|
One thing I really get frustrated with is unnecessarily long voicemails. Here's how I leave a voicemail: Step 1: Say "hello" and the recipient's name.
This helps to verify for the recipient that this message is in fact intended for them. It's not foolproof, but I'll get to that in a second. Step 2: State who I am.
Unless I'm calling the person on a very regular basis, I never assume the recipient has my number or can recognize my voice. And it helps to avoid putting the recipient in the awkward or rude position of asking who you are. In fact, a couple years ago I got a message from someone asking for Lou needing help with his computer. I helped the person attempt to bypass their blue screen of death for 20 minutes before I just couldn't help myself anymore and had to ask him for his name. Turned out, I didn't even know the person. It was a complete stranger who dialed my number by accident and just happened to be calling for another guy named Lou! And for that reason . . . Step 3: Use my last name.
See story in previous step. So far: "Hi Mark, this is Lou Abramowski" Step 4: State the purpose of my call (quickly)
This is not story time. Simply state why you are calling. Do not go into some long explanation or summarize any data charts. Make one point, maybe two. And if you have never spoken to the recipient before, you should preface the purpose with how you got the phone number: such as, "Matt Ellsworth referred me to you and told me you could provide information about . . ." or "I got your number off of your website." Step 5: Set expectations
State whether or not you want or expect a call back. If you do . . . Step 6: Say my number . . . SLOWLY
Read your phone number slow enough that someone can write it down. Step 7: Say my name again
Remind them of your first and last name again -- in case they weren't ready to write down notes when you first said your name. It's worth stating your name slowly and clearly here to ensure they understand you and to give them time to finish writing your number, your name, ... as well as to give them time to confirm when you ... Step 8: Repeat my phone number
Yep, maybe it sounds stupid, but just give the recipient a quick chance to confirm what they (presumably) just wrote down.
All told, it takes me less than 15 seconds and I give them everything they need: "Hi Matt, my name is Lou Abramowski and I got your name from my friend Kris who told me you make websites. Well, I need one and could use some more information. If you could give me a call back, my number is 612-384-0679, I'd really appreciate it. Again, my name is Lou Abramowski and you can reach me at 612-384-0679. Thanks Matt!"
Incidentally, my voicemail greeting currently speaks "Hi, this is Lou, and I like short messages" and is rather counter productive. Turns out, people find it especially amusing to leave me really long messages after that bit of coaching :) |
|
|
The latest "wow" site I've come across: Splicd It let's you create a link to a spot in the timeline of a youtube video. Let's say you want to send your friend that funny LOLCATS compilation, but want her to see the frame at 2:44 in the video. Rather than telling her to skip ahead, you can just create a link right to it .... like this And on that topic, YouTube now allows 1GB video uploads. Up from 100MB. It's somewhat reminiscent of gmail's launch, initially providing 1GB of mail storage when the leading web mail clients at the time (Hotmail and Yahoo) were providing a comical mere 2 MB and 4 MB, respectively. |
|
From Guy Kawasaki's "Protecting Your Pitch": Most entrepreneurs misunderstand the objective of [competitive advantage], which is not to enumerate all the deficiencies of the competition (as much fun as that may be). Just because you have really cool technology does not mean you will win. You need to convince the investor that lots of folks will buy your product or service, even though they have several alternatives. And don’t forget that the toughest competitor is often the status quo—most prospective customers can muddle on without buying your solution or your competitor’s solution. The best way to convince an investor that you really do have a better mousetrap is to have referenceable customers or prospects articulate in their own words why they bought or will buy your offering over the alternatives. Use this slide to summarize the three or four key reasons why customers prefer your solution to other solutions.
Brilliant. And it's so true that a "visionary" will often make small incremental changes to an existing product that address its deficiencies, while failing to realize that the existing product is popular despite these deficiencies -- so the changes often aren't compelling enough to encourage a customer to jump ship. Simply improving the status quo is not enough. |
|
|
My billing statement from my auto loan provider came yesterday with all kinds of attention being drawn to the "NEW" statement and it's amazing new features. Features? For a loan statement? Yikes. When you're dealing with something as simple as a paper form that only needs to tell me simple things: - How much I have to pay right now
- How much I have left to pay
- Who I have to pay (and how to contact them)
- Account activity
- Other account details like the account number, interest rate, etc.
Nevermind the fact that when a static physical object's "features" are being promoted. The touted "features" are all of these things you EXPECT to see on your statement. There's no interaction, no bells and whistles, nothing fancy. Just the info I need, plain and simple. It's not unlike an architect cheering his new building's "non-collapse" feature. By the way, missing from these amazing new features is - My interest rate
- The website where I can pay online
- The previous month's activity
When it comes to being the evangelist, better to save the celebrating for special occasions, so as not to become the boy who cried EXCITING EVENT over something really boring. |
|
This post is just a shout out to the folks at 37signals. Thank you. Thank you for vocalizing the numerous frustrations of the developers who want to get things done. I began my career in an uber-corporate environment, which tended .. no, required the majority of my work to be unraveling the red tape, taking notes in unnecessary meetings, and jumping back on the tracks after being derailed by the non-stop interruptions. Thank you for laying additional groundwork in what feels like a societal shift toward simplicity -- whether it's software, product packaging, simple household furniture, and even musical instruments (what can I say, I am total Rock Band junkie). Good things take time and talent to build. I love what you do. It's inspiring. I hope that BeginWell can be 100% like you, but in reality, I'll be ecstatic for it to accomplish 1% of what you've done. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Page 1 of 2 |
Blog
