Micah Solomon

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The Elite Media’s truly elite sales repNovember 3

So: your company runs a spiffy little promotion intended to grab you some brand-new customers.  Super — but how you treat existing customers who also happen to respond is a thorny and important question. (And, studies show: existing customers are, in fact, the ones who pay the most attention to everything new you do as a brand.)

The way Rachel, who was womanning a booth for The New York Times yesterday, treated me as an existing customer is, in my experience, essentially unheard of.  Yet it should be considered the epitome of what we all want from the people who represent our businesses.

I was walking through a crafts fair in the Pennsylvania countryside as she trolled for fresh New York Times subscribers at her booth. She had brought along what I feel was lovely swag as bait:

If your offer's good, prepare for existing customers wanting it too.

She gave her pitch:  Subscribe to New York Times home delivery, only $X a week, get great gifts!

I said quietly, “Sorry–already subscribe.”

Rachel: “Are you getting all seven days delivered currently?  I can upgrade you if you

Seth Godin Tribes Event October 22 NYC Review and PhotosOctober 24

An aside from the regular business of this blog: I had the pleasure of attending Seth’s book launch/ presentation Wednesday at the New York Times Center on West 41st in honor of his latest bestselling book, Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us. (Seth Godin Portfolio 2008) Here are a few photos I took at the event.

Photos include Seth’s new Tribes presentation and his surprise musical guest — and marketing example –  Jen Chapin, accompanied by her inimitable bassist husband Stephan Crump. If you’re not yet familiar with Jen: she’s a singer and songwriter and an advocate for the charity World Hunger Year, founded by her dad, the late Harry Chapin.

For Seth, Jen’s lineage was his entrée to showing that the world has moved on from the career-building techniques that worked in Harry’s era: In those days you could hinge everything on just one single career-making advocate — in his case, DJ Jim Connors, later immortalized in Harry’s song W*O*L*D.  In Jen’s/our era, you

Four Seasons Hotels’ new green eco-keycardsOctober 5

(Like you needed another excuse to treat yourself to the Four Seasons…)

Check out these paper eco-keycards.  Basic, but kinda brilliant.

And about damn time.

New four seasons paper keycard

      

Joseph Heller’s ghost visits StarbucksOctober 3

Has Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, ever read Catch-22? Seems likely…what seems less than likely is that he has ever tried the sign-up process for his own new Internet service. Read on…

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This afternoon I had some work to do and I figured it was time to head to Starbucks and try the new, free AT&T-powered Internet that CEO Howard Schultz seems so proud of.

I knew I’d need a Starbucks card in order to sign up (stretching the definition of “free,” but that didn’t bug me). What I didn’t expect was what happened next: nothing. Once I bought the card and signed up with my powerbook, I couldn’t do anything. Instead, Starbucks/ATT gave me a message to the following effect (this is a close paraphrase):  “now that you’ve signed up, please check your email account for your access verification code, so that you can complete the log-in process and start using your new Starbucks Internet account.”

But remember, Starbucks:  at this point your customer (me) doesn’t have email access.  This is why I’ve bought your now-accursed card and gone through the signup process in the first place.  So now you are asking me to drive home and check my email on my existing account, and click on a link get an access code before I can log in!

I’m something of a fan of Howard Schult

You gotta admit: you don’t carry life vests in your jockey box, either…August 31

air canada jazz logo

According to Rob Gilles of AP, Air Canada’s inland regional carrier Jazz is removing life vests from all its planes to save weight and fuel.

Before I join the increasingly indignant kerfuffle in response to this story, I took a moment to ponder: how many bodies of water do I drive over in the course of a week?

And when am I going to get around to stashing handy pocket-sized life jackets in the jockey box, for myself and any potential passengers of mine–you know, just in case? Remembering that, unlike those of an Air Canada/Jazz jet, the seats in my Volvo are not approved flotation devices.

Considering this I’ve decided to sit this fight out, with my seat belt securely fastened, until it comes to a complete stop.