Ok. Maybe the title is a little bit harsh, but it got your attention, right? Why is it that more and more these days I feel that companies I purchase products and services from are telling me to “shut up and take it”. Let me give you just a few real examples of times I have felt disrespected as a customer in the last few months:

1. I recently bought some plane tickets for my family to go to London over Thanksgiving. The tickets were not cheap, as traveling from Oregon to London these days is simply not affordable. I spent over $1,000 per ticket. Children under 12 years old are supposed to receive a 20% off discount on international tickets. My boys are ages 2 and 4. I purchased the tickets, and there was no discount. I called United Airlines. After the ridiculous amount I had just spent on tickets I was told that I bought tickets that were too “cheap” and for a class that does not allow the 20% discount. I could though, buy a different class and spend $450 more per ticket, and get the 20% discount on 2 tickets. I am no math genius, but seriously, how dumb do they really think I am? An almost 50% increase in price to get 2 tickets at a 20% decrease of the new higher priced ticket???? Shut up, you stupid customer!
2. Our company uses a service provider to handle some of our marketing to customers. I won’t be specific here on purpose. Through an error that happened due to a bug in THEIR system, they discontinued our account. We are paying customers, paying them roughly $500 per month. They chose to drop our account rather than fix the bug. Shut up, you stupid customer.
3. Our TiVo, which was less than one year old broke. It was still under warranty. First it stopped recording programs, then it refused to re-boot. We simply could not get it to turn on. My husband called as was told that they could replace it under warranty, for an up-front fee of $350. They would ship us a new unit, and then credit us $300. The remaining $50 would be a “repair” charge. Last I checked a one-year warranty should simply replace the unit. What’s this BS about a repair charge — when nothing was repaired. The unit simply stopped re-booting. We were sent a NEW unit as per the warranty. Shut up, you stupid customer

So I could go on. But you get the picture. More and more companies seem to be taking this approach. Charge the customer everywhere and anywhere. Promise them one thing, deliver another, and then be annoyed that they point it out. As you think about your customer interactions, I challenge you to create policies and customer experiences that put the customer first. That goes back to the old adage that “the customer is always right.” I can guarantee that you will see a positive change in your business if you re-think the customer experience. Don’t join the new line of thought that treats customers like they are idiots to be taken advantage of. Think about how you can make sure that your customer is truly always right. Listen to your customers. Give them what they want. Your business is sure to be better off because of it.

Sabrina Parsons aka MommyCEO

www.emailcenterpro.com

Tags: customer experience, Small Business
Posted on September 29th, 2008 | No Comments »

Yesterday Cale Bruckner had his 13th anniversary with Palo Alto Software. Vie Radek had hers on April 15, Connie Muller this Thursday, and Jake Weatherly and Teri Epperly next year.

So I know that 13 years is nothing compared to Microsoft or IBM or General Motors, but what’s cool about these anniversaries is that there were only 10 or so employees back in 1995, and most of them are still with us.

That, in small business, is an achievement. Their achievement, putting up with the ups and downs of a small software company; and ours, in keeping the good people.

There are 45 of us now. When Vie and Cale and Connie started, Business Plan Pro was in its first version, and was just barely making it in retail. Today it’s in its eleventh version.

The picture here was taken just two months shy of 12 years ago, in November of 1996, at a roller skating rink. The people shown here were more than half of Palo Alto Software’s employees at that time. The key people missing who are still with us are my wife Vange, who (I think) took the picture; and Jake Weatherly, who had just joined.

From the left, you have me, Luke Walsh (now with Right Media, a Yahoo subsidiary), Cale Bruckner, Connie Muller, Cristin Berry, Vie Radek, and Teri Epperly.

If you add Vange and Jake back into the picture, who were very much a part of it but not pictured, then the only people from back then that we’ve lost were Luke, now at Right Media; and three others, also not pictured, one who retired in his late 50s, one who moved to the East Coast when she married, and one who, well, didn’t fit. And he’s doing well on his own, in sales. Cristin, also pictured, was 13 when that picture was taken, but she’s also been a full-time employee since she graduated from Whitman College four years ago.

And I might add that it’s been more than 18 months now since the new management team took over, and Vie, Cale, Connie, Teri, and Jake are still with us. That speaks a lot for continuity, and what’s good about them, and us. That makes me proud.

Tim Berry
Founder and President
Palo Alto Software

Tags: employees, family business, longevity, Small Business, startup, Success
Posted on September 25th, 2008 | 1 Comment »

Unless you’ve been under a rock or avoiding any kind of tv or newspaper for the last year or so… you’ll know that America is in political season. Barak Obama and John McCain are currently and aggressively seeking the vote of every American to rise to the office of President of the United States.

This post isn’t about which one would be better for the country, or even about the current administration. This post is about where you can find facts on where each of the canditates line up on the issues of small business and entrepreneurship.

The Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council has a side by side comparison for each candidate.

In visiting the websites of each candidate, and gleaming through media reports
citing their positions, the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBE
Council) has been able to retrieve significant information on what each candidate
proposes to do on major issues if elected president.

Link to the full report- NOTE this is a PDF file.

If you are at all curious on what the candidates are proposing for the future of your business, I highly encourage you to read through the report.

‘Chelle Parmele
Social Media Marketing Manager
Palo Alto Software

Tags: entrepreneurship, political, Small Business
Posted on September 18th, 2008 | No Comments »

There is an interesting discussion on the 37signals.com blog  about a Nike commercial using a song by Saul Williams- activist, poet and musician. The song, “List of Demands” was used to enhance their messaging about their newest product/idea/brand.

The term “selling out” has been around for a long time. Wikipedia (the bastion of accuracy) offers this definition: Selling out refers to the compromising of one’s integrity, morality and principles in exchange for money, ’success’ or other personal gain.

I guess I have a bit of a problem with this term in general. Why should artists; musicians, photographers, painters, poets, etc, have to choose between obscurity and exposure? Why are they ridiculed for wanting to make enough money to sustain their ability to make art?

I discovered some of my favorite music artists because of hearing them on a commercial or movie. I guess this makes me a big supporter of sell outs.

As a business, you market your product, you do your best to expose your brand. You place commercials and ads to make as wide of an impression as possible. You do everything in your power to bring people information on why they should give your company their business.

So why is a painter or photographer or songwriter any different than your local coffee shop or … Nike?

Williams says: “I received a lot of questions from some about why I would allow my song ‘List of Demands’ to be used in a Nike campaign. Ironically, half of the people now reading this post never heard of me until that commercial aired. That, indeed, was one of my reasons for allowing it.”

While I’m not a huge fan of Williams music, I found the music and the ad compelling together. And good for him for finding a way to get his message to a larger group of people.

That’s good marketing and good business.

‘Chelle Parmele
Social Media Marketing Manager
Palo Alto Software

Tags: expanding your target market, Marketing, promotion, Small Business
Posted on September 15th, 2008 | No Comments »

As small businesses get more Web savvy they are being told to understand email marketing and to use it as a great way to reach their customers. For the first time in a while I see great advice about email marketing: if you send it out — be ready to reply to it. Seth Godin has a post that is right on the mark, titled: If you don’t want to get email…don’t send email. He advises businesses, especially small ones, to be prepared to respond to customers, clients, partners, or whoever emails after you send them a marketing message in an email. It seems like obvious advice when you read it, but you would be surprised at how many people don’t deal with the full circle of email marketing. If you are sending out a message to your customers, aren’t you inviting them to respond to you? Don’t you WANT to hear from them? After all, you are the one that is opening the communication channels with them. But time and time again I hear business owners complain about the headache of dealing with their customers’ incoming email communications.

I think one of the problems that small businesses face is a lack of the right tools to help them deal with new technology and their communications with customers. There are lots and lots of different low priced, quality, easy to use, small business email marketing systems and services out there — but what are missing are the low cost, easy-to-implement email response management systems. Large companies like Amazon and Microsoft spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on CRM and Help Desk systems that have tools for their customer service reps to handle incoming emails. Small businesses though, need to look to spend thousands of dollars per year to get any sort of quality solution — that is until recently, when Palo Alto Software launched Email Center Pro.

Never before has there been a low-cost, high-quality, easy-to-implement, full-featured email response system. Now you can send emails out to your customers until your fingers fall off from typing messages and know that you have a great system to help you answer each one of your customers replies. You can get ECP for free, or as low as $19.00 as month. Our highest priced solution has unlimited users for a mere $149.00 per month. And yes this is a shameless plug for our product. BUT, I truly believe that it is the missing piece of the puzzle — the tool that Seth Godin left out of his post, that can help you make sure you never leave an email from a customer unanswered.

Sabrina Parsons aka Mommy CEO

www.emailcenterpro.com

Tags: email, management tools, Small Business
Posted on July 16th, 2008 | 1 Comment »

I want to thank John Jantsch, marketing guru extraordinaire, for writing up a great blog post on Email Center Pro: Making Sense of the Email Madness. Its nice to see people understanding what a good email service can do for a small business. Thanks John!

Sabrina Parsons aka Mommy CEO

www.emailcenterpro.com

Tags: email, management tools, Small Business
Posted on July 11th, 2008 | No Comments »

A few days ago the Wall Street Journal published an article about the results from a survey at a Microsoft Small Business event called Vision to Venture conference. The survey at this event found that 61% of women who own small businesses do no online marketing and 40% do not have a website. I read the results and naturally I was disappointed. Why is it that women continue to fall behind? But then as I thought about it, and investigated the source, I can say I don’t think these stats are representative of all women-owned businesses. Think about it:

1. Microsoft could have an agenda releasing this survey.
2. We don’t know where this survey was taken. Perhaps it was at a seminar or event all about how to take your business online. If that is the case you would expect most people attending to not yet have their business online.
3. We don’t know whether Microsoft enticed women to fill out the survey by offering any special prizes or rewards. What if the prize was a chance to win Web design time to get your business a website? If you already have a website you might not bother filling out the survey.
4. You get the picture - I can go on and on with different reasons to potentially doubt the survey.

So what’s my point? I think it is really important for everyone to understand that there are professional survey writers who know how to position a survey to get the results they want. Think about how politicians come out with survey results that always support them and their issues to a tee. I am going to say that I don’t believe that there is such a discrepancy between men and women in business when it comes to being online. I think that being online depends more on which generation you belong to than what gender you are.

-Sabrina Parsons, aka Mommy CEO
www.paloalto.com
www.emailcenterpro.com

Tags: research, Small Business, women
Posted on June 11th, 2008 | 2 Comments »

This is the question that The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) in partnership with eBay wants to answer. To that end they are sponsoring a fun contest:

The 2008 National Small Business Summit, “We Are Stronger Together,” presented by the National Federation of Independent Business and eBay, brings together small business owners from around the country to meet their lawmakers face-to-face and share their experiences about how Washington , D.C. decisions affect small businesses. The Summit will focus on top small business legislative priorities, including healthcare reform efforts, and also will examine the political landscape leading into the November elections.

To enter you have to put together a video which in an original and creative way answers the question of Why Small Business Works For America. If you feel passionate about this topic - give it a shot. You stand to win 5000.00 and a trip to DC for the National Small Business Summit in June.

Tags: entrepreneurship, politics, Small Business
Posted on April 22nd, 2008 | 1 Comment »