Drew Schug Industries

Sitting in a coffee shop in Billings, Montana, as my Dad got out of a 13 hour heart surgery late last night. Snow has blanketed most of Montana, including 20 inches at my house in Bozeman where my pregnant wife of 5 months sits at home. Luckily she does not have to go anywhere.

As last night’s winter covered the state, I posted a message to my Facebook page asking if any ‘super good friends’ wanted to help my ‘prego’ wife shovel our walk. When I got a response from an unlikely source. One of my clients offered to come over with his 8 year old son. A truly amazing, selfless offer from someone who I know primarily on a business level. My mind is racing with thoughts. This is the type of client I want to work with. These are the people and businesses I want to bend over backwards for. These are the people I want to get to know on a personal level. This is the type of customer service that people are looking for. If he is willing to help out one of his vendors, I can only imagine the type of good work this person does for the customers he serves. This certainly sets a higher bar for me in my relationships and serving the greater good. In my opinion, these core values are what makes a person/business a success. It may be a pre-emptive Thanksgiving message but I am truly greatful and blessed for all the amazing clients and partners I have worked with this year.

What are you doing to improve your customer relationships? What are you doing to improve your relationship with the people that serve you?

I recall a younger more innocent time when I donned a locally sponsored Little League uniform with my mesh hat and mitt that I spent 2 days oiling and molding. Then came batting practice one chilly Montana April. I was up. All my teammates were in the field, looking fully prepared to grip anything I could hit at them. Coach was pitching and threw me some “meat”. I swung and with all my might, ended up popping up an extremely high fly ball to center field. I knew I was out. I started running anyway and was nearly to 2nd Base when the ball finally dropped back into the atmosphere. Expecting it to land squarely in the glove of Quentin, our center fielder, I slowed up. When the ball did something that no one expected. It landed squarely on his right eye. Quentin dropped to the ground. Everyone stopped and rushed to center field. Not only was I worried for the safety of my teammate, but I felt extremely horrible about what happened. Quentin had the worst black eye I had ever seen.

When does it become a brand or product manufacturer’s responsibility to educate consumers about the potential hazards with the use of their product? A recent lawsuit in Montana involving an aluminum Louisville Slugger has caused some controversy that has set a new precedent in injury, sports and products.

The jury in the civil lawsuit ruled in favor of the Patch family, finding that Louisville Slugger is liable for failing to warn about the dangers of using aluminum bats, and that the failure to warn played a part in the accident that caused the death

When I hit the fly ball in the air, and it hit my teammate. I did not feel personally responsible for what happened. Nor do I think it was the bat, the mitt, or the baseball’s fault. I still don’t. Nor do I think it was his. Fly balls will be hit, missed and dropped. It’s what makes baseball one of the most exciting games in sports. By making brands and products responsible for personal injury in this case feels a little bit like a scapegoat and most comments I have overheard seem to think that faulting the bat company in this case is wrong. They claim that “it is the nature of sports”. Other products come with warning labels. Remember the guy who burned himself with Mickey D’s Coffee? Or the childrens toys that come with a choking label. This instance seems slightly different in that baseball is a sport and their are inherent risks that take place when you step onto the field.

What are your thoughts?

What is your favorite music to work to? Depending on what the task at hand is, my music varies. From Classical, to 80s, to Country to Electronic Disco and with Pandora, Last FM, iTunes among others, it is easier than ever to find some good tunes to get the work done. Here are a few of my favorite songs to get the job done.

• Everything In It’s Right Place : Radiohead
• Life is Sweet : Chemical Brothers
• Lake Michigan : Rogue Wave
• Anything off of the album The In Sound from Way Out : Beastie Boys
• Time To Get Down : Timo Maas
• Big Country : Bela Fleck and the Flecktones

I know their are more out there and love to find new music that makes the day go by so much smoother.

Drum roll please. Here are the 3 Books that changed my perception of things for my business life (thus far). Many other books have influenced my decisions, but these 3 books have changed my business process, business relationships and rocked my values to the very core. I highly recommend them to anyone who wants to improve their online business skills.

• Web Analytics An Hour A Day – Avinash Kaushik
  • Why it was great: Discovering the business side of web sites and how to improve it using logical data was an awakening that solidified my love of all things on the web.
• Getting Things Done – David Allen
• Why it was great: Being organized is always something I strive for. While I don’t use every element of what this book teaches, it certainly helped me logically organize data, thoughts and to do items. This book also helps cope with the overwhelming ongoing tasks that come with website tasks and making logical next steps for achievable goals and objectives.
• How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie
• Why it was great: A Classic business book by one of the best. Dale Carnegie changed the way I interact with people. As friends, not just clients. I think of this book often in my interactions with others, including my wife and family.

I am recently/currently reading a number of other books that are I am enjoying. I hope to have a rundown of those in a coming post.

P.S. Looking forward to receiving Avinash Kaushik’s new book Web Analytics 2.0 this week. Proceeds go to charity.

Some nice new features released from the Google Analytics Team. I am looking forward to the ability to set more Goals, custom reports as well as trying out the Alerts features. They certainly are putting the pressure on other web analytics platforms out there.

“Power-users have asked us to add even more data manipulation and analysis features to Google Analytics. We’ve been listening, and are adding the latest power features to expand Google Analytics enterprise-class capabilities.”

http://analytics.blogspot.com/2009/10/google-analytics-now-more-powerful.html

Okay I admit, that I have wanted an eBook Reader since I first heard of the Amazon Kindle. Which now boasts up to 3,500 books, 3G wireless networking, whispersync, rotating display and a whole other slew of features. Next came the Sony Reader and the Barnes & Noble Nook. All of which boast exciting features and look great. Their is one major problem though. None of these major eReaders fall below $250. Which makes people who have not tried one, or are currently happy with paper predecessors, fail to try one out. It is not that you have a poor product by any means. It’s that you have the wrong business model.

Their is a huge opportunity with a free, or a less expensive, eReader alternative. The smartest business in the rat race for publishing domination will be the one that figures this out before one of the others do. If I have an eReader, who am I most likely to buy my books from? Probably not the other guys that failed to provide me with an easy entry point into an emerging market.

Other industries use this model well. Gillette does this with disposable razors. I recall my 18th birthday I received a free Gillette razor. How nice of them. I have bought numerous razors from them since, more than enough to pay for that first razor they gave me. Any time I order a computer, guess what comes free? A printer. It is why the printer companies such as Canon and Epson offer free or inexpensive printers, but the cartridges cost a small fortune.

Since I want an eReader, bias could have taken hold. But then again maybe eReaders are doing it wrong. If Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Sony own the platform, a substantial profit stands to be made. Especially when gone are the days where you have to roll out large drums of ink and send it to press. Also gone are the days of having to do in store promotions or even worry about shipping and handling.

So hey, give it some thought,maybe for my next birthday I will receive one of these fine gadgets via mail and you will have me as a lifelong customer.

Drew

Verizon’s recent ad campaign takes shot at the Apple iPhone and AT&T. Apple’s “Their’s an app for that” versus Verizon’s “Their’s a map for that” which specifically touts superior coverage of it’s network. Aside from the not-so-subtle play on words, even the punchy background music sounds as though it should say iPhone.

The problem with the advertising campaign is the branding and messaging. Verizon appears to break some crucial branding and advertising rules. It will be interesting to see how it plays out for them. By mimicking or responding to the advertisement it gives validity to AT&T and Apple. They also dilute the message of all three of the brands and confuse the viewer. Diluting the Apple brand and making it a commodity could be Verizon’s intention. With Apple’s strong brand presence and has no doubt they have lost a number of customers due to the AT&T’s exclusivity with the Apple iPhone.

Past advertising campaigns that use brand confusion that plays off of someone else’s advertising campaign appears to harm the attacking company long term rather than help.
I am curious to see how this plays out for Verizon as I find the ads themselves intriguing and well done. Below are the two ads.

Verizon map for that

Apple App for that

Hello 2009. Well 2008 has been a crazy year. Let’s see, I started my own business, created my website and had the joy of working for some great companies this last year. As great as 2008 was, my 2009 goals are bigger and better. I have a new site in the works, seo clients to take care of, as well as a few larger web projects to get off the ground and running. One of my goals is to blog more. I am migrating away from the wildsweetcool blog for business purposes and going to practice what I preach in hosting my own blog and putting my business posts here. This coming year, I plan on posting more items about search engine optimization, web design and adding new feature called My Top 3 (Final name is still being worked on). Thanks to everyone who has helped and contributed to my success now and in the future. Cheers, Drew.