Of Course I'm Green. Just Don't Look In My Driveway

By: John Thomson

I have a theory that anyone who embraces the green movement exclusively for altruistic reasons has either got way too much money or has no money at all. Us folks digging in the middle tend to be motivated by either what will save us money or what will make us money. Such motivation of course becomes our green contribution; we change light bulbs, turn down the thermostat, water our lawns only on Wednesday, eat local foods, recycle and ride our bikes whenever we can. We run our business with a green influence to attract new customers and show existing customers we are in tune with our global crisis. In publishing, that means using vegetable inks, removing gloss and UV coated papers, making sure that we print only copies that are read so we take longer to get to the landfill and so on. But where my green thinking has always fallen by the wayside is with cars.

I just can’t drive a Prius and to date hybrids in my opinion, have only managed to target the “I’m saving the world” guy rather than real car guys. Where’s the passion of putting your foot on the pedal, or banking into a great country road turn? I used to drive a MINI Cooper S and folks would say “Oh good for you, putting the planet first and driving a little car,” well HELLO! The way I drove that thing like a 16 year old boy, had my miles per gallon stats closely resembling a Hummer! My dirty little secret of now driving a big engine gas guzzler may however be coming to an end, as I have had a “show em’ both sides Mini Wheat” moment.

You know those sexy Aston Martin DB9’s that keep blowing up in James Bond movies? Perhaps you have met the ultra cool BMW Z8 at a stop sign. Well that’s the past work of Danish designer Henrik Fisker. His latest offering is called the Fisker Karma. (http://www.fiskerautomotive.com/) This four-seater has a top speed of 125 miles per hour, does zero to 60 in six seconds and looks like the driver should be wearing a Canali suit rather than dirty Birkenstocks.

Fisker teamed up with Quantum Technologies, yielding a car that is the same height as a Porsche 911, is as wide as a 7-series BMW and as long as an C-Class Mercedes. And no stupid rear wheel covers like that awful, awful Honda thing. Running on lithium-ion batteries, charged for around 8 hours, the Karma will travel 50 miles at zero emissions. Then a gearless gas engine kicks in to keep the battery charged for another 300 miles. The roof is one big solar panel. How sweet is that! Today’s hybrids are about fuel economy. The Karma is about using no fuel at all. The goal is to sell 15,000 Karma’s a year at $80,000 a pop. That’s nothing! Stop being selfish and think about the planet! Al Gore gets his later this year. Me, I’ll just keep on dreaming, but I knew I was smart to wait.

Customer Service Redux

By: Lee Distad

Last week, John Thomson, the Associate Publisher of Marketnews & here’s how! Magazines wrote a fantastic blog post entitled “Customer Service – Doesn’t Everyone Behave Like This?” about his refreshingly positive experience in an American retail store. In addition to thanking him for writing it, I wanted to expand on his thesis a little with my own opinions.

One of my old mentors in big box retail liked to say to us “retail is easy: you’re selling stuff to people!” In his mind, anything and everything from operations to merchandising needed to address that core principle, otherwise it was a hindrance to doing business rather than a help.

Yet amazingly, as retailers we often find ourselves shackled in chains of our own making. All of us, at some point in our careers have either created or blindly followed unfriendly policies without really thinking it through. Less than 5% of customers are “problem customers” who either steal, swindle or abuse return policies (“renters” as we used to call them), yet often retailers create policies intended to foil that 5% while inadvertently alienating the 95% of customers that we want to keep.

I’m certainly not advocating that when you have a genuine problem customer you should indulge them, but what’s important is that in a customer service situation you have a clear picture of who and what you’re dealing with, right now, and make a decision that’s in both yours and the customer’s best interest, at that time. A little creativity and goodwill will take you a long way in building lasting relationships with your clients.

Oftentimes, little details that we think are a good idea are in fact bad ones. A few years ago, on a trip to Victoria, we stopped in at a little boutique in the Inner Harbour whose name escapes me but it was a toy store with a year-round Christmas theme: mid-summer and there were Christmas decorations everywhere! Since my wife is absolutely bonkers about Christmas, of course we had to check it out!

Years in retail have left me really hard to impress when it comes to merchandising, but this store was beautiful; too beautiful in fact. All over the store mixed in with every single display were little 5x7 hand-written note cards with exquisite penmanship forbidding and admonishing against touching anything, and with a snotty tone to boot: “don’t touch the displays;” “please keep your children off of the rocking horses;” “absolutely do not touch or fold the tags on the Beanie Babies.” You get the picture. Never mind that I wasn’t inclined to do any of the above in the first place, the warnings everywhere made me feel like a four year old being scolded to be on my best behaviour.

I get that the proprietors take pains to make their store a work of art, but honestly, if you don’t want anyone to touch anything ever, open up a toy museum and put everything behind glass. The reality of the situation is that instead of the load of cash I anticipated having to spend following my wife around the store, we didn’t spend a dime. As they say, you only get one chance to make a first impression, and theirs wasn’t positive. Since the customers are the ones who make our paycheques, care needs to ensure that our relationship with them is not only profitable, but enjoyable.

Warranties in the CE World

By: Lee Distad

Yamaha made waves in the Canadian marketplace this week when the company announced that, effective immediately, it would be implementing a four-year warranty for the RXV1900, RXV3900, RXZ7, and RXZ11 AV receivers, AS1000 & AS2000 integrated amplifiers, CDS1000 & CDS2000 CD players and the YSP4000. Even more amazing, the warranty would be retroactive for customers who’ve already bought the products.

Years ago, when I started working at Sony, the warranty on Trinitron CRT TVs was five years. Then it became three years, and eventually one year. A co-worker of mine once cynically predicted that one day our TVs would have no warranty at all, and if a customer wanted a warranty, he would have to buy one.

He wasn’t too far off in his prediction. Warranties in CE have been steadily evolving towards two separate poles: longer, more customer care-centric warranties on higher-end goods, and shorter warranties on commodity low-price point gear. Bryston’s 20-year transferable warranty is famous in the HiFi business, and brands that aspire to be seen as high-quality use a long warranty period as a mark of prestige, such as Yamaha has now done.

Not to say that there’s necessarily anything wrong with the warranty situation at the other end of the scale. Price point electronics are so cheap today that consumers have to decide if they want to protect their toys, or view them as disposable. Earlier this year, I bought my daughter a no-name portable DVD player from Future Shop. The warranty on it was 30 days, but I elected to pay for a five-year extended warranty. As it happens, it croaked six weeks later. Because my model was out of stock, Future Shop happily upgraded me at no charge to a model with a bigger screen, and transferred my warranty over to the replacement. It’s experiences like that which can cement customer loyalty to even a big box store.

When I think of the brands that have given the best warranty service to either my clients or I, the common theme is that getting the problem solved is a pleasant, hassle-free experience.

My point, and I did have one, is that savvy retailers and manufacturers both know that warranties are an ace that they can play to seek a competitive advantage. I imagine at least one rep for one of Yamaha’s competitors must have read the news about 4-year warranties and spit coffee all over his laptop. Provided that vendors stand behind their products and give consumers a big tummy rub when they need it most, a strong warranty story is a talking point in the presentation that ends up closing more sales.

Planning for Vacation: Can You Leave the Office at Home?

I once said way back in the 30th anniversary issue of Marketnews Magazine (can you believe that was six years ago!) that this industry is like Hotel California: you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave. While the statement was in reference to people who may have left to pursue other opportunities, or perhaps even have retired, I've been thinking a lot about it in reference to a shorter-term split: vacation!

By tomorrow afternoon, I'll be basking in the sun on holidays, and while it will be easy to leave the office at home, it also won't be. Anyone who works in this industry, and especially in Canada, knows how tight-knit it is. Everyone knows everyone, and a week is like a year in terms of how quickly things move.

Once you leave the office, you might physically be at home, but you often come in contact with so many things that remind you of work: watching TV and observing the picture quality. Listening to the audio system in a restaurant and thinking about how awful it sounds. Checking your BlackBerry under the dinner table while your wife shoots you a dirty look. Enjoying some fun family time with the kids on the Wii gaming console. While some are able to leave work behind more effectively than others, this industry is so ingrained in everyone's daily lives, that it's hard to do so entirely.

So while I work hard to prepare for my 2-week absence, I find myself wondering how often I'll feel the need to connect. Will I be frantically searching for WiFi zones to jump online? Last year, I managed to cope, although I did find myself a bit twitchy at times. This year, however, I'm outfitted with a BlackBerry (the Bold, of course), which might make surfing online a bit more tempting. Will I be checking our Website properties to see what's going on while I'm away? Will I hear about a big news story and think "darn, I hope we've covered that!" Will I be in the middle of dinner only to have a random thought pop into my head: "We should do this at Canada Night this year!"? Or perhaps be reading a book (Hug Your Customers, no doubt) under a beach umbrella only to look up and think: "That beach scene would be perfect for the article on tech for the summer in 2009".

Chances are the answer to these questions is both yes and no. The truth is that once you're actually away on vacation, leaving the office behind becomes easier and easier with each passing day. Don't you think? But let's face it: as much as you want to deny it, work is always in the back of your mind.

As for me, I'm not actually going to a hotel in California, but I will be checking out for a few weeks. In my absence, Lee Distad, Marketnews custom A/V contributor (author of the Custom Corner column both online and in print) will be taking the reigns and guest blogging here. You might also see a few more tales of woe from Marketnews and here's how! Associate Publisher John Thomson.

Enjoy their insightful and interesting commentary; and I look forward to rejoining the team in a few weeks!

Battle Heats Up Among Artists, Labels, & Digital Downloading

Musical artists have banded together to create the Featured Artists’ Coalition in order to demand greater control and ownership over music that’s distributed online and, more importantly, for a larger cut of the revenue pie. While it's easier to determine who gets what when a physical CD is sold through a retailer, things become stickier when you’re looking at individual tune downloads sold through various Websites. It’s like déjà vu with the Hollywood Writer’s Strike, which just took place late last year, and which centred around, among other issues, video content distribution online.

The organization is asking, among other things, that artists always retain ownership of their work, that all agreements are conducted in a “fair manner” (you mean this isn’t the case now?), and that artists must always be informed on how their work will be exploited. Recently, for example, artist Jack White wrote a song for the new James Bond flick, which was then reportedly unbeknownst to him released first in a Coca Cola commercial.

Artists are also asking that copyright be by license, not by assignment, and be limited to 35 years. When it comes to performers that don’t write their own work, these guys are asking that they receive the same rights as the authors themselves.

The artists involved in the Coalition already numbers more than 60, and include some really big name musical artists like Radiohead, The Verve, Craig David, Robbie Williams, and the Kaiser Chiefs.

It was only a matter of time. While we have seen a battle ensue within the music industry ever since digital music downloading has taken over, artists have never really taken a major, unified stand. Music labels have fought it out to create favourable deals with digital downloading companies, and have even taken legal action against illegal, peer-to-peer file sharing sites. But have any of these deals really worked in favour of the artists?

It seems that while everyone involved has slowly begun to warm to the reality that is digital music downloading rather than trying to stop it, another issue has been brewing: payment. A song sells for $0.99 on iTunes versus a full, $20 CD in the store. Who gets what out of this deal? Can we really divide profits from a buck 50 ways in a manner that looks out for the interests of all involved versus a full CD?

It sounds like whatever the current situation is, artists aren’t happy. And while the record labels or digital download sites could easily turn up their noses to the artists and say “too bad”, the reality is that these are the guys actually making the music. Back in the day, artists may have been at the mercy of the guys who could get their music sold, and get their name exposed to the public. It wasn’t so easy to record, create, and sell your own CD: what struggling artist had the means to do that? But today, it’s pretty easy to set up your own digital download Website, or to get your music out to millions with just one click (MySpace, anyone?) So it’ll be interesting to see how this drama unfolds.

Customer Service – Doesn’t Everyone Behave Like This?

John Thomson, Associate Publisher, Marketnews & here’s how! Magazines, is the guest blogger for today. Enjoy his entry on a recent shopping experience that shed some light on how retailers can and should treat their customers.

Last month, I ended up in Washington, DC, while en route to a family vacation in Cape Hatteras, NC. I had never been to DC, so I was excited to take the kids to the Smithsonian, and see the monuments, Capitol Hill and the White House.

On a reprieve from cultural activities, the family wandered from store to store in Georgetown, a very hip and trendy suburb of DC. One of the shops that we strolled in to is called Vineyard Vines, a clothing store founded in 1998 by brothers Ian and Shep Murray. Think Polo meets Brooks Brothers meets Roots. Essentially, a great shop of casual clothes that you’d expect to see worn on an island holiday. The store is bright, well laid out with lots of photos of celebrities and politicians wearing Vineyard ties. There are media clippings showcasing the success of the Vineyard Vines brand on the wall, and big comfy sofas with coffee table books on topics like sailing and island life.

The store is designed in a way that makes you want to hang around, all the more so by the welcoming nature of the staff. When we walked in, the sales team said hello, thanked us for coming in, and took the kids over to a sofa where a Disney movie was playing. They asked my wife Cathy and I if we’d like a bottle of water while we looked around, and showed us the ‘fridge where we could help ourselves to additional bottles. Everything was a delight. I plopped myself on a sofa while Cathy tried things on, as did the girls. The sales team worked in tandem finding sizes for my gang. They also treated my 11 year old like she was 20, enthusiastically complimenting her on her wardrobe choices and treating her like a customer rather than the child of a customer.

Naturally we bought. Boy, did we buy! At the counter, I noticed they were selling a book with a rather goofy name called Hug Your Customers by Jack Mitchell. Being Canadian, I had no idea who Jack Mitchell is, but I do know who Warren Buffett is, and when he is saying that this is a must-read book, I take notice. Looking for an opinion on the book, I asked the young guy ringing us through if he’s read it. Not only had he read it, but it is a mandatory read for any person wanting to work for Vineyard Vines and the customer service principles outlined in the book are the golden rules for the organization.

I bought the book. If I can be that impressed with the way I was treated at Vineyard Vines and this book plays a role in the retailer’s culture, than sign me up! The underlying theme of the book is that the only way to stay in business is with customers, and that a relationship with your customers is at the heart of every transaction. In other words, hug your customers. I finished the book and passed it along to Damien in our office, and he’s now passing it along to Christine who will then give it to Lindsay. It turns out that Jack Mitchell owns a couple of clothing stores run as a family business. His suburban locations are a train ride from arguably the best shopping in America (NYC), yet his stores achieve among the highest margins in the industry with incredible customer loyalty.

I still think that the book has a goofy name, but since finishing it, I find myself analyzing every transaction that I am exposed to on a daily basis. The frown on the lady that sells me a cup of coffee, the lack of a hello from the guy who makes us our sandwich at the mall, to the boutique clothing store that I visit that never calls to say thanks for the business. I didn’t realize how few hugs I am getting until Jack Mitchell wrote about what’s just expected as a common courtesy when you are one of his customers! Jack Mitchell has established a very successful business going into its fourth family generation on the simple principle of a welcoming smile. Something that Vineyard Vines, has certainly borrowed. It sounds so simple. So why isn’t everybody doing it? The problem may be that you think you are.

NDAs: Signing Your Life Away for New Products

NDAs (non-disclosure agreements) have been a part of the journalistic process for a long time now. Manufacturers will provide a "sneak-peek" at products prior to them hitting store shelves, and will sometimes even supply review samples ahead of time. The catch? You must sign your life away, so to speak, promising that information won't be published prior to the product's official launch date.

I find the entire process interesting, especially in the wake of the Internet and Web "leaks" that often occur when people dig for secret development information on products, or employees release confidential information anonymously for the thrill of it. It's good to know, however, that in the age of swarms of blogs and Websites that thrive on disclosing confidential information, real, journalistic integrity still exists.

We'll often go to events or receive products or product information under NDA, and, in some respects, it creates an air of excitement in the office. Think about it: we get to see this product or that before the general public does. How cool is that?! More importantly, from a publishing standpoint, it's also essential for business so that when a print issue hits the streets, we can include the most up-to-date information as possible. Even on the Web side, it's useful to have information ahead of time so that a review or details on hot new products can be covered ASAP the day they're released. Granted, this isn't always possible. But when it is, it sure helps the cause!

On that note, I've been receiving a ton of NDA information as of late as I prepare for an upcoming vacation (and naturally, need to finish up articles way ahead of schedule, which means that I need information way ahead of schedule). Today, for example, I got to preview the cool, new Elmo Live tech toy that will be hitting stores later this month. The company is being very "hush-hush" about some of the cool features this latest Elmo has, quite obviously to create hype prior to the launch. After seeing it in the flesh, I'm confident it'll be a hit with the holiday gift giving crowd. Stay tuned later this month for a video of the new, very lifelike, Elmo. It'll definitely have you in stitches! I wish I could reveal more, but, well, I've been sworn to secrecy, and if I told ya, I'd have to kill ya!