Can you spot the gorilla?

NPR’s article, Why Even Radiologists Can Miss A Gorilla Hiding In Plain Sight discusses the excellent work by Harvard Medical School attention researchers Trafton Drew and Jeremy Wolfe; but perhaps there is a broader message here.

Focusing on "process and procedure" can make us miss important things. Adopting practices to break routines helps you spot the gorilla in the room. Try it!

Visualizing Incongruity

Can you guess what is missing from this webinar email promoting the value of Google+ over Facebook for small businesses? Hint: look at the row of social sharing icons above the headline.

First impressions are important. Sure, Brad has little control over Verizon's choice of social sharing links promoting his webinar, but that makes it no less embarrassing. I did not sign up for his webinar– congruity matters.

Getting Pissed Off Is Not A Plan. Seize The Moment.

A few weeks ago, I was talking with a colleague, Ramsey Poston, who was fortunate to be mentored by Jody Powell, Press Secretary to President Carter. He said Jody had 10 great sayings, but his favorite had become a way of life for him.  "Being pissed off is not a strategy. Help clients get from anger to something more productive."   Ramsey actually improved on Jody's message, simplifying it even more "Getting pissed off is not a plan".  This is now one of my favorite mantras, and one I will pass on to my friends and business associates, when they lose focus on what is important in life, and are stuck in the moment.

I was fortunate to have been adopted/mentored by Mrs. Rosa Parks.  The biggest lesson she taught me was to “seize the moment”.   Utilize every breathing moment you have, in carrying out your message and mission in life.  Although Mrs. Parks and Jody Powell's lessons are seemingly different, they are both remarkably simple.

Achieving your goals, whether personal -- or with your brand -- is easy if you keep these simple words, in your mind’s eye, always:  Getting pissed off is not a plan.  Seize the moment.

Why Bad Reviews Are Good For Business

I run several business. One is a restaurant. In the past year, we have received some bad reviews on the internet. While many of them are from vendetta driven fired employees, when the bad reviews are real reviews, meaning from genuine customers, I am actually quite happy.

Why would getting a one, two or three star review make me happy? Because knowing enables change. So many times in life you think things are great, because you choose not to look at them -- or you are too busy to see them. Unhappy clients force you to re-evaluate who you are, where you are going, and who you want to become! I embrace every bad review as good. That's the key to positive evolution. Our restaurant business has improved because we listened and acted on the bad reviews. We have even gone so far to ask people who have given us bad reviews for clarification and suggestions on how to make things better. Their feedback has been fabulous and productive.

So embrace bad reviews, learn from them, and utilize them to your advantage!

In Memory of Steve Jobs

Here I sit in front of my iMac, with my wireless keyboard and trackpad. Also in front of me are my iPhone, iPad, Magic Mouse and my MacBook Pro. In the living room is the AirPort Extreme, in the kitchen the AirPort Express to stream music. My wife has her MacBook Pro, her white iPhone, and her postage stamp-sized iPod. Since we started buying computers, our household has owned at least 6 Apple computers. In my basement is a Mac Classic.

I use built-in iChat screen sharing to troubleshoot other people’s computers on a daily basis. I use built-in videoconferencing to talk to my son while I am traveling (and I have FaceTimed with my wife, her dad, my brother and my co-workers, all sporting iPhones). We capture countless pictures and videos on our phones, that we will all have to share from now on.

My 7 year old son installs more apps on my phone and iPad than I do.

I have used AppleScript to automate many of the tedious repetitive things I have to do at my job, so that I can push one button or issue one voice command and my computer will do for me what it used to take me many steps to do. I use these a hundred times a day, no exaggeration.

I’m not one to watch a movie more than once… it needs to be great for me to want to watch it again. We have a half a dozen Pixar DVDs that we have each watched many times over.

It is truly difficult to understate the impact Steve Jobs has had on my life.

Steve, where the rest of your industry saw things as “good enough”, you had the awareness to know better, the brilliance to imagine how things could be, and the drive to make it so. May we all learn that lesson.

Image credit: Jonathan Mak, Hong Kong's Polytechnic University School of Design

The Secret Motive Behind Proprietary CMS Packages

My professional purpose is to help our clients make money. In this vein, PIR leverages technology to improve businesses, not to take advantage of them.

Agencies that deploy proprietary CMS packages for their clients have all the power in the relationship -- that's why they push them. It's their security blanket; your bottom line is not their concern.

Agencies that deploy open source CMS packages for their clients are committed to empowering their client rather than ensuring on-going dependence on them.

Beware of an agency that only offers their own proprietary CMS packages, rather than an economical, and cyber safe open source CMS package for three big reasons:

1. You have no power when negotiating fees, timelines or deliverables.
   
   
2. If you decide your agency is not delivering what you need and you want to part ways, you are at their mercy because proprietary systems means there are no outside developers you can ask to take over their tasks. You likely have to rebuild your site from scratch, all over again.
   
   
3. Technological innovation is not a nice to have for your company — it is a need to have. Companies like Polaroid, Blockbuster, Palm — and soon RIM— failed because they did not keep up with technology trends, why not learn from their mistakes?
   
   Proprietary CMS systems means future functionality and technology upgrades will slow to a crawl. No agency can keep up with the rapid feature development occurring in these massive open source initiatives. For this reason you should be cautious when considering proprietary CMS packages.
   
   

While there may be many talented and well-intentioned developers within an agency that know better,  there is likely a money guy behind the scenes insisting that they only offer their own proprietary system as a solution.

However, if your agency is a true-blue partner, and comes to you and says: “We believe you should drive your business toward open-source CMS systems because...” Listen to them — and stay with them. They have your best interests at heart, and truly care about your profitability.

Social Couponing - When Is It A Good Idea?

The social coupon craze has hit a fever pitch with companies like Google, Yelp! The Washington Post -- and every Tom, Dick and Harry getting in on it. Although the back end is expensive to build, once launched it is a pure profit phenom. Jumping on the bandwagon as a business is easy BUT, is is good for your business? 

Though it appears on the surface that these offers are FREE for your business because there is not an upfront cash outlay don't be fooled. It's NOT free.  

So, when should you consider making an offer?

When you need a loan:

If you are in need of a quick infusion of cash, you might consider running a deal of the day. You get the cash up front, which is helpful when you need it. However, your business will pay later in the form of service to your customers and product costs (we had a client that sold over 6,000 meals). Be aware you can actually lose money if your deal isn't priced to incorporate the 50% that goes to Groupon, LivingSocial or other coupon vendors... AND your 50% discount offer on top of that.  

When you want to increase your customer base

Though it is not easy to do, it is possible to increase your customer base with social "couponing". In order to increase your customer base, you need to custom tailor your coupon/promotion in such a way that it will interest potential new customers more than the general social coupon audience that is just looking for a one-time deal.

Consider your deal carefully before you create it:
1. Is your deal too appealing to bargain hunters? 
2. Does your deal cater to people who really “get”your business?
3. Does you promotion lend itself to potential customers coming back?  

If your goal is to create the most appealing offer to interest bargain hunters, then consider your deal a high interest loan.   

If your offer is crafted with options 2 or 3 in mind, then you stand a chance of growing your customer base. 

Our advice is to think about your pricing strategy -- before embarking on any coupon  promotion.

When you want to test a new product or service

Given that these services tap into large audiences with broad appeal you might consider trying out a new offering on them (think, affordable focus group). Some of these coupon services offer feedback mechanisms for the merchant so they can understand how the purchaser perceived their experience. This information can be enormously helpful in tailoring your product or service for the future. 

Final thoughts you should consider before you jump in
Will making an offer taint your current customers? Some of your customers might decide not come back until you run another special, which could melt away your loyal bread and butter clients — so, be prepared.

The key to running successful daily deal promotions is in the preparation -- before you run your social couponing deal. Goodluck!

Building Interdisciplinary Teams

No one department can make an organization successful. It is the sum of the parts that ensures success. Interdisciplinary teams work for companies of all sizes, especially global ones, and we recommend cross-functional and cross-cultural teams to: (1) review all strategies; (2) take ownership in all activities; and (3) define and guide messaging.

The benefits off cross-functional organizations are:

1. Reduce redundancy of efforts;
2. Lowers operating costs;
3. Streamlines processes;
   
4. Increases value in the eyes of customers;
5. Cross-education leads to higher productivity;
6. Empowers teams to think outside their immediate expertise, which adds to innovative ideas
7. Provides transparency and accountability
8. Forces delivery on commitments (peer pressure).

Building interdisciplinary Teams is a game changer, especially in this economy. Talent wins games, but teamwork, focus, passion and intelligence wins championships.

Manipulation or Win-Win?

I just finished reading Kristina Bjoran's Psychological Manipulation in eCommerce Design, and I do not share her conclusions. She starts out:

“Web designers and architects use an array of psychological tricks to manipulate users into specific behaviors. What can be learned from these tricks? And, more importantly, is it ethical?”

and then builds on this with examples; she ascribes pejoratives to each:

• Free shipping on orders of $25 or more— “users are tricked into spending more”
• Receipts e-mailed two days after purchase– “when negative feedback is necessary, it’s best (for the retailer) to postpone that feedback as long as possible. It’s a smart move, but also one that feels a bit, well, cunning.”
• Limited time offers— “undoubtedly manipulative.”

And she ended with: “how do the craftsmen and women of user experience feel about such manipulation/design?”

Well, first we'd have to agree that it was indeed manipulation (manipulation not as in “I manipulated my software settings”— but as a judgment of unethical behavior, as in “I manipulated that sucker and he bought my snake oil”).

What is the litmus test of manipulation? What of the ethics of these?...

• using a New York Times-ish design on your blog because you want to be taken seriously
• giving your art to museums. Now you can say your art is in museums!
• dressing well
• coloring your hair/nails
• wearing makeup, concealer, etc.
• smiling when another facial expression might better reveal your thoughts

Each of these could be seen as manipulative— they all seek to influence opinion at a minimum, maybe even influence the actions of others. They could also be seen as putting-your-best-foot-forward, which should be topmost on everyone's personal priority list. So which is it?

I recently took advantage of Amazon's free shipping of orders of $25 or more. My immediate need was one item; shipping would have added 50% to the purchase. So I looked in my Amazon wish list (thank you Amazon for a wish list!) and saw two more items that I had been meaning to get but were of a lower priority. Added to my purchase; shipping waived! I had been planning on buying them all along and delayed buying them until I had enough items for free shipping. Kristina's hypothesis depends on the premise that the additional items purchased were not items that I ever really wanted, and that a free shipping option hastened my purchasing decisions rather than postponed them. To boot, one of the lower priority items was an educational book for me; hard to qualify that scenario as unethical given that my mind will be enriched from my purchase!

One could suspect that Amazon intended to “manipulate” me, but in and of itself, free shipping on orders over $25 is not unquestionably and undoubtedly “manipulation”. I am reminded of a quote from American artist Fairfield Porter, from a debate about whether it is arrogant to sign your paintings:

“If you are arrogant and you sign your paintings, then it is arrogant to sign your paintings and if you are not arrogant and you sign your paintings, then it is not arrogant to sign your paintings.”

“Manipulation” is a matter of intent. Did Amazon manipulate me, or did they create a win-win scenario by allowing me to gang my purchases together to save $4 shipping per item? Whether I perceive that scenario as manipulative or beneficial says more about me than them.

Ask for what you want; NOT what you think you can get.

It takes courage to ask... for anything. 

With that in mind I'd like to make this suggestion, when you are considering asking for anything — in your job, or your personal life — Ask for what you want; NOT what you think you can get.

You never know what the recipient of the request is thinking so it is in your best interest to ask for exactly what you want up front... even if it seems out of the realm of possibility. When you ask for what you want you set the stage for clear negotiations, letting everyone know exactly what your expectations are up front.

When you ask for what you think you can get, you sell yourself short — bargaining with an imaginary opponent and ultimately not satisfying your original intention.

Nobody wants to go to the well twice — give the recipient of the ask the opportunity to evaluate what you really want and you may be surprised by the result.