Well, we all hope we never get a bad review, but alas, none of us are perfect. Here is the exact yelp review and the URL, along with my response. (Unfortunately, Yelp only allows 600 characters to respond, so in my reply I included a link to this blog post)

http://www.yelp.com/biz/chris-nordyke---state-farm-corvallis

From Tom Q.

When we went looking for insurance, we checked with Nordyke because of recommendations. For all the recommendations, we got the feeling he was really just interested in building up his client base and adding another "chip" to his pile. We also felt that his political views were very "out there" for all to see. Now, it's not that we need our insurance agent to vote the way we do. But we don't need to know he doesn't, right?

We went elsewhere.

Tom, I'm sorry we gave you the impression you were simply a "number". Frankly I'm embarrassed. That is exactly the opposite kind of experience we want to create for our clients. I've tried to build my entire business around being relational, so I'm disappointed we failed in your situation. I'll talk with my team about it at our Monday team meeting.

Re:politics, I try to be an integrated person. I want to be the same guy I am at the office, that I am in my living room, at a city council meeting, or at the coffee shop with friends. Occasionally via Facebook or my blog I've mentioned my perspective on current issues simply to share my personality and perspective. If you've felt like I've forced my views on you, I apologize.

Thank you for leaving feedback. I'll take it to my team, and we'll work to do better.

Cordially, Chris Nordyke

I found out today that someone was very unhappy with me about some criticism I posted publicly. My knee jerk response was panic. I'm a relationship guy. I work hard to preserve relationships and goodwill and when I know I've offended someone, my tendency is to quickly apologize and go into repair mode. I deleted the critical material.

This critique I wrote was as a customer. I had spent money with this person's business and was unsatisfied with what I got.

Last year I blogged rather transparently about a customer that left me. It was a painful experience. I asked that customer earnestly to provide me with some candid feedback and I was very fortunate they obliged. I've applied that feedback to my business, and to great effect. Here's the post, I'd still welcome your comments on it. Learning from the Lost Customer

I've found that in business it is extremely difficult to get good candid feedback from people. There will always be good reviews if you simply put out the effort, but it's tough to learn anything from them. (Not to say I don't love great reviews and testimonials)

Not-so-great reviews though, often present a much greater opportunity for a business owner, particularly in this uber-public new business paradigm we're in. Not only can I learn what people don't like about my business, but I have a chance to connect with them, clarify, change or correct, and then respond publicly to their critique. If I am earnest and sincere, the net effect may actually be more positive than the run-of-the-mill glowing review.

So on the one hand, I'm bummed that this business owner is upset with me, but also disappointed it didn't spark a better online interaction. I'll follow up with this person offline and hopefully mend the relationship. But for the rest of us, I think there's a best practice we can latch onto as business people.

Let's not only be a business community that responds well to criticism, but let's invite it, no, seek it out. None of us are perfect, but once we're alerted to our flaws, we can change, improve, and win again.

Are bad reviews really all that bad?

These are books I'm either enjoying, are challenging me and/or are having a formative effect right now on my business or personal life (In no particular order)




1) Switch by Chip Heath
2) Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh
3) Drive by Daniel Pink
4) Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuck
5) Trust Agents by Chris Brogan
6) Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini
7) Linchpin by Seth Godin
8) What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell
9) Crazy Love by Francis Chan
10) The Pastures of Heaven by John Steinbeck

Tomorrow morning I'll be at a round table at Coffee Culture on Kings from 6am to 730. If you own a business or are starting one, let's meetup. We'll focus our chat on company/office culture, particularly as modeled by Zappos.com

I'll buy the first 3 people their coffee.

Cheers,
Chris

I've long struggled with an addiction to gadgets. Ever since I was a kid, I've been enamored with them. For 2010, I thought it'd be fun to share this passion with you.

My first review is of Built NY's Large Cargo Camera Bag. I first saw this at CES 2010 in Las Vegas a few weeks ago. I've been looking for a couple years, for a streamlined man-bag that also had some protection for my SLR- something I could carry my gadgets, wallet, AND my Nikon D90.

There is virtually nothing on the market. Anything that has the functionality, lacked the style, or looked too much like a geeky, boxy camera bag.

I instantly recognized it as a possible winner, and asked Built if they'd like me to review it, (At the time, it literally had no reviews) and they sent me one. So **disclosure** I got it for free. Thanks Built NY, with only one exception this has turned out to be a rad bag. Glad I asked.

Occasionally I will receive free items. Usually, it's an item that I've thoroughly researched and am seriously jones'ing for and/or does not have many (or any) reviews about it yet. Other times I'll review stuff I've purchased for myself. No matter what, I promise to give you a candid assessment of the product.

I know I'm going to have fun with this, I hope you find the reviews helpful.

I'm thrilled to have a Trader Joe's in town. And I'm one of those "buy local" guys, for the most part. Trader Joe's reminds me of Apple actually. They are the one grocery store I can think of that is actually more of a "brand" than a chain of "places".
Trader Joe's feels like more of an enhancement to my lifestyle here in Corvallis, than a grocery store.

Here's three features that I think the Trader Joe's and Apple brands share:

1) They're easy. Not too many choices, but enough.

2) There are no bad choices- They have magically vetted the options to make sure I will virtually like everything.

3) They staff with "cool people"- Not a Zappos experience, but always above average.

3+) Great design- The stores are clean and fun to be in.

The more I think about it, the more I want to be like Trader Joe's when my business grows up. The easy pick. The one where you know it may not always be the cheapest, but it's always a good deal. The one where you always walk out having made a good choice.

Any other brands you can think of that evoke this kind of feeling for you?

Rolland is 48, looks good, smiles, has good hair. If you're a local here in Corvallis, I swear you'd say he looks like the late and great Scott Zimbrick. Rolland works for the NFIB, a business advocacy organization I support. I met him almost exactly a year ago when he walked into my office. Rolland just found out he has terminal pancreatic cancer.

Today he walked into my office with the same stride, the same casual smile, and his NFIB papers in hand. He asked me how business is going, and I asked him the same. That's when he filled me in on the cancer.

A couple months ago, Rolland went to the doctor with some pain in his side. Initial lab results showed nothing, then an ultrasound showed growths on his liver and a lymph node. A CAT scan revealed the cancer in the pancreas. Pancreatic cancer has been in the headlines recently, so when Rolland heard pancreas, he was speechless-6 months to live.

Rolland has been married 26 years, has a son who is a senior in high school, heading off to Corban College in the fall, and a daughter who's in 8th grade. You can imagine the flood of emotions and concerns that he and his family have experienced over the last 4 weeks.

Rolland has life insurance. Not as much as he wishes he had now, but some. One less thing to agonize over right now as he enjoys these last months (hopefully years) with his family.

Do you have a well thought out plan to protect your family? Are they prepared if something like this happens? Remember this on Valentine's Day- the most practical way you can show them you care, is with life insurance.

Why can't more businesses be like Frogs and Pollywogs? I'll explain.

Most of you have seen me in my Vibram Five Fingers, the funny-looking gorilla shoes that make everyone point and stare. I bought them at REI in Portland. Great service, great experience and a great guarantee.

I tried to buy them in Corvallis. I've bought shoes in Corvallis several times before, and after reading Born to Run, I started asking around in Corvallis at the various shoes venues if any of them carried, or planned to carry the VFF's. Each location (I checked with 3) informed me they were too weird for our market and said they don't, and probably won't carry them.

So I bought them at REI, a store I really, really like. They make everything easy.

Fast forward to my totally rad experience today with Celia, the owner of Frogs and Pollywogs. Frogs and Pollywogs is an independent toy store in downtown Albany. Incredible store- great merchandising, awesome selection of high quality toys, and really great service. As a guy, one of the things I love about her shop is she offers complimentary gift wrapping with every purchase. That is awesome when you're either 1) a guy or 2) a guy on the way to a birthday party with kids in tow.

During my lengthy chat with Celia, the Fed-Ex guy dropped off a package from Amazon.com. I said, "sweet, you've got an Amazon delivery (smile)". Turns out, a client asked if she carried a toy item that she didn't stock, so she had ordered it from Amazon, unbeknownst to the client.

The reality for retailers, is most distributors or manufacturers have minimum orders that make it hard for them to stock everything they'd like to- too cost prohibitive. But rather than Celia telling them no, she instead told them she'll get it for them and have it ready for pick up in 2 days. The client never new she bought it off Amazon. Her perspective- why send the client searching when she has the power of Amazon to satisfy her clients needs?

Sourcing a product from Amazon.com didn't cost Celia anything. Of course she didn't make a profit on the transaction, but what's the economic value of a satisfied and loyal customer?

Why couldn't one of the stores in Corvallis done the same for me? They could have bought three sizes of Vibram's from REI, invited me to the store once the shoes came in, sized me, and then sent back the pairs that didn't fit. REI's return policy wouldn't have cost them much at all. Yet these same stores spend hundreds or thousands on traditional media advertising. What's more impactful?

Apparently this wasn't the first time Celia did this- it's a semi-regular occurance. Ultimately, she does whatever she can to satisfy requests. It's no coincidence that Zappos.com came up several times in our discussion. Celia's business has a number of similarities. Let's all pause and take a note from Celia.

Check out Celia's website www.frogsandpollywogstoys.com and swing by her store some time to meet her. (She's got kids- generally you'll find her there between 11 and 4)

Why am I so shocked and amazed by this level of service though? Shouldn't this be the norm? Everyone has access to the same tools, no?

It looks like next week I may be traveling in a friends suitcase to CES. His company has been invited by Intel as one of their featured developers for their new Atom App Store. It's not a public event, so you have to be invited. Unless of course, you're me, and you invite yourself :) Looks like I may end up being the "camera man".

No, seriously, I really am decent with a video cam. At least a Flip. (haha, I think I have them fooled:)

Here's why I want to go- I love consumer electronics. I've been an early adopter and sneezer when it comes to CS for a long time. It started with cell phones. For now it's Apple products and e-readers. I've even become enamoured with a sister industry called "technical gear/clothing". Oh, and don't even mention web apps and social media. I am a hopeless early adopter.

I'm also a committed entrepreneur and aspiring angel investor. As my clients vote with their dollars to support my insurance agency, I want nothing more than to put that back in the community. One way I'd like to do that is as an angel- funding local startups with great ideas and talent to develop it.

If I'm going to be an angel investor some day, I want to have deep knowledge in a few areas (insurance, customer experience, sales) but also have a working understanding of a broad scope of industries and a decent knack for trend-spotting. That's where going to CES comes in. It will be a great learning experience, not just for my insurance agency, but for my bigger picture.

A little impulsive. Perhaps. But clearly aligned with my long term vision. Definitely.

Oh, and here's what CES is all about: http://www.cesweb.org/aboutces.asp Scroll down to "History"

I'm not sure Jesus is too excited about the celebration we've constructed around his birthday. I don't mean that in a self-righteous way. I just mean, you look at the stories of what he did and said, and one has a hard time thinking he'd be excited about a lot of the parties and events put on in the name of Christmas. This whole thing started on account of Him, right?

For those people that consider themselves Christians, is it possible that Jesus was expecting something completely different for his birthday? (But instead we did what we do every year, but made sure He got the credit)

Don't get me wrong, I love being with family and friends and eating lots of food. I also loved taking my gift certificate to Backcountry.com and buying an Arc'teryx polo shirt. But again, is Jesus honored through all that stuff? Don't most birthday parties revolve around the birthday boy or girl?

And then this whole battle between the politically correct "Happy Holidays" and the (c)hristian-specific "Merry Christmas"...

I was flipping through the local AM channels on the way to be entertained by Rush Limbaugh's post holiday (probably pre-recorded) show. The 30 seconds or so I took in included the end of a rockish Christmas tune, then Limbaugh in his usually jolly style, " Happy Holidays everyone...no, Screw It, Merry Christmas!" Then he dialed up the next song and faded it in.

Does Jesus need his followers or republican entertainers sticking up for him?

I've been thinking about this for some time- I need a board of advisers. Big businesses have them, non-profits big and small have them, and I think an entrepreneur should have one. How it should work exactly, I'm not yet sure.

But here's why I'm eager to form one: I really need outside perspective and tough criticism to grow as an entrepreneur. In addition to that, I think there'd be huge value in opening up my business to a trusted group that can provide input on everything from marketing strategy to HR, to financial operations.

If I'm only getting input from others in my industry or reading business books, I'm probably limiting my potential success and suffering from smallmindedness.

So how could it maybe look?

I'd probably meet with my board of advisers once a quarter or twice a year. We'd meet over a nice dinner (that I would provide) and spend a couple hours in discussion. Prior to the meeting, I'd send them a proposed agenda, financial statements and suggested topics, and the advisers could suggest changes to the agenda beforehand. At the dinner, I'd present to the group, then open myself up to feedback and discussion for the remainder of the meeting.

At first blush, it seems a bit one-sided, but in my experience, the times I've advised other entrepreneurs or taught students, I ended up benefiting greatly from the experience. Not only is it gratifying to play a role in someones success, but it often becomes a shared learning experience. In fact, I'd be honored to be on someoneelse's board of advisers at some point.

I've already spoken to one potential advisor so far and received a warm response. I'll keep you posted as I pursue this.

Could you or your business benefit from a board of advisers?

Hi, my name is Chris and I am with a group here in town called Young Professionals. Each month we meet at a different venue in Corvallis. We'd like to come to your venue next month for our event. We have about 300 or so on our email list and we routinely get 30-65 young pros at each of our events, just to give you an idea of what to expect.

We don't ask for much, in fact all you have to do is feed us something and give us a special deal on drinks so we feel loved. You can woo us as much as you want though. If you'd like to hang out with us during the event, test new menu items on us, have us taste new drinks, or otherwise treat us like VIP's we likely won't forget it, and will find ourselves compelled to spend more money at your venue in the future. We'd probably bring friends and we'll likely write about it on Twitter and Facebook for hundreds to see.

Please however, don't treat us like an afterthought. Don't make us feel awkward as we arrive- don't make us explain why we're here or make us ask you where everyone is at. Make us feel like you've been waiting for us, like you've been looking forward to it. Treat us like a date. We're here to get to know you and to put money in your pocket, tonight and in the future- if you play your cards right.

Please take advantage of us while we're here. We expect we'll get sold- you've earned the right by hosting us. It's okay to passionately tell us about your favorite new menu items and remind us why you started your restaurant or store. We expect you'll ask us to come back, and if you give us a coupon to help us remember, that's okay too.

After more than a year of really engaging online, I've settled on a handful of tools and sites that I'm referencing every single day, some of them many times a day. I'm always keeping my eye out for new tech and content, but here's the current ones:




1) Hootsuite- a super simple dashboard for my twitter activities.
2) Facebook- becoming a more significant communication tool for my Agency.
3) Gmail- still the best and most easily searched email platform.
4) Google Alerts- This is where I "listen" to what people are saying about important topics to me.
5) Amazon.com- shopping and researching galore
6) SethGodin.com - Godin is a great daily read for fresh insights on the new business paradigm.
7) Anywho.com - a great search tool for phone numbers.
9) HARO- HelpAReporter.com - Looking out for PR opportunities for my friends and clients (and myself)
10) WeLoveCorvallis.com - a local blog where people who love Corvallis gather to candidly discuss important topics/questions.

Any tools or sites I should check out that you use daily (or hourly) ?

Chocolate goes with pancakes right? And coconut, well that's a no-brainer. That's what I thought this morning when this epic kitchen encounter took place.

Here's the recipe along with a couple photos :

1 1/4 cups sifted wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
Dash of salt
1 beaten egg
1 cup milk - you can sub in 50% half and half if you feel like it
3 (or 4) tablespoons butter- real unsalted butter. Never sub in margarine or other fake spreads.
1 1/2 fresh, but ripe bananas cut into slices (or chunks if your 4 yr old is helping)



Now for the interesting stuff:
Raw organic unsweetened coconut flakes - fine, not big flakes (Notice the recycled Adam's PB jar. You can buy this stuff in bulk at the Co-op)
Green and Black's dark baking cocoa- or whatever brand you prefer.

Here's what you do:
1)Mix equal parts of the cocoa and coconut in a small dish and set off to the side.
2)Mix all dry ingredients in a medium to largish bowl (to prevent over-splash)
3) Combine all wet ingredients in a Pyrex pitcher, (you know, the glass thing you measure milk and other stuff in) and whisk the egg til it's mixed in.
4)Melt the butter and pour into the wet container.
5) Mix the wet ingredients into bowl with dry stuff. Whisk until pretty smooth

The best thing to use for pancakes is a stainless steel electric skillet. (I may post a review on our Carico skillet that we got when we first got married, it's great.) Just make sure it's nice and hot.

Drop a couple big spoonfuls of batter in the hot pan, then place pieces of banana on top of the batter and let them sink in as it cooks.

Now for the fun part! Grab a couple finger fulls of the cocoa-coconut mixture and sprinkle over the top of the bananas and batter, then flip the pancake and push down slightly with the spatula. It should only need to cook another 20 or 30 seconds and then serve!

Be sure to flip it back over to display the wonderful golden bananas and brown crust from the cocoanut mixture.

Top with almond butter and agave syrup.

This makes for a delightful flavor encounter that kids and adults will love.

Please post your comments.

I had to use three Winco bags last night to get the fire started.

Made me think, where's this morning's paper when I need it?

Don't get me wrong. I like the writers at the GT. I know Matt N. and like he and his writing. I like Mike, the publisher, as well. The GT produces great content. I am one of the sets of eyeballs/unique visits on www.gazettetimes.com also.

I just would have found it really useful to have a GT on hand last night. I could have read the 6 or so local articles and the half dozen or so other local tidbits and then used the Associated Press content that makes up 70% of the rest of the paper for getting my evening fire started.

Newspaper is great for getting fires started.

I've been trying to get Mike and the crew at the GT to adopt a hyper-local model for the paper for the last 6 months or more. You can see my previous posts/comments here and here.

The reason I'm so emphatic? Because I think it'd be good for the community and ultimately profitable for the paper- it might even save them from the demise that papers around the country are experiencing en mass.

People like to read about themselves, their friends, their kids, their politicians, the companies they work for, and what's going on in their community . There are now a multitude of places a person can easily consume their national and international news and information from- on demand. Why fill the paper with redundant material? Does making it fatter increase the perceived value? (apart from fodder)

Isn't there enough stuff going on in our community to write about? People doing both awesome things and bad things. People moving, people shaking? Here's an idea:source articles from the many great staff blogs the GT has online. Better yet, identify some quality local blogs to source material from and put that in the hard copy paper.

Is $12 bucks a month too much to pay for a handful of great articles a day and reliable fire starter in the evening? As soon as our Winco bags run out, I'll decide.


*all posts should be taken with a grain of salt. They are not intended to provide business advice from which to make informed enterprise decisions. The above comments were made by an insurance guy with small children.

If you could be best friends with shoes... alright, that was shamefully corny.

Unpacked my Vibram Five Finger Shoes on Sunday. I've been waiting for these for a while. REI has an annual 20% off coupon that comes out every October, and I felt it was only responsible for me to wait til I received it to splurge on these rad shoes.

I wasted barely a day after getting the coupon to go online and buy them.

I wore them a bit here and there on Sunday, but today was my first full day in them, including a 1.8 mile run about 45 minutes ago.

Thing started out a bit rough- for the better part of the day, I couldn't help but notice my big toe crammed in the shoe. The rest of my toes felt fine. I expected this, given the large number of reviews online with the same gist. Supposedly this lessens over time. Overall, not uncomfortable today, but they didn't exactly disappear on my feet.

Now for the exciting news. My run in them tonight was nothing short of fantastic. First, I had the best run I've had since I started running again. I ran 75% farther and still wasn't out of gas. Purely anecdotal of course and obviously placebo, but nonetheless worked in the VFF's favor.

The first thing I noticed was that the VFF's made my calves extremely fatigued- almost to the point of cramping when I slowed to a cool-down walk at the end of the run. I'm going to have some serious beach calves before long.

Secondly, running in VFF's is very different from regular shoes. It feels more raw, a little jolting at first as you figure out your stride and foot strike. It feels like I'm having to relearn how to run- but in a good way. It's not jarring, but you definitely have to be conscious not to heal-strike and land more intentionally on your mid and fore-foot. (hence the extreme calf workout)

The last thing I noticed-my big toes didn't hurt at all during or since the run. These things stretch out and break in pretty quickly. They just feel dang good now (still have them on as I type) There's no driving need to get them off after your done running.

My experience my change, but first impressions are quite good. Infatuated you might say.

Do you have VFF's? Tell me about your experience...

Labels: Five Fingers, review, run, shoes, unboxing, Vibram

When was the last time a business or friend, or your spouse absolutely BLEW YOU AWAY with WOW?

I think about "wow" a lot and how I can infuse it in the way I do business, love my wife and kids, and be a good friend. Sometimes it feels like a daunting endeavor. You don't want to just mimic a wow experience someone else delivered, but at times, depending on your business or relationships, it's hard to mastermind something on your own.

It's easy to engineer good experiences. Wow ones, take thought and preparation.

Michael Hyatt, the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishing provides a great list of "wow" components. Check it out, then act.

http://bit.ly/13rdRR


*Photo Courtesy Drew McLellan www.drewsmarketingminute.com

Labels: customer, customer service, michael hyatt, wow

Twila Weder, a friend and client of mine owns a successful florist here in town call Expressions in Bloom. (www.inbloom.com) She got the following best practices from a florist forum she follows. Despite the fact there's a glut of tutorials, lists and instruction manuals for social media, it's good stuff to read and review periodically. We're all still learning this new paradigm. A good primer to maybe pass along to a newbie- Chris

1. Avoid automation. People instantly unfollow people who write like bots. Demonstrate that you’re human by writing each of your tweets. It’s one thing if you write them and schedule them to go out later, but don’t publish automatic prescripted tweets.

2. Be personal. Personal tweets let people see who you are. If your tweets are just about your niche, then followers may think you’re just a robot. Lesson: Post occasional tweets that aren’t strictly about your niche.

3. Be a copywriter. To write effective tweets, learn about and use fundamental copywriting techniques. Write tweets so effective that even you would want to click on them.

4. Adopt it. Tweeting is a new form of writing, so make your own conclusions as to the fastest way to improve. But one great way to develop your own writing style is by adopting great techniques you see in others’ posts.

5. Be familiar. After you’ve mastered how to get people to click on your links, standardize your writing style so that your followers become familiar with your voice. When followers know what to expect, reading your tweets can become part of their daily routine.

6. Big message in small ways. If there’s a big event going on – a big launch maybe – the best way to promote it is to direct your followers to your blog. On your blog, you can update as much as you like. Twitter is not the place to publish updates every half hour.

7. Branch out. Use Twitter as a tool in your marketing toolbox, not as a complete business model.

8. Slide in. Twitter is great for opening up dialogue with big names in your niche, even JV (Joint Venture) partners. JV partners are effective marketers who can help launch your products. Ease your way into relationships with them by answering questions they ask in Twitter. In responding to them by tweet, you are helping them gain popularity.

9. Build better business partners. When you follow people you become familiar with their views and interests. Reading people’s tweets will help prepare you for meeting people face-to-face. You will discover common ground for discussion and relationship building.

10. Appreciate Twitter culture. Follow Friday is an example of how to use Twitter quirks to strengthen your relationship with your followers. Follow Friday is when members recommend other Twitterers to follow. Try recommending four or five people who you feel others will get value from following. Participating in Follow Friday is a great way to fit into the Twitter community.

11. Email it, blog it. Include your Twitter URL in the signature of your emails and blog posts.

Me and the Chris Nordyke State Farm team are going off site this thursday. (Francesco's downtown in fact). We'll open the office at 830a like normal, pick up messages and return calls, and then head downtown at 930ish. We'll return to do the same at 4ish.

Our plan is to focus like a laser beam on two things for our business: Improving our followup, both from a sales standpoint and for better service quality, and improve the experience our clients have in our office and over the phone. There's a variety of ways we can unpack those objectives, and we plan to, over the 7 hours or so we have during the retreat.

I'll have my phone with me, and the ringer on loud. If you have an injury accident, a death claim(no joke), or a structure fire, don't hesitate to call it. Here it is: 990-8050. Otherwise we'll check messages and return your call quickly.

Here's to a growing business and an even better experience for our clients... Cheers.

I was called a liar yesterday, and it turned out to be an expensive mistake for the Red Lion. Here's the story:

Yesterday afternoon I headed to Eugene for a gathering of agents. We were supposed to have dinner together and then attend a continuing ed meeting today. The dinner plans more or less fell apart, but I was already down there, and unfortunately you can't actually camp inside the Eugene REI. I thought about just driving home and then driving back in the morning, but I decided to call a few hotels instead.

The Red Lion Inn was the first one I called. (At about 845pm) I explained that I might just drive back to Corvallis, but was curious if they had any "last minute" kind of deals. We settled on $79.00- not bad to avoid a 2 hr round trip. The guy at the counter was nice, and also gave me a $20 voucher for breakfast in the morning- now that was a deal! The place was simple, but clean and didn't smell too bad. So far so good.

I have a great time reading the newest Dan Brown book, and end up having a good night sleep. The next morning, I go to the lobby to check out and get breakfast, but realized I left the voucher in the room, along with the room keys. I asked for a new one. The manager looked at his computer, and said he didn't see a voucher on my room receipt.

I told him the man at the desk last night gave me one with my room keys. He then proceeded to scan the computer screen some more, finally looked up and tells me he's sorry but it looks like I got the "walk in" rate and there's no record of me purchasing a breakfast voucher. I guess the guy last night did me a favor by giving me a voucher despite the special cheap rate.

I then realize I didn't have the keys to go back and get it. I asked again if he could just give me a new voucher, that the original one is back in my room. Instead he gives me a new key. I mutter under my breath as I turned to walk away, " so you're saying I'm a liar?". No response. I go back to the room and get the voucher and then proceed to have a decent $12.99 cafeteria-like breakfast. No sign of the guy- apparently he'd moved on, happy that I hadn't been lying.

I'll never stay at the Red Lion Inn again and I won't be urging friends or colleagues to stay there either. All to try and save $12.99. This guy just didn't get it. Even if I had been cheating him out of a $12.99 breakfast, he'd have been better off taking that chance and giving it to me.

Ken Blanchard captures this truth in his book Raving Fans- Don't punish 95% of your clients for the bad deeds of the other 5.

I mentioned my displeasure not just to him, but to one of his staff later. Then, just before typing this I called down there to try to give him one more opportunity to apologize. Apparently he'd gone home. The manager asked if he could help me. I told him that I wanted to give Ian one more opportunity to apologize for the bad experience I had before blogging it. The guy just chuckled and said Ian normally leaves at 3:30.

Too bad. The internet is forever.

Just heard one of the major auto insurance companies touting their latest promotion "name your own price, only at __________". On the surface, seems like a great idea. Reminds us of the auction-style buying we came to enjoy on E-bay or other auction sites. All of us would probably love to say "I'll pay $50 a month and that's it."

The trouble is, (name of big insurance company, starts with a P) plays by the same rules all the other companies do- We can't change our rates to sell to the highest bidder, or charge what someone wants to pay. So how do they manage it? Well, they take the amount you're willing to pay, and give you a coverage level that corresponds with that number. What this means is you could end up with coverage that feels great in your budget, but doesn't protect you properly. We'd all feel pretty foolish if we took a policy just to save a few bucks, but in the long-run led to bankruptcy because we weren't covered properly when a worst-case scenario materialized.

This ad campaign, in my opinion, is a disservice to clients. What people ought to do is talk to an agent they're comfortable with, to determine what kind of liability limits they need, and what kinds of additional coverage make sense for their situation. Then, if necessary, work backwards from there to get as close to the needed coverages as their budget will bear.

Myself and a number of community folks got to hear from Mike McInally, the publisher of the Gazette Times in Corvallis at a recent Leadership Corvallis class. Mike graciously donated his time to come speak to our group and put together a fun activity to show us what his news staff goes through on a daily basis to decide what stories make front page. We all had a good time and left with a better understanding of what goes into the daily paper we often times take for granted.

During his talk, Mike admitted to having a strong bias toward local news. I share that bias, and frankly wonder who exactly goes to the GT as a source for anything but local news. One could assume, that even if someone does look to the GT for national/international info, are they likely the demographic (probably over age 65) that the GT really wants to reach out to long term? Do the majority of their advertisers want to reach out to that crowd? Seems to me that the large majority of readers read the GT for local news and info, and then go to their google reader, yahoo news, the huffington post, salon.com , wsj.com or other online venues for their regional, national or international news.

I read the GT online to scan for people I know and local interesting stories. Unfortunately, despite Mike's bias toward local material, over half the paper appears to be supplied by the Associated Press. In fact, today's local business section didn't contain a single local story? Is there not enough going on in Corvallis to fill 5 or 6 pages? Is there not enough staff to manage the different beats for daily stories?

I'm not sure why local papers like ours continue to fill their pages with AP material, but it seems to me going to an all local model would be hugely profitable and generate a great amount of loyalty. Why not allow local people to contribute stories? Why not source local blogs? How much do the AP fees run, and could that instead be used to fund another local reporter?

A great example of this intense local focus working in a small town newspaper comes from the book "Made to Stick". Here's an excerpt.

Dunn, North Caroline, is a small town about 40 miles south of Raleigh. It has 14,000 residents and its workforce is primarily blue-collar. The local diner is packed in the morning with people eating big breakfasts and drinking coffee. Waitresses call you "hon." All in all, Dunn is a pretty normal place, except for one fact: Almost everyone in Dunn reads the local paper, the Daily Record. As a matter of fact, more than everyone in Dunn reads the paper. The Daily Record's penetration in the Dunn community is 112 percent, which is the highest penetration of any newspaper in the country. What explains this remarkable success?

The Dunn Daily Record was founded in 1950 by Hoover Adams. Throughout his tenure as publisher, Adams has believed newspapers need to be relentlessly local in their coverage. In fact, asked why the Daily Record has been so successful, Adams replies: "It's because of three things: Names, names, and names." In 1978, frustrated by what he felt was an insufficient focus on local issues in the paper, he wrote a memo to his staff, explaining his views. "A local newspaper can never get enough local names. I'd happily hire two more typesetters and add two more pages in every edition if we had the names to fill them up."

Look at how Adams communicates his core message. He says he'd hire more typesetters if the reporters could generate enough names. This is forced prioritization: Local focus is more important than minimizing costs! He also speaks in clear, tangible language. Is there a staffer who won't understand what Adams means by "names"? Adams can't possibly be involved in the vast majority of decisions at the paper. But his employees don't suffer from decision paralysis, because Adams is clear: "names, names, and names." Do we run the inspiring human interest story from the wire service, or the boring city council meeting with public testimony on the roadway bond issue? The boring city council story. It has more names, so it wins.

If the GT would head in this direction, I'd be a hardcopy subscriber, daily reader, and more consistent advertiser. Who wouldn't? Hoover Adams was right- people like to read about people and businesses they know. Names, names, names please.

Tuesday, June 9th
5:30-6:30pm
Madison Ave Collective

Health insurance can be confusing, but it doesn’t have to be. At Money Talks this month we'll go over the basics of health insurance and how you can be sure you have the right coverage.

Bring your policy paperwork to receive individual consultation during the Q&A session. Post questions beforehand to the Facebook event wall or send them directly to me.

Afterward head over to the Darkside Cinema to catch a 7pm movie. Money Talks attendees will receive FREE admission, courtesy of Chris Nordyke State Farm and the Darkside. Movie listings can be found at www.darksidecinema.com.

Your RSVP (via Facebook or hello@workwithrebecca.com) is appreciated. Attendance is limited to 20 people.