breaking during play. Not every company that will say truly say sorry. Only the great ones do.
Third, the piece (from a now discontinued set) was good as new and free as promised.
I immediately wrote a note to thank LEGO and had my son add his own thanks in crayon. I have had LEGO since I was 5 and my son has loads of DUPLO LEGO sets. He plays with them near daily. Today, I received another letter from LEGO thanking my son for his artwork. LEGO has great products. LEGO’s great service makes them a great company.
Thanks LEGO.
The Blue Angels are back in Seattle for Seafair. With a few days off, I took the kids down to see them. It was quite a thrill. Have a great Seafair and weekend!
Came across this and found it interesting. Happy Summer.
The Double Think:The Value of Stories
Came across this on Inc. and it is worth the 20 minutes.
Check: Fred Wilson: 10 Ways to Be Your Own Boss
Long time, no-post. Been busy in the good way. A trend over the past few years is talk of commoditization of products, features and generally everything. Is the current market seems to be headed towards rampant commoditization? Check these two excellent articles that say this is not true.
MIT Review: The Myth of Commoditization
WSJ: Raise Your Prices!
Happy reading.
Nice read on espresso in the Atlantic. Better grind, better espresso. Been saying it for years. Check it out. Happy Weekend!
The Atlantic: A Winning Formula for Traditional Espresso
If there is one e-commerce rumor that never seems to die, it is Amazon buying Netflix. I just do not see it happening, yet shares jumped again on the persistent rumors.
From my July 2009 post:
First, a deal with Netflix has been speculated for many years. The overlaps are obvious. I am sure the smart people at Amazon have investigated Netflix and determined if the addition would be a fit. To be sure, there were some synergies a few years ago. Netflix had a solid customer base and fulfillment. The advent of digital video and applications like Amazon Unbox and iTunes have shown that the digital video is for real. Netflix is nice, but likely not a growth segment. Today, Amazon would have interest in the fulfillment but knows the Netflix customer base is likely to get smaller not bigger. Plus the fulfillment model is great for envelopes not for packages.
In the nearly last 12 months, Netflix has done very well in the market by more than doubling in share price. I still hold the opinion that window of opportunities for synergies is past. Amazon won’t do this deal.
Business Insider: Netflix Downgraded To SELL: Amazon Deal Won’t Happen, Says UBS
Disclosure: The wife is employed by Amazon and does not read my blog. These opinions are mine alone.
Interesting read in the latest Forbes on Wal-Mart and Patagonia’s efforts on sustainability. Patagonia pioneered and is helping Wal-Mart. Funny, that did not make it in to the most recent Patagonia catalog that hit my mailbox. Glad to see that sustainability is gaining mainstream traction.
Forbes: Wal-Mart, Patagonia Team To Green Business
The 4 P’s (Product, Price, Place and Promotion) are the standard Marketing Mix. This is not just “marketing fluff” the P’s are where the rubber meets the road in CRM, namely quote generation. The 5th P (Problems) still exist with quote generation today.
Product and pricing data are integrated with ERP systems. Promotions live with CRM and for the enterprise are often customer specific. Place in the CRM parlance is the here and now. Sales is looking to book revenue today. The revenue pipeline needs to flow so that the company can grow. It is amazing to me that 5th P (problems) still exist with product and pricing. These problems are identical to problems faced by CRM over a decade ago. Customer-specific pricing is everywhere and is not going away, yet the complexities of this pricing makes quote generation in CRMs nearly impossible. Too many companies have this problem and no one really solves it. Why? Likely the P (price) to fix the P (problem) is way to high and no P (product) or P (promotion) have incentives to fix it in the P (place).
