The Butterball Hotline

We’ve been cooking turkeys on Thanksgiving for literally hundreds of years.  The FOOD Network has devoted a week to showing people how to prepare Thanksgiving Day feasts.  Thousands of cookbooks can tell new cooks how to prepare turkey.  The internet search on “how to cook a turkey” returns over 90 MILLION results.

And yet year after year, the Butterball Hotline is swamped with callers asking questions that are answered everywhere.

What does this tell us about human nature?  About how people learn?

You’d think that after years of answering turkey questions, the Butterball folks could include a pamphlet with their turkeys that would provide all the answers.

And yet somehow I have the feeling it wouldn’t make a dent in the number of calls.

Buy the ink and we’ll throw in the printer for (almost) Free

My Dad doesn’t know it yet but he’s about to be a guest blogger. Here’s an email I received from him yesterday…

Hi Guys,

Thought that I’d bring you up to date with my latest bargain.
My little HP printer ran out of black ink so I went to Zellers to get another black cartridge. It would have cost $30 but I went for the bargain — both colour and black for $69. It doesn’t sound like a bargain but they came with a Lexmark 5495 which will handle photos, scan, make copies and fax with its own built phone. It even has auto feed for copies etc.and slots for all the photo media sticks. It is amazing the extras they give away with their ink!

Dad

Liquidity

Vocabulary Word of the Day:

LIQUIDITY

Definition: Liquidity is when you look at your retirement funds and wet your pants.

Crappy Pretzels. Cheap Airline.

Pretzels
Originally uploaded by dbw53022

Every once in a while I notice a tidbit of Marketing genius. For some reason, on my return flight from Florida, the crappy little snacks they hand out on the airlines caught my attention.

The label on the bag was brilliant.

“How to Eat Gourmet Pretzels on a Low Fare Airline.”

Instead of reminding each passenger of the crappy snacks that they receive on each flight, the labelling served to enforce the fact that our fares were likely lower than the cost to drive the trip.

They took the tongue in cheek approach, reminding people how inexpensive their trip really was.

So instead of a complaint. They got a smile. (At least from me.).

The Department of Homeland Vetting

I propose the creation of a new Government Department – the Department of Homeland Vetting.

Its sole purpose would be to conduct annual ethics audits of all those in powerful government positions. The department would closely look into

• Outstanding (delinquent) Tax Issues
• Pending or current personal litigation
• Immigration status of any personal staff
• Criminal convictions
• Lobbying ties and and significant business investments
• PAC Donations received
• Previous sexual harassment and/or discrimination claims

And if you didn’t pass the annual vetting – you’re OUT.

Am I the only one who’s getting concerned about the very high average of nominees for cabinet positions and senate seats who can’t seem to pass these tests? How many unpaid taxes and ethics violations are out there among the legislators who weren’t considered?

In the past 2 weeks, Caroline Kennedy, Tim Geitner and now Tom Daschle have been caught up in vetting controversies, unrelated to political ideologies or competency.

And these are the people who are considered worthy of nomination!

Perhaps the DoHV should conduct an annual vetting of Congress, our Executive Branch, State Governors and State Legislators.

At least it might get them to pay their taxes on time!

If I get too many traffic tickets the government won’t renew my driver’s license. Yet we allow ethics violators and those who have long overdue income tax obligations to run our country.

And of course, it’s not just Washington. Look no further than Wall St. for examples of private sector moral and ethical ineptitude.

Is it too much to demand that our leaders have an ethical compass?

The Macarena and the Internet

The folks who run the Wayback Machine have been archiving websites since 1996. If you’re interested in taking a trip down memory lane, give it a try.

To give you a point of reference, “The Macarena” was the #1 song that year.

I checked out a 1996 version of a company website where I worked and even then, the marketing folks were trying to build an online community. If you “signed up” for the e-newsletter, you were entitled to a free customized product.

Twelve years ago, some smart marketing folks at my Alma mater, understood the potential value of building web “communities”.

But back then it was more of a mailing list, than a community.

What did your website look like back then? Has it changed much?

The Origin of Change Management

It strikes me that while change management as a business objective has always been with us, nothing coalesced change challenges more than indoor plumbing.

The challenges of getting men to put the toilet seat down are eerily similar to those facing anyone who has to lead change in a business environment.

One has to tackle;

1. Old Habits

2. A WIIFM (what’s in it for me?) proposition

3. Moving behaviours from selfish to selfless.

4. Helping others understand the “bigger picture”.

5. Fear of change

6. Ignorance

7. Negotiation

8. Constant behavioral reinforcement.

For almost a century, men have been training women to master the art of change management.

And many women would argue that it has been going on much longer than that!

Can You Make Sense of This?

Sean Combs (aka P. Diddy, Diddy) posted a help wanted ad on YouTube recently. He received over 10,000 video job applications.CNN’s recent Democratic debate, by contrast, garnered only about 3,000 questions for the Presidential hopefuls.I have no idea what this means.

I just thought you should know.

uʍop ǝpısdn

I’m starting to understand why our country is in so much trouble. This morning, while browsing through Digg, I came across this site, which flips text upside down.

The article had been Dugg over 4,000 times….

Unbelievable.

What Signs Say and What They Mean.

Have you ever met someone who’s obsessed with opportunities? You know, people whose “radar” is always on the lookout for how things might be improved? Those obsessed with the questions “What if?, “Why not?”, “Why are things the way they are?”. It’s really a constant state of wonder.

I am one of those people.

Whenever I see a sign, I ponder the reason for the sign’s existence rather than what the sign says. I have no idea why. My brain just works that way.

One of my favorites is posted in the Pro Shop of a local Golf club. It reads:

“No Rainchecks if you tee off in the rain”.

One can only imagine the customer conversation that caused the sign to be posted in the first place. Does this happen so frequently that it requires a sign? Couldn’t the starter have mentioned to the golfer that it looks like rain – and explain the raincheck policy before they even walked out to the first tee?

How about displaying local dopplar radar in the Pro Shop, so when the weather is threatening, customers can make an informed decision?

Why not suggest the group have some coffee or a muffin in the lounge until the clouds parted? Even if the rain continued, at least you’d have sold them breakfast!

Those are the kinds of questions that trigger in my mind when I see signage like that.

For someone who operates in the Recreation and Hospitality industry, they’re coming up short on the hospitality part. And there are plenty of other golf club choices choices available.

The sign might as well say: “No Idiots Allowed”.

And that says as much about the course operator as it does about their customers.

To people like me, there’s a big difference between what signs say and what they mean.