Death of a Salesman?

My wife found a pair of these shoes at a local boutique. She was ready to buy, but they didn't have the color she wanted (yellow, as shown).

Now that she knew she liked the style and the comfort of the shoe, she was able to get online that afternoon, order the shoes from Zappos.com, and they were delivered overnight. And it cost a few dollars less than at the boutique because she was not charged local sales tax.

She may have asked the boutique to order the shoes for her through their distributor, but I bet they would not have been delivered overnight. The salesman would have had to make an effort to say "Oh, if you want a pair of the yellow, I can have them here by Friday." But that effort was not made.

Sounds good for Zappos, bad for salesmen and local independent retailers.

PS. Here's my affiliate link to Zappos. Shop away!

Why Jeff Tweedy's Business Should Be Important to You

Jeff Tweedy is a musician who has been carving his own path through the music business for years. He embraces the internet as a medium to get more people to hear his band's music, even if the listener doesn't pay for the song. I won't put any links here... simply Google him and music business, and you'll see his views in detail.

Here's the path he took to make me become a really good customer. This is a great example of how long it might take to make a customer a "lifetime" customer.

1. In the early to mid 90's I hear of a band called Uncle Tupelo that's good, but I don't check them out. I really don't like their name. This was Jeff Tweedy's band.

2. Mid to Late 90s ... I hear of Wilco and the term "alt country." It's supposed to be good. But I don't hear it. It's not on the radio.

3. 2004 ... Yankee Hotel Foxtrot comes out. It's a great, great album. A friend gives me a burnt copy on CD. I love it. I watch a borrowed copy of their DVD documentary of making Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.

4. Same friend gives copy of next album, "A Ghost is Born." It came at a time when I had another band on heavy rotation, and I didn't have time to give it a chance. A few listens told me it was no YHT, as expected.

5. 2007: Another friend asks me to turn him on to some cool music. I turn him on to Wilco, thinking it's a good fit with other music he likes. He loves it.

6. 2008: Wilco comes to second friend's town. He insists on buying me a ticket. We see show. I'm blown away, and am taken to a new level of "customer satisfaction." I get home, buy all their albums at iTunes, and even gift it to friend #3 because they had just seen them on Saturday Night Live

Motive: If you sell something you care about, don't ever give up, and use any avenue possible to let people know you and your product/service exist.

Pioneers of Something, Always

some people just aren't happy unless they're blazing trails.

When the next Boom comes...

You'll see:

The next Starbucks: A healthy/affordable/fresh take-out concept
The next iPod: 24-7 personal security monitor and GPS
The next HDTV: automated, affordable home security and neighborhood monitoring

It's Good to Self-Google

I've been Googling myself for several years. It's good because with so much info out there, it's good to know what info might be out there about you. You can bet your future boss or spouse will Google your name. If there is any negative information, you might have to do some work to fix it.

You can counter it by doing your own AdWords Campaign, in which you can ensure your chosen information about yourself is at or near the very top of the results page. I've been running mine for over 4 years. Google "Kirk Lancaster" and you'll see my little ad.

Often you'll have people and companies with the same name show up in the results, and you actually have to advertise and optimize your site in order to have someone find you quickly.

The point is you have to make sure your name and your company's name is fairly clean in the results of internet searches. Google yourself. It's good for you to know what's out there.

Here's a good article at Wired.com about it.