"How on earth did I get in here?" I kept asking myself in those early days as an overwhelmed entrepreneur back in super-conservative Germany. There wasn't a single accounting or finance class in my background. My only exposure to business in my family was my uncle who was a self-made millionaire who build a hugely successful specialty restaurant and hotel. Looking around me, I saw ruthlessly focused young men and women who seemed to all know more than me about business. They'd gone on to crunch numbers or analyze spreadsheets in companies they or their families had build and seemed to do really well. Some were from wealthy families, and had pedigrees and legacies and the occasional "von", "van" and "de" in their names. It was pretty intimidating.
How was a guy like me from a working class family, with a high school degree, and a bunch of black belts going to compete with purebreds from Uni Heidelberg, or former Daimler Benz and Deutsche Bank interns who, from my perspective, seemed as if they'd been starting companies from their cribs?
The "Other" Thing
Good old hard work, I reassured myself, was one of the ways I'd beaten the odds and gotten into really good schools and obtained several black belts in various kind of martial arts. Sure, I'd read hundreds of business books and snug into University classes that were not part of my curriculum, but there was something else that separated me from the rest of my peers, and gave me an advantage. I seemed to have learned something long before I arrived on the entrepreneur level and it looked as if many of the other folks did not.
Eye Opener
As a kid, I bought groceries at the local supermarket for the elderly living across the street from our apartment building who had a hard time walking all the way to the market themselves in return for tips. I also did anything I was allowed to do at the local country club for the homeowners and children living in the wealthy part of town. It helped to open my eyes at an early age to recognize some of the things that set apart those who succeed and those who do not.
During those endless walks to and from the market, as I carried my grocery bags, I thought about how the people who had reached professional heights unknown to my mom and dad (or my family in general) helped each other. They found each other jobs, they invested time and money into each other's ventures and ideas and they made sure their children got help getting into the best schools, got just the right internships, and ultimately landed best jobs.
Before my very own eyes I saw living proof that success breeds success and, indeed, the rich do get richer. Their network of friends and associates was the most potent club the people I worked for had in their bag. Poverty, I realized, wasn't only a lack of financial resources; it was isolation from the kind of people that could help you make more of yourself.
The Game
I came to believe that in some very specific ways, life, like my beloved martial arts, is a game, and that the people who know the rules, and know them well, play it best and ultimately succeed. And the rule in life that has unprecedented power is that the individual who knows the right people, for the right reasons, and utilizes the power of these relationships, can become a member of the "club," whether they started out as a grocery boy or not!
Coming to America
What many of my fellow peers lacked, I discovered, were the skills and strategies that are associated with fostering and building relationships. I became good at networking early on and have continued to build my own web of friends and associates over the years. After I came to America in 1994 I came to realize that no matter where you want to build your company or life the same rules still apply. Success in any field, but especially in business, is about working WITH people, not against them. No tabulation of dollars and cents can account for one immutable fact: business is a human venture, pushed forward and determined by people.
In the U.S., and especially in business, many people are brought up to cherish Lone Wolf individualism. Folks who consciously court others to become involved in their lives are seen as schmoozers, brown nosers, or smarmy sycophants.
Bow before the Master
in 1994, while learning English, I met a guy who went on to become my voice coach at first and ultimately my best friend. "Pete" (the Ben Neumann way of spelling "Petie"), I learned quickly, had gotten a license from an apparently higher power to be everybody's best friend. People were (and still are) flocking to Pete like insects to light. This guy, I realized, was the manifestation of my connector theory and to see a true natural master of connections work was exciting and humbling at the same time.
Pete, while introducing me to virtually 75% of the people who today make up my friends and social environment, taught me how to reach out to people as a way to make a difference in people's lives, as well as a way to explore and learn and enrich my own; it became the conscious construction of my life's path. I didn't think of it as cold and impersonal, the way I thought of "networking." I was, instead, connecting - sharing my knowledge and resources, time and energy, friends and associates, and empathy and compassion in a continual effort to provide value to others, while coincidentally increasing my own. Like business itself, being a connector is not about managing transactions, but of managing relationships.
The Principles
I learned that true networking was about finding ways to make other people more successful. Over the years I have mentored people into very successful business and relationship people and hopefully also enriched their personal lives. It was always about working hard to give more than you get. And I came to believe that there were a long list of tough-minded principles that made this soft-hearted philosophy possible. My other best friend Chris keeps encouraging me to write these things down and one day publish them in book form. I'm not sure, if that is what I will ultimately do, or if I just pass them on to my two boys, but it sure is a flattering thought.
My "Ben Neumann Principles of Success in building successful Relationship" (still working on the wording
At approximately 5:00am Pacific Time on Thursday, February 21, 2008 we suffered a major network outage, which effected nearly all Globat.com customers, our own Web sites and service infrastructure as well as our phone systems.
Our primary network switch in our main datacenter in downtown Los Angeles failed completely and despite tremendous efforts by our technical emergency response team could not be brought back online. This switch is a major brand name piece of equipment and as such it contains internal redundancy. We were able to switch over to the back up circuitry and begin bringing the system back online at which time, for yet unknown reasons, the entire devise, including backup system, failed completely.
After a short deliberation we decided to rush a new switch from our vendor's nearest warehouse to our data center. While waiting for the replacement we initiated a work around to at least get email service re-established. After several attempts all email systems finally went live and back to normal at approximately 10:00am Pacific Time.
When the new switch arrived we went through the installation and testing process and as a result were able to bring all our services back online, but not before we had suffered a 5-hour outage for e-mail services and an 8-hour outage for Web related services. In Globat's entire 6 year history, we have never experienced anything even remotely like this! The outage was so severe that it affected our own Web sites and all but one of our telephone lines so we were unable to communicate with our customers to update anybody about the status of the incident. We decided to ask some of our staff members to post updates on well known Internet forums, which helped a little in disseminating the information.
Now that everything is pretty much back to normal I would like to tell you that we ABSOLUTELY KNOW you count on Globat.com to maintain a high degree of uptime to host your Web sites and that we take this trust very seriously. Today, however, my team and I let you down and we all feel terrible because of that. This has never happened before and we will do whatever it takes to never let it happen again! I deeply and sincerely apologize for this outage and the inconvenience and problems it may have caused. We promise to learn from the events of this dreadful day (today was also my wife's birthday, on top of everything).
We are now taking the following steps to prevent a recurrence of this type of failure. This switch is the only piece of equipment at Globat.com that could possibly be a single point of failure. This equipment is usually highly stable and has built-in redundancy. In addition it is being vendor monitored 24/7. We will now keep a second switch, with its own built-in redundancy, in our data center to prevent a prolonged outage in the unlikely event of another switch failure. In addition, we are working with our phone vendor to create an automated failover system so calls will be routed directly to remote support sites in the case of a failure of our primary phone system.
While nobody can completely prevent any form of failures in the future, with these changes we can certainly minimize the effects of such failures and reduce the impact on you, our valued customers.
Globat.com's Director of Customer Service, Tom Cox, stands by to provide even more information, in case you would like to discuss this event further or are still experiencing any problems. You can reach Tom at cs_manager@globat.com.
At the time of me writing this message all of our systems appear to be back up and running and I can assure you that our network operations team will continue to investigate this unfortunate event.
In closing I would like to thank the entire Globat.com team (especially Chris, Lou, Tim, Don and Rene) for working nonstop, without sleep or interruption to resolve this issue and, of course, our customers for their many encouraging comments and especially their incredible patience. You are certainly very much appreciated!
Ben R. Neumann
Chief Executive Officer
www.Globat.com
The traditional Thanksgiving is a combination of religious and harvest celebrations. The Pilgrim Feast of 1621 is generally what we think of when we think of the very first Thanksgiving. The pilgrims just had a really good harvest after a very difficult winter. To celebrate, the pilgrims called for a huge feast! In addition to the pilgrims, 90-some Native Americans attended. They all probably had to sit and eat outside at a huge table. The celebration lasted 3 full days, and included games, races, and other activities. Plus, of course, loads of food! Though nobody's really sure if they actually ate turkey back then, we know that they did have venison and some type of fowl. And even though they couldn't eat pumpkin pie (because of a flour shortage), they did have boiled pumpkin. They also had berries, seafood, and fruits.
But that feast wasn't repeated every year. And it wasn't until 1777 that all 13 colonies had a Thanksgiving celebration together. Nowadays most people credit Sarah Josepha Hale with making Thanksgiving an annual and national event. Sarah was an influential magazine editor who wrote lots of letters (and I mean thousands) and articles about why America should make Thanksgiving a regular, national holiday. Finally on October 3, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln agreed and in the midst of the civial war he created the Proclamation of Thanksgiving where he set the last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day. Other presidents followed Lincoln’s example. But, in 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt changed the date from the fourth to the third Thursday of November to accommodate the wishes of business merchants, who were eager for more shopping time before Christmas. This caused so much opposition that in 1941, a Congressional Joint Resolution again made Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday of November and it was finally a national, legal Holiday. For interested people who wish to dig in even deeper, The History Channel has a really well prepared and fun section on the History of Thanksgiving.
Many different countries all over the World celebrate a holiday like Thanksgiving. Whenever it is, it's a great time to be really thankful for all of your friends, and family, and the life we have! Have fun and a Happy Holiday!
]]>Jack, Six Sigma and Billions of Dollars.Motorola created Six Sigma as we know it today, while former GE Chairman Jack Welch made the term a US business household name. It was in the early 1990's, only 2 years after Motorola became one of the first companies to receive the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for its development and pursuit of Six Sigma quality, that Jack Welch, then Chairman and CEO of General Electric, began to get interested in Six Sigma. In fact, before Six Sigma, Welch had not considered himself a true quality enthusiast. He felt the earlier quality programs were too heavy on slogans and light on results. In 1995, after GE Corporate Executive Council meeting Welch conducted a cost-benefit analysis on Six Sigma implementation. The analysis showed that if GE, then running at around three to four sigma quality level, were to raise its quality to Six Sigma, the cost saving opportunity was somewhere between $7 billion and $10 billion. This amounted to a huge number and stood for approximately 10 to 15 percent of GE's sales.
It All Starts With Commitment.
In January 1996, Welch announced the launch of Six Sigma at GE. At that time, he called Six Sigma the most ambitious undertaking the company had ever taken on. He stated: "Quality can truly change GE from one of the great companies to absolutely the greatest company in world business." Needless to say that when GE does something, it does it all the way. Welch said to GE's Corporate Executives: "Everyone in this room must lead the quality charge. There can be no spectators on this. What took Motorola ten years, we must do in five - not through shortcuts, but in learning from others". From that moment, Jack Welch became the global promoter of Six Sigma.
There are two important contributions from GE's way of implementation to the evolution of Six Sigma. First, Welch demonstrated the great paradigm of leadership. Second, Welch backed the Six Sigma program up with a strong rewards system to show his commitment to it. GE changed its incentive compensation plan for the entire company so that 60 percent of the bonus was based on financials and 40 percent on Six Sigma results. The new system successfully attracted GE employees' attentions to Six Sigma. Moreover, Six Sigma training had become a prerequisite for advancement up GE's corporate ladder. Welch insisted that no one would be considered for a management job without at least a Green Belt training by the end of 1998.
Oh, Now, What is Six Sigma?
Simply put, Six Sigma is an applied methodology for improving business and organizational performance, originally developed by Motorola, by eliminating defects. It addresses widely accepted principles and helps tremendously to make "business better". For all of you who are thoroughly familiar with Six Sigma I ask patience while I try to get everybody else to get up to speed on it. For everyone who would like to find out more about it, please read on.
You can safely say that Six Sigma, in it's core, is a methodology for minimizing mistakes and maximizing value. Every mistake an organization or person makes ultimately has a cost - a lost customer, the need to do a certain task over again, a part that has to be replaced, time or material wasted, efficiency lost, or productivity squandered (sounds familiar?). In fact, waste and mistakes cost many organizations as much as 20 to 30 percent of their revenue (Globat is definitely no different in that respect)! I think that's a disturbing number. Imagine throwing 20 to 30 percent of your money away in the garbage every time you cash a check. It may sound ludicrous, but that' s what many organizations do. All businesses, organizations, and individuals have room to improve. No operation is run so tightly that another ounce of inefficiency and waste can't be squeezed out. By their nature, organizations tend to become messy as they grow. Processes, technology, systems, and procedures - the ways of doing business - become cluttered with bottlenecks, meaning work piles up in one part of the organization while other parts sit idle with nothing to do. Work is often performed incorrectly, or the outcome is flawed in some way. When this happens, you scrap products and services and have to do the work over again: You consume additional resources to correct a problem before it's delivered to the customer, or the customer asks later for a "redo", a new product or a more satisfactory service. Sometimes, flaws and defects aren't the problem, but a product or service simply takes too long to produce and deliver (dare I say we face that with certain product releases and upgrades many times). Think about the problems a business bank would have if it processed letter of credits absolutely perfectly, but did so 6 times slower than the competition. That's a perfect disaster.
Defining Six Sigma was once a quality-improvement methodology, but now it's a general-purpose approach to minimizing mistakes and maximizing value. How many products can we produce, how many services can we deliver, and how many transactions can we complete to an expected level of quality in the least possible amount of time at the lowest possible cost? Six Sigma takes effort and discipline and requires you to go through the pain of change. But eventually that pain is transformed into improved performance, happier customers, lower costs, less complaints, better reputation, with that and more success.
Six Sigma performance, by definition, is the statistical term for a process that produces fewer than 3.4 defects or errors per million opportunities. Picture that in the grand scheme of building and running a business, any business. Hence, very few companies can actually achieve Six Sigma or even Five Sigma performance (fewer than 233 defects per million opportunities) in their final products, because there are so many critical processes, process activities, people, machines, and materials that have to interact along a chain of causation and span of time; good luck trying to get them all to work in line! Yet, it is the actual process of improvement to achieve Six Sigma performance that gradually evokes the change in an organization.
Six Sigma has two main key methodologies, DMAIC and DMADV. DMAIC is used to improve an existing business process. DMADV is used to create new product designs or process designs in such a way that it results in a more predictable, mature and defect free performance.
DMAIC methodology consists of the following five steps:
1. "D"efine the process improvement goals that are consistent with customer demands and enterprise strategy.
2. "M"easure the current process and collect relevant data for future comparison.
3. "A"nalyze to verify relationship and causality of factors. Determine what the relationship is, and attempt to ensure that all factors have been considered.
4. "I"mprove or optimize the process based upon the analysis using techniques like Design of Experiments.
5. "C"ontrol to ensure that any variances are corrected before they result in defects. Set up pilot runs to establish process capability, transition to production and thereafter continuously measure the process and institute control mechanisms.
DMADV methodology consists of the following five steps:
1. "D"efine the goals of the design activity that are consistent with customer demands and enterprise strategy.
2. "M"easure and identify CTQs (critical to qualities), product capabilities, production process capability, and risk assessments.
3. "A"nalyze to develop and design alternatives, create high-level design and evaluate design capability to select the best design.
4. "D"esign details, optimize the design, and plan for design verification. This phase may require simulations.
5. "V"erify the design, set up pilot runs, implement production process and handover to process owners.
As you can see, the core of the Six Sigma methodology is a data-driven, systematic approach to problem solving, with a focus on customer impact. Statistical tools and analysis are often very useful in the process. However, it is a mistake to view the core of the Six Sigma methodology as pure statistics; an acceptable Six Sigma project can be started with only very basic tools (such as simple Visio diagrams to visualize a process). There simply is no excuse for not attempting to make things better - for everybody's sake! All we, and everybody who believes in the same principles, have to do is go for it. Just remember that a journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step!
]]>Customer service is the most personal aspect of running a business, and as it is with all things personal, there are so many little details that can affect the outcome of the situation. Think of other personal relationships in our everyday lives, such as romantic relationships or maintaining friendships and you’ll realize that one little mishap can throw everything out of step. As much as we would like to think that we are the kings of the jungles, humans are very emotional and sensitive, especially when it comes to our interactions with one another.
As soon as a customer finishes dialing our toll-free number, that interaction with the company begins, and everything from then on is crucial.
- How many rings before the line picks up?
- Is it an automated recording or a live person? What is the greeting?
- Is the line quality clear and loud enough?
- Can the caller quickly and easily reach the appropriate person or department? (Are instructions clear enough so the caller can determine WHAT the appropriate department is?)
- Is the company representative friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful? Can he be understood?
- Was the issue resolved?
All of these are only some of the many factors that influence the caller’s customer service experience, and although Caller A may not care as much about the greeting received as Caller B, you can bet that the wrong greeting will affect Caller B for the rest of the phone call! We all make snappy, split decisions based on first impressions, and while some of us may be able to put aside our initial assessment, many more will always have that evaluation in the back of their minds. I’m guilty of it, and I know as a busy entrepreneur, I quickly make judgment calls on the new people I meet every day (and, luckily, I’m usually right, but that’s another story).
While first impressions are important, different people put more or less weight on different factors. Some customers are very matter-of-fact and just want the bare-bone basics that are needed to get the issue resolved. Other callers are chattier and respond better to a phone representative who is friendly and engages them in small talk as a screen to loads or a script processes; however, this outgoing personality can be absolutely irritating to the matter-of-fact person! Obviously, different people have different needs, and trying to address them all has made perfecting customer service quite the challenge.
The good news is, I have never turned away from a challenge, and although it’s made me want to pull my hair out at times, making our customer service the best that it can be in our industry is my top priority. I’ve learned a lot from my 23 years in business, and yes, I’ve made a few mistakes which I look back upon and go “What the heck were you thinking?!” A bit chagrined, I nonetheless came out smarter and more motivated from these incidents. This has led to significant improvements in customer service at Globat over the past few years, with exciting new changes yet to come. My next posting will cover these past accomplishments in customer service and touch on some of the upcoming projects the team at Globat has planned.
]]>Protect Your "Good Name"
Most of the links below list information provided by the Federal Trade Commission relating to credit and credit protection for consumers (some help businesses, too). Click on the title of any topic to view more information directly from the FTC or download the PDF version (better, if you want to print things out).
A Consumer's Guide to E-Payments
[PDF version]
Describes online payment technologies and how to make your transactions as secure as possible.
Avoiding Credit and Charge Card Fraud
[PDF version]
Steps to make it more difficult for a crook to capture your card or card numbers, and how to report losses and fraud.
Before You File for Personal Bankruptcy: Information About Credit Counseling and Debtor Education
[PDF version]
Billed for Merchandise You Never Received?
[PDF version]
Explains your rights and steps to take to correct the problem. Includes a sample dispute letter.
Buying, Giving, and Using Gift Cards
[PDF version]
What to look for when buying and using gift cards, especially the terms and conditions of their use.
Check 21: Substitute Checks, Electronic Processing and What It Means to You
[PDF version]
By law, your paper checks can be replaced with copies called "substitute checks" or other electronic items.
Choosing and Using Credit Cards
[PDF version]
Explains credit card terms, how your balance is computed, and how to shop for the best deal. Outlines cardholder protections.
Cosigning a Loan
[PDF version]
Lists your obligations if you decide to cosign on a loan for a friend or relative. At the top of the list: you may have to pay up to the full amount of the debt if the borrower does not pay.
Credit, ATM and Debit Cards: What To Do If They’re Lost or Stolen
[PDF version]
Outlines procedures for reporting loss or theft, and how to minimize your risk.
Credit and Divorce
[PDF version]
Encourages recently divorced consumers, and those contemplating divorce, to look closely at issues involving credit. Understanding the different kinds of credit accounts opened during a marriage may help illuminate the potential benefits and pitfalls of each.
Credit and Debit Card Blocking
[PDF version]
Blocking often occurs when you use a credit or debit card to check into a hotel or rent a car. The clerk usually contacts the company that issued your card to give an estimated total. If the transaction is approved, your available credit (credit card) or the balance in your bank account (debit card) is reduced by this amount. Learn why blocking may be a problem, and how to avoid it.
Credit and Your Consumer Rights
[PDF version]
Explains credit laws that protect your right to obtain, use, and maintain credit. Offers practical tips to help you solve credit problems.
Credit Card Loss Protection Offers
[PDF version]
Since your liability for unauthorized charges is limited to $50, there’s no need to buy loss protection insurance.
Credit Insurance: Is It For You?
[PDF version]
Helps borrowers decide if credit insurance, which is usually optional, is right for them. Explains the four main types of credit insurance and offers shopping tips.
The Credit Practices Rule
[PDF version]
The Rule prohibits many creditors from including certain provisions in consumer credit contracts. It also requires creditors to provide a written notice to consumers before they cosign obligations for others about their potential liability if the other person fails to pay.
Electronic Check Conversion
[PDF version]
Explains how electronic check conversion works. Offers tips on keeping close tabs on your accounts.
Equal Credit Opportunity
[PDF version]
The Equal Credit Opportunity Act prohibits the denial of credit because of your sex, race, marital status, religion, national origin, age, or because you receive public assistance.
Fair Credit Billing
[PDF version]
The Fair Credit Billing Act establishes procedures for resolving billing errors on your credit card accounts. Includes sample dispute letter.
Hope some of these resources are of help to you. Shoot me a line, if you find something else that I might be missing.
]]>Customer service cycles
One observation of mine is that customer service and a company's dedication to it goes in cycles. At one point everybody focuses on it and things couldn't go better, than everybody starts to relax and before you know it you're back in the dog house.
Understanding the balance
We, as much as many other companies, struggle at times with consistency in the customer service area. As described in my "Difficult 2%" post a few months back, we have a large number of customers who love us to death and are major supporters of Globat by recommending lots of new business to us. At the same time we have some customers (luckily only a limited number) who feel that we are completely substandard and should never be in business to begin with. These extreme case are mostly due to a technical failure of either our or the customer's end combined with a customer service rep who did not clearly understand to customer's concern. Keeping the balance between meeting the expectation of the vast majority of customers and overshooting/missing the goal is a requirement for a profitable company that will be around for years to come.
At a recent entrepreneur seminar someone asked what I would do (and have done) to build up a customer service-centric organization. So, here's my take on this issue that most entrepreneurs have to face at one point or another in their quest to business success.
Keep your friends close
The key to a positive customer experience is your staff, and I don't mean just the customer facing staff. In the web hosting service industry most employees are "servicing" customers in one way or another, while only a certain number of them are in direct contact with customers. All are equally important, and you need to make sure they know that.
To improve customer service you need to concentrate on developing motivation for your staff. The most powerful motivator is not necessarily monetary (although money has its place). Other motivators include a variety of things, such as:
- A sense of achievement
- A feeling that the job is worthwhile
- Thanks or recognition from respected people
- A sense of having made a difference
- Contributing to a long term vision
- Developing a new understanding
- Bringing organization into a situation of chaos
- Building up knowledge, skill or experience
Not all of these are of the same importance for each individual - different people are motivated by different things. This is of particular importance when deciding how to tackle the issue, because there are (generally speaking) two approaches:
1. Developing a standard approach
2. Enabling staff to develop their own approach
The problem with option (1) is that it often presumes that employees have a particular type of motivation. If they do, then the approach you introduce will work. But if they don't, then your standard approach will not win their commitment (at most you will gain 'compliance' with your approach which, in a customer service-centric environment, is just not good enough). Proponents of this option may argue that a standard approach is required to achieve quality - but if supposed "quality" is achieved at the expense of staff commitment, then the level of customer service will be poor.
The value of option (2) - which enables your staff to become the architects of their own customer service - is that you staff can incorporate the things that motivate them into that approach. You need standards as well - but if your staff is involved in the development of those standards then they are much more likely to be committed to them.
Customer service workshops
Your staff can become architects of your customer service through a workshop-based approach. Take your team offsite for a day or a couple of days, and take them through a syndicate-based process where they:
1. think about their own experiences - good and bad
2. define what is (generically) good customer service
3. apply those definitions to their own environment
4. ask your customers for their feedback (i.e. through a survey) on "the type of service I got and I want from you". Have syndicate discussions afterwards to review the issues raised.
5. get to produce an action plan to follow up on the workshop.
6. appoint a follow-up manager or champion to make sure that all the output from the workshops is supported by management, and progress on actions are regularly communicated to everyone involved
This approach gives your staff:
- Direct exposure to customers' views of the service they provide
- The opportunity to shape the future customer service (and thereby implicitly include what motivates them)
- Full support from management
- An efficient communication mechanism to see that their suggestions are being acted upon
These are some essential components for winning commitment of your staff to better customer service and I hope some of you will find them helpful.
]]>Our latest serious marketing attack involves a family of 3 from Schulenburg, Texas who we sponsored in their quest to drive 400 miles to a St. Louis, Missouri-area White Castle, only to eat 300 hamburgers (100 each).
In similar fashion to the movie, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, the participants, Terri Scott, a long time eBay’er, daughter Kerri Gomez, and Kerri’s boyfriend GW Whitfield, wanted to taste and experience the infamous Sliders so badly, that they decided to look for a sponsor to finance their trip. Talk about loving your beef! These three Texans certainly give Harold and Kumar a run for their money. The whole story seemed to be just the right water cooler conversation starter and so we got behind it. The hamburger eating marathon actually kicked off earlier this morning. To be honest, I’m feeling queasy just thinking about eating a bunch of hamburgers right now. Anyway, each of the guys and gals will be required to finish all 100 hamburgers without leaving the restaurant until they do so. White Castle loved the idea and already offered that the three could stay overnight in the store, should they need the extra time.
Throughout the trip and at the restaurant, they will be promoting Globat.com and our marketing Web site DefyingGravity.com by displaying a bunch of our logos on their vehicle, wearing temporary Globat.com tattoos, communicating through CB radio with fellow roadies and handing out Globat.com merchandise, such as t-shirts, hats and stickers. Latest I’ve heard, they put up signs around the White Castle location that state “Honk, if you love White Castle and Globat.com”. The TV crews that covered the story couldn’t get any decent sound coverage and the signs had to ultimately be removed.
White Castle informed us today that we would actually break the official White Castle hamburger-eating world record, once we reach the 100 mark. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for all of us, but especially for Terri, Kerri and GW.
The baby named Samiah Wynn Francis was born at 2.31am on Saturday, March 18th, 2006, at Barnes-Jewish St. Peters Hospital in St. Peters, Missouri. Samiah arrived at a healthy six pounds fifteen ounces and only missed out on being a St. Patrick's Day baby by two hours. Mother Asia and Samiah are healthy and in great form and are both getting ready to travel to Los Angeles later this month where they are scheduled to finally meet the entire Globat.com crew who followed Asia's progress with anticipation.
I find it a humbling thought that we've had a little part in bringing a new life into the world. Hopefully, Samiah will one day understand that she actually became somewhat of a celebrity by being the star of one of the world's first sponsored births. All of us at Globat.com have enjoyed every step of Asia's pregnancy, and now everyone interested can get involved one last time by watching the famous birth video online.
Samiah's birth was only one of a wave of unique sponsorships and events such as a tattooed human billboard and a first haircut in 20 years that we started under the banner of "Defying Gravity". Our ultimate goal is to launch at least one such special event in each of the 50 states. Who's next? ;-)
]]>Ok, here we go:
- - - -
One evening last week, my girlfriend and I were getting into bed. Well, the passion starts to heat up, and she eventually says "I don't feel like it, I just want you to hold me."
I said "WHAT??!! What was that?!"
So she says the words that every boyfriend on the planet dreads to hear... "You're just not in touch with my emotional needs as a woman enough for me to satisfy your physical needs as a man." She responded to my puzzled look by saying, "Can't you just love me for who I am and not what I do for you in the bedroom?"
Realizing that nothing was going to happen that night, I went to sleep.
The very next day I opted to take the day off of work to spend time with her. We went out to a nice lunch and then went shopping at a big, big unnamed department store. I walked around with her while she tried on several different very expensive outfits. She couldn't decide which one to take so I told her we'd just buy them all. She wanted new shoes to compliment her new clothes, so I said lets get a pair for each outfit. We went onto the jewelry department where she picked out a pair of diamond earrings. Let me tell you...she was so excited. She must have thought I was one wave short of a shipwreck. I started to think she was testing me because she asked for a tennis bracelet when she doesn't even know how to play tennis. I think I threw her for a loop when I said, "That's fine, honey." She was almost nearing sexual satisfaction from all of the excitement. Smiling with excited anticipation she finally said, "I think this is all dear, let's go to the cashier."
I could hardly contain myself when I blurted out, "No honey, I don't feel like it."
Her face just went completely blank as her jaw dropped with a baffled WHAT?"
I then said "Honey! I just want you to HOLD this stuff for a while. You're just not in touch with my financial needs as a man enough for me to satisfy your shopping needs as a woman." And just when she had this look like she was going to kill me, I added, "Why can't you just love me for who I am and not for the things I buy you?"
Apparently I'm not having "any" tonight either....but at least she knows I'm smarter than her. ;-)
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Now, as far as this guys comment about him being smarter than his girl friend goes, the jury is still out on this one.
]]>Putting Things in Perspective
It is very important - actually imperative - for the sake of reputation and sanity of our very hard-working team, to put any such problems into perspective. Globat is one of the leading U.S. hosting companies with a pretty substantial customer base; at the time of me writing this we are serving ~80,000 customers in 143 countries on all 5 continents on approximately 50 Terabyte of storage and with approximately 500+mbps in bandwidth consumption. Only a very small percentage of our customers (less than 2%) actually contacts us overall with any kind of problem they might be experiencing. 20% of these problems are in regards to installation problems with third-party applications (i.e. a shopping cart, scripts, tools).
Reality Check
Despite having an aggressive pricing policy, we are not cutting any corners when it comes to customer service. Every year we ask an independent market research firm to conduct a full customer study to get a feel for where we are in our customer’s minds and compare the results of this study to the expectations we have. In our 2005 study, we discovered that 91% of our customers rate their experience with Globat.com’s customer service between “Very Good” to “Outstanding”. In addition, 98%(!) of our customers either have recommended or would recommend Globat.com to someone else. These are results of several thousand of our customers responding to a set of specific questions - a representative enough sample to rely on and draw conclusions.
The 2% Trouble
Now, this is not to say that we do not have customers who we do not serve right. I truly dislike to even think about that after 4 years in business we are just not able to 100% satisfy every last one of the people who trust us with their website, but the reality of the situation is that for various reasons we sometime do fall short in meeting the expectation of absolutely every last customer. I am, however, a “the-glass-is-half-full” person and while we might have problems satisfying 2% of our customer base, it also means that we do meet the expectation of about 98% of our valued customers. These are the customers that stay and renew with us year after year; that send us testimonials and refer new customers to us without any commission being paid to them!
It is the 2% of our customers that we fall short in completely satisfying, however, that we are focusing on the most. These folks and the problems they are throwing at us are the challenge a business like Globat needs to excel and to grow beyond what’s required until we deliver what is desired. We look at these customer’s issues as opportunities to learn and get a step closer to meeting what is expected of us.
Bring It On
I welcome every piece of feedback I receive from our customers and I very much appreciate the time and effort some of these people go through to get in touch with me directly. While I might not have all the answers to every one of their problems, I do have access to a group of tremendously qualified, very smart and truly hard-working people at Globat who will take care of any issue we throw at them. These are the people who will ultimately find ways to get us one step closer to that glorious 100%. I welcome these challenges - Globat is in this for a marathon, not a sprint - and I wouldn’t want it any other way!
The iPod is one of the biggest revolutions the music industry has seen in the last ten years. With the iPod Shuffle, Apple has delivered a cost-effective version of a high-end product that almost anyone can own. We have done the same with web hosting. Globat's solutions provide a high-end web hosting experience at a level virtually everyone can afford.
Curious to see how this goes and how the public likes this.
]]>Not you, you say?! So, what type of person are you? What do you think about yourself? How confident are you in your abilities and talents and do you have reason to be confident? Who are your mentors; who do you look to for inspiration and motivation? How much do you trust or not trust others? What is your "perseverance factor"? In other words, how well do you act when you are not in your optimal frame of mind, in spite of difficulty, distress, or apprehension?
Iceberg, straight ahead
Your personality, the way you think and what you believe are key factors in your ability to succeed. I frequently use my iceberg analogy to describe this principal: the theory that the visible part of an iceberg represents less than 10% of its total size; the other 90% remain invisible beneath the water. Applied to real life it means that knowledge or technical skills are no longer enough for success in today's world, and entrepreneurs feel this now more than ever. These things represent the mere 10%, or the "tip of the iceberg" of today's needed competencies. Keeping with my iceberg analogy, where "skills" and "knowledge" are "above the water line", deeper competencies such as deeply-rooted motivation, self-concept, and a mature enough personality are usually hidden beneath the surface, yet have enormous influence over ones daily behavior. It is these deeper, enduring competencies that need to be identified and selected. Therefore, if you wanted to effect change in an iceberg – or your business, profession, or life - wouldn’t you agree it would be a better to work on improving the invisible 90%?
Envision the fruit, and effect change from the root
In his bestselling book, Eker uses a different, easy-to-understand analogy; a fruit tree. Imagine trying to improve an apple that an apple tree produces by focusing on the apple that is already hanging off the branch. If you want the tree to produce better quality, larger, sweeter tasting apples; you need to work on what’s not visible – the roots. It means you need to start early on, be ahead of the game. Picture, envision how the final, perfect apple will look, feel, smell, and taste. Have a vision of the outcome and start at the roots.
If you want to grow your company, increase your external success – invest some time on your internal growth. Envision the newer, better you; the “YOU version 2.0”. Keep in mind, as humans, we are part of nature, not above it. When we align ourselves with the laws of nature our lives unfold more smoothly. When we don’t, it might get rough.