For the best customer service: TWEET!

Anyone in the Twitter world has probably seen this phenomenon. I had seen it, but never experienced it first hand – until today. My 5-year-old had a pair of popular outdoor shoes we bought for him in May, which broke about 3 weeks ago. The part that broke was the plastic ring that held the strap tight. He had worn them pretty much every day all summer, but these are $50.00 kids shoes. These are supposed to last a long time. My husband has a pair of the same shoes, adult sized, that he has had for 4 years. These are the 3rd pair, in ever-increasing sizes, I’ve purchased from my older son, and have already purchased 2 pairs for my younger son. When they broke my husband and I had no doubt that the shoe company would deal with them and replace them. My husband called their customer service department and they told him to take a picture and send it via email to their warranty department. More than 2 weeks later — nothing. Zilch. No response. This leads us to believe that:

1. They have so many warranty issues they can’t handle them and are incredibly back-logged
2. Dealing with warranty issues is not a priority for this company.

Both these assumptions are NOT good for this company. This company is close to losing a very lucrative loyal customer, one that has already purchased 6 pairs of these shoes (1 for hubby, 5 for kids) and someone who would most  likely continue to purchase new pairs for the kids every summer. I am a customer they want. In fact with baby #3 on the way I see many, many purchases of these shoes in the future – if their reputation as good quality, well made, excellent athletic sandal stands. If these are shoes that are now losing their quality, and will start to break just months after purchase, and the company doesn’t deal with me…. you can consider me a lost customer.

So I decided to give them a last chance. I told my husband to get me the picture of the broken shoe, and posted it up on Twitter with an @ message to the shoe company’s Twitter account. Lo and behold, less than 3 hours later I had a response, and an offer to replace the shoes immediately.  This is the kind of service I expected from this company in the first place.  The question is, why did they ignore the normal customer service route they sent us on, and only respond once I tweeted? In Twitter of course, my complaint is public, vs. the private complaint when I emailed their warranty department. Here is a company that produces an excellent product, and seems to care about customers. But their customer service process is broken. If only those of us who tweet can get good customer care — then they need to fix their process. Don’t get me wrong though – I love the personal attention I can get from companies via Twitter. But I know those days are numbered. At some point there will be too many people doing the same thing and Twitter won’t be a good communication vehicle.  So companies like this need to fix their customer service issues NOW. If I had not received a response from this company they would have lost my business and loyalty. And believe me as a mother of 3 boys — they don’t want to lose my business. I will be a repeat customer every year, and as soon as the little one gets to walking age, will be buying 3 pairs of these shoes every year – as long as quality and service hold up.  I am their IDEAL customer – a repeat purchaser who will be spending about $120-$150 per year with this company.  They don’t have to spend marketing money to lure me in – I’m in. They just need to spend some customer service money to keep me. And which spend do you think brings the faster ROI?

Travel at 34 weeks… no problem! (Or maybe not?)

Something about the 3rd time around — maybe because I feel like I know what this is all about, I just can’t seem to get in gear and embrace the idea that at some point soon, I will need to stop traveling, and I will need to stop committing to after-hours events. I am currently 28 weeks pregnant, and in the next month, I need to just slow down a little bit, but I just can’t get behind the idea. There are a lot of great things going on in my business life, and I am not wanting to let go.

I have a potential speaking opportunity that would require a short flight at the end of October when I am approximately 34 weeks. My husband is not a fan of me taking this opportunity. My doctor said “it better be a really good opportunity.” Of course I would never risk the health of the baby. This means I most likely won’t consider this opportunity. But it’s hard to let go. I feel like during my last 2 pregnancies I was more ready to embrace the pregnancy at the end, and almost happy to bow out of work related events due to being very pregnant. Then of course during the last 2 pregnancies I was not the CEO at Palo Alto Software.

Don’t get me wrong — I am very excited about this new baby, and just as amazed as the last 2 times that I indeed am growing a new little human being that will join our family. I can’t wait to meet the little guy and see what he is like, and see who he looks like, and what his personality is like. I am super excited that our family will add another beautiful baby boy. That being said, some of the things that I stressed about with the 1st 2 babies I am just not stressed about. I now know that the baby just needs the co-sleeper in our room for the first few months. The baby won’t care or notice if his room isn’t perfect until he is quite a bit older. I have all the equipment and know what I need, what works and what is just a waste of money. I am not so stressed about all the little things as I have been through this 2 other times.

I also feel like just putting my head down, and getting as much work done before the baby comes will allow me to really focus on the baby once he is here. His timing is actually coincidentally really good from a business perspective. People are not really thinking small business tools in December. They are more focused on holidays and family, and all the consumerism that goes along with the holidays. So being indisposed for a few weeks in December won’t be quite as hard on me and the business as if it happened during one of our really busy times. That being said, I won’t get a 3 month maternity “leave”. That’s just simply impossible when you run a company. But I will be able to have a lot of flexibility and work from home, take conference calls instead of in person meetings, and even have the flexibility to bring the baby to the office when he is very little.

I guess as I approach D day I just need to deal with giving up control and letting my body and the new baby take that control. Ultimately that may be my biggest problem — relinquishing the control. But for the time being I press on, committed to keeping my career, business and personal life all going full steam ahead!

If only working out regularly simply took following 5 easy steps….

I admit it – offer me 5 easy steps to sticking to my workout schedule and I will take the bait and take the time to read your 5 (or 4 or 6 or 3) steps to being more consistent in workouts. And ususally the advice is good, albeit obvious.  Dumb Little Man has an article about sticking to your workout routine with 5 easy steps that really do make sense.  The 5 steps are:

1. Work Out With Others
2. Keep An Exercise Log
3. Get Enough Sleep
4. Eat Healthily (And Enough)
5. Get Your Kit Ready The Night Before

Like I said – they make total sense, right? But somehow they just don’t help me.  I’ll take you through why:

1. I would love to work out with others. But trying to juggle 2 kids under 5 and running a company, and being pregnant with baby #3, well making plans with anyone except my family is just not in the picture right now.
2. I can keep an exercise log. This is one I can do.
3. Get enough sleep. Hmmm. Haven’t been able to do that since I had baby #1. Where are the 5 easy steps to getting both your young kids to sleep through the night, every night. When one does – the other does not. Then when both of them actually do, I spend all night up with the yet-to-be born one kicking me all night, and hopping up and down on my bladder.  And then when the 3- and 5-year old seem like they have managed to have a good run of sleeping in their own beds, one gets sick, then the other, and we start all over again. I have realized that I can actually survive on less than 6 hours of sleep a night. It’s not good for me. I don’t like it, but I haven’t died — yet.  And with baby #3 due after Thanksgiving — the idea of getting enough sleep seems so far removed from my reality.
4. Eat healthy and enough. OK. This one I can also do. I am a big health nut and very much believe in eating well. That said, lately we seem to be eating a lot of take-out food. I just can’t seem to get to the market regularly and every night it’s the same panic to figure out what we are going to eat. So I guess eating healthy is not as easy as I would like it to be.
5. Get your kit ready the night before. Sure I can do that. But then if the kids don’t wake up on time, or I had a particularly bad night with any of the kids, or couldn’t sleep because of the little soon-to-be-born baby…having my workout clothes ready just doesn’t really matter.

Why can’t someone just give me the secret to adding 2 extra hours to every day? That would be all I need. Give me 26 hours in a day (but make sure the kids sleep through these hours) and I am golden. I can actually stick to the 5 easy steps and make sure I do my workout. But without these 2 extra hours, I just read these tips and it makes me sigh, and realize, those are not for me. One day. But not today.

Why are women becoming a rising force in American entrepreneurship?

Yesterday my PR firm contacted me for a quote about why women are at the forefront of the entrepreneurial movement in America. It was an interesting and hard request, as the journalists only wanted 1 or 2 sentences from me. I feel that it is very difficult to comment on such a big topic in only 1 or 2 sentences. I think there are so many forces at play that have placed women front and center of the entrepreneurial movement. First, before I discuss all the reasons I think women are at the forefront, I thought I would share some stats with everyone:

From the Center for Women’s Business Research:

The Overall Picture: 2008-2009

• 10.1 million firms are owned by women (75% or more), employing more than 13 million people, and generating $1.9 trillion in sales as of 2008.
• Three quarters of all women-owned businesses are majority owned by women (51% or more), for a total of 7.2 million firms, employing 7.3 million people, and generating $1.1 trillion in sales.
• Women-owned firms (50% or more) account for 40% of all privately held firms.

As of 2002 the number of women-owned businesses has grown at twice the rate of all firms. Now of course, it is easier to double your numbers when your numbers are small. But still it is extremely encouraging and inspiring to see that women are truly shedding all the barriers to becoming entrepreneurs and are in control of their own destiny. So why are women suited to be entrepreneurs? Here are a few reasons I think they are:

1. Like it or not, women multitask better.  This is nature, not nurture. In order to survive throughout history women have always needed to multitask raising children with the other things that they are in charge of.  When starting a business, multitasking is an asset. You need to be able to do 5 things at once.
   
2. Women who have chosen to become mothers are used to dealing with stressful 24-hour-a day jobs. Being a mother is wonderful, magical, beautiful, but also stressful and exhausting. Despite the fact that many fathers today have stepped in and really truly do their part in parenting, until the day that men can actually bear children and breastfeed, much of the burden of having and caring for babies falls onto the woman. Period. All of us who have struggled through business meetings, hoping we don’t vomit from morning sickness, or gotten through a day rocking every business commitment despite having woken up 4 times to breastfeed a new baby the night before, or taken a conference call on our mobile phone in order to get to be able to talk, and still pick your child up on time, know what I am talking about. What doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger, and I think more prepared to deal with the highs and lows of entrepreneurship.
   
3. Any woman successful in business today has had a moment where she was unfairly judged by someone else, just because she is a woman. It happens. It will probably continue to happen in my lifetime. It certainly doesn’t happen as often as it used to even 10 years ago, but it does and will.  Those of us who are successful don’t let the judgment bother us, and prove ourselves by being better, smarter, faster than our counterparts.  I think successful women are more likely to want to be in charge of their own success. They are not happy to wait around and let someone else decide their fate. This is the type of woman who is out there starting a business.
   
4. Women are less likely to get the family business passed on to them. If they want to own and run a business, in almost all cases, they have to start it. Of course this is not always true. I run my family business, and it was passed to me by my father. But prior to running this business I had already started two other businesses.
   
5. Women now decisively outnumber men on the nation’s college campuses, and they graduate at a higher rate than men do. And the numbers are expected to just get better for women and worse for men. Some studies cite that, if the gender gap continues, 2/3 of all college graduates in 2020 will be women. Here is another article pointing to the gender gap (more women applying to Yale than men): Yale Daily News. If women become more educated than men, and more women than men are graduating from college, you will continue to see the number of women entrepreneurs go up.

What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with my reasons?

Mommy I am NOT going to college!!!

What? Did those words come out of my 5-year-old’s mouth? Why would he say that? What had he heard to possibly make him say that? Am I already failing to inspire him to want to learn and grow, and be the best? Where have I gone wrong? I haven’t really mentioned college….am I already somehow pushing him too hard?

ME: Why would you say that? Of course you are going to college! Mommy went to college, Daddy went to college, and you and your brothers are going to college.

T: NO! I am NOT going.

ME: But college is fun. Why?

T: I know Megan has to be away from Nana and Grandad, and I don’t ever want to be away from you.  I don’t want to go by myself and sleep all by myself. I have to sleep here in our house. With you and Daddy.

Sigh. Relief. This all makes sense. Megan is my much younger sister who has been attending Stanford University for the last 4 years. She graduated this past June.  My son really only knows Megan in the context that he loves her, but she is always “gone at college.” Now I just want to take what he has said, and record it into history. So when he is that ornery 17 year old that wants nothing to do with me, and can’t wait to get out to college, I can remind him that when he was 5 he said he didn’t want to go, because he wouldn’t be able to be with me. A moment that I thought was going to show me what a terrible parent I already was, turned into a wonderful mommy/son moment for me. Moments like this make EVERYTHING worthwhile.

The truth always wins

It’s no surprise I love Seth Godin’s post from yesterday: The danger of vague claims, as I usually find inspiration in what Seth has to say.  This post though, rings particularly true to me.  This  is how I approach my life, both business and personal. In a business setting I think being up-front and honest buys you so much more than trying to fudge any facts to try to get ahead. At one point or another those facts will be revealed, and then you will have to try to defend them — and look weak.  For instance, one of our competitors claims its product is the “#1 best seller”. Then they put an * next to that claim and, in the fine print in very tiny letters on the bottom of their box, they state that they are “#1 best sellers for the under $45 category.”  They also happen to be the ONLY product that sells that cheap – so of course they are the number 1 best seller in that category.  I really truly believe that consumers are not that dumb, and that they will think twice about buying from a company that starts an interaction with a vague, sort-of-not-truthful claim.

I have also seen this done on resumes, and again I just don’t understand the point. To see a resume that states “Harvard University” clearly in the education portion, only to realize during an interview that the person only did a one week professional development course there, seems like a dangerous vagary. If that person really feels that “Harvard” is the only thing that will get them in the door with a potential employer, what happens when the employer asks about the Harvard degree, only to find out it is only a one week program? Then what? Won’t the potential employer immediately distrust you? Is that the feeling you want to convey at an interview? Aren’t you better off leading with your strengths and the truth about what you bring to the table? Doesn’t everyone eventually see through the smoke and mirrors?

Hurray for Sotomayer!

I had to document on my blog the success of  a very accomplished, smart, woman. And, of course, I love the fact that, like me, she too is Latina and a fellow Princeton grad.  Despite the ugliness in politics, and the way a person has to get dragged through the mud when they are in politics  she triumphed and got the nomination.  Hats off to her!

She Takes On The World: Interviews me!

I am honored to be interviewed by Natalie MacNeil on her blog She Takes on The World. Check it out!

The Small Business Death Spiral

Seth Godin has a fantastically insightful post about small businesses and how they can spiral into failure during tough economic times.  I love this post, because this is what I have been telling small businesses for about 6-8 months. Seth talks about how businesses can let fear and poor economic times lead them towards an inevitable death spiral of failure:

You’ve probably seen it. The fish monger sees a decline in business, so they have less money to spend on upkeep and inventory, so they keep the fish a bit longer and don’t clean up as often, so of course, business declines and then they have even less money… Eventually, you have an empty, smelly fish store that’s out of business.

It’s so easy to see how businesses can set themselves up to fail in this economy, but somehow the businesses themselves have a hard time seeing it. Instead of realizing that economic times like this are “crunch time” and as a business owner this is “do or die” time, people panic, lay off the wrong people, cut the wrong expenses, and watch their business go down the drain.  I have heard businesses tell me countless times in the past 8-9 months things like:

Thank goodness I cut my marketing budget  – my sales are way down this month.

or

I am not sure what’s going to happen with the economy – it scares me, so I laid off all my very highly-paid salespeople.

These people are going down the death spiral described by Seth.  The company that cut their marketing budget might want to think about the reason sales are down. Maybe the downturn in revenue tracks to spending less in marketing? If you are worried about making your sales numbers, maybe cutting the best salespeople you have is not the best idea.

When things get tough, when money gets tight in a business, the best thing to do is PLAN and  MANAGE.  Seriously. Build a worst case scenario financial model, and see when you would REALLY have to let people go.  Track all your expenses directly to revenue, and then spend money that makes you money — and cut the rest of the spend.  Bring your employees on board and explain the  situation, and challenge them to help you keep quality, service, and production high, while finding potential ways to cut expenses. This is also how I have managed Palo Alto Software during uncertain times. Rather than panic, and lay off people because the economy was the worst we had ever seen, I had everyone batten down the hatches, buckle down, and reach for attainable numbers. We cut expenses when we knew other service providers were hungry for customers. We made sure we tracked every dollar spent in marketing directly to a sale. If we couldn’t track it, we didn’t spend it. Then we spent as much as we could in the areas that returned a high ROI. And the result? No layoffs, 3 new hires, and job reqs for 3 more people. We made it through, and are well positioned for the recovery. We didn’t get anywhere near the horribly ugly death spiral. A place where no well-run company should ever get near.

Twitter vs. TechCrunch: Stolen is not news worthy – its just GOSSIP

I am still in awe that there is even that much controversy about TechCrunch publishing stolen internal documents from Twitter, a privately held COMMERCIAL company. Michael Arrington even has the gall to try and justify TechCrunch

Many users say this is “stolen” information and therefore shouldn’t be published. We disagree… We publish confidential information almost every day on TechCrunch. This is stuff that is also “stolen,” usually leaked by an employee or someone else close to the company, and the company is very much opposed to its publication. In the past we’ve received comments that this is unethical. And it certainly was unethical, or at least illegal or tortious, for the person who gave us the information and violated confidentiality and/or nondisclosure agreements. But on our end, it’s simply news.

It’s simply news. Really? Is it going to stop a corrupt politician? Or a war? Or some other real social cause? Or is it simply going to cause harm to Twitter? It’s like the crappy gossip magazines who go through celebrities’ garbage cans and find pregnancy tests  (although in that case they’re not technically stealing).  This is just gossip. Plain Jane gossip.  And mean-spirited, unethical at best.

Are we reduced to thinking that something is right, just because you CAN do it, and people WANT you to do it? Think of how you would explain this to your 5 year old:

Stealing is wrong. Except, of course, if you are stealing something that is really, really, interesting and lots of people want to see it. Then don’t call it stealing, call it news. Got it?

For the record I also don’t condone publications that publish stolen pictures of prototypes or anything else stolen for that matter. Doesn’t anyone care about right and wrong, or is it all about instant gratification?