Phone home
19 February 2007
It's over... two years of self-inflicted torture.In 2005 I "upgraded" my mobile phone to the deliciously designed Motorola Razr. It was beautiful, sleek, sexy and stylish... and by far the worst phone I've ever owned. Sure, the industrial design is amazing... but the interface (ack) just stinks. My previous mobiles had all been from Nokia, so I wasn't prepared for the needless grind and mindless complexity of Motorola's phone interface. Even simple things felt like planning a moon shot in Mandarin. And it didn't help when Chris arrived in Feb 2006 and admired my "Chav phone"... although come to think of it there wasn't much admiration in his voice.
Anyway, by then I was already well aware that I'd blown it. Seduced by the form... doomed to the function.
Until now. My new phone (praise God) is the Sony Ericsson W810i, and folks... I have to tell you... it feels like coming home. Within ten minutes I felt more comfortable with the 810 than I'd ever felt with the Razr. Plus it syncs perfectly with my address book (the Razr created a different entry for every phone number) and... for extra geek points... I can even use it as a remote control for my Apple Powerbook. How cool is that?
The phone itself is perfectly fine. The interface is easy and intuitive to use. And that (sob) is all I want from a phone.
There are a couple of lessons here. Firstly, of course, I need to keep reminding myself not to be seduced by the packaging. Obviously as a bloke, this is tricky... but as lovely Wendy has inherited the Razr I'll be continuing with regular sessions of Motorola therapy. This will help.
The bigger lesson, thankfully, is a business one. I will never buy another Motorola phone again. Not only that, I will make sure that no member of my family, friends or indeed people passing in the street, condemn themselves as I did. Motorola hasn't lost one sale... its lost the opportunity for many.
Any business can seduce with it's packaging. Any business can promise the earth and make a sale. But unless you are prepared and able to make good on that promise it's just the one sale you will be making... because in the end it's the experience that people remember. And it's the experience that people act on next time around.
Posted by Nick Warren at 7:45 AM
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Did I miss your call?
17 February 2007
Did I miss your call? If you left me the message earlier in the week (which I have failed to return) please try again. I've rather carelessly mislaid the piece of paper on which I jotted down your name and number.That's it. If you are the guy please do give it another go... unless you were just going to try to sell me something. I'm fairly sure we don't need anything right now.
Posted by Nick Warren at 2:02 PM
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When to say 'no thank-you'
16 February 2007
Recently we were offered the opportunity to pitch to a dream client... I mean a real dream... but this morning, after a fair amount of thought, I let them know that we wouldn't be coming to the party. They won't mind, they'll have other agencies beating down their door. And I don't mind either... I'm happy because it was the right thing to do.Well... fairly happy. Right isn't always easy.
I would have loved to work on this project, and I know we'd have done a great job... but, and I mean this very seriously... the vibe was wrong. Yes, they had a great budget, and yes, their brand is just amazing... but the communication has been poor (and our business is all about communication).
Of course if I were still in IBM, or working for someone else, I wouldn't have this choice to make. But the truth is even when stacked against money and prestige... I prefer to go with my gut feeling... have to actually.
Bottom line. It's been pretty crazy here over the past few months... it it looks set to stay moderately crazy for the next few. Mike, Chris and I work hard to give all our clients the very best service we can. And sometimes that means saying "no thank-you"... even to dream opportunities.
Posted by Nick Warren at 3:59 PM
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