FYE Training Needs Help

FYE has some problems with customer relations.
FYE takes in DVD’s and CD’s for store credit. So, in November, I took some  DVD’s  over to my local FYE on a Saturday afternoon.
A young man at the counter politely  explained that they don’t take trades on the weekend. It’s too busy. Come back during the week. I nodded and said I would, thanks.
I work weekdays  so it was a few weeks later when I had a free evening and made a special trip back to FYE with my DVD’s.
Another employee, a pleasant young man, said, “I’m sorry but we’re not taking any trades now until after Christmas. Our stock is too full.”
I was mildly irritated but understood.
A few nights ago I tried it again. I walked in at 8:05 p.m.
I plopped my booty  on the counter. Before I could say a word, a rather forceful young woman shook her head: “We don’t take trades after 8 o’clock.”
I’m a mild mannered guy, patient. To a point.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“No,” the woman said. “Not after 8. It’s store policy.”
A young man next to her, ringing up a customer, said, “It’s company policy. It’s always been that way.”
I felt my face get hot. “Do you have any other little rules and policies you haven’t mentioned? This is my third trip here.”
“No,” the girl said. “We have to process them and that’s why we don’t take them after 8.” She saw my anger and softened. “We take them during the day and even Friday nights — before 8.”
I walked out without another word.” I’ve never done that before.
But they did everything wrong. The girl, while not confrontational, was not friendly. She was the epitome of the cold bureaucrat “just following orders,” just adhering to “company policy.”
Anyone in PR or marketing knows that she should have been — right or wrong –  apologetic:  “I’m sorry no one explained that to you . . . I’m sorry you had to make three trips in. . . .”
Her partner should have kept his mouth shut. First, he was dealing with his own customer and should have been paying full attention to him. The customer should not have been put in an uneasy position of now being part of something unpleasant.
And please, don’t ever, ever tell me “it’s always been that way.”
Though the kid didn’t mean it to be, it’s condescending. It inherently says, “you’re new to this game and you didn’t play by our rules– rules that we’ve always had.”
Yes, I’m new to bringing in DVD’s for credit but I’ve been a customer with FYE and its predecessor, Record Town, for longer than these two clerks have been alive.
I’ve spent thousands of dollars in this place.
I do not blame the clerks. I blame management. There are holes in the training.

Isolated case?  Maybe, but there shouldn’t be isolated cases in customer relations.

This was bad customer relations.  Bad public relations.  Bad marketing.

Business is business. Right?

Not when you’re dealing with people.

Ali Soufan, Mansfield University & a “Small Beam of Light”

I covered my 50th Mansfield University commencement recently.  Over the years the speakers have melted into a quiet mumble of forgotten words.

But Saturday’s speaker, Ali Soufan,  hit home in a personal way.  The  former FBI Agent was lead investigator in the USS Cole bombing,  He was a key investigator after the 9/11 attacks, an Al-Qaeda expert and one of the FBI’s lead counter terrorism investigators.
He interrogated suspected terrorists,  and partly because he speaks Arabic, partly because he took the time to understand religious beliefs, and partly because he treated them as humans, they often talked.

The FBI called Soufan a “national treasure.”  Others called him an “American hero.”

He left the FBI n 2005 and created his own international security firm. Later, when various officials defended “enhanced interrogation”  as a means to obtaining information, Soufan came forward and denounced torture. He testified at the 2009 Senate Judicial Hearings on torture,  providing facts that others sought to ignore. He wrote an op-ed piece in The New York Times and has been quoted by Time and Newsweek.

He came up against anyone who defended torture, including the Vice President of the United States.

Soufan doesn’t do it for the publicity, though he was profiled in a long piece in The New Yorker.

He does it for the sake of truth, for what he believes in.
“My service to our country has put me in difficult situations,” Soufan told the MU audience.  “I’ve seen man at his worst, and man at his best.  I can tell you that in the darkest of moments, there are those who provide a light.  Never forget that a small beam of light is enough to overpower a whole room of darkness.  Never underestimate the impact that you alone, sticking to your principles, can have.”
Inspirational words  are expected at commencements, but Soufan has earned the right to share them.  He’s put himself in  danger more than once because of his principles.

And it struck me like never before that, yes, each student sitting here, waiting to cross the stage, pick up his or her diploma and enter the world, can make a difference.

Why did this speaker’s words ring so true?

Because in 1994 Ali Soufan sat in this same spot, crossed the stage, accepted his diploma, and entered the world.

Kill These Words & Phrases Part 3

“Put a unique spin on this, throw it out there so it can grow legs, get some traction and go viral.  I want a footprint!”

I woke in a cold sweat.

Words and phrases that should be killed are sprouting faster than zombies in a George A.Romero film.   They’re more persistent than sallow vampires in the twilight.  I can’t stop thinking about them though some say I’m anal (props to Freud for that evergreen).  Others have likened our kind to being word police, but I consider us mavericks.  No, wait.  The paunchy maverick slid back to the Senate  and unleashed The Rogue.

Yikes!  I step back from that since the first definition of “rogue” in dictionary.com is “a dishonest, knavish person; a scoundrel.”  Hmm.  Well, I guess it’s safe to call yourself a rogue if you know your audience never uses a dictionary.

Actually, I’m just a guy who loves the language, respects the creative use of it and dislikes lazy use of language, especially among “educated” professionals.  I’m just giving you a heads-up that.

Really, I’m being totally transparent.

The phrase making the sales rep rounds is “reaching out.”  Several, from different parts of the country have used that on me, always beginning, “Dennis, I’d like to reach out and see how our company can help you.”

Well, friend, it’s like this:  if I’m drowning, I really want you to reach out and help me.  However, if your goal is to fill inventory, get the manager off your back and boost your commission, a simple media kit will do.  If it looks like your station is a good fit, I’ll reach out to you.

And then you know what we’ll do?  We’ll have a conversation!

Actually I’ve heard this in higher ed more than in the media.  It usually begins with a problem (masked as “a challenge”) between two people or parties who disagree (have “different goals”) and the path to a solution is to have one of these conversations.  Conversation implies civility which means you can’t raise your voice or even let your face get red from rising blood pressure.

“Conversations” are bland, mishmashes of buzzwords that suffocate our ancient instincts to reach out and kill the opponent.

Hey,  I’m just sayin’. . . .

****

( I’ve had a lot of feedback from readers.  I’m thinking of setting up a separate page with all three posts and everyone’s contributions.  So please send me the words and phrases that drive you nuts.)

Note:  Thanks to the guys over at Target x  who picked up on our shared love of language and continued the, umm, conversation.

More Words & Phrases I’d Like to See Dead

Back in January I did a post on Words and Phrases That Should be Buried.

I’m on Rant 2.

“Literally” is still the most overused word.  It is the Ramen of our vocabulary.

Here are more additions:

Wrap my head around it. I never got this phrase.  It conjurs up something you’d see  watching a Bugs Bunny cartoon.  I think this image came from an aging hippie suffering one too many acid trips.

Getting eyeballs is  overused in the worlds of advertising, marketing and the Web. It’s a disgusting image, conjuring up pictures of those bloody eyeballs you see on low budget horror films and Garbage Pail Kids trading cards.  “Getting eyeballs” still doesn’t address getting the mind behind the eyeballs to concentrate on the message.

Silos. I’ve just starting hearing this in office conversation and I’ve seen it a few times in writing.  It’s one of those words that creates an appropriate image.  (See yourself as dried corn nestled in your own comfortable silo not wanting to communicate with the corn in the other silos).  The image was used as early as 1989 in the context of “vertical silo syndrome.”   Now I hear it on campus as in “departments are silos,” not caring about other departments.  It’s going to wear itself out fast because it’s an easy concept for lazy speakers.

Butts in seats.  Kind of like “getting eyeballs.”  Butts in seats, of course, is filling seats with people.   So why can’t we say we want to “fill seats?”  We’ve broken humans into butts and eyeballs.  Not a pretty picture.

I don’t know where “creepy“ edged into the national daily dialogue but it spread like The Blob in a microwave.    It probably evolved from “it creeps me out.”  I suppose it’s popular because it’s fun to say and is easily inserted into any kind of description of something somewhat distasteful.  I think it’s adolescent and no one over the age of 18 should be using it.

Unfortunately they do use it.  I heard a middle-aged secretary today relating a story of a couple accidents in which two friends in different parts of the country died about the same time.  “That’s creepy,” she told the other secretary.  “Don’t you think that’s creepy?  I just think that’s really creepy.”

I crept out, wrapping my head around a silo of sanity, keeping my eyeballs straight ahead and my butt far away from any nearby seats.

***

Please send in your candidates for instant death.

The Grocery Store Survey

“It’s a company doing a marketing survey on food buying,” my wife said, handing me the phone.
Yes I do the grocery shopping. I volunteered several years ago to give her more time to attend to her production agency.
I took the phone.  “Hi, my name’s xxxxxx and I’m calling on behalf of Sirs, a marketing  firm. . . . .”
I try to cooperate with marketing firms doing surveys for obvious reasons.
The questions were well structured and it soon was clear that I shop at three different stores: Tops, Wegman’s and Shure Fine. At first, the answers were easy.
As we drilled down, the answers were not so easy. Rate the quality of the selections; rate the variety of offerings; rate the price. . . .
Finally I cut in and said, politely:  “This survey is skewed in the sense that our Shure Fine is a small neighborhood grocery store, not nearly the size of Tops and Wegmans.  There’s no way Shure Fine can compete on selection, variety, even quality on certain things. Can you make a note of that?”
“Well, there’s no place here. . . but I can tell my supervisor.”
I knew where that would go. No room for exceptions in a database that’s already been set up in a world built for Excel, speed and efficiency.
I finished out the survey, which, in my mind, was already worth less than when we started. Tops came out on top because that’s where I shop every week and spend the most money.
Nowhere will those reading the results know that I stop in at Shure Fine three times a week for dairy products, meats and other convenience items.  Or that I’ve done it for 30 years.
It probably won’t matter that the place is clean, the tellers are friendly and the local owner hires and trains local high school students who learn, among other things, interpersonal skills and how to be polite.
There’s nothing in there noting that the owner inherited the business from his father and three generations of the family have contributed enormously to the community.

Again, Sirs is a reputable firm, the questions were well-thought out and logical and the whole experience was professional.

But the results are skewed.

It’s a reminder to take any survey or poll with a healthy grain of salt.

Timeless PR Advice From Media Guru Dick Jones

Note:  Dick Jones is one of the most experienced experts in the higher ed communication world.  He’s also a friend and colleague who’s helped Mansfield University land stories and features in everything from The Chronicle of Higher Ed, The New York Times and USA Today to numerous AP stories and a couple prime spots on NPR. So when he sends a missive to his clients, I pay attention.  I also asked him if I could use his letter as a guest blog post.

Here it is.

It’s time to oversimplify; to be glib and shallow. Why, after all, should I be different from anyone else? In national media relations for colleges there are five over-simplistic formulae that guide our work. These are:

Results: good.

Process: bad.

Advice: good.

Qualitative judgments: bad.

Events: maybe, but probably not.

The news media like stories with results. A study published in a journal qualifies. So does a new book, if you discuss the substance of the book and not just the fact that there is a new book. Numbers help. Admission applications are up by X. Deposits are up by Y.

The news media usually yawn at process. The faculty is debating a new core curriculum? Wake me when it’s over. A task force has been appointed? Call me when they have a report. We’ve received an NSF grant. Remind me about it when you’ve completed the research.

The news media like advice from experts. And all faculty and staff are experts in their fields. If they aren’t, why do you allow them to teach and serve students who are paying for the privilege? Take every opportunity to make your institution advice giver to the world.

The news media aren’t interested in qualitative judgments. Your college has a better freshman year experience than your competitors? Maybe so, but your competitors claim otherwise. And the news media have neither the time nor the inclination to dig deeply enough to settle the question. Now if you are the biggest, the smallest, the oldest, the newest—something that can be quantified—that’s different. (Tip: use advice stories to advance qualitative claims. “Here are four things students and parents should look for in a good freshman experience program, says Dean of Students Joe Blow.”)

The news media are less interested in covering or publicizing events than you think. This was always true. Now that there are fewer people in newsrooms it is even truer. Getting coverage for (positive) news events is no slam dunk even if the president and the deans think otherwise. Under exceptions see “football teams—undefeated.”

Armed with these concepts you are now ready to go into any meeting with faculty and administrators and quickly make yourself persona non grata when you spout them. I’m just kidding. Sort of.

Postscript: Social media is maturing quickly and these rules apply to these media as well.

Putting The Public Back in Public Relations: Part 2

I enter part two of the review of Putting the Public Back in Public Relations reminding you that I think the book  is  valuable.

Putting the Public neatly summarizes the demise of the traditional media and the rise of the social media and PR 2.0.

It’s  ironic that the authors understand and capture  well the new media and the need to communicate ideas  in a quick, concise, clear way that’s tailored to our particular audience, and it takes them 300 pages to do it.

-A 300-page novel is not outmoded.

-A 300 page book on social media is.  With more thought and a good editor it could have been at least 50 fewer pages.

-As soon as it’s published, any references to Robert Scoble’s posts, or Chris Anderson’s blacklist is not news.  In the PR 2.0 world, this stuff is ancient history.

Granted, the  book is both a guidebook and history. But 300 pages is still too long.

The authors repeat things over and over.  I’m sure they’re doing it to drive home their points.  But I, like others, am reading this book because I already read the leading blogs,  listen to podcasts (which is where I heard an interview with them, leading me to buy the book), engage in Twitter, read AdAge and Wired and and follow Scoble.

In the larger picture, these are niggling complaints.  The authors have done a service to a profession in profound evolution, providing a pioneering work that’s  a textbook for the future of PR.

As the authors point out, we’re in the time of a huge transition.  PR is in an era of telling stories and being a part of a community that we understand and contribute to.

With each chapter I found myself grabbing a pencil to mark passages where Brian and Deirdre offer up insight, truth and a clearer way into PR’s future.

Just as importantly, I’ve subscribed to their blogs and sites to keep up with the conversation that they initiated.

Putting the Public Back in Public Relations, A Review

One of my favorites podcasts is FIR (For Immediate Release) with Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson. I was intrigued with a recent interview  with Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridge about their new book Putting the Public Back in Public Relations.
I bought the book.
I’m working my way through it now. I say “working” because it’s not an easy read. I appreciate that. I’ve read so many breezy books filled with slogans, cliches and battle cries that having to really concentrate is a nice change of pace.

I’m reviewing this in two parts because it brings up a lot of issues in this time of apocalyptic transition in communications.

The book revolves around the concept of “PR 2.0,” coined by Solis. It takes a realistic look at what’s wrong with PR today (PR hacks, spammers, lazy “pros” who don’t know or care about the audience they’re pitching to).  I like it.  Call a hack a hack and go forward.  Show them how to improve and if they don’t, follow Wired editor Chris Anderson’s lead and blacklist them.

The book has five parts: “The True Value of PR;” “Facilitating Conversations: New Tools & Techniques;” “Participating in Social Media;” “A Promising Future;” “Convergence.”

The authors do a good job of looking briefly at the history of PR and how after 100 years it has morphed from “throwing it out there and seeing what sticks” to getting to know the “people formerly known as your audience,” participating in conversations and giving and taking.

It’s a huge  transition to go from a century of traditional media that force fed the masses to a global community of “tribes” as Seth Godin defines it.

I started my career as a reporter for a daily newspaper.  I also wrote review columns and did weekly radio shows.  I was an intimate part of the traditional media and I welcomed its downfall in the onslaught of  the rowdy, free-for-all world of blogs, podcasts, vidcasts, and Twitter.

Putting The Public. . . captures this transition very well.  In every chapter I learned something new.

There are also things  I take issue with.

More in Part 2.

Mansfield University’s Journey into the Social Media World

These are notes from a presentation I gave at CUPRAP in Oct. 2009, hoping they’ll be helpful to the audience and my general readers.

Started with podcasting in Oct. 2005. We began with the concept of weekly interviewing freshmen to get their experience, growth, learning first hand as they experienced it. We branched out into interviews with faculty, administration, other students, alumni. We’ve done more than 200 shows and get about 500 hits a month from 10 countries around the world.
Conclusion: Start with a solid concept, knowing your show will evolve. This is the way of social media: content must be good; evolution is inevitable.

Two years ago we began producing and uploading videos on YouTube.
Later, IT created a Mansfield YouTube channel so all videos are uploaded there.
We use Animoto. Upload slides, choose music and it will play the slides in synch with the music. We’ve had a lot of success with it.
IT created Mansfield Facebook page. They synched our news page with so whenever our news director posts a news release it appears on Facebook.
IT ran photo contests and drawings to attract fans. We have about 1300 fans, not bad for a university of 3500 students.
Created Mansfield Twitter. Jury still out on that.

Last spring I started a weekly half hour TV talk show called Conversations.
Concept: 1-2 guests that will be of interest to cable viewers. No special effects. Some B-roll to break things up. Sometimes we go into the field for interviews. Informal dress to avoid image of stuffiness. No ties allowed.
The show has no budget. The only cost is my time and the time of my producer to record and edit it.
We also upload the show to YouTube.

Summer 2009 I started the MU Blog.
Concept: 300 words or less. Can be read in two minutes, but have enough links that it can last two hours. I try to find off beat and human interest things. Try to include as many photos as possible. In one blog linked to photos, web sites, video and podcast.
Whenever I publish a post, I announce it on my Facebook, Twitter, & our internal daily announcement list.
The blog underscores another important concept — on the Web there is no  linear time. I can link to videos and podcasts done a year or two ago. To my blog audience, it’s all new.

The blog opens a whole new world of quick, direct writing, a world of subjects, and multimedia links.

September 2009 Terry’s Take, a 2-minute video news cast went live. Again, no budget. Terry records directly into a web cam, does very light editing and posts. Content is news of interest to faculty and students.

Our home page has become the center of all news activity. It’s where people  go to find news and answers.

in 2008 we formed the Web Advisory Group and meet monthly — the admissions director, news director, myself and IT folks.

The above sounds overwhelming, but you must jump into it. There are perceived challenges:
-the administration doesn’t understand the new technology or the social sites
-administration is wary of it and are afraid of losing control of the university image and message (they’ve already lost it)
-administration is wary of letting you take control because they don’t understand (teach them)
-you don’t understand the full scope of the new media (learn — quickly)
-you don’t have the technical expertise or experience to do a blog or TV show or podcast (well, learn it!)

Other Notes:
Traditional media is plunging into irrelevancy.
Students, parents, alumni, are talking about you in various social media settings.
You need forums where you can engage the above in conversations and share your institution’s stories.
You don’t shotgun your message out and hope people see it and believe it. They find you and if your message, your story is simple, real and sincere, they’ll follow you.

Quality has taken back seat to content. If you have good content you can get away with lesser quality. Cannot have bad content and bad quality.

Excellent quality with bad content is also worthless.

To stay up-to-date with social media, subscribe to:

www.bloghighed.org

Recommended reading:

Putting the Public Back in Public Relations by Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridge. This is the book on how social media is reinventing PR.

Personal:

Questions?  Email me at dmiller@mansfield.edu Put in the subject heading CUPRAP

Note: CUPRAP is the best PR organization in the world.

My Turquoise Ring: A Brand Story

I wear a turquoise ring on the third finger of my right hand. I’ve had it for a couple decades. I discovered it in a kiosk in our local mall.

I have long, thin fingers and most men’s rings are too large, but I tried it on and it fit as if it were made just for me.

I thought it was too expensive, though,  and put it back.
I stopped by two weeks later. The price on it had dropped 25%. I decided if it was made for me, it would wait for me.
Sure enough, in another two weeks the ring was still there with an even greater discount.
I took a calculated risk, waited until it dropped another 15%. . . and bought it.
Over the years, many people have commented on it and asked me if I bought it out west. I’m always  honest and tell them the real story, which, in a mystical way, I think is much more interesting.

This ring waited for me!

In every single case I watch their expressions of anticipation melt into disappointment. They want to hear about a New Mexico Indian reservation and how I bought it from a native American artisan in the quiet glow of the sun setting over the golden plains.

That’s the image attached to turquoise.  It’s embedded so deeply into our minds and culture that any other story is a disappointment.

I recently became a trustee at our regional public broadcasting station.  Before a meeting I was talking with another newly named board member, a man obviously very cultured and well-traveled.  Making conversation he pointed to my ring: “I see you’ve been to Santa Fe.”

I thought it over quickly.  “Yes, I have.”  It wasn’t a lie.    We began exchanging stories of our travels there, the jewelry, how Santa Fe has grown, the beauty of New Mexico.

Some brands are so strong  that the myth is reality.

And the truth is just not worth the disappointment.