At $100/hr, Sometimes Apology is Not Enough

When we make a mistake in our office, and it happens, more often than I like, I feel like I owe the client something, moor than just an apology.

Think of all the times you been on hold with Bank of America, or Verizon, or (you fill in the blank) for something that was out of your control- a mistake was made on their end, and you have to suffer through 10, 15, 20 minutes, or an hour during your day to get it resolved. Of course the call ends with a genuine "I'm sorry" (in most cases), but nothing to account for your time, taken from you.

Although I don't see this on paper, I tend to value my time at $100 an hour- free time is scarce. I have relationships I can be nurturing, whether it be clients, future clients, my family, or my employees. I also have things I enjoy doing like blogging, reading, working out, taking pictures. And frankly, I'm pretty good at what I do. There is a value on my time, and there's a high value on yours too.

It has always annoyed me, that after wrangling with these call centers for sometimes hours to correct a mistake of theirs, I get nothing in return for that expenditure.

So in my office, when we screw up, if it's caused our client time, in any amount, we nearly always send a card with a gift. Certainly, we can't apologize to the tune of $100 an hour, but I feel like it's important people are compensated for their time. It's a simple gesture, but an important one.

I like this. It doesn't quite make me feel better when I mess something up, and it's certainly not something I can be proud of doing. It just seems like the right and reasonable thing to do.

This post is tough to write, because I know we haven't executed this policy perfectly, but that's our goal. Of course a business' goal in the first place is to not make mistakes, but when they do, the great ones make it right. And sometimes an apology just isn't enough.

What do you think? Have you found companies that truly have satisfied you after screwing up? How did they show they valued your time?

Professional Networking- reflections of a small business owner

Last night I attended our local Young Pros event. It was at Epic Day Spa and there must have been at least 50 or more people in attendance. A well-executed event and fun seeing many familiar faces and a few new ones.

As I was leaving, I overheard one of the young pros commenting to a couple others, " wow, that was tacky, did you notice how they just barged in to the conversation without even introducing themselves? That was awkward."

Over the course of my relatively short career in sales, business development and marketing, I've lived through hundreds, if not thousands of awkward social/professional moments. Some of those moments I've been the source of awkwardness,and many others, An innocent bystander.

Socializing in large groups, as a general rule, does not come naturally for most people, particularly when there's a professional tone or objective to the gathering.

If you're new to networking or attending groups like Young Pros or Chamber events or other gatherings, whatever your motivation is, allow me to share with you some best practices I've gleaned from many experiences over the last 7 or 8 years. I'll conclude with an article that think offers some additional practical tips.

When I first began building businesses, volume was the most important thing to me. I felt that the more people I knew, the better. Go to all the events, and figure out how to meet as many people as possible, along the way doing my best to remember everyone's names with various mental tricks.

This approach was not fruitless, but it doesn't scale well. I met many wonderful people over those first few years, and many have become great friends and clients, but it took substantially more investment, beyond just showing up, shaking hands, and asking what they do (where do you work?).

Over the last few years though, my focus has changed dramatically. I reflected on this as i left Young Pros. I'd rather connect with 1 person at an event, in a meaningful way, than shake hands and give my name and/or card to 50. (in fact I rarely carry biz cards with me any more.)

Most of those contacts and acquaintances from my early years that have actually become friends and clients, are ones I became personally vested in. I gave of myself in some way and/or spent significant time in non-business related conversation.

I'm finding it's best to focus on making friends, versus making clients.

I don't think my earlier years were markedly less authentic on my part, I simply put a lot more pressure on myself to be more "productive" at events and meetings. Turns out, "productivity" can come much more naturally and pleasurably than I initially thought.

If you're new to "networking" or just wanted to dig through a good read, check out some practical tips and reminders in this article from CIO.com

One of the guys in the article is Keith Ferrazi, who wrote the book, Never Eat Alone. Keith is very focused on networking via meaningful connection and authentic relationships.

How to Network: 12 Tips

Thanks for reading, would love to hear your thoughts about networking and navigating social/professional events.

*Photo by WHIR.com

Zappos and the Age of Reciprocity

There's been a lot of hubub over Zappos' recent web debacle that resulted in a $1.6m loss. Apparently some web dev person made a coding error that priced all items on the site at $49.95, even these. You can read the story here if you want the details.

Most of the coverage has focused on how rad Zappos is for standing behind their pricing despite it being a mistake. I actually find this humorous. This kind of thing happens quite often, of course maybe not on the same scale, but in every case I'm aware of, the company eats it. That's business. Mistakes generally cost money, and companies with over $1B in revenue make $1m mistakes. That is not news.

The story is interesting no doubt, because a "handful" of late night shoppers scored big time.

The real story though, is the love affair America has with Zappos, including the press and the blogosphere. I awoke to friends and bloggers I read tweeting and retweeting the story like crazy. Zappos has built up so much goodwill from it's Wow! service model, that people are chomping at the bit to promote them. They can't help themselves.

This is human nature. Robert Cialdini talks about this in his book, "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion". When we give first, without expectation of receiving, there is an innate and powerful drive in that recipient, to reciprocate that generous act.

Zappos has harnessed this law of human interaction perfectly, and it's been costly-the word on the street is that Zappos technically has yet to make a profit (free shipping/returns, get well soon cards, bereavement flowers, and generally all around awesome treatment doesn't come cheap). And yet Amazon recently bought them for $1B. Crazy. Or maybe not so crazy when you consider the goodwill that Zappos possesses.

Jeff Bezos didn't pay a billion dollars for a web retailer. He paid a billion dollars for a deep customer portfolio that just can't wait to reciprocate.

Your Opinion Please, Really

Had a great chat with a friend of mine last night. At one point he said, "I want more of your opinion on me. More honest criticism. I like the cheerleading and affirmation, but I need more criticism. It's valuable to me. I'm interested in what you have to say."

Being positive, affirming, optimistic, and generally nice is virtuous, to be sure. But if it's not tempered with genuine candor and thoughtful criticism, it's pretty shallow and empty.

Offering criticism requires a lot of courage- it puts both the giver in a pretty vulnerable spot.

"Maybe I'm making too big a deal out of this."
"What if they don't agree with my perspective?"
"If they keep it up, then I'll say something- maybe this is an isolated occurrence."
"It's not my place to call them out. If they want my opinion, they'll ask."
"If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all"
"Maybe it's just a matter of personality- it's probably not worth bringing up"

We have no problem talking ourselves out of providing criticism/feedback. It's far more comfortable to avoid it.

Here's a thought to ponder:

The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism. ~ Norman Vincent Peale

Brett the Barber and the Multi-Media Train

Yesterday, I participated in Corvallis Social Media Brigade's most recent event, the Multi-Media Train. The goal was to photograph and video as many businesses as possible on our route, and use that content online to promote them in a unique and long-lasting way.

Much to our surprise, most, yes you heard me right, most of the businesses gave us a cold shoulder. Here was a crew of movers and shakers in Corvallis, some families with kids, professional web developers, videographers, bloggers and other social media types, eager to help local businesses, and in some cases, they even turned us away.

I wish I could say I was shocked.

Granted, we were an odd bunch. This doesn't happen every day in Corvallis, and yes it's a little weird when a group of people comes in with video cameras and point and shoots aimed in your direction. However, is it that hard to see the opportunity in it?

For most of the shops we went in, we were met with blank stares, sheepish grins, and when given a chance to welcome us to their business on camera, at least 3 to 1 declined. Because our group loves Corvallis, most of this video will never see the light of day- because it'd be shameful for these business owners.

The question is, would it be shameful to the employees we met? Have they ever been taught differently? Have they ever been given license to think on behalf of the business? It certainly makes me stop and think, as a business owner. Do my employees know how I would respond should a group of passionate community folks randomly stop in my office? Would they respond with excitement and warmth, or would they try to protect our space and keep the "weirdos" out?

Now, before I end on a sourly reflective note, let me tell you about a RAD experience we had while on the train.

I insure a lot of barbers and hair salons. So I bounce around a bit, as far as where I get my hairs cut. One of the places I go is City Barber Shop. It's a little two person shop with a real barber pole hung outside of the door. No frills. Old school chairs, a tv, and a rack of magazines. They close at 5. We came by at 5:05 and the door was already locked and the blinds drawn. I could tell they were still in though, so I knocked on the door.

Brett came to the door and asked what we were up to. I said "We're doing a photo walk, taking video and pictures to promote local businesses, can we come in?" He said of course, put the barber pole back out, raised the blinds and started chatting us up. We finally have a live one, I thought!

Loyan Roylance was outside on the sidewalk, so I flagged him down. "We've got a taker, come on in!" I then asked Brett the Barber, "If you'll give Loyan a mohawk right now, we'll produce a YouTube video of it and throw it up online for you. You interested?" Brett replied, "Sure, come on over, hop in the chair."

Over the next twenty minutes or so, we all laughed and joked around, snapped 20 or 30 photos of Brett cutting Loyan's hair, and listened to Brett give us the history of the shop. The impromptu media event culminated with the group photo above.

That 30 minutes restored my faith in the small business. There is hope. Some "get it". Do you think it was worth his time to stay those extra 20 minutes and give a "free" hair cut?

(Oh, and by the way, Brett doesn't even own the business. He's an employee, and has been for 11 years.)

What are we teaching our employees? Wait, better yet. What are we modeling for them?

Never Just Say No

I posted recently on the Madison Avenue Collective's blog. Would love for your thoughts and comments:

Here's a preview and a link to the rest:

Never Just Say No
Never just say no. There’s almost always a better answer, for both of you.

I monitor some keywords on twitter via some Hootsuite columns. One of them is “insurance” and I have a geo-tag with it to grab tweets mentioning “insurance” within a 40 mile radius of Corvallis.

Once every week or two I catch someone asking a question or mentioning they’re getting quotes, and I respond. Earlier this week was just such an opportunity. (Cont'd)

Lessons on Business from Marriage (or vice versa)

As humans, we generally don't take criticism well. This really greets us in nearly every sphere of our life, but perhaps most painfully in marriage.

As a professional, I have both publicly and privately embraced the value of criticism. I cherish the rare bits of negative criticism I've received over the years, and actively evangelize the value of criticism to fellow business owners.

Despite that professional posture, I too struggle with criticism, specifically, as mentioned above, within marriage. Cara and I have been participating in a marriage class for the last couple months. It’s been a great experience, significantly heightening my awareness of how I communicate my wife, and by extension, others I interact with.

One of the things we’ve been encouraged to work on during this class, is truly committing to understanding our partner’s deepest needs. This involves genuinely seeking to understand our spouses feelings. Here comes the challenging part for me: when Cara reveals her feelings to me about something, my gut reaction at times is to take a defensive posture, or to explain to her why her feelings aren’t valid.

Case and point-
Last week Cara texted me earlier in the day asking when I’d be home from the office/work/meetings/networking. I told her my last meeting was done at 6, (at least that’s how I remember saying it). What she heard, (and what I probably did say) was that I’d be home at 6. Well, 6:25 rolled around and I finally traipsed through the door. You can see where this is going.

*Update
I shared the post with Cara, and afterward felt like it was only fair for me to share a bit more. First of all, this whole episode (along with the hurt feelings) started with a phone conversation as I was driving home from my meeting. That phone conversation ended with me hanging up on my wife. Ugh. Not proud of that. A moment of frustration- frustrated at myself that I was yet again late, but ultimately putting it on Cara. Oh, and for a bit more perspective, this particular week, I'd been out after 6 nearly every night of the week. (I don't at all want to present my wife as being petty or a nag. Quite the contrary)

Fast forward later into the evening. “Babe, I feel like you’re upset with me for some reason. Are you upset because I was late?” (knowing full well that was likely the cause of her funk) She replied, “ Ya, actually it really hurt my feelings that you showed up late. You said you’d be home, so I had dinner already to go and it’s been a long day with the kids.”

I then went on to explain why occasionally I don’t have control over when I get out of meetings/events. “I don’t have a 9-5 job, where once I leave the office, I just hang up the hat and I’m done.” and “I never know when I’ll run into an existing client, or take a call from someone who needs to get a policy going,” or “Look, it’s just 15 minutes. When was the last time you miscalculated and came home from work 30 minutes late? Did I give you a hard time about it?”

Man, it’s hard to bare this out for all to see. but truth is, this is my world.

My response ultimately shut the conversation down. Where can Cara go from there? I’ve just invalidated her feelings. She was trying to help me understand better how I make her feel, and I’ve essentially told her to buck up and get over it. Ugh.

Obviously, this gut reaction to defend and invalidate is not just limited to our marriages.

Have you ever taken a similar posture with a client that is trying to provide feedback? Has a business owner ever given you that kind of response? Is there ever a good time to “defend”, invalidate or marginalize the feedback someone is giving?

Share your experience, start a conversation. This is good for us to mull over. I'm curious if this example even resonates with folks. I tend to find a lot of lessons from marriage that have application in my business. If it strikes a chord, I'll continue to share these examples as they come up. -chris