Clever::Tagline::Pending

What would you do if an customer was not satisfied with a product that you sold and tried to tell you what he felt about it? Would you be able to accept the customer’s evaluation of the product’s experience?

I told my regular sales guy for health supplements that I thought one of his products tastes nasty, like drinking powdered plastic. The reaction I received was a defensive one, right from the start. The issues he addressed did not relate to what I was trying to tell him (Him: “This product is high in roughage.”, Me: “This tastes like crap.”). It was only after I pointed out to him that I was contributing customer feedback that the fences went down just a tad.

That was an opportunity for my sales guy to strengthen the customer relationship. Rather than take a defensive stance, a tone that is more empathetic would have worked more to his favour. By gettting to “my” side of the equation, it would have been far easier to make up for the subpar customer experience.

“I’m sorry that you felt it tastes so bad. We approved the product for consumption by our customers only after it has passed our tests. We value you as a customer and we want to continue making our relationship a mutually beneficial one. We can offer you an exchange for the product to any other available flavour or you can swap this product for a different one of the same or lower price. How about that?”

It’s entirely possible that I have decided not to continue my customer relationship with him but the company would have left a lasting and positive impression in my mind.

This is so heartwarming, have you given someone a free hug today?

The Miniature Earth website depicts Earth inhabited by 100 people who inherit current world proportions. Its a sobering message delivered in a very effective form. With the IMF meetings in Singapore, I truly hope that agreements are reached to deliver aid to those who depend on it.

You might want reconsider before grabbing that remote control. Well, at least if you’re in the States. KFC has launched a new television campaign that rewards DVR enabled viewers who are patient enough to sit through the ad. Emphasis on the patient bit, KFC has placed a hidden message stored in a few frames that allows said viewers to obtain coupons for redeeming their new Buffalo Snacker chicken sandwich.

It’s an attempt at co-existing with services like TiVo and its unique, I’ll give it that. However, I can’t imagine people bearing repeated viewing of the TV spot.

via Jesse James Garrett

From the Scobleizer, humorous look at how the ubiquitous iPod packaging might turn out if Apple outsourced the design to Microsoft.

Seth Godin talks about ssahn.com, a korean blog. It seems like the people in the pictures are saying hello to other “One-Eye-ers” and I was struck by the sheer diversity of the images as well as of the people captured in those images.

A List Apart has a great article on Corporate Prose. Paragraphs full of such juicy buzzwords like “Enterprise Intelligence” or “Strategic Competencies” or “Innovative Employer – Employee Synergistic Partnership for Added Client Value” seem to be epidemic on the internet. Erin Kissane lets on some tips on coming face to face with these brain sucking monstrosities and surviving to live another day.

To be totally honest, I had a period where I was, how do you put it, craving some brain shake myself. Like every other web design agency (and I use the words, design & agency in the most loose sense possible), my agency wasn’t just me by myself. O’ no, I had a collektiv of designers and developers to draw from. Along with a faux artistic sensibility that could only be borne out of 3 months with Photoshop and eyeballing iDN.

And I used ‘Open’ & ‘Collaboration’ in the same sentence. Oh, the horror!

Eventually, I came to my senses and gradually decreased my brain intake. Today, I’m fully de-zombified and fighting the good fight against the living dead copy.