Sales is more than just a numbers game...

NanoDays 2010 – Events around the country March 27 - April 4, 2010

This notice just hit my desk this morning, so check the link below to see if there are still any events in your area for the weekend (NanoDays 2010 runs March 27 - April 4, 2010). Fortunately for my area, I found one local event for later in the month on April 23rd. I would also call in advance to be sure the event is still being held and verify the location information; things like this are always subject to last minute changes.

Here’s the backgrounder that I got today:

“This weekend, museums and researchers across the country are celebrating NanoDays 2010, a nationwide festival of nanoscale science. The purpose is to bring educators together to create learning experiences for children and adults, and to explore the miniscule world of atoms, molecules and nanoscale forces.

Events are taking place at over 200 science museums, research centers and universities and we're emailing you to let you know your area is included.”

In doing some digging, I found the folks behind NanoDays are the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE Net) . This is an annual event and hosted across North America – to my friends on the other side of the pond, send me information on similar activities on your side. The events are an “all ages” activity so this is a great opportunity for children and adults of all ages to experience hands-on  “materials [that] have special properties and new technologies [that] have spectacular promise.”

In and around my local area, Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill (a.k.a., the Triangle), NC State University is hosting their NanoDay 2010 on April 23, from 3pm-5pm. Here’s the brief mention I discovered:

“Explore amazing new applications and consumer products that have resulted from nanotechnology at NC State University's NanoDays to be held from 3- 5 on April 23, 2010 at Engineering Building 1 on Centennial Campus. Events include demonstrations in nanoscale science, talks by leading researchers, and tours of laboratories that are doing cutting edge science. The grand finale will be the opportunity to sample nano ice cream made by our team of nano engineers.”

If you attend one of these events, let us know about your experience.  For a more complete list of activities (and hosts) in your area, follow this link.

Innovation: Forget about a Homer Hanky, ask for a PeopleTowels this Holiday Season

You have probably seen it; a fan in the baseball stands waving their Homer Hanky. The Homer Hanky enjoyed a comeback this year, as the Minnesota Twins began the playoffs against the New York Yankees.

When the Business Wire News summary came across my desk the other day, I was curious about the Press Release titled, “Great Green Stocking Stuffer Under $10: PeopleTowels.com Offers a Free Gift With Purchase for Holiday Shoppers”. What the heck is a “PeopleTowels” and how does it claim to be “Green”? More so, what’s up with the “Free Gift”?

First, the answer to the Free Gift promotion. “PeopleTowels (www.peopletowels.com) is offering a free gift of one (1) reusable personal hand towel with purchase of two (2) or more PeopleTowels; limit of one (1) gift per order. Customers receive one (1) PeopleTowels’ Beach Breeze free, an $8 value. Offer good while supplies last and expires at midnight on December 31, 2009.”

Next, what is a PeopleTowels? “PeopleTowels is the next small lifestyle change everyone can make to have a big impact on the environment. PeopleTowels are meant to be used at work, or when you are out and about instead of the paper towels found in public restrooms. “

Then, the “Green” angle to the product. “Each person who switches from using paper towels to PeopleTowels will save a 1/4 of a tree, reduce landfill waste by 23 pounds and conserve 250 gallons of water in just one year.”

Lastly, what are they? “PeopleTowels have hang-tags for easy attachment to a purse, backpack or briefcase. They are small (9 x 9 inches) and specially made of light-weight, fast-drying 100% Certified Organic, Fair Trade Cotton printed with eco-friendly dyes.”

Got the picture? Sounds a little like a golf towel and Homer Hanky all-in-one. Okay, they are more than that, but I needed something to make the comparison. For those of you struggling with some simple and meaningful gifts, they are reasonably priced ,“At $8.00 for 1, $21 for 3, and $35 for 5, PeopleTowels are priced under $10 each and below the $20-60 range that Americans will spend on gifts for friends, coworkers, babysitters, teachers and clergy this year, according to the National Retail Federation.”

And my favorite part is what I call the ‘give-back factor’  “Plus, one percent of PeopleTowels’ sales go toward preserving the Earth through the 1% for the Planet program.“

My hat is off to them on this one. Good marketing campaign, a clever Holiday promotion, practical product, helps the “Go Green” movement, and puts some money back into saving the planet.

p.s. I can’t resist adding the infomercial (music, please) pitch, “But, wait, there’s more!”; they even have a contest with cash prizes, “Get ready for the PeopleTowels’ Design Contest”.

When you think retail, quality racks can make or break a sale

Many of us who are now in the profession of Sales, ‘cut our teeth’ by starting out somewhere in a Retail business. For me, it was Women’s and Children’s clothing (independent retail store). One thing that needed attention was restocking the shelves and the various display racks. I recall when we remodeled the store, we met with the architect to select new displays for clothing and accessories. It was not much different from selecting appliances in a kitchen remodel.

As time went on, and I changed jobs, racks and displays popped up in a variety of places. We needed revolving racks for trade show displays for easy access and the presentation of collateral and brochures. Coming into the hotel at night, I would see racks stocked with regional tourism or event information. As a manufacturer, when working with distributors and wholesalers, we often provided racks for them to display our product, or marketing materials.

As I look at today’s market and economic climate, I got to thinking about this niche industry of manufacturing displays and racks. The manufacturing side is suffering the same pressure as any other manufacturer located in the United States. Also, there is the wide range of materials and designs available for the same application, i.e., why choose wire racks over acrylic/plastic ones?

When the announcement was made on Monday that Blockbuster would be closing more stores (“Blockbuster more than doubles planned store closures to nearly 1,000”), I began to think about all those racks that would be re-sold, or discarded. Looking at how thin my local newspaper is – not to mention the giant leap in price at the newsstand ‘rack’ – I have to believe the number of racks built for newspapers and magazines is on the decline. How about the declining numbers of independent, local bookstores –the movie “You’ve Got Mail” quickly comes to mind. Enter the momentum of the digital book and e-readers for the classroom, or reading for leisure with a handheld device or Smartphone – I still like ink on my hands.

With all these market forces, if you were in the display and rack business as a manufacturer, I am betting you wish there was a “Cash for Clunkers” program for racks of all kinds. Some of the display racks I see in stores or outdoors would definitely qualify and not require a means to disable them; they are nearly DOA already.

Although the above may seem bleak, there is one manufacturer I know, with over 30 years in the industry, which is far from tossing in the towel. R WIREworks, Inc, based out of Elmira, NY, offers a wide range of wire racks and displays, where “most items proudly carry a Made in the USA label “. When you look through the selection of categories and individual racks, it reminds me of one of my favorite phrases I used during my time with Unisource; “If we don’t have it, you don’t need it.”

Selection is not always enough in their industry. Product innovation and quality are equally important to survive. They use high quality materials and pay attention to creative designs. Knowing the construction and wholesale lumber & building material dealer industries well, I could appreciate their venture into Roofing Displays. Not only do they design and manufacture these displays, but they assist their customer with layout and installation needs, too. They are taking a full-service approach to a product that can easily be seen as nothing more than a commodity in a catalogue.

Small businesses like R WIREworks are under a great deal of pressure from many directions. Pricing in the business of racks and displays is very competitive, and the cost to manufacture is not going down. To survive, manufacturers will need to not only serve their existing markets well, but also look for new markets with innovative, high-quality products. Recognizing that supplying retailers is a partnership, quality racks can make or break a sale.

Reader introduces us to chumby – yet another wake-up option

Having featured a couple of alarm clocks from Philips (the Wake-up Light Premium, and the clock radio that morphs into a digital picture frame), I was surprised by yet another clever way to wake-up in the morning. A couple of weeks ago I was introduced to the chumby.

chumby is described as “an Internet media player that delivers users' favorite parts of the Internet in a friendly, always-on, always-fresh format.” The possibilities seem endless when you look at the extensive list of widgets and always-on connection to content and information. chumby claims “Over 1,200 widgets in more than 30 categories, ranging from news and entertainment to videos, music, sports and more are available for free from high profile media partners such as CBS, MTV Networks,The New York Times, The Weather Channel Interactive and AOL's SHOUTcast.”

Moreover, for you clever technology development folks, you can submit your own widget ideas for chumby. Do you like to make clever little covers or accessories for devices? There is room for you, too, in the chumby community – they call it an “open-source effort for outerwear”.

Back to the alarm clock side of chumby. You have all the features of a traditional alarm clock. But the competitive advantage becomes the customization of content and how it is delivered. “With a chumby, wake up exactly when and how you'd like: to the adrenaline rush of rock music, The New York Times headlines, weather, sports, stock updates—any audio or visual content you choose.”

Rather than go on about all the possibilities, check it out for yourself. Visit chumby.com and take a tour.

Blockbuster and Bear Rock Cafe; Out – Apple and Bruegger’s; In

Is poor customer service an early indicator of impending doom for a company? When it comes to Blockbuster, I am beginning to think so. Over the last couple of months, I wonder how long Blockbuster will remain in business. A recent experience at Bear Rock Cafe could cast a similar level of doubt in my mind.

I frequent the local Blockbuster in my neighborhood for a larger and more spontaneous selection of movies. But, if a movie is available as pay per view on my local cable provider, I will gladly save the extra $1.00 in rental fees, lost time, and gas. Where I used to enjoy the cheerful ‘hello’ from employees as I entered the store, I now experience a less enthusiastic welcome. As customers stack up in the queue waiting to be served, employees can be found playing the game "Guitar Hero" in a demo area.

When they recently charged me $0.99 as an overdue fee – I missed the deadline by hours - I decided they have completely lost touch with the customer; even the local library cuts you slack on fees. Somewhere along the line I missed the part about no more Rewards Card for you; they used to give me 7 days past due, free. I think it’s only a matter of time, and they’ll be history (closing two stores near me is another good indicator). BTW – Redbox, if you happen to be listening, I know a couple of good locations for you – maybe that’s why it looks like Redbox will be filing for an IPO in the near future.

On to Bear Rock Cafe. Readers and subscribers of this blog may recall that Bear Rock Cafe has been featured as the “Entrepreneur’s Conference Room” in the on-going series, “Small Group Wisdom”. Well, it was that time again for the group to go to the conference room. The only problem was, the conference room lost sight of the objective. We thought they opened at 7 a.m.; we discovered it was 7:30 a.m. – you would think the hours of operation would be on the Web site; not. This seems rather late to me for a coffee and muffin experience. Oh, well; let’s wait outside for 30 minutes. Upon entering, no coffee was brewing; in most restaurants, you bring staff in early to be ready for opening. The server told us it would be ready in 5 minutes. Ten minutes later, after calling out for someone – they were in the back someplace – we discovered it still was not ready, and the plastic wrap remained as a tent over the pastries. Sorry, I couldn’t take it anymore, and we headed off to another conference room; there’s a Bruegger’s not far from here.

I am beginning to think that we have reached a point in customer service where those who do it well surprise us. In reading Greg Hopper’s recent experiences reflected in his blog - Time Warner Cable vs. that of Apple - I share his sentiment about Apple. I had a delightful telephone order experience with the Apple Store. Unlike those who answer with, “If you would only go online, you could …”, the Apple customer service rep was more than happy to answer questions and place my order. Why the phone? Well, it’s easier for me to multitask; I am accustomed to being ‘on-hold’, so I plan to type on my computer in the background. With Apple, it backfired; they got my full and undivided attention – good sign of excellent customer service.

How about the Bruegger’s folks? As we bounded through the door, looking left and right for a line, we headed straight for the cashier. Efficient service eliminates wait; there was no line. She was more than happy to take our order, and we were able to get right to work. Looks like we have moved to new digs when it comes to calling for a meeting.

So, I am left wondering, “Why doesn’t a company, or their employees, understand the importance of good customer service?” It seems so obvious to me. From the company perspective, there’s plenty of competition to keep all of us on our toes. From the employees’ perspective, it only seems natural that they would want to treat customers, as they would like to be treated by others.

p.s. I would encourage you to read Greg’s Time Warner Cable experience; it’s priceless. Not just from the perspective of we’ve all been there at some point, but look at the company response; think of all the companies that have multiple lines of business. Is this any reason for poor service?