When I wrote my post on phone books, I didn’t expect to get some passionate responses in the comments area. I didn’t expect anyone to be so excited about phone books to argue passionately about the benefits of phone books.

One point really struck me as interesting by "kenc". He said, among other things, "The nearly $18 billion that companies spend on print and online YP speaks for itself."

His point, is that since people spend so much on advertising, it must be successful for them.

To that, I respond, "Huh?"

It reminds me of Cosmo Kramer in Seinfeld. In Episode #822, "The Summer of George," Jerry asked Kramer why the producers wanted Kramer to fire Raquel Welch. His response was:

Because they’re terrified of her. I heard from someone that when they cut one of her lines, she climbed up the rope on side of the stage and started dropping lights on peoples heads. Story like that has got to be true.

"A Story Like That Has To Be True!"

Just because businesses spend $18 million on an advertising medium doesn’t mean a darn thing. Business leaders waste money for a variety of reason. Not the least of which is because a skilled salesman showed them a stat that had to be true.

I am sure that some people see success. I would imagine that there are some companies that see success because of phone book advertising… and those are the stats that are bandied about. I tend to think that for the masses, it is a waste of money. In fact, even for those that are successful, I bet there are far better ways to spend those dollars.

Give me some proof other than conjecture and anecdotal evidence and I might change my mind.

On my door step today is the "current" edition of the Qwest phone book. I find it interesting that this is even printed anymore.

Oh, I know that people use it. I know that some people actually don’t have the internet. Not those in the circle I roll with, mind you, but I know they exist.

But still, I question the relevance of a phone book. I especially question the relevance of a phone book from one company.

You see, I have been so unhappy with Qwest, that I haven’t been a customer of theirs in three years. I know many people who have phones that aren’t Qwest customers. With wireless providers offering unlimited minutes, Cable getting in to VoIP (at a ridiculously high price, mind you) and all of the real VoIP providers like Packet8, Vonage, Phone.com and VoIP.com the percentage of customers that companies, like Qwest, have to put in the phone book is dwindling.

Because I haven’t been all that happy with VoIP providers, I have opted to use my cell phone with unlimited minutes for my communication. (I have to admit that my home phone is still a VoIP provider… no plugs because they aren’t great).

Here is what I am getting at. More and more customers are leaving traditional phone companies for other forms of communication. Not only that, phone numbers change. As fast the book gets printed, there are already changes.

I thought, maybe, the online form of the "phone book" at http://www.dexknows.com would have more data than just for Qwest. I am not listed because I am not their customer. So, I thought that I would check at http://www.yellowpages.com/ but, the same Corey Smiths show up on their list for Idaho. I thought that I would try out http://www.yellowbook.com/… they have two more listings for Corey Smith, but I am still not on the list. I wonder if, for the most part, they are just using the same database… could be.

At least I am on the first page at Google.

So, the phone book becomes obsolete the moment it is printed and even their online services don’t contain the phone number for people that aren’t their customer (not to mention people that opt out).

So, what is the purpose? Why does it exist? Why do people still use it?

At least I have some free fire kindling now.

I was thinking a little bit last night about how so often we are disconnected from our clients when trying to sell them our products. It spawned a post about remembering our audience on my blog at CopierCatlaog.com. I wrote what I think are the top five things your website (and your language) should include when talking to your clients.

Ken posted a response titled, Are You Being "sold to" or "told to"? 

Pretty good post. I recommend a read (plus, he makes me sound intelligible).

The fact is, if we understand how we buy, we’ll be able to sell more effectively. More to the point, if we understand how people buy, we’ll be able to sell more effectively.

The most important thing about buying is that we buy like we sell.

If are accustomed to selling fast and glossing over the details, we are likely to buy that way. If we focus on selling the commodity, we will want to buy the commodity. If we want to help our customer understand their business problem and want to help them solve it… even if our product is the best, we’ll expect sales people to honor us the same way.

You may not agree with this, but I dare you to take a step back and see how you sell things and buy things. Even if you are not a salesman professionally, you sell things every day. You sell to your boss, your co-workers, friends and your spouse. You try to convince people to "buy-in" to what you are "selling" every day. Think about the tactics you use to sell that. I would bet a nickel that you expect other people to sell to you the same way… if they did, you would likely be interested in buying from them.

Think about that when you sell to someone. If you are trying to sell like you buy, you may miss the opportunity. They buy like they sell. If you can cross that divide and offer them your services the way they sell, you’ll be far more effective.

Thanks to ZDNet, whom I stole the image from.

So, I was doing a little maintenance on LinkedIn and saw this fancy little ad for Microsoft Vista Ultimate.

Of course, I had to click on the ad because I was curious to know what spin Microsoft was going to put on Windows Vista now trying to prove to public at large that Vista is a "stellar" product. Just because I use it, that doesn’t mean that I think it is a great product.

Funny thing happened when I clicked through. I ended up at their Small Business Center Site and see this error message:

So, in order to see this at it’s best, I have to download a piece of software that isn’t even a final release, wait for it to install and then restart my browser? Oh, and I couldn’t see the whole error in FireFox… only if I logged in with Internet Explorer. On FireFox, I wouldn’t have any idea what to do.

Of course, in small print at the bottom, I can see in HTML, but I bet most people that would end up here would click the big install button.

So, here is the best part… I decided to install the update to see what I would get… to see why it was so much better in a technology that is not in final release and requires me to take a minute or so of my time to install.

When I installed, it told me to restart my browser. I did. Opened it to my normal home page. No way of knowing (unless I copied it for this blog) where the page is.

So, the brilliance of all this is:

1. Pay for click through to your site.
2. Tell people to install your software.
3. Tell them to leave.
4. Don’t provide a way to get them back.

By the way, it is not worth the install or the time spent viewing the videos because they don’t tell you anything that you can’t already do, more easily on your Mac.

Walmart is pretty proud to announce their new logo right now. They are focused on creating a new image for themselves.

From the announcement:

But what really matters is what happens out there in the stores. This update to the logo is simply a reflection of the refresh taking place inside our stores and our renewed sense of purpose to help people save money so they can live better.

The "renewed sense of purpose…" is laughable to me, but, I like that the goal is to drive down costs for the consumers… I get to benefit from that. Economies of scale are a great thing when they work in my favor.

Why I love Walmart?

I love that Walmart is a business first. They understand that their main purpose is to provide greater shareholder value. The provide greater profits to those that are stockholders in the company despite the goofy line of "renewed purpose."

They take a lot of heat in the media. At NewsBlaze yesterday, David Nassar says:

But while Wal-Mart unveiled its new logo yesterday, nothing is changing for its workers who need health care, its customers who expect non-toxic toys, and its neighbors who must deal with increased traffic, crime, and pollution.

These issues deserve to be addressed substantively — not with a gimmicky logo change.

Let’s look at these stupid statements just a little.

1. Workers need health care. If this was that important to the workers, they wouldn’t work there. Besides, insurance is just a crutch and furthers our problems in health care. And don’t they provide a whole list of $4 prescriptions?
2. Customers expect non-toxic toys. Wasn’t that the toy manufacturers and not Walmart? Why would Walmart want toxic toys? To kill their customers? That is simply a dumb thing to say.
3. Neighbors must deal with increased traffic, crime and pollution. How does Walmart increase pollution? If increased traffic is a concern, why does the city allow them zoning… are these in cities that don’t have governments run by the people and for the people? I have seen a number of Walmarts with police substations right in the same building… is there increased crime there? Besides, how does Walmart increase the crime… that doesn’t make a bit of sense.

Why is it that when a company is sort of successful people applaud? When a company is very successful, people want to tear it down.

Oh, I forgot, "Big Business Is Bad."

In a free market society, as long as businesses are ethical and adhere to law, those businesses will excel. If as many people hated Walmart as the critics would have you believe, then why is it such a successful business? If Walmart is as bad as they say, why do people continue to work there and shop there?

Why I hate Walmart?

I hate the long lines and the fact they can’t figure out how to open more registers.

I hate that I have to say "hi" to a greeter every time I go in.

I hate that they have employee of the month parking but tow customers.

I hate that they pretend they are going green to protect the environment.

But I don’t hate that they are a business trying to increase shareholder value.

I am truly amazed how often I see stupid banner advertising and wonder if they really work.

On Weather.com, I often see these stupid ads from LowerMyBills.com. If you look at the weather for any area, you are likely to run into them.  Sometimes it is a stupid dancing alien or baby. These two were side by side and are two stupid dancing women.

How does someone dancing make me want to click through? Then, I wonder, how many people that do click through to their site actually convert to buy a product?

It would be nice if Experian, the company that owns LowerMyBill.com had at least a little respect for their potential customers.

I wanted a quick bite for lunch, so I drove down the street to go through the drive through at the local Taco Bell. As I was waiting for my order to be taken, I noticed this "brilliant" piece of advertising and pricing.

Now, the quality isn’t very good because I only had my phone camera with me.

They have the traditional combo menu and now the "New, Why Pay More!" menu.

(I noticed it wasn’t a question - type-o or intentional?   
         That should have been my first clue there was something afoot.)

You can get a soft taco or a crunchy taco for $.89. Great.

You can get a large drink for $1.69. Sounds reasonable.

You can get a hard taco combo for $4.59 or a soft taco combo for $4.89.

I sat there puzzled for a moment. Why is the soft taco combo more money by $.10 per taco when you can buy them individually for the same price?

A little math and here is what you get.

Buy them separate and you get 3 tacos (soft or crunchy) + a large Pepsi

        $4.36.

So, you buy the combo and you pay an additional $.20 for crunchy tacos and an additional $.50 for soft tacos.

So, people pay more because of the stupid pricing structure… or because they just don’t pay attention to a business trying to take them for a ride.

How many people do you think actually take the time to note that if they buy the combo they are actually paying more? I bet it is the same people that buy the big can of soup because they think it is a better value when if they would just do the math, two smaller cans actually cost less.

Of course, I spent $2.23 in gas to get there and back, so what’s another $.50! (notice I didn’t use a question mark… Seinfeld would be proud!!)

I just posted a press release over at OfficeProductNews.net for one of my clients, Allied Document Solutions & Services. We are very excited as we built their new corporate image including their logo and their new web presence.

It took a bit more work than usual to make sure that we got the design right, but it was well worth it. With new content, a new look and a library of great white-papers, the site should do them very well.

From their Press Release:

In addition to the new logo, ADS-S also wanted to refresh its web presence. The company engaged ProspectBuilder.net to design a new web presence. The design of new site features bright colors to match the new logo. Rotating flash on the home page explains the value proposition. Other graphics feature the core offerings of the company.

“Inside the site, clients will find rich content explaining the benefits of ADS-S’ new services and solutions,” commented Darrell Amy, President of ProspectBuilder.net. “We wanted to make sure that the company is correctly positioned to be seen as the credible source of managed print and document solutions that they are.”

Go on over to OfficeProductNews.net to read the full release. We hope you like new site at corporate direction.

I find it fascinating how often I.T. is assigned to the task of building a website. For the uninitiated, this may seem like a logical thing to do. After all, a website is technology and requires programming and stuff, right?

Wrong.

A very small part of a website is programming. A very small part of a website is technology. Oh, it might take a lot of work. It might be a requirement for the site to function properly, but I.T. should really not have a say in what the customer sees… the face or the marketing aspect of the site.

In my opinion, here are the top five components of a website… in order of importance.

1. Graphical Presentation - all the pretty pictures. All the pretty buttons. This is the first thing someone sees. This is the first thing that can turn them away.
2. User interface - This tells people where to go. What do they do next, etc. this may be second to the graphical presentation, but it is a very close second.
3. Content - Well, you need to content to put on the buttons and graphics, but there is also core site content. People will see pictures and captions of pictures before they ever see this. The may not even read this.
4. Social aspects - Blogs, forums and support features. If you don’t have the core content or pretty graphics, this won’t matter. It especially won’t matter if people don’t know how to get there from the user interface.
5. Programming - programming comes last. Of course, there may be programming required to accomplish any of the above, it is last for one very important reason. If you don’t have the above figured out, programming doesn’t matter. If your designer doesn’t create graphics, your programmers can’t install it. If you don’t know what you want the user interface to look like, your programmers can’t build it. If you don’t have your content written, your programmers can paste it in.

So, get I.T. out of the website design and put marketing on it. Either get it done with an in house marketing team to do it or outsource it. Either way, don’t depend on I.T. to build you a great website. Oh, they might be able to pull it off, but those types of I.T. people aren’t nearly as common… besides, even if they could, should I.T. really be setting your marketing direction?

I just launched one of my client’s brand new sites. Here is an excerpt from their press release:

Document Systems, an Oxnard, CA based document solutions provider, is pleased to announce the launch of their new website at www.documentsystems.com. The new website offers clients a comprehensive overview of the company’s new solutions offerings.

“We are excited to let our clients know about the new areas where we can help reduce costs and improve productivity,” said George Dauphine, CEO of Document Systems. “The new site gives our current and potential clients a true snapshot of the value that we can bring.”

Read the rest of the press release at Office Product News.