Diomedes - To Think

I like how my colleagues are promoting this!

2011-09-27T11:15:00.003+02:00

Network modernization in days, not months with Nokia Siemens Networks’ Network Cloning Service
Video # 1 link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSe5VKJEp6k

Network modernization in days, not months with Nokia Siemens Networks’ Network Cloning Service
Video #2 link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56CdrooxM4w

Huawei captured changing number of references, patents, and market share at LTE World summit in their public presentation from one day to the next...

2011-05-19T11:20:00.003+02:00

A colleague just sent over this message: "Have a look , two pictures of the Huawei’s booth I took on Monday and Tuesday this week in the LTE world summit in Amsterdam , as you can see Huawei added 10 references during this day , added 600 patent requests and conquered additional 10% of market share out of all deployed networks, not bad for 1 working day, I assume they somehow adapted their figure after listening to our 37 reference message ..."
Hey - either they don't know what they have, or they publish information that isn't checked and then fix it later, or they're making stuff up as they go along....
I'm not really sure which is worse...

Nephthys & Bastet

2011-01-26T17:30:00.002+01:00

Yesterday I pulled Nephthys - the goddess stands for retrenchment into the shadows; the stone stands for "now is the time to retreat and ponder over the next steps to take"; it is time to get feelings straightened out and to prepare for the begin of a new lifecycle.

Today it is Bastet - the cat goddess. I understand this as being told to use the day today to come to peace with myself and to find harmony in my relationships. It is a good time to defend my rights without aggression.

Positive Affirmations (from Bastet):
I am at peace with myself.
My territory is a sanctuary, the room I fill is respected.
I have set clear boundaries around me.
I live in peace with the world.

Today: Amun - Master of the obscured

2011-01-24T09:07:00.002+01:00

Today I pulled the stone with the hieroglyphic representing Amun. It was on its head.
(I will explain that in another blog some other time.)

The book tells us that the god Amun is the highest in the egyptian Pantheon. Legend has it that Amun sparked life into the other gods and goddesses, that he was there before there was any other life, and yes, that Amun was the creator of life. The powers attributed to this egyptian god Amun corresponds in many points to the beliefs in the Almighty in Christianity and Jewish religion. The mysterious lore around him though, is similar to what is often found in the "religion" of many primitive races.

Amun is the god of eyesight and was called up to heal ailing eyes. He represented the needs of the normal people, not only the rulers; and he stands for the rights of the poor, protecting the principle of justice for the underpriviledged.

Amun's positive affirmations and what to repeat to myself today:

I concede to the godly
My life is developing in new and unexpected ways
I am willing to let go and trust in the flow of life
I enjoy the enigma of each moment
I have innumerable possibilities and options
I am an angel - for myself as well as for others

The egyptian oracle

2011-01-23T16:37:00.003+01:00

I got a game, "Das Ägyptische Orakel" from D. Lawson as a gift for Christmas many, many years ago. While cleaning out the basement recently, I found it stuck between the Backgammon board and Monopoly box and thought I'd check it out again.

The "game" is really just a bag full of stones (25 in all) that have various hieroglyphics printed on their tops, along with a book explaining the hieroglyphics. Each hieroglyphic stands for an old egyptian god or goddess or a symbol. For example, the Eye of Horus or the pyramides.
The stones can be used as a sort of fortune-telling thingy - as an oracle, or you can contemplate on the chosen stone's hieroglyphic as a way to enhance your spiritual wellbeing, for meditation so-to-say. Because in the antic egyptian myths and legends, the old culture beliefs associated with each of these gods and goddesses and which was manifested for the thereafter in these hieroglyphics, show that they were a people fascinated with the origin of their existence, and that they too, had a deep desire to understand the world and what was happening to them and what was going on around them.

Just like us today.

Since Jan. 1, I've been pulling a stone from the bag, one for each day. Sort of like, to give the day a motto. By randomly chosing just one stone, and then paying particular attention to the meaning of the chosen stone, I am giving the day some one thing in particular to focus upon, some one thing to look out for and/or appreciate - just for today. It helps me by bringing me an awareness for things that can positively impact my spiritual well-being (and in turn, my physical well-being). It kinda like shows me that today this is what I should be more aware of - just this one thing, not a zillion annoying and nagging things. And tomorrow it will be something else I can focus upon (unless I didn't get the lesson I was supposed to get today, and I end up pulling the same stone out of the bag again.)

The text description that goes with each stone includes background info on the god or goddess or symbol, a meditation scenario and set of positive affirmations that you can/should repeat to yourself. Today's pick brought me the stone with Osiris, and the stone was turned up on it's head (has a different meaning than when it comes up right. More on that in another blog).

The stories around the god Osiris are stories of strength, omnipotence, fertility and life after death. Below are the positive affirmations associated with Osiris that I would like to share with you, feel free to use these for yourself :

My life is consistently getting better.
My body is full of vitality, energy and life.
I have the right to live and to be successful.
My life is overly rich and happy.
I am always capable of learning new things.
My life is full of new opportunities.

Social Media and Your Reputation

2008-01-24T19:25:00.000+01:00

Just in case you were wondering: those funky party pictures (remember? the BBQ last summer with loads of beer!? - Yeah - THAT party....) of you that your neighbor published on Facebook could be the reason the headhunter isn't calling you back. Hmmm.... maybe it's time to start paying a bit more attention to your digital reputation? I just read a report titled "Dealing with your Digital Dirt" (on Execunet.com) and immediately did a search on myself on dogpile.com . You might want to do a search yourself, just to find out what kind of things total strangers can find out about you.

B2C2C

2008-01-18T14:49:00.000+01:00

Quote from a T-Mobile newsletter to me: "Sehr geehrte Frau Spaltmann, empfehlen Sie T-Mobile Ihren Freunden und sichern Sie sich als Dankeschön Ihre Top-Prämie aus über 30 Prämien. Zusätzlich wartet auf Sie die Chance, ein New Beetle Cabrio oder einen von 10 Plasma Fernsehern zu gewinnen!* "

It's not that recruiting new customers for a business through recommendations from existing customers is something new, what is new is the name for it: B2C2C (business to consumer to consumer and so on and so on.)

I am an avid reader of the daily Early-to-Rise subscription newsletter (www.earlytorise.com) and today's issue covers just this topic, recruiting new customers through word-of-mouth advertising, including a good breakdown on Andy Sernovitz's structured, professional method on the tools you can use to influence consumer decisions through word-of-mouth-marketing. (See the newsletter here: http://www.earlytorise.com/2008/01/18/use-your-mouth.html#more-447 ).

A few moments after reading this article, I analyzed my in-box from this morning: I have the above mentioned email from T-Mobile, an invitation from one of my favorite boutiques to come to a "valued member's only" sale with the option of forwarding this special invitation to a friend; an invitation to register for a conference where I can sign-up for myself and for a colleague....

Have you considered how you can incorporate word-of-mouth recommendations in your marketing communications portfolio?

PS: My own email newsletter has a "Forward to a Friend" button on it since its inception!

Thinking about social media/online communities and "real" people

2008-01-02T21:32:00.000+01:00

I was talking to someone recently about online communities - social webbing stuff, and was surprised to find out that although there are still a lot of people that don't do Facebook, Xing, LinkedIn, etc. for whatever reason, (and there are still many folks that just downright don't want to), but also because I found out that there are many people that don't know "how" to (and I am speaking of tech-saavy folks here). This response sparked my interest, so I did a bit of informal market research and asked around ... I wanted to hear who "did" social webbing, and if not, why not.
It seems the main issue most folks I asked have, is: "why should I?". Like: Why should I write a blog? or: "Why should I want to put up a list of my favorite music onto a social website?" or: "Who could be interested what I have to say about that?", or: "Why would I want to put up pictures of my hike with my dog for total strangers to see?" etc.etc. There were quite a few more questions like that, but this kind of sums it up.
The other subject that came up during these discussions were: "doesn't that take up a lot of time?"; and comments like: "If my staff were doing this stuff during work hours, we'd never get anything done"; and some tough things to consider, like: "what if what I post there backfires on me/my company? What happens then?"
These questions certainly have their legitimacy. There are plenty more considerations that need to be given their due respect as well: like what if you are on Facebook and your worst performing staff member wants to hook up with you "as a friend" and give you, the boss, a gold star for being such a "cool friend". Egad!! Many of these thoughts would probably not merit a sweat for the kids that use these social webbing sites today, geezz - they grew up with the Internet and they know how these things work - but that is a totally different story if we're talking about people in business using these tools - especially in an environment that is not familiar with the culture of social webbing platforms.
I will follow the development of how these near-Best-Agers that I talked to, decide to handle this: on the one hand, they want to join in on the fun - on the other, they are wary of the consequences their joining in on the fun could have on them.

Case Study: "Alternative Spring Break" von United Airlines & MTV

2007-10-02T09:49:00.000+02:00

Im letzten Marketing News (09.07), herausgegeben von der American Marketing Association, wird eine Case Study veröffentlicht die mich gerade gedanklich sehr beschäftigt. Es handelt sich dabei um eine Partnerschaft die UA und MTV in den USA eingegangen sind, kurz nach Hurricane Katrina. Gemeinsam sprechen sie Jugendliche zwischen 18 und 24 Jahren an, und geben ihnen die Gelegenheit, mehr aus ihrer freien Zeit zwischen den Uni Semestern zu machen, indem sie gemeinnützige Arbeiten erledigen.
Dabei hat UA eine "neue" Zielgruppe addressiert, MTV ihre "alte" Zielgruppe mit "neuen" Themen angesprochen. Ziel das Ganze ist, die "Kids" in diesem Alter, die gemeinnutzige Arbeit leisten wollen, die Möglichkeit dazu zu geben. Unterstützt werden sie von Profis (Handwerker, etc.). Die Aufgaben bestanden darin, Häuser wieder aufzubauen, Aufräum- und Wiederaufbau arbeiten zu machen. Die Kids mußten sich schriftlich dafür bewerben, somit durfte nicht jedes "Kid" mitmachen, das gerade Lust verspürte, sondern wirklich nur die Kids (dieses Wort ist hier wirklich nicht abwertend gemeint) die die richtige Motivation und eine gewisse Erfahrung mitbringen konnten. In diesem Case Study wird berichtet, sie arbeiteten eine Woche lang, die Arbeiten wurden gefilmt und in einer Sondersendung im TV (am 25. März 2006 in MTV unter dem Titel "Amazing Break") ausgestrahlt. Der Resonanz soll phenomenal gewesen sein - heuer sollen sogar 389 junge Leute in einem gesamt Laufzeit von 4 Wochen, gemeinnutzige Arbeit geleistet haben. Die Themen wurden in 2007 erweitert: um Anti-Drogen, Umweltpolitische und Strafrechtpolitische Themen.
Finanziert wurde das Projekt in diesem Case Study durch UA und MTV, aber andere Firmen und Unis haben inzwischen nachgezogen und bieten ähnliche Projekte auf. Auf der MTV Site gibt es mehr Infos dazu als ich es hier schreiben kann - auch wo andere Firmen und Unis eingestiegen haben in das Konzept. (Link zu MTV Site: http://www.mtv.com/thinkmtv/asb/2007/ ).
Ich frage mich, ob so eine Bewegung in Deutschland möglich wäre? Ob die Kids hier auch zu so was motivert werden könnten? Ob es Firmen gibt, die bereit wären, so eine Bewegung finanziell oder materiell zu unterstützen? Oder ... gibt es vielleicht schon (ein oder mehrere) ähnliche Projekte hier?

Small business marketing

2007-08-30T11:23:00.000+02:00

Most of the local small businesses that I know of, spend more time doing their actual work rather than marketing their business. I just interviewed a small business owner that is doing both their own marketing and completing the customer work they win -- after meeting with a small business owner that is only doing the work that he wins. The difference between the two was so impressive! Because, as we discussed the medium they each use to market their products and services something we all know once again proved to be the deciding point.
The one I interviewed almost solely uses the Internet to market themselves, whereby the other business has a website that is over 8 years old and which hasn't seen an update since its original inception. Strangely enough, both currently have similar revenues. Yet I can imagine that the one I interviewed will continue to be growing in the coming years, whereby the other lamented over losing revenues and customers dropping off the radar screen.

It comes to show, the medium used in marketing will make continue to make a difference. Small businesses may not have the expertise to make super efficient websites themselves, but they will nevertheless be measured with others that do, or that invest in professional looking websites. How SMBs present themselves on the 'Net is not only a marketing tool, but in the meantime, is also considered as a measurement of how well a company may do their work, although a website really may not have anything at all to do with how well they do their specific work.

My message to the SMBs: Go figure....

"Für eine bessere Welt"

2007-06-06T17:45:00.000+02:00

Driving home from Munich the other day, I heard this really neat radio ad: a guy calls a store to confess that he stole a small package of batteries from the display and the sales clerk on the phone goes: "uh huh"... obviously she doesn't know what to do with this information. The guy continues on, and says that he felt so bad about stealing the batteries that he just went back into the shop and put them back where they were. So if she was missing the batteries before, well she has them back now.
The moral of the story was: Drink XYZ für eine bessere Welt (for a better world).
I think the story is really nice, and I remember the name of the drink (but I'm not putting it up here for professional reasons), yet I don't get the connection (why is it a better world if I drink their stuff?). Hmmmm...
And to think I got all hyped up about an article from a guy in the latest Marketing News paper who fussed that some advertisements may sound good, but they aren't giving the target audience a reason to buy their (particular) product. Looks like I have to agree with him. Hmmm.

Is it time to hire a Blog Relations Manager

2007-06-05T13:37:00.000+02:00

For those of you who got my latest newsletter, this won't be news to you... The idea that a corporate communications department hires someone to influence the bloggers though, opens up fantasies to new levels: will there be a virtual Cannes Film Festival to which you can invite your most influential blogger? What will the BRM's budget be? How will you set the budget... what will be the basis for it? Hmmmm.....

Claude C. Hopkins and Sergio Zyman on Marketing and Business

2007-04-18T12:56:00.000+02:00

"We are in business to get results. The finest palaver in the world, if it fails to pay, is useless. Hundreds of millions of dollars, every year, are being wasted on it. I want to sell what I have to sell, and sell it at a profit. .... The ultimate object of business is profit."
-- Hopkins, C. C. (1986, (c)1966). My life in advertising. Lincolnwood, Ill. USA: NTC Business Books.

"...Marketing is not even a combination of advertising and a whole bunch of other stuff added in, such as packaging, and promotions and market research, and new-product development. ... Those are marketing tools. But the tools are not marketing. Marketing is using the tools; .... Marketing is a strategic activitity and a discipline focused on the endgame of getting more consumers to buy your product more often so that your company makes more money. ... The job of marketing is to sell lots of stuff and to make lots of money."
-- Zyman, S. (1999). The end of marketing as we know it. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

My heroes. Sigh.

Was hat das Alter mit Politik zu tun?

2007-03-24T20:14:00.000+01:00

Gestern war lokaler Treffen eines der örtlichen Parteien. Mein Mann war dort. Die Erkenntnis, dass er - ein fast-Mitt-Fünfziger, den altersdurchschnitt der Anwesenden dort um sagen wir mal, ein gutes Drittel herabgebracht hat, hat ihn bestürzt. Er hat heute ununterbrochen davon gesprochen, dass die Republik bald Führungslos sein wird, denn es kommt anscheinend keinen politisch-engagierten Nachwuchs nach. Er schlägt vor, dass die beiden Hauptparteien (die anderen haben das gleiche Problem), sich zusammen tun, um das Problem der mangelnden Interesse an der Politik seitens der Jugend anzugehen. Wenn es so einfach wäre, die beiden Parteien zusammen an einem Strang ziehen lassen zu können, dann warum machen sie es 'eh nicht schon lange?
Mein Vorschlag: frag' doch einfach die Kids was sie meinen. Wer weiss was sie für Ideen hätten, was sie für das politische Wohl der Republik tun könnten. Was käme dabei wohl heraus? (Vielleicht das Tempolimits auf den Autobahnen doch eine gute Idee wären ... aber nicht unbedingt nur aus Umweltschutzgründen.... das ist schon ok... aber ganz besonders weil die Autos die sie fahren -und sich leisten können - dann auch mal auf die Überholspur fahren könnten....)

Krimi schauen...

2006-11-28T09:48:00.000+01:00

Ich - wir - haben in den letzten Tagen (aufgrund des nebeligen Herbstwetters) vermehrt Fernsehen geschaut - u.a. auch deutsche Krimis. Wir haben diese Krimi's aber leider nicht bis zum Schluß angeschaut. Ich sage "leider", aber ich meine eigentlich, gott-sei-dank. Denn so blöd können die Macher dieser Krimis uns hier draussen in der Fernseh-Zuschauer-Welt doch nicht halten - oder???? Wir haben jedesmal umgeschaltet - auf CSI Miami oder Kommissar Beck oder so...
Bei den deutschen Krimis fängt es ja schon bei der Story an zu schwächeln - ich frage Euch: seit wann ist ein geistig behinderter Mann, der nicht mal in der Lage ist mit dem Taxi zu einem Ziel zu fahren, fähig sich mitten in München an eine Bushaltestelle aussetzen zu lassen , wo auch noch genau der Bus anhält, (und diesen auch noch zu erwischen), die ihm zu seiner Schwester auf dem Land fahren kann --- wo er, der geistig behinderter, zudem noch nie persönlich war???

Nächster Versuch: wieder ein Krimi aus der Feder des Volkes von Goethe.... (kaum zu glauben, huh??)...
Eine junge Frau möchte nicht wahr haben, daß ihr Bruder der Massenmörder einer Kleinstadt sein könnte. Der Zuschauer weiss aber nie so richtig wer die anderen Charaktere im Film sind. Wer ist der Arzt? Ist er ihr Vater? Oder der Freund ihrer Mutter? Oder ein Freund der Familie? Wie kommt es das die Mutter dem Bruder (dem erwachsenen! Bruder) dauernd auf dem Mund küsst? Soll das den Zuschauer dazu hinführen zu glauben, dass er zu einem Ödipus Komplex "erzogen" wurde? Wieso wird das dann nicht aufgelöst irgendwann im Film? Wieso weiss die junge Frau nicht, daß ihre Mutter die Sprechstundenhilfe bei diesem Arzt sei? Lauter wirres Zeug....
Bei CSI ist wenigsten gescheit viel menschliche Schwäche in dem Verbrechen eingebaut, und noch mehr Technik in der Auflösung drin... die moderne Version von "Quincy".
Bei Kommissar Beck ist's andersrum: der Kommissar und sein Team haben sehr viele menschliche Schwächen, die Verbrechen sind dafür sehr ausgeklügelt. Ist doch ein toller Konstrast, oder?
Fragt sich dann, was bleibt dem deutschen Krimi, wenn schon menschliche Schwäche und Technik "vergeben" sind: vielleicht glatzköpfige mit Humor? Oder Tiere mit übersinnliche Kräfte? Hatten wir das nicht schon mal?
Es ist doch einfach so: in Deutschland sind (gott-sei-dank!!) nicht so viele Massenmörder
unterwegs! Warum nehmen die Skriptenschreiber sich nicht ein Beispiel an das Wahre Leben hier, anstatt das TV Leben von USA, als Beispiel für ihre Filme? Die wirklich guten Krimi-Filme sind doch die, die so echt sein könnten, daß es einem Angst macht... oder?? Deshalb war doch Aktenzeichen XY so erfolgreich... früher....
Vielleicht würde es auch ausreichen, wenn die deutschen Schauspieler auch einfach mal richtig sprechen würden. Ich weiss daß sie im Film beweisen möchten, dass sie alle gut geübt haben was sie in der Schauspielschule gelernt haben: es lässt sich deutlich sprechen auch wenn die Stimme ganz leise sei.... aber dass kann's doch nicht gewesen sein - was die Schauspielerei angeht - oder? Nur in Flusterton sich zu unterhalten während Mann im Büro das Hemd auf dem Schreibtisch im einer Salatschüssel wäscht .... ???
Ich frage jetzt einfach mal: wer von Euch hat das schon mal gemacht? Ok: für kleine Malheurs geht man mal zu dem Waschbecken im Firmenklo - aber Wäschewaschen auf dem Schreibtisch? Tja, das ist die Strafe fürs Fernsehen... frau verschwendet ihre Zeit und Nerven. ... Die kommende winterliche Nächte werden noch lang.....ich denke ich werde meine Bibliothek katalogisieren...

I hate SPAM(MERS) !!!

2006-11-25T10:50:00.000+01:00

and another thing I hate, is to have to make apologies for something I did not do, and would never do - period. But before the world gets the impression that I am "One of Them" (a -ugghhh, very, very dirty word: Spammer), I want to set something straight here. Some scum - a person or persons that is/are lowlier than an earthworm digging through a pile of manure - is using my domain to send out spam letters... and I am even one of the recipients of this spam.
I called my domain hosting provider last night to ask what I could do about - he didn't have a clue what I was talking about (since when, I ask, is it required that the users of the technology are supposed to be more informed than the tech-support of that same technology? )

Here it is - my apology: I apologize that someone is using my domain name in their email address to send spam. I do not know who it is, that is doing this, as I am still trying to find someone that is knowledgeable (and not just a big mouth) that knows their way around security issues so that this bothersome issue is resolved - and hopefully the spammer(s) get caught in the process and locked away - for good. Come to think of it, wouldn't it be nice if spammers were subjected to life long jail sentences without access to a computer when caught and sentenced? Up to now I've been a peaceful spam recipient - now I am making it my mission to rid the world of 'em.

If it ain't broke, what is there to fix?

2006-11-07T09:15:00.000+01:00

For all the IT wise-guys out there: I thought I'd fix it. Problem was, it wasn't broke. So in reality, I broke it -- cause there wasn't anything to fix. Could this be considered to be another example of the "Chicken-Egg-Syndrome"? What comes first: the PC that works - in one way or another -- ?, or the PC that works --- in one way or another? It is just the program that changes that may be more sluggish... before and after the Fixing. At least now, I know why: because I fixed it.
Now if my PC and I could get an alliance like the recently announced Microsoft - Nortel one going, that would something, wouldn't it? An alliance between "communication" and "IT". I take the role of being the communicator and my PC the one of the IT (we are both too stubborn in our own roles to try it the other way around). Now wouldn't that be a perfect world? Guess I should wait first, to see how the big alliance works before trying it out in my little world.

Rant 'n Rave

2006-06-01T15:41:00.000+02:00

Ok - so I have a guilty conscience that I haven't written in my blog for such a long time. Tap my fingers, -ouch! - ... good. Now that that part is over with, we can move on...

For all those frequent fliers out there: watch your miles! Now that Lufthansa has taken over Swiss nothing seems to work in the Miles & More program anymore. At least not how I was used to it. Being their customer I demand (yes, demand!!) that this company does all it can to ensure I stay a happy trooper.
I, as a Miles & More customer, am totally - and I mean toootttaaalllyyy - unsatisfied - more like: upset! with LH/MM. Here is my peeve: I can't book a flight on the website using MM miles - just because I don't know where to do so on their website. Maybe someoneThen, after 3 hours of trying (I am too tolerant and have too much patience - this has to stop!!), I finally get to a page that shows me that I only have 15,000 miles.... and these were relatively new ones I put on. All of the approx. 55,000 miles that I had on there already are gone --- poof! I checked the latest Miles and More status letter that MM sent out, and sure enough, in itsy-bitsy-teeny-weeny-print under one of the boxes on the page, did MM mention that as of 31.03.06 I would loose 51,000 miles. And that was it - end of the information from MM. What a scam - you can't find - much less book a MM flight on the MM website if you wanted to (BTW: my browser crashed each time I went to the MM site). IMHO, this is LH's way of telling us that they do not want you to use your miles - just pay their expensive rates, thank-you very much.

Das Jahr 2025: Deutschland sucht den Super....

2006-02-27T11:27:00.000+01:00

- Kläffer:
In eine Vorentscheidung werden die Hunde auf Kamera-tauglichkeit geprüft.
In den Endrunden werden die Hunde in verschiedenen Disziplinen geprüft und beurteilt z.B. :

Postboten-Kläffen;
Nachbar-Begrüßungs-Kläffen;
Neuer-Hund-im-Häuserblock Kläffen;
Es-hat-der-Haustür-geklingt-Kläffen,
usw.

Richter sind

ein diplomierte(r) Pädagoge/In. Erklärt uns warum ein Kläffen so klingt, wie es klang (den tieferen Sinn sozusagen).
ein(e) hörgeschädigte/r Senioren/Nin. Erklärt uns was zu hören ist, und was getrost ignoriert werden kann.
ein(e) Hausfrau/Mann. Erklärt uns wie eine bestimmte Klangfarbe im allgemeinen verstanden wird und was bei den Menschen wie ankommt.

Ein Tierarzt überwacht die Show.
Zu Gewinnen gibt es ein Werbevertrag bei einem bekannten Hundefutter Hersteller.

... and the difference is....!

2006-01-24T21:27:00.000+01:00

Sometimes I think I'm last person on the planet able to figure things out... well now there is -again - something "new" I think I've figured out...
I was going through my old mails this evening - pretending to clean out my mailbox but actually finding some reason to keep way too many of them (I'm interested in a lot of things).... anyway, as I was saying...
I think I've figured out the reason why small service businesses in the USA are more successful (or at least they seem to me to be) than are small service businesses in Germany. Wanna know why? Okay - here's my theory:
SB's in the service branch in the USA are not as stuck in the "I'm the greatest" spin as are the German service SBs. I noticed this in the newsletters I get and just reviewed - one directly against the other, as I have newsletters coming in from service providers from both countries - and they are filling up my mailbox and I wanted to clean it up.
The most interesting difference between the two is that the German ones always seem to talk about how great they are: the boss has this and that degree, has spoken at a zillion conferences, their team has a "deep understanding" of whatever ....
Then the USA service businesses: they, on the other hand, leave out most of that stuff (ok - a little bit of it is in there somewhere - but down at the bottom in the fine print part). They seem to focus more on the other side, the customer need side, of things. Like: "this is solution to what you were worried about" and they give you the answer - directly in that email newsletter. Somewhere down the line, they ask if you need help for particular problem. And like I said, somewhere, down at the bottom in all the fine print, you can find that this person too, has spoken at a zillion conferences and has whatever credentials. But to think of it, this part was actually missing in a lot of those good newsletters as well. Some of them even make a point out of mentioning that they are less from the academic-side and more from the hands-on-side of this particular business.
Another thing I noticed: a lot of the German service SBs put in a teaser question - but to get to the answer to their own question, you would have to hire their services. The US service SB gives you at least an answer to the question they put up.
Maybe I'm being too partial here, and for sure - this is not a representative study, just my own teeny-weeny personal observation - but maybe I'm onto something ....

Bureaucracy: Bureau-crazy

2006-01-16T16:19:00.000+01:00

In my efforts to find some statistics I need for a publication I'm creating, I surfed the web and got stuck at a portal for public relations professionals in Germany. It seems like everything in Germany is so bureaucratized that even to become a member of this group of professionals you have to go through an admission procedure. They want you to prove that your business has been successful for over three years, and that your agency makes over €1 million a year (tax statement!). You also have to prove that your offices are representative of your success, that you have all the administrative support you can handle (secretaries, assistants, etc.) and that you have successfully completed big projects in promotions, events, etc. The portal also acts as a brokerage for their members to get access to more new customers/new projects. So no surprises here - only the big agencies get a chance at the big ticket customers. What surprises me is that the sober small agency (=does not reach the above limits) is not allowed to join this elite group (they'll argue that you can become an "associate" or something like that. Whatever that means.) Do the folks there really think that a small agency would take on a program that they obviously do not have the capabilities to carry out? Ok. So next question: why would a "big" agency (=fits the criteria) want to take on small (Small Office / Home Office) customers? They have so much to do taking care of their big-ticket customers, they certainly won't put much effort into caring for a SOHO customer. Yet the SOHOs need all the help they can get. With all the Ich-AGs being started in Germany, all the unemployed turning into self-employed, there is a lot of work for the grasping coming from just this group. Think about it: these SOHOs need to get business announcements out, set up their event at local trade shows, want to see their company name in print in the local papers, etc.etc. This is job creation! It is the SOHO that is a growing market for the PR professional. My call to the PR SOHO and freelancers in Germany: unite! Support the other SOHOs! Give your SOHO customer the VIP treatment they wouldn't have a chance at if they went to these elite agencies. And watch while these bureaucratic-crazy institutions shoot themselves in the foot.

Tea Bags

2006-01-15T18:55:00.000+01:00

Still have laryngytis (sp??) - still laying around. I have a request to all product managers at tea bag manufacturers: would you please put the seep time on the little tab of the tea bag? That way, I won't have to take the whole carton of tea bags back out of the cupboard to read the fine print somewhere on the back or bottom of it to find out how long my tea bag needs to stay in the water. Geezzz... life could be so uncomplicated....

Struensee

2006-01-14T13:55:00.000+01:00

I have laryngitis (sp?) and am stuck to laying around and watching TV. Watched an old movie about Minister Struensee in Denmark. I was so enamored by the story, that I went to the web to find out if this guy was fact or fiction. He was real. It depressed me (probably due to my not feeling well anyway...) to have to discover (again) that there are so many interesting personalities in history that I don't have a clue about. And then there will be so many more I will never discover for myself either. TV does have a way of educating us - if only the movies made these days were so enchanting. I mean, the final scene leaves you wondering if they really did behead him, or if he got off the hook somehow. The producers of this type of movie today would do some kind of technical magic and make sure the viewer sees how his darn head falls off his shoulders. But it is much, much, much more disturbing to be left wondering what happened. I mean - I went and looked it up on the web, didn't I?

Diomedes - To think

2006-01-13T20:42:00.000+01:00

While trying to figure out a name for my Blog, I came up with "Diomedes". Diomedes, as Greek legend has it, fought with Odysseus in the Trojan War. But that is not why I chose this name. I prefer the background behind the name: Dio - or Dios -can mean: "god" or "Zeus", or "thought" or "day". Medes - according to Wikipedia at least, comes from "a tribe of people from the area of "Media". Oops! That's it! And thus I come to my reason for chosing this name: A blog that covers "thoughts, a day, and the media". How fitting!