The primary aspect of my job was to convince people that leasing telephones was a viable thing to do. (dumb, huh?) And I was very successful. I would lease cordless phones at $50 per month… and you could go and buy one at the time for $100.

I would very often get calls like, "I just noticed that I had a bill from you all for $4.95 for a Princess Phone. I don’t have this phone, please cancel my bill"

Upon further discussion with the client, we had been billing them since 1984 for that phone at $4.95 per month because prices never changed. (Our records didn’t go before the break-up) Nearly $500 over the 8 years. They often would not have seen the phone in 5 or 6 or more years… yet we were still billing them and they kept making the payment.

How does this apply today?

Well, at my phone book post, there has been a discussion about the thought that if a client buys an ad, he must think that it is worth something… it must provide him some value.

Nope. I don’t buy that sales line for a minute.

Sure, some people may actually see benefit. Some people may actually see an increase in sales, but, just because a salesman can continue to sell someone on something doesn’t mean it is worth the paper it is printed on.

Let’s not confuse the ability to sell something with the actual viability of the value of that product.

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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.

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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.

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I get questions all the time from clients about RSS… I am often asked to give them a newsroom area to posts current news and events, but then I am asked to simply turn off the RSS icon. I think that a lot of people must not understand the beauty of what RSS can do.

You can checkout my post titled What is RSS and Why Should I Care?

Don’t forget to subscribe to my RSS feed at the right.

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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.

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Click through to see full size or to subscribe to their RSS feed.

Well worth the daily laugh.

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I first thought about using Skype as my software because I am in Skype all the time. But the problem with that is that in order for someone to chat with me via Skype, they need to have Skype loaded with an account. I wanted this to be easy for them so I didn’t want them to have to load anything. Skype should consider making an anonymous web client.

I looked at few services. One of the most common (at least that I see) is LivePerson. They have some pretty cool features, but it was more than I needed. They have tracking and analysis and the whole nine yards. But, the cost is $99 per month. Even then, I had to contact them to get the price.

I wanted something free. I wanted something reliable.

I ran across Volusion. They have exactly what I need. I downloaded and installed their free version of the chat software. I get pop-ups (configurable) when someone wants to chat. I can change the appearance with an easy to use interface. It is really easy to use.

The only catch is, I have to have a link back to their site… after all, they want to sell the service. That’s a fair trade off.

If you would like to see how the software works from a customer perspective, here is my chat. if I am online, you can chat… if not, it will just send me an email.

If you only have a couple of people that need the service, it will cost less than LivePerson at only $30 per user. When you are ready for your fourth user, you may consider looking at LivePerson, but I think this is a great service and offers a lot for the price.

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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.

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I am starting a new project designed for copier, printer and MFP dealerships. At CopierCatalog.com, we provide dealerships a way to post catalogs automatically to their site so their site visitors don’t need to leave the website to do their research.

I figured at the same time, I might as well start another blog. At CopierCatalog.com, I now blog on website development, SEO and all things related there. It is written specifically for copier dealers, but the principles apply to just about any business. Here is the link to my new SEO and Web Blog.

Take a look over there, you can subscribe to my feed there. Or, you can just subscribe to my FriendFeed and it will update you from all my blogs.

Over there, I have three posts already.

The next phase of dealer websites.

What makes a great website? Top Ten List.

SEO is not a one time event.

I hope you enjoy it.

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The fact is, outsourcing is as American as it gets… almost like apple pie.

I guess it really comes down to is where the division of labor should be. It answers the question of who really is the best person to complete the job at hand. Cost and skill both have to be taken into consideration.

Ken Stewart points us to Master Lock’s labor outsourcing to Asia and Mexico. You can read the full quote there, but here is a part:

In January 1997, Master Lock announced that, after 75 years making locks in Milwaukee, it would begin importing more products from Asia. Not too long after, Master Lock opened a factory of its own in Nogales, Mexico. Today, it makes just 10% to 15% of its locks in Milwaukee–its 300 employees there mostly make parts that are sent to Nogales, where there are now 800 factory workers.

Why is Master Lock willing outsource? Is it because of Walmart? I don’t think so. If it wasn’t Walmart asking for a lower cost, it would be someone else. As a product becomes more prevalent, the price goes down. Just like when a product becomes more scarce, the price goes us… simple law of supply and demand.

I think that outsourcing comes down to two basic reasons.

1. People demand lower prices than the day before. People are willing to pay more when the product is better, the service is better or the perceived value is greater (scarcity causes an increase in perceived value). I have talked about this a lot on this blog here, here and here… to name a few. When the product is the same, the sale will go to the person with the lowest cost.
2. Knowledge is the new commodity of our world… or at least our part of the world. It is common place for there to be many types of workers. People that have different skills sets and different ambitions. Any entrepreneur will understand that it makes business sense to outsource to the lowest cost for the greatest value. Repetitive tasks that can be taught easily should go to an employee that doesn’t have a great level of experience or training… because those people cost too much money.

This may sound a bit crass, but the fact of the matter is there are highly qualified employees outside of this country that are just as qualified to run a stamping machine or answer a phone or code a website. (Bear in mind, I am not saying you should outsource because you can… you still have to consider the customer experience and I would never outsource a phone call to a non-native speaker as a standard.)

Does that mean that our employees are smarter? No. I know plenty of dumb people here in America and my guys in the Philippines and India are very good at what they do for me.

Does that mean that someone from India is less valuable? Absolutely not. I have some very highly qualified people that I work with overseas. I couldn’t be as successful without them.

Every society that has lived on the earth has had a division of labor. The right person for the job. When I send work to India or the Philippines or wherever else I might send work, I make a distinction between what I will allow them to do. I have employees here locally, but I make a distinction of what I will allow them to do as well.

I think outsourcing is critical. I don’t think we sell our soul when we do it. I think we simply make business decisions. If it costs more to outsource, then don’t do it. (Cost can be more than just dollars. It can be customer experience, training time or loss of PR value.)

Of course, you can think of Master Lock providing 800 people with work without encouraging illegal immigration… that has got to be worth some "soul" credit, right?

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