I got a call from a potential client the other day who wanted help in converting his existing databases into the latest version of ACT; he was a long-time ACT user and had accumulated over 20 databases.  He then went on to explain that unless I could match the $15/hour price quoted to him by the kid down the street he wasn’t interested in my services.  Shortly after that I received a call from another prospect that was looking to purchase cheap copies of ACT 2000 (circa 1998) for his sales staff because he didn’t want to pay to upgrade to a newer version. 

Maybe it was a full moon, or maybe it’s the economy that prompted those calls.  However, I’m always amazed that many companies are so unwilling to invest in their software solutions. 

For those of you not familiar with the term, an investment is a commitment of money or capital in order to gain a financial return.  If you really want to succeed in today’s business environment you’re going to have to invest some time – and money – into your technology.  And that investment now will result in profitable returns in the future.

Let’s take a look at the first caller.  Aside from the fact that he has created a maintenance nightmare, having so many databases is just plain inefficient.  For one thing, he has to access over 20 Task Lists and Calendars when scheduling appointments and follow-up activities.  He can’t obtain company-wide feedback on his marketing efforts.  He wastes time opening and closing databases.  Worst of all, he runs a huge risk of accidentally stumbling into the wrong database – or deleting it entirely.  And I doubt very seriously if that “kid down the street” is going to be able to help him out of his mess.

His investment in a bit of specialized training and support will result in a huge increase in productivity – and ultimately profitability.

The second caller is obviously quite happy with the status quo.  He certainly isn’t using social networking to expand his client base or e-marketing to promote his products.  His computers are probably 7-8 years old; when they eventually die he’ll have to scramble around at the last minute to replace them as well as all of his outdated software which is no longer compatible with the newer Operating Systems. 

His investment in a software upgrade now will result in an increase in sales and business later.  His investment will also prevent the chaos and down time that he’ll experience when he’s forced to replace his infrastructure at a moment’s notice.

Your parents probably taught you as a child to invest in your future.  Shouldn’t you also be investing in your business?

Karen Fredricks
blog@techbenders.com
www.techbenders.com/

Most businesses don’t communicate with their customer base enough, so they miss sales because of their inability to “clone” their salespeople. So it’s not hard to see the benefits of adding drip marketing to your marketing plan, which automates the follow-up process and identifies the *hot* prospects from the ones who are only “half-baked.”

The roadblock to implementing is the execution. Drip marketing is inherently overwhelming, with its multiple steps, if/then processes and prolific copywriting requirements. It can morph into a never-ending project.

Can, but doesn’t have to.

I’ve compiled a 7-point checklist to help you overcome your roadblock. The checklist works if you don’t skip ahead or jump around the list. To complete your first successful drip marketing campaign, you don’t move to the next step until you’ve completed the first–even if a single step takes a month to complete. This checklist is the process I teach in my DripMarketingCamp, and I’m sharing the process with you to remove some of its mystery.

This post contains checklist steps 1-4. In my next post I cover checklist steps 5-7.

Drip Marketing Step-by-Step

1. Pick one “trigger event” in your business where  you have the worst follow up. (It’s probably on my list of the “7 must-have drip marketing campaigns.”) Plug up that black hole first. It may be hard to focus on only one campaign. It may feel like that one “blends” into another one you struggle with. If you can’t decide which one to start with because they’re each problem areas for you, no worries. Just pick one. Eventually you’ll complete them all.
2. Define your target audience for this campaign. This will be a lot easier now that you’ve focused on your starter campaign. Code the contacts in your database that qualify to receive this drip campaign, so you have an easy way to group them. (This is called list segmentation, which is the first step in having more meaningful conversations with your contacts.)
3. Determine which messages you want to send, and the sequence you want to send them in. The easiest way to do this is to select a contact you actually know from the target list. Where is this person in your sales process? What does he or she need to know at this stage of your relationship in order to take the next step with you? What “call to action” is appropriate: Asking them to join a webinar? Read a white paper? Offering a special promotion? Join a demo?  What’s the next logical step you want them to take with you? Plot it out. Now that you know who you’re engaging and what you want to say to them, you’ll know how to space out the messages. Is one a day too frequent? One message a week? Following up on a proposal has a different pace than following up on a website lead. Knowing who you’re focused on in a drip marketing campaign makes sequencing a common-sense decision.
4. Write each message, including a subject line for each email message in the drip. Hot tip: Revisit the history of your last 5 big sales. Research what you did to move them through the sales process, in the order you did it. Check your email “sent” folder for message ideas. That’s a rich ”library” of information you tend to repeat with each of your contacts, and these messages typically have a logical progression to them. Won’t it be nice to have a relevant templated response for all future prospects in your pipeline?

I’ll share the second part of this drip marketing campaign checklist in my next post. In the meantime, feel free to ask me a question about drip marketing or share your ideas for your own drip marketing campaigns.

Many years ago my husband and I attempted to wallpaper our dining room.  Of course it didn’t help that we began work on this DIY project two weeks before Thanksgiving and were under a time crunch.  I carefully set up a table in the garage where we applied the paste and carried the soggy paper through the house and into the dining room.  Needless to say by the end of the trip the paper was in shreds.  After we had pretty much mangled the project we called in a professional who just looked at us and shook his head.  He finally managed to ask why we hadn’t simply set up our table in the dining room.  Quite frankly the thought never occurred to either one of us, nor had the concept of purchasing pre-glued paper.

I consider myself a fairly smart person.  However, I also know my limitations, and know when I need to call in the experts.  I’ve learned over the years that money I spend on a consultant, book or course is well worth its price when I compare it to the time it might take me to eventually wave the white flag and concede defeat. 

To paraphrase Ben Franklin, “he who teaches himself is taught by a fool.” 

I run into folks all the time who prefer the DIY route when it comes to software.  I understand the desire to tinker with software; after all, I do it myself.  Unfortunately, many of those folks who teach themselves usually make the same mistake that I did when I tried my hand at wallpapering:   they didn’t keep it simple.  As I work to untangle the convoluted system that they created – which, by the way, doesn’t provide them with the functionality that they had initially hoped for – they often mutter something like, “Gee, that was easy!”  It’s amazing how simple tasks become when we actually know what we’re doing!

My suggestion is that if you really want to master a software title, learn from a pro.  There are a number of avenues available to you.  I write for Wiley Publishing who have created For Dummies titles on over 2,000 topics; they even have a book that covers wallpapering!  I recently created and recorded training videos for lynda.com; for a yearly subscription you have access to online learning courses on hundreds of software titles.  If you prefer that up close and personal approach hire a good consultant; just make sure that the consultant specializes in the specific area you need help with.  Don’t settle for a computer guy who “is really good;” it’s your time, your money and your business.  Get help from an expert who will be able to simplify the learning process.

Karen Fredricks
www.techbenders.com
blog@techbenders.com

I love my tennis buddies even if they are a bit technically challenged.  Take away their AOL accounts and they’d never be able to access e-mail; to them a browser is someone who’s not yet ready to make a purchase.  I found it quite interesting that lately many of them were switching cell phone carriers because they just “had to have” an I-Phone.  I know they’ll never use the device for anything other than the most basic features yet they were willing to pay the price for an I-Phone.

I began to wonder what prompted this I-Phone fixation by my friends.  The answer is quite simple – it pays to advertise.  After all, the harder “they” sell the more likely we are to buy. 

All too often CRM shoppers succumb to the same sales tactics that got my friends to buy I-Phones.  They’re told that one solution is “better” or “easier” than another when in reality most solutions offer pretty much the same standard set of features. 

A simple search on the Internet will provide you with hundreds of CRM solutions.  So how do you narrow the field?  Here are a few of my suggestions:

• Look for software with a proven track record; after all, there’s safety in numbers.  A large user install base means that the company has been able to keep lots of people happy – and stayed current with the latest advancements in technology.
• Avoid start ups.  Period.  Sure, they can promise you the moon but might lack the financing to stay solvent.   Where will you – and your database – be if the company goes belly up?
• Look for a variety of technical support options.  If you love to DIY you’ll want a large searchable knowledge base.  Look for books and online training videos from third-party vendors; those vendors will only create materials if there are enough folks out there to buy them.  Are there independent consultants available to help you and, if so, at what price?
• Understand the pricing structure before you sign on the dotted line.  Are you paying a one-time, monthly or annual fee?  Does the pricing include all of the software’s functionality or do you have to pay extra for adding additional features?  Will you be hit with an additional charge as your database grows?
• There is no such thing as a free lunch –avoid free software unless you have a very high tolerance for buggy software and advertising sidebars.
• A good CRM solution should be fairly effortless.  For example, if you want to send out a lot of letters make sure you can accomplish that task quickly and easily.  Have your sales person concentrate on the features that are the most important to you not the bells and whistles that you’ll never use.
• A good CRM solution should be easy to customize.  The goal is to help you become more efficient, organized and profitable.  Don’t be forced into changing your existing successful businesses practices to accommodate your software; a good CRM solution should be flexible. 

Hopefully these hints will prevent you from making a costly mistake both in terms of time and money.  And remember, if you’re one of those folks who avoid doing your due diligence, I have some prime Florida swamp land you might be interested in!

Karen Fredricks
blog@techbenders.com
www.techbenders.com

As an ACT! Certified Consultant and reseller, I love it when the product I represent wins awards, so hot off the presses is the latest:

Sage North America announced today that Technology Marketing Corporation (TMC)’s TMC Customer Inter@ction Solutions magazine (www.cismag.com) has named the ACT! by Sage contact and customer manager as a 2009 Product of the Year Award winner. ACT! was cited for outstanding innovation based on new user navigation, social media integration and subscription-based E-marketing services introduced in 2009.

ACT! by Sage is the #1 selling Contact and Customer Manager worldwide with over 2.8 million users. ACT! users can organize all the details of their customer relationships in one place to improve marketing effectiveness, attract new customers, and create more value from existing relationships. Complete sales pipeline visibility helps ACT! users identify and take action on the most qualified sales opportunities. ACT! is easy to use and integrates with existing business solutions including Microsoft® Outlook®, Word, Excel® and Lotus Notes®. For more information call 866-903-0006 or visit www.act.com.

Customers, partners and anyone interested in ACT! can connect and discuss on social networking sites including the ACT! Online Community (http://community.act.com), Facebook (www.act.com/facebook), Twitter™ (www.act.com/twitter), LinkedIn® (www.act.com/linkedin), Plaxo (www.act.com/plaxo), and YouTube™ (www.act.com/youtube).

About Sage North America
Sage North America is part of The Sage Group plc, a leading global supplier of business management software and services. Sage North America employs more than 4,100 people and supports 3.1 million small and medium-size business customers. The Sage Group plc, formed in 1981, was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1989 and now employs 13,400 people and supports 6.1 million customers worldwide. For more information, please visit the website at www.sagenorthamerica.com.

© 2010 Sage Software, Inc. All rights reserved. Sage, the Sage logos, and the Sage product and service names mentioned herein are registered trademarks or trademarks of Sage Software, Inc. or its affiliated entities. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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Do you think ACT!’s award winning? Do you not like the software or find frustrating to use?  Let us know. We want to hear from you.

I recently ran across a wonderful story in the Washington Post about two high school kids who stumbled across an abandoned baby on their way home from school 20 years ago.  The baby, only hours old when the kids found her, were ultimately turned over to authorities. The child was eventually adopted but not before the kids had a chance to visit her in the hospital and gift her with a teddy bear.  Fast forward 20 years.  The baby, now a college student, still had the teddy bear.  The rescuers continued to celebrate the occurrence every year and longed to know what had become of the baby they had saved.   The college student found the names of her rescuers on Facebook and hesitantly reached out to them.  They in turn were delighted to hear from her and have planned a reunion.

What made the story even more meaningful for me was that I actually knew one of those high-schoolers as well as his father; they were both former ACT consultants who I had met on numerous occasions.

 The above story struck me for two reasons.  First, those three incredible kids were reunited via a networking site, Facebook, which wasn’t even in existence 20 years ago.  And secondly, I gained a bit more insight into two of my business acquaintances.

You might feel that technology has served to make our world a bit less personal.  And, while I agree that Internet shopping lacks the warm and fuzzy feeling our parents might have encountered at their local store, I think that in many ways technology has made our world a much smaller place.  In fact, technology makes it even easier than ever to develop a personal connection with our business associates.

When I first started my consulting practice over ten years ago, I routinely hopped in my car and drove to my client’s location.  Now, I’m more likely to hop on their computer.  Although this has allowed me to expand the territory that I service, it’s also removed a great deal of that human touch.  Consequently, I make just a bit more of an effort to build a better relationship with my clients.  I’ll admit I cheat a bit by using ACT’s web info tab.  

I recently discovered that the Travel Channel had run a piece on a cool diner in one client’s small New Jersey town, and that another client has pretty much devoted his life to finding a cure for his special needs child.  If nothing else I can badger a client about a winter snowstorm when I reside in Florida, or discuss an event that might have occurred close to his location. 

For me, the world just keeps getting smaller, and folks a bit friendlier!

If you’d like to read the original story about the abandoned baby you can find it at by clicking here.   You might also want to take an online course at lynda.com; I particularly like their Facebook training. 

Karen Fredricks
blog@techbenders.com
www.techbenders.com

Over the last few months, we’ve seen an increasing number of customer calls and problems stemming from trying to save ACT! templates on the network. The error message indicates that the template is in use.  This error occurs whether you are trying to create a new template, save changes to an existing template or saving an existing template with a new name. Unfortunately, the error message is misleading in the fact that rarely, if ever, is the document in use by someone else.

In doing research, we found this issue is actually a common problem with saving Microsoft Word documents to a network.  The error occurs when trying to save a file to a server using uniform naming convention (UNC) as opposed to using a mapped network drive. In layman’s terms, when saving the file with a format similar to \\actserver\act -database files\templates\template.doc, the UNC format is being used. When saving a file using a mapped network drive, the location may look something like this M:\act-database files\templates\template.doc where the M drive replaces the \\actserver.  The frustrating part of the error is that it does not occur all the time and can result in the document throwing the error not to be saved. 

The best way to prevent the error from is to launch the ACT! template folder through a mapped drive as opposed to using ACT!’s default opening method which is UNC. One simply way to do this is to create a shortcut on the computer desktop to where the ACT! templates folder exists out on the network. The key is to make sure that the shortcut is using a mapped network drive as opposed to using the UNC location. Whenever opening or savings these templates, always browse out to the desktop shortcut as opposed to using the default location ACT! provides. This will ensure that the mapped drive is used and avoid the untimely “template is in use” error message. 

Want some help doing this?   If so, please email me at tmm@stewarttechnologies.com and I’d be happy to provide you with screen shots to follow the steps listed above.  

My twenty-three year old daughter was home for the holidays. Hard as it is to believe, my “baby” is now a college graduate. Of course the start of a new decade left me thinking about the technological changes that have occurred over the span of a decade – and how they’ve impacted her life and my business.

Alyssa was raised with a computer. She used to come with me to my computer school and help teach the children’s classes. We were the first house on the block to have Internet access and Alyssa took advantage of my expertise when it came to mastering Word, Excel and Power Point.

My two daughters are only four years apart in age, yet I saw a tremendous difference between their generations. When Andrea departed for college at the start of the millennium it took a mini-van filled to overflowing to carry her “necessities.” Her possessions included a stereo, television, desktop computer, digital camera, photo albums and a huge box of cables including one for the dorm’s Ethernet connection. Alyssa arrived on campus four years later carrying only an IPod, I-phone, Mac book and a couple of power cords.

Alyssa is a card-carrying member of the 70 million strong “Generation Y.” Although they travel light they have access to a never-ending source of media which they expect to access immediately, anytime, anywhere.

ACT 2010 now includes links to various social networking sites including Facebook and LinkedIn. I was surprised to learn that many of my clients weren’t as excited about this new development as I was. “Don’t use Linked In,” huffed one person. “Facebook is for kids,” snapped another. These folks obviously assume that the people they encounter in the business world think the same way they do. Unfortunately, they don’t.

I’ve identified ten areas of communication that have changed over the course of the last ten years, at least if you’re a member of Generation Y. And, like it or not, if they want your business to survive you’ll have to adjust to those changes.

1. Land lines: For Generation Y, land lines are a thing of the past. If they do talk on the phone they do it via a cell phone which has become a permanent appendage. More than 23% of homes currently lack land lines – and the number is going up all the time.
2. Newspaper Classifieds: I’m a firm believer that if radio killed the video star then Craig’s List surely killed the newspapers and put most forms of print media in jeopardy of extinction. Morning papers and TV news have been replaced by online media sources.
3. Dial Up Connections: Your first Internet connection was probably a dial-up. Today’s generation wants instant gratification and finds it at home, on their phone and even at the local McDonalds. And your site had better have the bandwidth and design to enable quick page viewing!
4. Books: I’m an author so this one really pains me. Books are expense to produce – and purchase. They take space to store. Gen Y does their research over the Internet and downloads their reading material to their Kindle. Students can even download textbooks at sites like Coursesmart.com.
5. CD’s: Whoosh. Now you see them, now you don’t. Faster than you can say “download” the CD has been replaced by YouTube, ITunes and a variety of other sites that allow media downloads.
6. Film cameras and prints: Even if you could buy one, you’d have a hard time finding a place to process your film. Gen Y has thousands of pictures residing on their cell phones, computers and Face Book pages. And can access millions more on the Internet. A single image is no longer enough to speak a thousand words.
7. Yellow pages: Ironically, the only people using the Yellow Pages these days are aging Baby Boomers who probably lack the eyesight to read them anyway.
8. Faxing: If they don’t have land lines, why in the world would a Generation Y’er have a fax line?
9. E-mail: If you think you’re reaching your target audience via e-mail alone, think again. Generation Y is so mobile that even e-mail can’t keep pace with them. they’re using Face Book and Twitter to communicate.
10. Cell Phones: Buh-bye cell, hello smart – at least when it comes to phones. Gen Y doesn’t have to sit at a desk or be tied to a computer to access information; they carry a wealth of information in the palm of their hands.

Of course, you don’t have to reach out to Generation Y. You could market only to people who think – and communicate – the way you do. Unfortunately, that idea makes the somewhat flawed assumption that those people will still be around at the end of the next decade!

Karen Fredricks
blog@techbenders.com
www.techbenders.com

This article is for those of you who feel they are totally “computer-challenged,” are short on time or just don’t have the desire to monkey under the ACT! hood.

It’s Time to Wave the White Flag

Sometimes, despite your best efforts, you are just not capable of fixing a problem on your own.  This could be because you don’t have the time to both troubleshoot and resolve your computer-related problems and run your business.  Maybe some of the solutions you researched sounded like they were written in Greek rather than in English.  Once you’ve come to the realization that you’re going to have to call in the reinforcements here are the best places to look for help:

ACT! Tech Support:  ACT! comes with 30 days of free technical support starting from the time you make your first support call.  After that, there is a fee for technical support.  Like I say when I hit a tennis ball off of the frame of my racket – I paid for it, I may as well use it!

An ACT! Certified Consultant (ACC):  When you call ACT!’s technical support line, chances are slim that you’ll speak to the same technician twice.  Without Corporate Edge Support Contract, you’ll most likely end up in an off-shore call center.   For that reason, many users seek out the help of an ACC.  ACC’s have received specialized training in ACT! and are required to stay abreast with all the latest developments in the ACT! world.  Because most ACC’s work with a large number of ACT! users, they are very adept in helping you to customize your database – something that ACT!’s technical support personnel won’t be able to do.

The Wrong Places to Find Help

Now that you know where to seek out expert advice, here are a few people you should stay away from at all costs.  These people are generally terrific human beings, but tend to be lousy ACT! consultants:

Your IT person:  Although your IT person is loyal, trusted and very adept in what he does, it is impossible to learn ACT! by “osmosis.”  Most IT people tend to underestimate ACT!’s power – or overestimate their own knowledge.  A little knowledge is a dangerous thing – especially when it applies to ACT!.  Since you are presumably paying the IT person by the hour, on the job training becomes an extremely expensive proposition.    They may charge less per hour than an ACT! Certified Consultant, but they typically take longer to solve ACT! related issues.

Your local computer store:  Very often your neighborhood computer store provides ACT! trining and support.  Unfortunately, chances are pretty good that the technician is only one chapter ahead of you in the Dummies book.  Worst of all, some of these “geeks” actually pass along misinformation which will further complicate your issue.

The person who’s been “using ACT! for 10 years”:  You don’t become an ACT! expert simply by using the program.  Unless you are a full-time ACT! consultant, you’re probably only familiar with the parts of ACT! that you use regularly.  Faithful ACT! users generally make the mistake of thinking that all versions of ACT! are created equally; believe me, they’re not!

Yourself, especially when you’re frustrated!  Enough said!

Time to Cut Bait

Not all technicians are created equally.  If you have a gut feeling that your technician isn’t up to the challenge, chances are good that your instinct is correct.  Don’t be afraid to politely extricate yourself from the phone call and try again with another technician.

There are a few warning signs that just might set off a red light in your head:

You are frequently put on hold:  Most tech support has three “tiers” of support.  You’re being put on hold while your Tier One technician researches the issue.  Ask to have your problem escalated (Tier Two) or ask to speak to a supervisor (Tier Three).

You don’t understand a darn thing they’re saying:  There might be an insurmountable language barrier between you and the technician.  Maybe you both speak different native languages, or maybe his “geek speak” is so strong that you can’t understand him.

You seem to be going in circles:  Very often the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.  If you seem to be repeating the same instructions again and again, it’s time to terminate the call.

Understanding the Meaning of “Support”

Once you’ve contacted either technical support or an ACT! Certified consultant, you should soon be on the road to recovery.  Hopefully, your problem will be fixed in a jiffy.  If you are working with technical support, however, you’ll need to understand the true meaning of the word “support”:

We don’t support this:   This stock phrase implies that the technician is either unwilling or unable to help you with your specific problem.  It does not mean that someone else might not be able to fix your problem, or that the problem is based on a limitation of the ACT! program.  For example, users of ACT! 2006 and Terminal Services were told by tech support that “ACT! doesn’t support this feature.”  What they meant is that although ACT! works with Terminal Services, they didn’t have enough knowledge to actually support it.

Support is not the same thing as training:  Like just about everything else in life, technical support has become highly specialized.  They will be able to help you with issues such as installing the software or getting your e-mail to work.  They won’t be able to help you to determine why you might want to add new fields to your database or various ways to send out an e-mail blast.

The Care and Feeding of an Outside Consultant

So, now that you’ve waved the white flag and called in the troops – or at least an ACT! consultant – you’ll want to get the most bang for your buck.  Here’s a few tips on how to work with the consultant so that your frustration level and consulting fee, remain as low as possible.

What you should not do, quite simply, is to waste anyone’s time discussing anything that won’t get the problem fixed.  The more you say, the more you risk confusing, or insulting the technician.  Remember, the clock is running.  Under no circumstances should you:

• Bash the Program
• Bash the Techie
• Belly ache about the price
• Curse, swear or make references to the Techie’s Mother
• Jump ahead of the technician
• Ignore the technician’s instructions
• Assume that if the technician is a non-native English speaker that he is hard of hearing
• Assume that if the technician is a non-native English speaker that he is dumb
• Refuse to try something that the technician suggests

Finally, here are a few things that you should do to make your experience with the consultant as painless as possible:

• Trust that the consultant knows what he is doing.
• Listen to instructions.  If you’re not sure about an instruction, ask that it be repeated.
• Avoid the urge to jump ahead of the consultant.
• Keep an Open Mind.

Although good help may be hard to find, believe me, it’s out there!  Don’t give up until you’ve found the perfect solution.  I recently had a client who spent more than a week trying to share an ACT! 2010 on their network.  They were told by Technical Support that the ACT! database had to be located in the My Document folder on a Windows server in order for it to be shared.   It took more time to convince the client that Tech Support was wrong than it did to make the database sharable from an ACT! directory on the server.   There are two lessons here:   (1) You get what you pay for; (2) Price and Cost are two different things since lower priced products and services often cost more in the long run.

To find an ACT! Certified Consultant near you, please visit http://www.act.com/partners/acc/find/index.cfm

Hi. My name is Karen, and I am addicted to online shopping. There, I’ve said it so I’m now on my road to recovery. I love the fact that I can go online and, in a matter of minutes, send a last minute gift to my cousin in Des Moines complete with card and gift wrap. As an added bonus I can spend a moment or two to do a bit of comparison shopping and then fill in my credit card information faster than you can say “Google Toolbar.”

One of my favorite sites is Amazon. It’s definitely my site of choice for book shopping. I started using their “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought” section years ago and have discovered some great reads that I might have otherwise missed. Throw in free shipping – and the fact that they carry all of my books – and I’m indeed in Shoppers Nirvana.

However, as much as I love Amazon I’ve come to hate – or at least be very wary of – their review process when it came to items other than books. In case you’re not familiar with Amazon virtually anyone can offer a review of a product and assign a ranking based on a 5 star system. And of course the more people who assign a product a low ranking, the worse the product will appear in the minds of a potential buyer.

I’m not one to post reviews but I purchased a Canon wireless printer last year for my home and really love it. I’ve had numerous printers over the years including an Okidata dot matrix and an HP laser that could double as a tree anchor during hurricane season. Never had a Canon but tried this one because the features – and price – were right. I got it to work with everyone of our computers in minutes including machines using Win 7, Vista and XP. Even got my daughter’s Mac book to work on it. I headed to Amazon and was stopped dead in my tracks by the venomous reviews posted there.

Yikes! If I had read those reviews first I would never have purchased my beloved printer.
I started by reading some of the 1 star reviews. Most of them were quite short and many weren’t about the printer itself. For example, can you really hold Canon responsible if there is a delay in Amazon’s shipping, or the package arrived damaged by UPS? The 5 star reviews were much longer; some of these reviewers might consider a career as e-book authors. One common theme I noticed in the 5 star ratings was reference to the Quick Start guide. Funnily enough, I didn’t see that reference in any of the 1 star ratings!

This got me to thinking – who exactly is posting these reviews? What is prompting them? And most importantly, which ones should I believe? If I were looking for a new car I’d probably take a look at Road and Track. Software and hardware? PC Magazine or PC World work for me. And, by the way, they both agreed with my assessment of my new printer. I’ve decided to stick with Amazon for their book reviews but leave other reviews to the experts!

Karen Fredricks
CRM Author, Trainer and Consultant
blog@techbenders.com
www.techbenders.com