Friday, August 20, 2010
Thursday, November 26, 2009
The SNEWS View has moved
The SNEWS® View has moved to www.snewsnet.com/thesnewsview.
Recent posts include:
"You’re not married until Facebook says so" --Despite the overwhelming evidence that I am, in fact, a happily married man, I just learned no one is married until Facebook says so.
and
"Being thankful for time is just the beginning" -- As the days and weeks tick by, there is so much to be grateful for, and not just at this time of year. For our blogger, time is a gift to be treasured, and she realized she has so much to be very grateful for.
Please bookmark www.snewsnet.com/thesnewsview to keep connected with humor and insight and observation as only the SNEWS editors can bring.
Recent posts include:
"You’re not married until Facebook says so" --Despite the overwhelming evidence that I am, in fact, a happily married man, I just learned no one is married until Facebook says so.
and
"Being thankful for time is just the beginning" -- As the days and weeks tick by, there is so much to be grateful for, and not just at this time of year. For our blogger, time is a gift to be treasured, and she realized she has so much to be very grateful for.
Please bookmark www.snewsnet.com/thesnewsview to keep connected with humor and insight and observation as only the SNEWS editors can bring.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Halloween shopping experience is frighteningly good
Although Halloween is a time of horror, ghosts and trick-or-treat, one retail store turned a shopping expedition into a real eye-opening treat.
Performance Studios (www.performancestudiosinc.com), is a truly impressive costume shop in downtown Nashville, Tenn. It occupies a large building (more than 15,000 square feet) with high ceilings, and there are racks from the floor to the rafters holding every costume imaginable, from Elvis jumpsuits to stage-worthy Renaissance dresses. In addition to the huge rental inventory, a massive retail section includes wigs, masks, rubber body parts, pirate jewelry, plastic swords, you name it.
Like any retailer, Performance Studios is battling the recession, and it faces a situation where consumers are likely to cut back on Halloween spending, just as consumers are in general still limiting purchases...
To read the rest of the post for free, click here.
Performance Studios (www.performancestudiosinc.com), is a truly impressive costume shop in downtown Nashville, Tenn. It occupies a large building (more than 15,000 square feet) with high ceilings, and there are racks from the floor to the rafters holding every costume imaginable, from Elvis jumpsuits to stage-worthy Renaissance dresses. In addition to the huge rental inventory, a massive retail section includes wigs, masks, rubber body parts, pirate jewelry, plastic swords, you name it.
Like any retailer, Performance Studios is battling the recession, and it faces a situation where consumers are likely to cut back on Halloween spending, just as consumers are in general still limiting purchases...
To read the rest of the post for free, click here.
Friday, August 14, 2009
And why do you want to write about our product?
At the recent OutDoor show in Friedrichshafen, I wandered into the Outwell booth to ask about the company’s new “pop-up tent” it was pushing in, yes, press releases in the newsroom and on prominent displays in the booth. Outwell is a Danish company that distributes its family camping and outdoor gear in 30 countries.
Wearing my media badge displayed prominently, I took a couple of slow laps around the booth to see what the company had. I walked past a couple of Outwell employees…twice…as I circled, and they looked up at me a couple of times but quickly went back to their own conversation and coffee.
Finally I maneuvered over closer to their table and stood and stared at them.
“Yes?” one man looked up and finally asked, not exactly sounding welcoming.
“I’m interested in finding out more about the pop-up tent, a little about how it works, its technology, the patent and that kind of thing.”
He stared at me a moment. “Who are you?” he asked.
I apologized for not stating I was with the media; though I assumed my media badge sort of made it obvious. After I explained where I was from (speaking in German, mind you, so misunderstanding was not an issue) and that I wanted more information about the tent, he stared at me for a minute again, and then asked simply, “Why?”
Hmm, OK, I admit it is not often a journalist seeking to write about a product has to deal with someone wondering why…especially a representative of that company.
Well, it’s our job to cover this show and write about what we see, I said.
“We don’t sell in the United States,” he said.
I said that didn’t make a difference; we write about interesting things we see here for our trade audience back in the U.S. and also in Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, South America.
“Why?” was the question again.
I wanted to say, “You’re kidding me, right?” But, bit my tongue.
“I just want some information about your tent. That seems pretty simple,” I said, adding that I had seen in a German outdoor newsletter that it stemmed from an American patent.
Long pause with a penetrating glance….. “Just a minute,” he said.
At this point, they had to realize I wasn’t going to give up. I just hoped the tent went up far easier than my attempts at prying information from this company.
He ducked into the back behind a curtain. A moment later he came back out with a woman.
“Can I help you?” she said in English.
I decided to make the language switch from German to English too since maybe that would help with their apparent confusion. Anything to speed this along.
“I’d like to have your new tent shown to me. I am interested to hear about the technology and a little bit about the tent design,” I explained again.
“Why?” she asked.
Frankly, I was beginning to wonder why myself. But, I resolved to persevere though I am sure I did let more than just a casual tone of frustration enter my voice as I responded: “Look, this is so simple really. I am a journalist and I just want to see the tent and get some information that I might possibly want to include in a story. How hard can that be?”
“Calm down, you want some coffee?” the woman responded.
Coffee?? To calm down? It was all I could do just to keep myself from responding, "Why?"
Instead, I stated firmly, “No, I don’t not want any coffee, just information!”
She called over yet another man, a product manager, it seemed. I must have finally passed muster, worn them all down, or she needed backup -- I’m not sure which.
She then produced a press kit with a CD and the product guy showed me the tent, insisting it had nothing to do with an American patent but was in fact their own. I told him I only mentioned that since I saw it in some German press and in fact I knew there had been a U.S. patent 10 or 12 years ago on something similar, and that SNEWS had in fact seen the product at an Outdoor Retailer trade show, and just wanted to take a look. The product guy explained it well, showing the hinges and how it worked…finally.
I left the booth shaking my head. No coffee for me; I needed a stiff drink.
Wearing my media badge displayed prominently, I took a couple of slow laps around the booth to see what the company had. I walked past a couple of Outwell employees…twice…as I circled, and they looked up at me a couple of times but quickly went back to their own conversation and coffee.
Finally I maneuvered over closer to their table and stood and stared at them.
“Yes?” one man looked up and finally asked, not exactly sounding welcoming.
“I’m interested in finding out more about the pop-up tent, a little about how it works, its technology, the patent and that kind of thing.”
He stared at me a moment. “Who are you?” he asked.
I apologized for not stating I was with the media; though I assumed my media badge sort of made it obvious. After I explained where I was from (speaking in German, mind you, so misunderstanding was not an issue) and that I wanted more information about the tent, he stared at me for a minute again, and then asked simply, “Why?”
Hmm, OK, I admit it is not often a journalist seeking to write about a product has to deal with someone wondering why…especially a representative of that company.
Well, it’s our job to cover this show and write about what we see, I said.
“We don’t sell in the United States,” he said.
I said that didn’t make a difference; we write about interesting things we see here for our trade audience back in the U.S. and also in Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, South America.
“Why?” was the question again.
I wanted to say, “You’re kidding me, right?” But, bit my tongue.
“I just want some information about your tent. That seems pretty simple,” I said, adding that I had seen in a German outdoor newsletter that it stemmed from an American patent.
Long pause with a penetrating glance….. “Just a minute,” he said.
At this point, they had to realize I wasn’t going to give up. I just hoped the tent went up far easier than my attempts at prying information from this company.
He ducked into the back behind a curtain. A moment later he came back out with a woman.
“Can I help you?” she said in English.
I decided to make the language switch from German to English too since maybe that would help with their apparent confusion. Anything to speed this along.
“I’d like to have your new tent shown to me. I am interested to hear about the technology and a little bit about the tent design,” I explained again.
“Why?” she asked.
Frankly, I was beginning to wonder why myself. But, I resolved to persevere though I am sure I did let more than just a casual tone of frustration enter my voice as I responded: “Look, this is so simple really. I am a journalist and I just want to see the tent and get some information that I might possibly want to include in a story. How hard can that be?”
“Calm down, you want some coffee?” the woman responded.
Coffee?? To calm down? It was all I could do just to keep myself from responding, "Why?"
Instead, I stated firmly, “No, I don’t not want any coffee, just information!”
She called over yet another man, a product manager, it seemed. I must have finally passed muster, worn them all down, or she needed backup -- I’m not sure which.
She then produced a press kit with a CD and the product guy showed me the tent, insisting it had nothing to do with an American patent but was in fact their own. I told him I only mentioned that since I saw it in some German press and in fact I knew there had been a U.S. patent 10 or 12 years ago on something similar, and that SNEWS had in fact seen the product at an Outdoor Retailer trade show, and just wanted to take a look. The product guy explained it well, showing the hinges and how it worked…finally.
I left the booth shaking my head. No coffee for me; I needed a stiff drink.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Another shining example of how customer service works -- or should
When I lived in Germany many moons ago, customers were not king. In fact, traditionally, you just shopped and cowered, begging for service and goodness gracious should you try to suggest to a cashier that something was mismarked. I made that mistake once as a college student, telling a cashier that she had overcharged me for an item. Her reaction? To sit back in her chair, cross her arms firmly across her chest and stare into space in front of her not acknowledging I even still existed. I got the message and wriggled away meekly.
But things are changing for the better as the German public is realizing it has rights, just as stores and employees realize they can actually be nice and offer service – in fact, that they have to do that in order to keep customers and stay in business.
Just this week, while in Germany covering a trade show, I happened into a pharmacy for a prescription. Now, pharmacies in Germany are a bit different. Pharmacists act a bit like doctors, listening to ailments and suggesting something you might have, standing behind a counter and fetching the appropriate meds from rows of shelves behind them. They are – or have been – pretty bureaucratic places.
I strolled in with my U.S. prescription and showed it to the young woman. She dove into “scurry mode,” searching her computer, looking up the med, suggesting she could get it delivered by that evening for me to pickup since they didn’t have it on hand (“Would that work for you?”). Then she added as an afterthought, “You know, there is this other medicine that is very similar here that is significantly less expensive. Do you want to try that one instead? I have it here and it would save you a lot of money.”
I was stunned. Well, sure, OK… She told me about it and it seemed correct so I got it (for nearly half the price), although they only had one small package of two tablets. She said if I wanted more, she had a friend who worked at the trade show and, if my schedule didn’t allow me to get back in during working hours, I could call her and she could figure out a way to have her friend deliver it to me there. Wow. Now that’s service.
So I paid for it and was out the door on the street when I heard a voice behind me: The woman had dashed out from behind the counter and waved me down on the street corner because she had just found another small package. “I am so silly,” she told me, as we went back inside. “I can’t believe I missed that. This should save you another trip.”
OK, I’ll be back to that pharmacy if I need anything!
But things are changing for the better as the German public is realizing it has rights, just as stores and employees realize they can actually be nice and offer service – in fact, that they have to do that in order to keep customers and stay in business.
Just this week, while in Germany covering a trade show, I happened into a pharmacy for a prescription. Now, pharmacies in Germany are a bit different. Pharmacists act a bit like doctors, listening to ailments and suggesting something you might have, standing behind a counter and fetching the appropriate meds from rows of shelves behind them. They are – or have been – pretty bureaucratic places.
I strolled in with my U.S. prescription and showed it to the young woman. She dove into “scurry mode,” searching her computer, looking up the med, suggesting she could get it delivered by that evening for me to pickup since they didn’t have it on hand (“Would that work for you?”). Then she added as an afterthought, “You know, there is this other medicine that is very similar here that is significantly less expensive. Do you want to try that one instead? I have it here and it would save you a lot of money.”
I was stunned. Well, sure, OK… She told me about it and it seemed correct so I got it (for nearly half the price), although they only had one small package of two tablets. She said if I wanted more, she had a friend who worked at the trade show and, if my schedule didn’t allow me to get back in during working hours, I could call her and she could figure out a way to have her friend deliver it to me there. Wow. Now that’s service.
So I paid for it and was out the door on the street when I heard a voice behind me: The woman had dashed out from behind the counter and waved me down on the street corner because she had just found another small package. “I am so silly,” she told me, as we went back inside. “I can’t believe I missed that. This should save you another trip.”
OK, I’ll be back to that pharmacy if I need anything!
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