Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

As you read through my Friday posts, you might infer that I’m a lush (martinis are mentioned frequently.) Well, no, I’m not; it’s a wild night if I have two drinks and stay up past 10:30. But, when I do drink, I want it to be tasty, very, very cold and “up” with three olives. (Alternative: A nice white wine, so dry it almost evaporates as hits the glass.) It’s about quality of experience, not quantity - Hmmm - which come to think of it, applies to marketing.

If companies gave their customers a great experience, they wouldn’t have to spend so much time chasing new ones, flooding us with marketing hoo-ha, and writing reams of “conditions” to protect themselves against unhappy customers. But, oops there I go again - let’s get to this Friday’s good news about business, life and stuff.

Business:

Well, at least they’re having an Enron trial. (Remains to be seen if the leaders will actually be taken to task for their - ahem - failure to lead.)

Also, Tom Peters posted something that really resonated with me. Here’s an excerpt:

It occurs, and I blogged this briefly before, that we spend far too much time focusing on the Fortune 500 (or some other nation’s equivalent), and far too little time on the “other 90 percent” of the working population. Bottom line: If you want to improve national productivity, a measure of output per working person, you might be smarter to focus on janitors and waiters and plumbers and electricians than biochemists and software coders�i.e., there are a lot, lot more of the former than the latter. For example, if you could nudge (right word: nudge) productivity up for the folks who, by the thousand, scrape gum off the platforms in Japanese subway stations, you could do more for productivity than by adding another robot in the Toyota factory.

I’ve said for years, “Um, guys, there are only 500 of the Fortune 500. What about the other 11,999,500?” And, this applies to everything from marketing strategies to tax legislation. I’d also add that if we got in the habit of treating the so-called “little people” with respect, they’d probably do a much better job. Tom’s proposing the start of the Institute for Modest Advances in Ordinary Activities, or IMAOA. Hey, sign me up!

Life: My quirky, exhilarating, maddening home state (more specifically Ruidoso) got a nice mention in the New York Times. For those of you who think New Mexico is just a big brown patch of blah, check out the article. And, do come visit us!

Stuff: I’m neither a lawyer nor a quail! ’nuff said. (Sorry, I promised myself I wouldn’t make a reference to Dead-Eye Cheney, but there ya go.)

That’s it for this week! But, let’s not forget the bad news that so many are dealing with every day, all day; if I’ve made you grin, drop a little change to one of the following:

The Red Cross. They’ve been dealing with one catastrophe after another. And, they’re often on the scene while the government leaders are still figuring out the PR spin.

Habitat for Humanity. They help hard-working people all over the world - giving them a hand up not a hand out. (And, they’re doing a lot to help Katrina victims, too).

If you live the Albuquerque area, you can donate directly to the local Habitat affiliate here.

(Nope, I don’t get anything from the above donations; I won’t even know if you made one. But, it’d be a good thing for ya to do.)

Related Posts: Good News: Google, Geckos & George; The Friday Good News Report; Business + Politics + Religion= Life; It’s Martini Time!

Tags: marketing, marketing troubleshooting strategy, Enron, Cheney