Soriano’s Way Of Thinking Is Simply Stupid
I’ve been a baseball fan since before Alfonso Soriano was born, so he should listen to his elders when they try to help him understand something like this.
You ain’t in control of jack-squat !
That’s in response to his quote in regards to his trade to the Washington Nationals from the Texas Rangers, which was :
” Obviously, I have the control. Of course I’m not going to play the outfield. “
Newsflash to Alfonso, if you want the Nats to pay you, like the Rangers did last year, you’ll play wherever they say. It’s part of the Golden rule, which is, ” Those with the gold make the rules. ”
This is just another case of the inmates wanting to run the asylum. Kinda like when they sign a 7 year deal and want a raise after year 3 when they finally played like they were paid to.
Lsiten to me, son, and I’ll help you understand a small part of this equation that you’re missing.
The Rangers, in their infinite wisdom think you’re not good enough to keep at your price so they got rid of you.
The Nats, in their less than infinite wisdom, feel like you might help them, so they are willing to overpay you to see if you might just do so.
For $7.5 million a year, I’d be willing to play catcher and sell popcorn between innnings AND sign autographs after the game. Even in visiting parks !
If some team is gonna pay you $7.5 million to play, son, you’ll play where they say to play or they won’t pay you.
Ask Terrell Owens who runs the team. Him or the owner. I’ll give you 2 guesses.
Do you not watch ESPN ? Have you not seen the fallout of an athelete thinking he was bigger than the team ?
Son, you batted a whopping .268 last year. That’s .015 below your career numbers which ain’t all that grand to begin with. My God son, .268 for $7.5 million ? What the hell would we have to pay Ted Williams today for batting over .400 ? $100 million ? Do you sneak to the bank to cash a game check when you go 0-fer-5 ?
Think about this - there’s 30 MLB teams, so there’s basically 30 second basemen. You were ranked 14th among the 2-baggers for batting average. Even behind Ronnie Belliard, who’s as big as the Michelin Man.
You were about average. Wanna know what average means ? It’s just as close to the bottom as it is to the top.
Jorge Cantu of the Devil Rays was ahead of you in most categories. Wanna trade for his $316,000 salary?
Chase Utley of the Phillies was ahead of you. Want his $345,000 salary ?
No ? Then I guess you better be gald that they paid you 21 times as much as Chase got, just to be around his totals.
Better be glad they paid you almost 24 times as much as Jorge got, just to have him better your totals in several categories.
No, Mr. Soriano, you’re not in charge. And if I was the GM of the Nats, I’d be holding a news conference right now to prove that to you as I was cutting you and your already too big ego and your salary.
Want to read the whole article over at ESPN ? Click HERE.
Fed Who ? Kink What ?
Just when you think you’ve heard it all, there’s more where it used to come from.
When I read about customer service like this, I want to RUN ! not walk, away from that company as fast as I can.
Over at A Day In The Life Of A Persuasion Architect, you can read a sad, sad story about FedEx/Kinko’s or whoever they are today.
I would have paid money, and Howard Kaplan did, to have been the customer in this instance.
Can you even imagine the fun you could have had with these people ?
Man, I’d have been so loud and pushy ! I would have been snarky and dry ! I might have even been a little sarcastic ! You Think ?
Imagine the many, many ways you could have shoved a little marketing know-how down their throats. Revel in all the ways you could have pointed out the sheer stupidity of their process.
Here’s the best part, the part where I would have come un-freakin’-glued :
” An Associate Manager returns some time after with my printed, bounded report. He kindly explains to me, next time I should consider simply coming into the store, because it’s much easier for them to print things out on time that way. As I left the store, I thought about sending Tamara’s Conversion Tip off to the FedexKinkos corporate HQ, I just wasn’t sure if I should send it to Dallas c/o Kinkos, or Memphis c/o Fedex
“
Come in to the store next time…don’t send it in advance so it will be waiting on you…bring it in and wait while we do it. Oh My God ! Wonder if the Marketing wonks at corporate know he’s telling customers to do that ?
Kinda defeats the whole freakin’ purpose of creating File, Print, FedexKinkos, doesn’t it ?
Click on over to the post that Howard lived thru and leave him some nice encouraging words of wisdom.
Tell him Mike sent you.
Simplenomics Receives S.O.B Designation
Undoubtedly you can see the teal green SOB badge over in the right-hand sidebar.
It stands out from the rest of the blog and that’s a good thing.
I wear this badge with honor and humility.
I received this badge for being a ” Successful & Outstanding Blogger”. It’s given by Liz Strauss at Successful Blog, to those who add to the converstion and take it back to their own blogs.
Wanto to learn how you can become a SOB ?
Click the badge of honor and you’ll be magically transported to Success-land and you can find out the ins and outs of SOBing.
Good luck and successful blogging to all,
and to all a good night.
Hightide Blog Publishing Network Ranked
Simplenomics is part of the Hightide Blog Publishing Network, in case you didn’t know.
Just yesterday I discovered Blog Network List.
It’s a listing and ranking of all the blog networks that Matt can find or have been submitted.
Is it perfect ? Probably not.
Is it acuurate to within 1/100 of an inch ? Probably not.
Does it do a more than servicable job ? I’d say so.
Does it give us some ideas about our place at the feeding trough ? Yep and I didn’t have to do any of the hard work !
Is it worth watching as Matt tweaks and grows it ? You dang right it is.
Keep up the good work, Matt and we look forward to climbing the ranks.
Write it down somebody…33rd on December 6th, 2005. Watch us grow.
By the way, if you’d like to join in and help us grow, send me an email.
Wanna Know How Not To Treat A Customer ?
My blog friend, Thom Singer is having issues with what I’d call a lousy business owner.
He’s deatiled the instances in a few post, which you can view by clicking HERE and HERE and HERE.
You can go over and offer support and/or advice. If you’re the one who solves Thom’s dilemma, I’ll throw in a dinner.
Leave him a comment and let him know Mike sent you !
Maneuver Marketing Communique Added To My Blog Roll
For those of you who don’t read my Blog Roll, you should.
There’s a wealth of education and information waiting on you there.
Just yesterday, I added a new blog to The Roll of Honor.
Maneuver Marketing Communique is a marketing blog done by a brilliant marketing mind, Michael Smock.
Go by and read his bio. Then move over to the sidebar’s and read EVERY item you can find. It’s almost a marketing education in itself.
Subscribe to the RSS feed. Subscribe to every newsletter he offers and read everything he’ll let you read for free. It’s that good.
I wish I had a week with nothing to do, so I could read every page.
Keep up the good work, Mike.
Great Mike’s think alike !
Does Everyone Know How To Comment On Blogs ?
I’m involved in a post and comment session over at Successful Blog. The post started out with Liz telling us lesser mortals about a hypothetical situation. It involved a blogger with decent traffic, yet no comments were to be found.
Of course I simply solved the riddle and gave the only logical reasons for no comments to be happening.
Later, some other lesser mortals joined in with their thoughts. They weren’t as snarky and long lasting as mine, but they were okay.
It came down, much later in the session, to a world changing, light bulb moment. A thought that had never run thru my simple mind before. Yeah, hard for me to believe it either.
Here’s where the rubber gets spread on the road.
Some of my readers and readers on other blogs may not know that not only is it okay to comment on this blog, I’d just get all wiggly if you’d do it.
Really. I’m not kidding. We want you to join in and help the conversation continue.
I’m thinking of buying Camtasia just so’s I can make a screen capture video showing how to do it.
While I’m chewing on this revelation, feel free to join in on the conversation over at Successful Blog.
If you don’t know how to comment on a Word Press blog, like this one, email me and I’ll walk you thru it.
Gently. I promise not to be mean. Or snarky. Well, maybe a little snarky, but not much.
Newsweek Is Watching Financial Blogs
I just read a post on The Blog Herald, that alerted me to this story.
Newsweek has a story about Financial Blogs. News flash for two reasons.
One - if you have a financial blog, I’d do my best to get them to cover it and see what kind of traffic it would bring.
Think of the possibilities. If they like you, you may get covered on a regular basis. They could offer you a paid position as a blogger. You might get enough traffic and subscribers to your RSS feed to attract advertisers.
I did an article, on another blog, that led to a company buying four figures worth of advertising. But it wouldn’t have happened if I had not been featured on another site.
Two - The main stream media is starting to cover blogs more often. If you do your work in a professional manner and enough people see you, sooner or later someone’s gonna put a spotlight on you and if you’re ready for your big break, you can be on your way.
Make sure you go about your blogging business in a professional manner. Whether you believe it or not, it’s your business and the face you paint on today will be seen forever.
For those who paint their faces with vulgarity, stupidity and silliness, well, you’ll just be left to being a Fry Guy and a doot-doot girl forever. Good luck at 7-11 and Mickey D’s. I hope your Mama let’s you live in the basement forever and pays your hosting bill.
PS - Doot-Doot is the sound of the scanner at check-out lanes in WallyWorld.
Seth Versus The World
I read Seth Godin’s blog every time he posts. I’m not sure why, I just do. I guess I’m afraid he’ll write something remarkable and I’ll miss it. Hasn’t happened yet. He hasn’t written anything remarkable and I haven’t missed it.
See EDIT at bottom of page.
Today I read a post from November 29th. The post was titled Great Marketers Are Architects and in it he writes :
” What does an architect do? She reinvents the very nature of what’s delivered and how it is delivered. She reimagines the inputs and outputs of the organization, as well as its story, to create an engine of revenue that grows while benefitting all sides. “
I’m afraid I’m gonna have to disagree with that definition, as Mike Smock disagreed with his whole post on his blog, Maneuver Marketing Communique.
Mike and I ( Great Mike’s Think Alike ) are both a little put off by Seth’s pissy attitude and seeming disengagement from the common person. Seth’s forgotten that most sales are made to common, everyday, ordinary people. By simple, common, everyday salespeople.Simple ( You know I like that word ) method’s and achievements are more life changing than the elitist methods he proposes.
Think of it this way: Most business’ that are ‘turned around’ and/or made profitable are just using fundamental and basic marketing methods that were not being used.
Most sports teams that are brought back to winning ways or back up to average are brought back with fundamentals and basics. That’s why coaches like Bill Parcells and Tom Coughlin are hired over and over again. It’s also why coaches like Jerry Glanville never get over the hump. Too much reliance on gimmicks. Sam Wyche, same thing. Always trying the Flea Flicker and onsides kicks instead of creating a dominant ball control offense and a bend-but-don’t-break defense, which would make the playoffs every year.
Don’t turn it over, control the war of field position and don’t give up the long ball. Do those three things and you’ll get a 10 year contract. Guaranteed.
Back to Seth and his definition of architect. I work with Architects every day. I’m in the construction supply business and am on jobsites every day of the week. I have to get products selected by Architects, so I’m familiar with them to the nth degree.
As for the definition, and architect is : someone who creates plans to be used in making something (such as buildings). Thanks to Dictionary.com.
An architect is a planner. They don’t implement, they only envision. They never touch a board or a brick. I wish they would and did. If so, they’d be better planners.
So if you think an architect’s gonna turn around a company, you’re wrong. The people who turn it around are the one’s you ( Seth ) regularly discredit. They’re the salespeople, the receptionists, the customer service personnel. the shippers and receivers., the AP/AR personnel. They ALL have a direct bearing on whether or not a customer comes back a second and third and subsequent time.
The company will not flourish if they only sell each customer one time. They have to ACQUIRE the customer and then acquire another and another and another and so on.
Architects don’t do this. They plan and map and route, but without the ACTION of everyday, common, simple workers, nothing REMARKABLE ever happens.
You’ve forgotten that Seth, or so it seems. You also made a mint trying to get people to be remarkable, but the truth is basic fundamentals are the thing that’s missing from most of the service industries today.
Without the waitress making a note to herself that tells her that I want steamed vegetables, instead of fries, I won’t be a happy camper and I’ll try a different diner ( I couln’t spell restaurant ). She doesn’t have to be remarkable to get me to leave her a tip, only has to be fundamentally sound. If she’s 1% better than all the waitresses I’ve been to that week, she’ll get the best tip and a repeat customer. 1%, not 50%. Just 1%.
You don’t have to reinvent the very nature, as Seth says, you just have to plan a basic, fundamental route thru your process to have a satisfied customer.
C’mon back to the real world, Seth. Read Mike’s blog and his critique of your writing, your attitude and your blog.
Simple rules ! and more sales cure a lot of ills.
Planners are nice..for the stock holder communications and board meetings, but a real marketer/salesman will be worth more to you in the long run.
I’ve sold tens of millions of dollars worth of products and never once did I have to consult a planner. But I’ll bet you the planner could not have sold a dollar’s worth without a salesman.
EDIT 12-4 - I just received an email from Seth and our semantical differences are now clear.
I feel it’s only right to tell you how professional, nice and thorough he was in his explanation.
I thought it exceedingly rare for a man of his stature to reply to a post from a blogger as insignificant as I am.
Just goes to show you how all bloggers should act. Professional, giving and mature.
Thanks, Seth, for setting the bar and an example.
I’m Hosting The Carnival Of Marketing
On February 19th, 2006, Simplenomics will be the host blog for The Carnival Of Marketing.
I’m also submitting articles every week for inclusion in those weeks.
If you don’t know about this event, head over to Okdork.com and read all about how Noah Kagan has started this train rolling and see how you can get a ticket to ride.
From Okdork.com :
” How does it work ? Once a week, a different site will host a bunch of links from other sites that are talking about marketing. The topics can be case studies, interesting ideas, cool examples, things not to do, exposure for a product, etc… People can send in any new articles for the week from their websites. “
This coming week, December 4th, the carival train stops at BrandAutopsy, who was just added to my Blog Roll and I’ll bet it’s one of the strongest weeks of the whole carnival.
That link will take you to John Moore’s post about the carnival.
Go by and read Noah’s blog and jump in with us.
