We’re hiring

Posted on December 28, 2009 by markkolier

As we close 2009 many economists agree that the recession has finally bottomed out.  But as those same economists will tell you employment is always the last thing to recover. Since most of the new jobs created over the past decade were created by small businesses (less than 500 employees).  Businesses like mine are being counted on to contribute to a more lasting recovery. 

While we have hired two great new people recently the temptation is to think ‘that’s enough for now we are not hiring anyone for a while’.   How does that help our company much less the economy as a whole?

The fact is we should be and are always hiring.  Yet not necessarily for any one job in particular.   Sure, sometimes we have a specific need for a specific type of talent and we will then look to bring in people that have that particular talent.   However once all those kinds of positions are filled should we be done with bringing in new people?    That has been a tried and true business practice for – well forever. 

I’ve learned a great deal running a business for a fairly long time.  One thing I have learned is that you don’t always know exactly what you need.  Part of that is due to the idea that what we need today may not be needed tomorrow.   So because of that we’re always hiring.  Contact me and tell me what you can do for our company.   You should have no trouble finding things out about what we do and even to a degree ‘who’ we are.  

I realize what I am suggesting.  That anyone out there who is interested in working with us at CGSM is welcome to contact me.   I’m hardly unreachable.  And no, I have not had any egg nog this morning.    But in return I have but two requests if you do decide to contact me.   Make it relevant to our business (do a little research) and make it creative.   And how can we help each other?    How can our company help you better contribute to our mutual success?  

What I have come to realize is not only is it cool to have people all around you have skills and knowledge that I do not, it is essential.  While I never thought that I had all the answers, I did not always practice knowing my own limitations.   Great talent working collaboratively has the best chance for success.  It also offers the benefit of fostering an environment where we all try to help make each other better one day at a time. 

How many people will we bring on board in 2010?  I hardly know.  We will respond to the needs and requirements of our clients and the work we do for them.  But maybe you see something that we are missing and can help us do an even better job.   Bring it on.   And if we all agree that our company needs it, we’ll bring you on.

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Would you give up the chance to be perfect?

Posted on December 22, 2009 by markkolier

My last post was about the strange business approach of the NFL Network.  And for those that do not follow the NFL the Indianapolis Colts won to remain undefeated and the New Orleans Saints suffered their first loss at the hands of the Dallas Cowboys.  Ho-hum for so many people.  Yet something interesting has emerged as a result.   The pursuit of perfection. 

Two years ago the New England Patriots completed the first 16-0 regular NFL football season.  They won two games in the playoffs to reach the Super Bowl at 18-0 only to face the Giants in that final game and lose.   The Patriots were ‘chasing’ the 1972 Miami Dolphins who have the distinction of being the only team in the modern era to finish an NFL season undefeated (17-0 as they played two fewer regular season games in those days).  

The Patriots to a man lamented the pressure of remaining undefeated which came with intense media scrutiny, constant interviews and questions about how the players were ‘feeling’ in their pursuit of history.  Even at the time arguments were made that if the team goal was to win an NFL championship (winning the Super Bowl accomplishes that) then losing a game along the way was a sacrifice worth making.  I did not understand that then and it seems that history (as it so often does) is set to repeat itself. 

Now that that the Saints have lost they can play ‘relaxed’ and not worry about the albatross of being undefeated.   The Colts are now under an even greater microscope since the Saints had shared some of the ‘they’re undefeated’ focus.    I’ve been reading about the idea that the Colts should consider resting some of their players in the final two regular season games both to avoid injury (always a great concern in the violent sport of American football) and to rest tired players.  

To this point it appears that at least three-time league MVP Peyton is buying the logic of resting or not going for the brass ring of being undefeated.   The Colts have clinched the best record in the AFC conference and cannot do any more to improve their position – they have home games all the way through the NFL playoffs. 

I expect the Colts to pound my beloved New York Jets this weekend simply because they are a better team.   And then they have a last game vs. the less than mediocre Buffalo Bills.  The chance to be perfect to me is worth putting it all on the table and I cannot conjure any kind of argument to not play the best players in pursuit of perfection.  

Quick do you remember who won the Super Bowl 5 years ago?   But I bet you have an idea that the Dolphins of a prior generation finished the season undefeated.  Perfection is special and the pursuit of it should always be the ideal.  Agree or disagree?

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The NFL Network is missing their opportunity

Posted on December 18, 2009 by markkolier

NFL NetworkI readily admit I am a fan of American professional football.    And as a fan I like to watch good and meaningful games between good teams.   Last night the NFL Network presented the then 13-0 Colts vs. 7-6 Jaguars.   The Colts remained undefeated by scoring late to edge the Jaguars 35-31 in what was supposedly a thrilling game.   I wouldn’t know exactly since I could not watch it but wished I could have. 

As a Cablevision subscriber the NFL Network is not available.  Nor is it available to Time Warner subscribers.  The two systems represent more than 17,000,000 households.   Dish Network offers the NFL Network as do a few cable systems around the nation.   But before you offer that my real complaint should be with my cable system I need to better understand how the NFL Network is helping its own cause by keeping most of professional football loving America in the dark.    By the way tomorrow night (Saturday when there is supposedly going to be a big snowstorm in the Northeast and we football fans would love to stay in and watch the undefeated New Orleans stay undefeated) it will happen again.    

Richard Sandomir of the NY Times wrote about this today as well – http://bit.ly/5juN6s.  

And the NFL Network went out of its way by buying newspaper ads to market the games and tweak its foes.  The ad ran yesterday in The New York Times said: “Attention Time Warner and Cablevision Customers: You May Be Denied Two Teams Chasing the Perfect Season.”  The tagline added: “Two Nights. Two Undefeated Teams. One Network.” 

Was this done just to piss people off?  Well it worked for me.  How exactly is the NFL Network making its case by rubbing our collective noses in the fact that we cannot watch these games?  How would it hurt the NFL Network to arrange a deal with local affiliates around the country to simulcast the game and collect advertising revenue that way?   The ratings would be huge and the exposure terrific and I would not be at all put off if during a simulcast the NFL Network promoted the idea of calling your local cable system if you are unable to get the NFL Network.   Groundswell does work folks.  

But no.  Somehow the NFL Network had decided that denying fans the opportunity to view two would be (well one already was) great games would be a good idea. 

It’s not but please feel free to make an argument that this is a good business practice.   I’m all ears.

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Creepiness vs. Irrelevance

Posted on December 14, 2009 by markkolier

Will 2010 be the year of behavioral targeting?   The Obama administration is focused on ensuring customer (and prospect) privacy.   In and of itself it is an admirable platform.   

Credit, loans and banking are moving online.  Digital marketing of mortgages, credit cards, student loans and other financial products will become the dominant way we relate to banking and related services.  The CEO of Capital One has already said that” [A] mobile phone is just a credit card with an antenna.”  So called M-commerce (mobile commerce) will be a crucial avenue where we actually apply for credit on “the fly,” so to speak, with our cell phones themselves used to buy products.   Banks and other financial companies are using Facebook, social media, online video, Twitter, search engines and interactive online marketing techniques to sell their services to consumers. 

Financial services companies are even using so-called ‘Neuromarketing’ by testing messages via fMRIs, (read David Mirman Scott’s book ‘Buyology’ on this subject) for example–to help hone their marketing messages. 

Recently (last week), consumer representatives from the FTC Exploring Privacy Roundtable Series called on the agency to adopt new policies to protect consumer privacy in today’s digitized world.  Consumer and privacy groups, as well as academics and policymakers, have increasingly looked to the FTC to ensure that Americans have control over how their information is collected and used.

The groups have asked the Commission to issue a comprehensive set of Fair Information Principles for the digital era, and to abandon its previous notice and choice model, which is not effective for consumer privacy protection.   The idea is that these measures include giving individuals the right to see, have a copy of, and delete any information about them; ensuring that the use of consumer data for any credit, employment, insurance, or governmental purpose or for redlining is prohibited; and ensuring that websites should only initially collect and use data from consumers for a 24-hour period, with the exception of information categorized as sensitive, which should not be collected at all. The groups have also requested that the FTC establish a Do Not Track registry.

Behavioral targeting online, allows for the collection of data on people for tracking and target marketing.  However behavioral targeting also allows people to receive relevant offers and advertisements.    And consider the alternative.  In an environment where no marketer has permission to use behavioral targeting consumers would be subject to a flood of irrelevant offers.    Imagine being a 22 year old woman receiving offers for Flomax to help alleviate a prostate problem.   Without behavioral targeting this is a possible if not likely future.   True it can be creepy at times to get an advertisement or offer that appears to be the result of intimate knowledge of a person’s behavior.  

The protection of sensitive data is a critical issue.  Yet behavioral targeting is based on behavior or individuals noted as IP addresses – not names and actual postal or email addresses.   

I think we need to be mindful of what we wish for.  The cure may be worse than the symptoms.

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Data streams are overflowing

Posted on December 10, 2009 by markkolier

Data StreamA small article in today’s (December 10) NY Times – AT&T to Urge Customers to Use Less Wireless Data had me shaking my head.   Here is a link to the article – http://bit.ly/8IgbCg.    For those that do not know AT & T is the primary carrier for the Apple iPhone.    With nearly 100,000 iPhone apps and with a substantial number of all-inclusive data plans it’s no wonder that the network is fast becoming overloaded.  

They told us years ago that these days would come.   When we first installed cable modem service a number of years ago the fear was that as more people adopted cable modem service to access the internet the ‘stream’ would become exceedingly clogged thereby slowing down overall communication.    While I have not experienced more than one or two occasional slow-downs (apparently in our area we have some of the fastest service around), I fully expect that things could get worse before they get better. 

What I found to be the most interesting statistic in the article was that 3% of Apple iPhone data traffic accounts for 40% of AT & T’s wireless data transmissions.   So AT & T wireless is considering a pricing scheme that would ‘address the usage’.    So I interpret that as what iPhone users that are on unlimited data plans are getting now will soon have to pay more.    That strategy has been attempted (unsuccessfully) by frequent flyer programs and I suspect the same will be true of data plans.  The horse is out of the barn folks and people are accustomed to getting it for a low flat price.   Good luck with that. 

An AT & T spokesman emphasized that the company would first focus on educating consumers about their data consumption in the hope that doing so would encourage them to cut back, even though they are paying for unlimited data use.

“We’re going to try to focus on making sure we give incentives to those small percentages to either reduce or modify their usage, so they don’t crowd out the customers on those same cell sites,” he said.

How do you think that will go?    Companies are encouraging people to use their Smartphones to a greater extent but the provider is hoping people will use them less.   

So at this moment I am happy to be a Blackberry Storm customer since the Verizon network is notably superior to AT& T, (ask any iPhone user about the frustrations of making phone calls on their iPhone) and there are so few apps for the Storm (a feature I don’t like but I guess is some sort of weird benefit).   

Like Charlie Brown would say – ‘I can’t stand it’.   Or understand it.

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I’ve Moved – New Blog Address

Posted on December 4, 2009 by markkolier

Please visit my blog at its new address: http://blog.cgsm.com
You may also need to resubscribe – thanks!

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Livescribe has the coolest pen computer around

Posted on December 4, 2009 by markkolier

LivescribeThere was an article in Ad Age this week – ‘Can you imagine a business card or a print magazine page that can actually send an e-mail or facilitate the transaction of an online sale?  Livescribe’s Pulse Smartpen — which is a real pen containing a full-powered, internet-accessing computer — is a tool that makes such actions conveniently possible’.   

My family got me a Livescribe pen computer earlier this summer.   After initially fooling around with it I became too busy to really dig in and figure out how to get the most out of it.   This week I was visiting a client for meetings and brought the pen and notebook and used it to write notes and record (with my client’s full knowledge) some of the proceedings.    When I began to distill the notes and recordings I finally realized the power of this great product.   

It has a 2MB or 4MB drive in the pen itself and the intelligence of the unit far exceeds my own expectations.   T here is also a USB port for syncing to a computer.   College students are adopting the Livescribe pen as it is so much easier to carry around than a laptop and has the recording function for lectures as well.  

Livescribe Chairman Jim Margraff spoke recently at the IDEA conference in NYC last month and expounded on the power and breadth of the capabilities of Livescribe.    AdAge did a nice 3 minute sum-up of his talk and where this is all going is both interesting and exciting.   Interactive business cards, print advertisements are something I had not even been thinking about but the folks at Livescribe are doing a great job of taking cool and useful technology and coming up with creative new uses for the device.  

The device costs about $200 and you should really check it out.    You will see me using it all the time from now on.   Here’s a link to AdAge’s 3 minute video on the product. 

http://adage.com/video/article?article_id=140864

Bet you want one now.

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Will Facebook destroy the class reunion business?

Posted on December 1, 2009 by markkolier

I had the ‘pleasure’ of attending my wife’s high school reunion recently.   We both went to the same high school but graduated in different years.   There were more than 330 students in my wife’s graduating class (way back in the late 1970’s).   75 people showed up for the reunion and that number included spouses and significant others.    It was set up by one of what appears to be several companies that specialize in setting up class reunions.   They did an ok job but it was expensive (buffet dinner and open bar was included) and most of the attendees spent their time within 50 feet of the bar and a sad DJ was playing music from the ‘70’s and ’80’s,   

I heard several people mention that all that was really needed was a big room with drinks without food.    Tracking down people has never been easier and one would think Facebook could even consider getting into the business of helping set up reunions – if people still want to go to reunions in the first place. 

After 30 years it is interesting to see how people have turned out even if only 15% of your classmates were able to attend.   But social networking has put people back together on a much more personal level (at least initially).   One of my still under 30 nieces said she does not even think she’d go to a reunion since she is in touch with the people she wants to be in touch with via FB.  

Remember Classmates.com?   They are still around but that might not be the case much longer.   They too have been undone by Facebook and to a lesser degree MySpace.   Same problem.   I had a friend tell me that when he was contacted by someone he had not heard from in more than 25 years it was awkward.   He said the reason that he hadn’t been in touch with that person was NOT because he could not find him! 

Still, I maintain that there is nothing like being there.   But the notion of reunions every ten years (is that really necessary?) seems to me to be a dying proposition.    Maybe 25 year and 50 year reunion s (for those that are still around) will survive but I think the heyday of class reunions has come and gone.

What do you think?

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An unusual yet high value dinner experience in Amsterdam

Posted on November 25, 2009 by markkolier

This is a longer post than normal – and could have been longer!

In addition to doing the touristy things and drinking what seemed to be a boatload of Heineken, my wife Michele and I enjoyed some very good dining while in Amsterdam over the weekend.    A sleek new restaurant called Envy Friday night, (which had a very nightclub-like feel but NO music – it was very strange and we asked the server about it and she rolled her eyes and said she thought the same thing – it was strange), and a Michelin one star restaurant called Vermeer, Saturday night (the 5 course vegetable inspired tasting menu was great paired with wine although there was a scallop in there along the way).    

But we went for something completely different (ode to Monty Python) Sunday night.   I had heard of but never experienced a ‘house’ dinner.   They apparently exist all over the world but I had little knowledge of how they worked (or why for that matter).    Through a friend of one of my wife’s friends we were told to go and have dinner at Angelo Agnello’s outside the city center.   His reputation as a chef was glowing from those that eaten there.   The Hotel Pulitzer where we stayed had not heard of him at all.   It sounded interesting if not a bit daring.   It was much more than that. 

We took a fifteen minute taxi ride to get there.    A nondescript apartment building in a non-descript Amsterdam suburban neighborhood.     Up three flights of narrow, twisting stairs and we met Angelo.   And he offered a memorable dinner and show.   Just the two of us.  No menu.   He did ask Michele on the phone if we liked curry.  Hmmm.  No pricing (he told us to leave whatever we thought we wanted to pay – the Priceline model of eating dinner).  

Starting with caviar and crème fraiche, prawns in a mild garlic and olive oil reduction, salad with tomatoes and homemade feta cheese, a spicy chicken curry, a wonderful lemon tart with meringue, and the offer of cheese (which we simply could not eat).  Two bottles of wine (a Greek red and French Red) as well as a glass of port which he got from friends in Portugal.  

But what was more interesting was the conversation.   Angelo claimed to have lived in 16 countries, spoke 7 languages (he grew up in Mozambique and is of Indian descent), played professional soccer (injuring himself which ended his career) and has cooked in London, France and a host of other places.    He has cooked for dignitaries and people from all over the world.    He had just catered (all by himself) a dinner for 150 people.    Angelo told us that he normally does not sit down with people but we had asked him to join us and he felt comfortable enough to do so.   Music played in the background (he regularly asked if we liked the music).    Dinner was a 4 ½ hour deal. 

We left what we felt was a fair price for the dinner.   He seemed quite pleased.  In addition to making the feta and cooking the whole meal, Angelo gave us a bottle of the Porto, a host of the Dutch wafer cookies (that he made himself), a bottle of the French red and tried to send us off with a bunch of other parting gifts which we politely declined.    

The experience of not knowing what to pay and putting down what we felt was a fair value was truly interesting.    My wife and I both felt there was a fair amount of embellishment by Angelo of his exploits.  And yet that did not take away from the charm of the evening – it added to it.   In fact in one conversation Angelo offered to show us around Amsterdam Saturday night (we declined) and was ready to walk us back to our hotel (we declined that too) after showing us the park that Anne Frank played in near her actual home which was far from where she was hiding in 1942-1944.  

I feel that those people that have dinner at Angelo’s miss out on an unusual yet deeply memorable experience.   I hope we get the chance to meet Angelo again.   And I wonder if there is a model there for name your own price dining?  Would you be willing to offer customers the opportunity to pay what they think is fair for your service?    Would I?   I can’t say I am completely comfortable with the notion but it is interesting to consider. 

If ever you get the chance to dine at a local’s house when traveling I suggest you say yes.  It will be weird at times but an experience you will never forget.  

Happy Thanksgiving.

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Dutch Treat – my short trip to Amsterdam

Posted on November 24, 2009 by markkolier

Amsterdam

Thursday November 19th – Whenever I get to travel someplace I’ve never been I always try to capture my impressions of the place BEFORE I get there.   So as I headed to Amsterdam I thought about what I know about Amsterdam and the Netherlands (or sometimes Holland and that’s odd in and of itself as I cannot think of too many countries that have two names besides Burma/Myanmar). 

Let’s see – before I get on the plane – I recall that if one goes to Europe from the U.S. Amsterdam is a gateway to cheap airfares – but I don’t know why.   They have canals that freeze sometimes in the winter and people skate around to work and play.   Heineken and Amstel beer (I found out that the Amstel river is the primary river in Amsterdam – did not know that).  Van Gogh museum.    Anne Frank’s hideout house.   The red light district.  Coffee shops that are smoking lounges and cafés which serve food.    It’s cold and rainy a lot.   That would be about the sum total of my intimate knowledge of Amsterdam.   How provincially American am I?  

Tuesday November 24th – While I had intended (ok maybe pondered is better) on posting from Amsterdam, it just didn’t happen.    We were having too good a time.   Yes we went to the Van Gogh (they pronounce it Van Huff) museum, the Rijksmuseum, did the canal cruise, the visit to the Heineken brewery (complete with 3 samples!), and Anne Frank’s hideout which was in her father’s office.    We also went to the red light district which was actually a bit pathetic.  We walked by large picture windows in the red light district each having a lingerie-clad working girl on display one looking more bored and morose than the next.     The coffee shops were not nearly as plentiful as I imagined but the scent emanating from them was unmistakable.   Oh and it was cold and it rained every day but one out of 3 ½ that we were there.    

Like most cities that I have recently visited in Europe the international flavor of the city comes through quite notably.   Many different languages were heard with visitors prominently from the U.K., France, Belgium and Germany.  Apparently many Europeans think Amsterdam is fun for a weekend.   And what a ‘biking’ city.  I have never seen so many beat up bicycles (even those get stolen I was told) with people from 6 to 76 riding them around at high speeds, riding in all kinds of weather, ringing their little bells just as they swerve to avoid unknowing pedestrians (like me).  

Amsterdam (also like most cities I have visited in Europe recently) is expensive.   Not only because of the U.S. dollar’s slide vs. the Euro.   We went into a grocery store and saw that basic staples are substantially more expensive than in the U.S. ..    Perhaps people get paid a bit more but I think they also live in much simpler quarters so that their income is spent more on consumables than rent or mortgage payments.    Things we forget about here in the land of plenty and cheap.

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