I recently had a wonderful customer service experience with an outsourced Expedia CSR. Clem in the Philipines was warm, polite, helpful and eager to please me, unlike my experience with U.S.-based, US Airways CSR's the day before. I was not a happy Now, how did I realize that Clem wasn't ... more

"How do we define service at this If you were to send that question in an e-mail to the person responsible for operations, the person responsible for hiring, the person responsible for marketing, the person responsible for sales, the head of your company, and a front-line employee (assuming these aren't ... more

An interesting article caught my eye in the September issue of Progressive Grocer. The article titled, Ring Bros. In-store Experiment to Turn Waste Into , struck a familiar chord with me as a Many ask how community-based independents can carve a place out for themselves–or even survive--in today's super-charged, highly ... more

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I recently interviewed Intel's Nancy , VP, Sales and Marketing Group and Director, Integrated Marketing at the Intel IDF Upload for the I host for PodTech.net called Marketing At IDF, professionals from various groups and skill sets teamed up to share their IDF experiences using social media side-by-side with more ... more

It was a thrill to be among 270 business-to-business marketers for two days of learning and inspiration at the first ever MarketingProfs conference. I knew for several months that we had an excellent program with high quality speakers covering the complete scope of topics, which would appeal to a range ... more

At the MarketingProfs B2B I moderated a panel on B2B blogging. When you get a room full of marketers the conversation will sometimes turn to SEO and of course ROI. Mix the two and you have a lively Yes we all know that Google loves blogs, but if your only ... more

When Stuart Itkin became the CMO of Kronos, the company had an identity problem. "People in the market knew the company for what we had been, not what we were," he To gauge the branding situation, he started asking the general public, "What is Kronos?" The answers he received were ... more

In a late-morning session on direct marketing, Inga Broerman–the senior manager of interactive marketing for Siemens–explained the unique challenges facing her company's medical solutions * Siemens is already well established with its core American The big hospital. As Broerman puts it, "You don't have a new hospital popping up on ... more

This morning kicked off with Mac McIntosh's session on how to drive more leads and sales with marketing events. He's an engaging speaker who says staging an event is not the best way to begin the sales It's like asking someone to go to Vegas for the weekend on a ... more

Everyone, at some point in time, has Googled themselves. As is often the case, some unexpected results come back in the mix. We posed the question, "What have you found when you Google yourself?", to some of the attendees of the 2007 Marketing Profs B2B Forum in See what William ... more

In John Coe's Day 1 afternoon intensive he summed up at the end with a quick story about Texas Instruments. It illustrates the importance of taking a few minutes to calculate the break-even cost of your promo John explains he was called in a few years ago by a TI ... more

Paul Dunay did a nice blog post recapping the Day 1 morning intensive Email . I'll just briefly add to his coverage. I want to highlight an interesting rich media newsletter IBM has been doing for SMB Called , two full-time employees (with agency help) produce the monthly newsletter in ... more

Following a dinner best described as highbrow surf-and-turf, William closed out the first day of our conference with a pitch for the value of personal branding. The scope of his program sounds a little exhausting–frankly–but he makes a compelling case for its The alliterative process includes three * Extract. Start ... more

In this MP Classic, originally published in 2002, Nick Usborne debunks the notion that the secret to good copy is using certain words or phrases. Saying as much suggests "that if I had access to the *exact* set of brushes and paints used by Picasso, I could become a great ... more

Hi from our B2B conference in Chicago. Things were hopping at the registration desk this morning as we greeted more than 250 folks coming together for two days of marketing workshops and If you weren't able to join us this time, wish you were And here's a sneak peek at ... more

It's late in the afternoon on Day One, but energy levels in the Grand Ballroom haven't flagged. I just dropped into a session focused on how to make the most of your web site. Among the tips for getting the best conversion rate out of your landing * Keep the ... more

This morning at the MarketingProfs , Stephanie Miller led a discussion on How to make your B2B email programs scale for higher impact throughout the customer Stephanie did a great job of engaging the audience in some open dialog. She also presented some stats that I think are noteworthy and ... more

Here's an experiment you can try at Choose a pop song–any pop song at all–and use your index finger to tap it out on a desk for a colleague. No humming along, no accompaniment at all. Just your finger tapping out the melody. You are the tapper. Your colleague–the listener–has ... more

It's the first session of the morning and we're learning all about Antonio Perez, a 38-year-old former teacher responsible for standardized testing in the Sunnydale High School We get detailed information on his personal life–married, with twin sons–and even more about his professional concerns. (He's frustrated, for instance, with profit-oriented ... more

Too many. If you have ever needed a plumber you know what I mean. This past week, I needed one. And many calls and voice mails later, one of them finally returned my plea for help. But, of course, after he came to fix my problem, I had to reschedule. ... more

What motivates people in terms of health issues, from diabetes to smoking, can be a fascinating topic - all the more so for anyone with marketing on the brain. So, I'm guessing a lot of us take note of any new approach or ad campaign that might inspire change for ... more

Lois Kelly, author of Beyond Buzz and principal of , recently posted something rather profound on her blog. In a recent meeting, Mike Lundgren, Creative Technology Director for interactive agency VML, made a comment that made me sit up in my chair when I first read "It's not about how ... more

A few weeks ago, I created the Fans of MarketingProfs group on Facebook. I saw it as yet another way for us to talk to our audience–to let them get to know the people behind MarketingProfs–and for us to listen, to get feedback on what we don't do well, or ... more

The marketing of some children's books is getting increasingly gender-specific. In fact, some book marketers are forcing a gender stereotype that needn't be forced. The same can happen in marketing certain products to grown-up girls and boys. Don't let this happen to * * * * I attended a baby ... more