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Sterne Measures |
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Full Sterne Aheadby Jim Sterne
December, 1998 Full Sterne Ahead contains the mostly monthly musings of Jim Sterne, author, speaker, and Web marketing consultant to business and industry. ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- Welcome to the Full Sterne Ahead newsletter for December, 1998. This issue laments the lack of true customer service in the section called WHEN WILL THEY EVER LEARN?, and offers up the king of Gonzo Internet journalism in RESOURCE OF NOTE. WHILE I WAS OUT reports on an excellent tip garnered from a German consulting assignment and THE CRYSTAL BALL looks toward our communal future in this new electronic media. As a Yuletide gift, it's all done up a bit briefer this time due to the holidays and some feedback I've received from you, my faithful readers. ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- WHEN WILL THEY EVER LEARN? -------------------------- From a Jupiter Communications press release: NEW YORK, November 9, 1998--Forty-two percent of the top-ranked Web sites either took longer than five days to reply to customer e-mail inquiries, never replied, or were not accessible by e-mail according to a report issued today by Jupiter Communications. The Jupiter report illustrates that Web sites are ignoring the opportunity to communicate with existing and potential customers, discouraging brand loyalty, and opting out of a user-initiated, one-to-one relationship by not offering, delaying, or eliminating responses to e-mail. It's Internet 101 all over again: The Web is not a broadcast medium. It is a two-way street. You are out there to communicate with your customers, not *at* them. I feel so strongly about this, so deep in my bones, that I am *not* - repeat - *not* going to go on and on about it. We Hold These Truths to Be Self Evident. Wake up and smell the customers !! ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- RESOURCE OF NOTE ---------------- Christopher Locke is not for the faint of heart. He is a consultant by trade and in that capacity can help you sculpt a corporate identity that properly translates your high-tech offerings into meaningful benefits to potential buyers. More important - he can translate your offerings into a story that serious periodicals will want to talk about in print. But that's just how he earns a living. The reason Chris is this month's Resource of Note is his rare combination of insight, foresight and an uncanny ability to insult just about anybody and everybody with his prose. Under the nom-de-plume RageBoy, Chris offers up his perspective on the Internet and the Web in frequent e-mail missives. I recommend reading RageBoy's writings to those who are not offended by strong language, the occasional fictionalized screed, or a constant barrage of insistence that you don't overlook the obvious, the important, and that which is just beyond the perception of mere mortals. Understand that Christopher Locke is the man who founded the world's fist Internet portal - in 1994. It was called MecklerWeb and had more business savvy built into its business plan than Yahoo, Infoseek and NetCenter combined. It was simply too far ahead of its time. The proof was its motto: "Fast, Cheap and Out of Control!" Alas, it was just too much for investment types to fathom way back then. Before the Web, Chris was knee-deep in the artificial intelligence industry. All of which tells you he's been thinking about the application of high to serious commerce for a long time. What he has is a very special spin on it. Think of Chris as counterpoint. Read him, as I do, for the habitual laugh at your own expense, and to keep alive your own personal sense of outrage at those who do not get it. His newsletter is Entropy Gradient Reversals. Subscribe at: www.rageboy.com/sub-up.html ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- WHILE I WAS OUT --------------- This past month found me in London (several times), Belgium, Munich, and Scottsdale. The most interesting tid-bit came from the multi-national company I was consulting for in Munich. I asked executives there to come up with some guidelines and standards to control wasteful surfing by their employees. One of the things they suggested was a class to teach people how to search the Web more effectively and efficiently. I looked puzzled, so they expanded. In their opinion, the biggest waste of corporate time on the Web is not people looking at sports scores or dirty pictures. The waste came from people not being able to find the things they *should* be looking for. I thought that was very insightful, and a good tip. ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- THE CRYSTAL BALL ---------------- At the beginning of this month, Mike Butcher, editor of New Media Age magazine (in the UK, on paper), asked the United Kingdom New Media List (www.chinwag.com/uk-netmarketing), "So, is anyone going to make some predictions for '99 - or are we going to wait for Bill Gates to do that...?" Tim Hayward, a self-described Digital Media Strategist and a frequent poster to UKNM responded: This is New Media. Most of us make unsubstantiated voodoo guesswork for a living. If I predicted that there would be a February next year it would take most people until September to believe me, until October to act on it and until the following June to pay for the information. For what it's worth, the only prediction I'm currently giving my clients for the premillennial year runs something like... "There shall come a BEAST with the heads of nine ravening DOGS and a smaller dog who is nicer and UPON its back shall RIDE a GREAT WHORE, with twelve HAIRY breasts and a warm scarf. AND the HEAVENS will be rent. AND a plague of BOILS and a sort of rash that isn't quite spots but might be fungal and REALLY itches will be ABROAD in the land..." etc etc ad nauseam. I'm inclined to agree. ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- How about you? I'm interested in what is on *your* mind. What issues are you facing these days? Drop me a line. ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- This newsletter is going to be better if it reaches more people. You can help. The Net is a powerful word-of-mouth mechanism, so if you know somebody who might like to be on the receiving end, please point them to www.targeting.com . ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- Full Sterne Ahead contains the mostly monthly musings of Jim Sterne, author, speaker, and Web marketing consultant to business and industry. |
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