Sparkatopia

Here is a a Blog posting I wrote for the Kodak “Grow Your Biz” blog. I appreciate being asked to guest blog!

Not so long ago, while working at a small mom and pop shop called Banta, now RR Donnelley, we received a 1500 page catalog with a set of proofs. This business-to-business catalog was nothing special, some product shots, some body copy explaining the items, pricing and tables. You know the usual catalog fare. The customer expressed to us the “critical” nature of their color needs and we told them that we would take good care of their files. They asked for contract grade proofs on their cover, chapter openers and random pages throughout the catalog.

So we generated our highest quality Fuji Final Proofs for this customer. After receiving the proofs, we received an irate phone call from them saying we didn’t do what they asked. They complained that the color on our proofs was way off!!!? We scratched our heads in disbelief, and looked back at the last time the proofer was calibrated. Things seemed in check, as our proofer was calibrated to SWOP recommendations. Investigating further into the process with the customer, we found out that we hadn’t matched their proofs. We tried digging into the job jacket to get a sample of their proofs, thinking for a moment they were Kodak Approvals or some other high quality dot generated contract proofs. Well…not even close. Their proofs were all generated with an inexpensive, store purchased, desktop ink jet printer.

They said, “We like the reds and blues better on our proofs, please match out proofs!”

Needless to say, any customer who asks us to match proofs generated from a cheap desktop printer is in no mood or mindset to talk CMYK gamut and ink sets. At the end of the day, a few new calibrations curves for our plates seemed to satisfy the customer somewhat, but they were not truly 100% happy.

Helping customers understand expectations with regards to proofing is a hard task in this day and age of commodity-based printing. Clients come and go to the printer with the best pricing and with the advent of desk top publishing, almost any Tom, Dick or Harry can put together a catalog, or so says their boss!

It’s so important to have proper UPFRONT communication with your customer to help alleviate these types of situations. Many times we say we don’t have time to educate our customers, but we certainly found time to build new calibration curves and reset the customer’s expectations. This process would have been so much easier if we were able to do this before the fact.

Jess, Your long lost and forgotten MacBook Pro loves you and wants to return to the fold. Ever since your new love has entered your life, things just have not been the same. You don’t communicate anymore. You are out late and seen with that “other” Apple product. I’m lonely, hurt and sad without you. Why, Why Why?? I ask myself. Please come back!

I miss You Dearly, Jess! from Lisa Cruz on Vimeo.

So this is so weird. This afternoon, I was given an update for the iPhone Hootsuite app. The updates said “just bug fixes,” but its so much more!!!

This update has some great new features, geotagging, Reply to all… it keeps track of your last users in a contact page for easy reference… sort of like tweetdeck. There is a translate tweet function also. This new version, version 1.1.0, allows you to integrate facebook also. Very slick.

Here are screen shots to prove it. Whats odd, is at 9:00 PM CST, I seem to be the only person talking about this… well @rosslarocco and I are talking about it.  But no hootsuite blog activity, no talk about it on twitter. The hootsuite paid app has been pulled from the itunes app store, the lite version is still available 1.0.6.

Whats going on? Am I an unsuspecting beta tester?

Lisa Cruz and Tommy Clifford talk about applications of FourSquare in business. Tommy recently became mayor of the local North Shore Bank. They sent him a letter rewarding him on his accomplishment. How cool is that? Is your business keeping an eye on who is “checking in” at your business? Are you thinking of ways to participate in the conversation?

Red Shoes Speaks No. 21 FourSquare Applications in Business from Lisa Cruz on Vimeo.

Dear world, I LOVE MY NEW JOB!!!

How cool is this?

Love, Tommy

3030 Lowell Drive

Green Bay, WI 54311

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release For additional information contact:

Tim McAdow

(920) 965-9720

HC MILLER COMPANY NAMES THOMAS CLIFFORD DIGITAL DEVELOPMENT MANAGER

Seasoned Variable Data, Workflow and Social Media Veteran a Resource for Customers

Green Bay, Wis., March 24, 2010…HC Miller Company, a leader in organizational product manufacturing and information distribution, today announced the addition of Thomas Clifford to its employee owned organization.  As the Digital Development Manager, Clifford will leverage his broad experience to help clients communicate their information electronically across multiple channels.  This will include distribution using the internet and digital printing technology such as the newly installed Xerox iGEN4^®.  He will also support the fast growing development and deployment of customized communication portals for customers in the world of Web-to-Print.

Clifford comes to HC Miller with over 20 years of electronic experience.  He spent the last 14 years in several leadership and customer facing roles for Banta Corporation, now RR Donnelly.  He has been a passionate participant in emerging technology during those years with a strong focus on industry education and collaboration.  “Tom’s love for all things digital and teaching people how to use technology to improve their processes will serve HC Miller’s customers very well” sites HC Miller’s Director of Operations, Jeff Collier.  One of Clifford’s specialties is new media applications.  He will work directly with customers on how to leverage new media channels such as FaceBook, Twitter and Linkedin.  Currently he is one of Wisconsin’s most followed on the social media application Twitter.

About HC Miller Company

HC Miller is a 100% employee owned company that has been delivering innovative products and services for over 120 years.  The Company also offers innovative communication and multimedia solutions for the marketing, promotion and delivery of information for its customers.  The Company also provides organizational products such as index tabs, binders and filing solutions to the healthcare, government, dental and legal markets through a network of over 350 dealers and distributors.  In addition, The Company is a leading provider of equipment placement services for the flexographic market, service printers and converters across the world.

For more information about HC Miller, visit www.hcmiller.com.

CONTACT:  HC Miller Company

Tim McAdow, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, 920-965-9720

For this week Online with Erin Davisson, I was asked about a new social media craze called FourSquare. FourSquare is a geo-location tool to tell your friends where you. Kinda like geo-tagging in the big city. You get points for going to different places and can see how many points your friends have.  See what Ross LaRocco and myself have to say to Erin. Thanks Erin and WFRV for having me on the show again!

Are you a digital hoarder? Tommy and Jess discuss how Gmail and cloud computing have changed the way we store and search for information. Is Google changing the way individuals will file information forever? Let us know your thoughts on Twitter using the hash tag #redshoesspeak.

Red Shoes Speaks No. 15 Digital Hoarding from Jessica Dennis on Vimeo.

In a world of 24/7 news and social media communication, how should Toyota have handled their recent recalls that affected 2.3 million vehicles? Tommy and Lisa discuss crisis communications and examples of how companies have handled similar situations. What would be your advice to Toyota? #redshoesspeak

Red Shoes Speak No. 13: Toyota’s Crisis Communications Mishap from Jessica Dennis on Vimeo.

Today is my 14th anniversary at my place of business. I love my job and I love the people I work with. Over my 14 years I have met many-a-people, but I’m pretty sure this one person ranks “Best in Class” if not best ever. For this example we will call him John. John was a sales guy at our organization and I had the opportunity to go on many a sales calls with him as the tech rep. I loved going on the road with John has he always made the trip pleasurable. John has shown by example how to excel. I think you’ll see why.

After each business trip I took with John, he would always send a hand written note on personal stationary. This is just the coolest thing ever. Its amazing to get a note saying thank you. Who many times do you help someone and not even get a smile or thank you.  I have worked with sales people who would not even pick you up at their airport, let alone send a thank you card. Little notes of appreciation really make the difference!! This example has shown me how to be a better person as I now send out thank you cards from time to time. The impact of a thank you card is HUGE!

The second example that John is to me brings me back to my 14th anniversary. John left the company a few months back, but this AM, I received a personal email from John congratulating me on my milestone. John is always good for a birthday wish and an anniversary phone call or email. Even away from his old job, he still remembers his co-workers. What a shining example.

The last example of how John has influenced my life took place about 5 or 6 years ago. We had the opportunity to fly to a customer site together. Nothing very remarkable about that… it gets better. While on a layover in Chicago‘s O’Hare Airport, we had some flight issues. I’m not sure exactly what took place but we need to get re-ticketed for our flight. John asked for my ticket and graciously took care of the heavy lifting. After a few minutes in line, he handed me back my boarding pass and I didn’t think another thing of it. Well that was until the ground crew started boarding and asked for the first class passengers. Oh course I paid no attention until John punched me in the arm and said “Hey that’s you..look at your ticket man.”

No sooner did I look at my boarding pass and I noticed I was seated in seat 1A. What the…how did I get a first class ticket? Well here’s the back story. While taking care of the re-ticketing, John used some of his frequent flier miles to upgrade to first class, but he used them on my seat. He sat in coach and I sat in first class.

John has to be the classiest person I have ever worked with, bar none. He is a shining example of a great father, husband, co-worker and I’m proud to call him a friend. There are so many ways he has influenced my life. All who know him know exactly what I’m talking about. While I sat in first class, the real first class sat in coach! Thanks John.

This is an open letter to the CEO and all the employees of Northwest Airlines.

This last week I had the pleasure of flying your airlines on a business trip from Appleton Wi to St. Louis, Mo connecting through Minneapolis, MN. The day before my return flight, there were some pretty nasty storms in the midwest that caused havoc to travelers all over the US. When Minneapolis is backed up, that pain can be felt in many a city around the US. This was true in St. Louis as my departing flight was delayed several hours due to the previous days weather related backups and a runway that was closed in Minneapolis.

Once I boarded the flight to Minneapolis I had a sneaking suspicion that my regional flight to Appleton would be delayed. As i’ve learned, regional flights get canceled by almost anything minor… if a flight attendant gets an hangnail — so bad weather is a shoe-in for delayed or canceled flights to Appleton. Once we landed in Minneapolis, over the loudspeaker, the flight attendant gave us a 1-800 number to call to find out about connecting flight status. I called he number and found out that my connecting flight was not delayed but had been canceled. This really wasn’t any huge newsflash, what made me wince was the amount of time I thought I would have to stand in line, dealing with getting a seat on what would most likely be an oversold later flight. These types of situations ALWAYS bring out the worst in people. I try to keep a cool head and roll with the flow, but not all travelers can say the same.I know the ground staff tries to do their best, but all people want to do is get home… Ahhh the glamor of business travel.

As I deplaned, my mind turned into survival mode. Where’s the monitors, and where the closest ground agent to get me re-ticketed on a later flight, wheres the bathrooms as its going to be a long time in line and I need to prepare myself.  I had to act fast as I know others are in the same boat. Upon exiting the jetway, I was greeted by the nicest gentleman in Northwest blue. He asked if I needed assistance with my connecting flight. I told him I called the 1-800 number and was told my connection had been cancelled and that I needed to get furhter info on a later flight. He then said the magic words I thought I would never ever hear… “Please go over to the counter, find your name and find your updated ticket and itinerary”

So I made a 90 degree turn and made a beeline for the ticket counter. These in nice rows where the new seat assignmentss for many if not all of the passengers that had cancelled flights. I quickly found my name, which was highlighted in yellow on the boarding pass. I had a seat on the 7:55 PM flight to Appleton. A confirmed seat… WOW!!!  Not only did I get a seat, but there was a voucher for 2500 free frequent flier miles and another voucher for $50 off my next NWA flight.

So let me see if I got this right. I don’t need to find a free ground agent to get re-booked. I don’t need to schlep myself and my luggage in line along with 50+ other people who are all mad, tired and missing their families… to get re-ticketed? AND NWA was giving me $50 off another flight and frequent flier miles to boot? Remember this wasn’t their fault, its mother natures gig here. This was some customer service!!! I love it!

This is exactly what I call customer service and the reason I am now going to look for chances to book flights on NorthWest Airlines. THANK YOU Northwest for an amazing customer sevice experience, Love Tommy.