Of course, you vote with your wallet - every time you spend money. I was just reading an article on Talking Story in which Rosa talks about the reasons she will never buy a Sony product again. That is capitalism at its best, and why I love the power of the free market.
There a lots of vendors that have hacked me off enough to stay away from them. What are some of the reasons?
- Bad customer service experiences.
- If I am treated fairly and the company tries to make up for my problems, I am very forgiving. Treat me like I'm an annoyance or give me a bad attitude, and I'm gone.
- Don't approve of their practices or values.
- I don't buy from people who spam me, or who call me at home to solicit me.
- I don't buy from companies who create commercials or ads that offend me.
- I don't buy from people who don't stand behind their products when something goes wrong.
- And "comment spammers": what are you thinking?
- Poor quality products
- I work too hard for my money to spend it on shoddy product.
Those are my top 3 gripes that make me bail on a business. What about you?
Read MoreEver have to negotiate for something? Here are some tips to help you go in a bit more prepared:
It's not all about you - find out more about the person you're negotiating with- What are their interests?
- How much power do they really have in the negotiation (i.e. are they the decision maker, a representative of the true decision maker)?
- What can you find out about how they've conducted themselves in past negotiations of a similar nature?
- Are they ruled by emotion or fact?
- How important is this negotiation to them?
- Talk with people who know them, and see if you can find a "coach" to help you understand their style.
- Get clear on your boundaries
- What do you want out of the negotiation?
- What's the minimum you'll accept?
- What is your list of deal-breaker points?
- At what point will you walk away?
- What "sacrifice" points can you add into your starting position to give yourself some room to move?
- What would a "win-win" look like?
Read MoreOK, so it's still in closed Beta, but I am testing a new service form Amazon called "NowNow" and it is pretty cool. I was invited into the Beta because I've purchased a mobile device from Amazon, and they are apparently targeting this at mobile device users.
What's NowNow?
NowNow is a service, through which you send a question to a specified email address, and they send back a response. The questions are fielded by live people, who monitor the address 24x7, research your question and send you a response. The Beta is free, but the info I've seen so far implies there will likely be some kind of charge when it goes live.
What can you ask?
Some of the sample questions they provided by way of example include:
- Trivia question: "What year did elvis presley's single suspicious minds come out? "
- Local question: "What is the best sushi restaurant in New York City, NY "
- Local Address/Phone #: "Is there an ice cream parlor close to 12th & Pike in Seattle Wa?"
- Personal research question: "Are banana peels edible without side effects?"
My first test
- I sent my first question to them at 9:29pm: "Who does the voice of Junior Asparagus in the Veggie Tales videos?"
- I got my first response at 9:32pm: "Lisa Vischer does the voice of Junior Asparagus" -- along with a full filmography. Way cool.
- I was able to vote on the quality of my answer by simply replying to the email with a keyword indicating how well they did.
You can find out more about NowNow at the web site, and sign up to be notified when it's available. I can hardly WaitWait....
Read MoreI've pretty much disconnected from electronic communication for the last week to decompress and spend some good family time. Hence, no posts here. However, I did log in and make yet another cosmetic change.
After some informal "usability studies" and the comments (both on and off the blog), I've decided to revert to my old template but with some tweaks. I tested some mockups using different font sizes, and decided to increase the font size on the "sidebars" on my site.
I also did some "benchmarking" of other leading blog sites to get a feel for font sizes, colors & contrasts, and overall layouts.
Thanks to everyone who gave me their input. I decided to go back to my old format but kick up the font size in my sidebars by a notch.
If you have still have trouble with the font sizes, remember you can increase the font size in your browser. For example, see the following:
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Firefox Fonts | |
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Internet Explorer 6 Fonts | |
Oh yeah - I used "SnagIt" to grab these menus. It was recommended to me by Marc Orchant, and I think it is awesome. Check it out.
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