Other Interests: pursuing your passion

Customer Service

It's Friday afternoon and I'm overdue for a rant...

3 examples of customer service (good and bad) this week.

First up, my daughter bought a 2nd hand french horn. The sellers had it serviced before we took it.  It wasn't playing properly...my daughter guessed the valves had been switched. The servicers refused to admit they had made a mistake on the service until they took it to a music professor who agreed with my daughter. It took 3 days to sort out.

Secondly, I was having problems with my new glasses. I thought it was me but took my old glasses with me to the optometrist for a check up. She compared old and new and quickly admitted the new glasses hadn't been made up properly. She immediately agreed to have them fixed and apologised for the lack of quality control.

Thirdly, I ordered a new IBM notebook direct from IBM on 4 January. I was quoted 2 weeks delivery, then 2-3 weeks. Today I rang and asked for an update. I was told not before 19 February with no guarantee. I cancelled!

What a week.

How to do powerpoint

Like John Quiggin, I've needed some time to analyse Lawrence Lessig's presentation on Free Culture last week.

Inchoate's post has prompted me to try and record some "take home messages" for the future. (Even though he saw the Supreme Court presentation on Eldred v Ashcroft which I couldn't attend, it seems Lessig's presentation style was the same for both.)

The presentation was the best use of powerpoint by anyone (let alone a law lecturer/academic) that I've ever seen. (In fact my immediate reaction at the end was more like "Whoaaa!!!") Yes, even awesome.

Putting aside disagreements people had about the subject matter (in that room of creators, academics and lawyers, there were a few), Lessig managed to combine the visuals perfectly with his oral argument.

The slides themselves were high impact (black background with red and white text, usually only one word a slide, slides changing every 2 or 3 seconds, all timed perfectly with his speech and in places broken up with an appropriate multi media clip).

He has obviously given similar presentations before (based on other reviews, see here) but I can only admire the amount of preparation required to get a 1 hour plus lecture to that level and am thankful as a member of the audience that he spent such time.

Donald Norman has commented that the best speech is one where no powerpoint is used at all except for pictures. He believes that a darkened room interferes with communication between speaker and audience. He believes that bullet points should be used only as speaker's aids, not visible to the audience.

As a participant in Lessig's audience, I felt that the powerpoint added to and did not detract from the message.

For my part, I will work a lot harder on my future powerpoints (if I use them). I want my audience to react the way I did (and now I know it can be achieved even on a legal topic!).

Public Library Access to Databases

I had a great conversation with a law firm librarian during a break at the Open Content Licensing Conference.

We covered knowledge management, IT, litigation support and training in big law firms.

We complained about subscription practices by some online newspapers.

We then spoke about public libraries and the advances they are making. I praised my own BCC library and she then observed that I should have access to the databases it subscribed to.  I didn't know.

Lo and behold: I checked the BCC online library catalogue and there is a huge range of databases I can access FREE (click on online references). Great for a solo!

Customer Service

I have spent the last few days helping my in-laws pack up their house after moving to a nursing home.

We needed a moving company. I had heard good things about the local company and had used them once before for a small job. They have good systems and staff. I booked well in advance.

But this time something went wrong. When the pre-packers did not show up on time I rang. I was told my booking had been cancelled.WHAT? I freaked out as we were on a tight schedule. After some heated words, they quickly re-organised packers and got the job done. I rang to discuss what went wrong: if they could email me to confirm the booking, why didn't they email me to confirm the supposed cancellation? Without any pressure, they offered me a 10% discount on the packing job PLUS the actual move.

Whilst there was some short term pain, the rest of their service was so good I am likely to use them again. The discount while not big in dollar terms was an important gesture.

Success Soundtrack

Everyone's doing it.(see my previous post)

Fast Company have put out an iTunes playlist of the songs that sound like success, that fuel your creative fire. There are some classics and some obscure ones, all worth a singalong.

More Tom Peters

Both provocative and stimulating, Tom Peters' This I Believe (60 tips) is well worth reading for ideas about you and your job.

It's available as a free PDF download from ChangeThis.

Communication

Part 1

I had been trying to negotiate a difficult matter over the telephone. The discussions were cordial but not progressing.

A friend suggested a personal meeting. The other person agreed.

Whilst the face to face meeting did not resolve the matter, it did provide a breakthrough that I'm sure would not have occurred otherwise.

Part 2

Went this to a breakfast workshop on presentations.

Whilst it was focussed on the 10 minute pitch it was a good refresher on the basics: refine your message and push it!

Also, be creative.

Bad Service Day

I am having one of those days... our receptionist (temporary) refused to offer refreshments to a client, the notebook computer I had requested for a meeting was not provided and the director of a new supplier did not know anything about our account.

I decided I'd go and get that book I had been reading about. I knew it was at the bookstore because I had looked it up online. So when I get there it wasn't on the shelves. I asked at the counter..it was in a pile of books being returned. And? No and. The salesman refused to look for the book and he did not make a sale.

Value billing

Travelling with an associate gives you time to talk to them about things that you don't have time for on the job. He expressed his frustrations about time-costing (billing by the hour); I told him about value billing. I've given him Burying the Billable Hour by Ronald Baker (via the [non] billable hour).

Privacy and Gmail (Australian update)

The Australian Privacy Foundation has written to Acting Federal Privacy Commissioner, Mr Timothy Pilgrim, requesting he ensure that Google does not launch its Gmail service in Australia in its current form which the Foundation believes breaches the Privacy Act.

The APF alleges that the Gmail service breaches National Privacy Principle (“NPP”) 1.1 (excessive collection), NPP1.2 (unfair means), NPP1.3 (inadequate notice), NPP1.5 (collection of information from third parties without notice), NPP 2 (secondary uses without consent), NPP 4.1 (disclaiming responsibility for all security), NPP 4.2 (open-ended retention of emails), NPP 6 (retaining right to read any emails and denial of access to information after closure of account) and NPP 9 (unreserved right to send data to any other country).

The APF considers that the Gmail service may also breach both the Telecommunications (Interception) Act 1979 (Cth) and the Spam Act 2003 (Cth), although it is awaiting further analysis of the service before pursuing these claims with the appropriate enforcement bodies.