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Marketing Spin from Hamilton City Council and Telecom.

Telecom recently sent me a letter. It tells me how good they are for doubling my broadband usage from 20GB to 40GB. They are also putting the price up by $5. Thanks Telecom, you are really nice guys, except for the fact we don’t use 20GB and there is a new plan for 20GB that is $10 less per month.

I feel cheated.

Hamilton City Council sent me a letter telling me the valuation they use for rates are changing. They show me my rates now, and then show me my new rates, with water and rubbish separated. At first glance it looks like a saving, until I read the fine print of the existing rates. They include water and rubbish, so when I add the three up I am worse off.

I feel deceived.

My issue is not so much with the changes, but more importantly it’s with the way it’s communicated.  Why the ‘spin’? Why try to deceive us? Why not be honest?

Telecom really aren’t increasing my broadband because I need it, they are doing it to generate extra revenue. HCC are just playing politics.

Neither wants a relationship with me and therefore I don’t deserve authenticity. If they upset a few people along the way. They don’t care.

A small business like mine can’t behave this way of course. We would lose our customers, and our customers pay our wages.

But, it is a reminder nonetheless to make sure all of our marketing is authentic, and honest, and ultimately treats people, the way we want to be treated.

Is it even possible to WIN without competition?

Yesterday we headed out to Patetonga to watch our friend’s son race in Motocross (#342 in picture). He is racing smaller bikes in a larger class to give him more competition, as he often nails the competition in his normal class.

This made me think about the importance of competition.

One of my 5 strengths from Strengths Finder 2.0 is Competitive. I love winning and hate losing. When there is something to win, I try my hardest to win it (or often don’t play if I know I cant win, I hate losing so bad). Competition for me, causes me to work harder, think more creatively, be more persistent.

So.

We talk a lot about winning. About being winners. About being successful. About improving ourselves.

Yet.

We have become anti-competition. Kids play sports and do stuff to participate. Most businesses don’t care about their competition. Charities think competition is bad.

But.

Is it even possible to WIN without competition?

Well no.

Not for me at least. I am reminded from yesterday that healthy competition, the kind of competition that stretches you to become better, is incredibly important.

And right now I need to add some of that back into my life.

181 | 365 Coffee Stories

Agora’s story is being formed one drop, one cup of coffee at a time.
 
Yesterday I sat at Agora drinking a wonderful coffee made by the infamous Simon, and over heard a customer tell her two friends great things about the café, about how we give 50cents from each cup of coffee to charity.
 
There is nothing quite so satisfying as having one of our customers tell the story for us.
 
As I left the café I remembered the conversations we had as trustees about story. I remembered how one idea developed into another. I remembered how we want agora to make an impact on our community and have a story.
 
As I left the café, I also thought about my story, about the story of my family, my business, my friends. Those stories, like Agora’s, are a working in progress.
 
Like a great coffee brewing, one drop at a time, story is very powerful.

[181 | 365 ‘Coffee Stories’ a shot of a shot of coffee brewing, one drop at a time at café agora]

Expectations

Recently I flew on Pacific Blue for the first time.  As it was my first flight I had expectations. Big Ones. Cool crew, more seat room, modern planes. It was to be an adventure.

On my first flight the crew were dull, boring and lifeless. Their attempts at humour were staged and had as much heart as frozen dead fish. My second flight was far more entertaining, the crew obviously enjoyed each other and started their own onboard dating service over the PA. On my final flight the crew were chatty and entertaining.

Surprisingly however, Pacific Blue did not live up to my expectations.

The first crew let them down. I hadn’t expected the seats to be so hard (yip really). I hadn’t thought about the fact I would need to buy a drink of water, and that the minimum visa transaction was $10. I don’t carry cash.

They did not meet my expectations. Not through any fault of their own but because I had the wrong expectations.

Jim flew with them a week later and loved them, metaphorically of course. His expectations were different. 

So…

In business, in life, or in love, expectations are the root of most problems.

Over and over and over again I have expectations for people that I forget to tell them about.  I think it is one of my greatest leadership struggles as it happened to me twice on Friday. They in turn have expectations of me that they don’t tell me about. I fail to meet their expectations and they mine.

All because we didn’t communicate well.

We become disappointed with each other,

Annoyed,

Even ANGRY!

Expectations, if I don’t communicate them, ARE MY PROBLEM.

One person makes all the difference!

Just one person in any one company can make it or blow it. One person can sent you away feeling like the most important person in the world or make you feel like they don’t value your business.

[Read the whole article here] about a less than remarkable service on a flight to Christchurch.

Customer Expectations

How often do NZ Businesses and sales people deliver a completely different service to the customers expectation. Check out these images. (Hat tip to Mark Q)