Netflix Customer Service

I have been a member of Netflix since May 2008 and my only regret is not knowing about this service earlier.

Like most people, I love getting stuff in the mail. Getting a weekly movie is awesome and my kids also enjoy watching cartoon on demand. I look forward to being able to take advantage of the blu-ray movies at some point.

Last week, Netflix had a problem with their shipping system and orders were delayed for a few days. Not only were they quick and public (both in email and on their website), but they also issued a credit to make up for it.

We have often heard how expensive it is to get a new customer compared to keeping an existing customer. Perhaps lesser known is that you can "screw up" and make it right and your customers will be even loyal - don't make this a regular thing though.

I posted their two messages below because they thought they were both well worded, on spot, and a great example of what do to for others.

Our shipping system is unexpectedly down. We received a DVD back from you and should have shipped you a DVD, but we likely have not. Our goal is to ship DVDs as soon as possible, and we will keep you posted on the status of your DVD shipments.

We are sorry for any inconvenience this has caused. If your DVD shipment is delayed, we will be issuing a credit to your account in the next few days. You don't need to do anything. The credit will be automatically applied to your next billing statement.

Again, we apologize for the delay and thank you for your understanding. If you need further assistance, please call us at 1-888-638-3549.

-The Netflix Team

We’re happy to report that all of our shipping centers resumed normal operations on Friday (after 3 days of issues). If you should have been shipped a disc Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, with rare exception it shipped Friday.

We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused. To all of you whose shipments have been delayed, we’ll be automatically applying a 15% credit to your next billing statement. Or, if you are new to Netflix and your first shipments have been delayed, we recognize that this is not a good way to begin your Netflix membership and we’ll automatically extend your free trial by a week.

Again, we apologize for the delay and thank you for your understanding.

-The Netflix Team

Well done Netflix!!!

Managing Email

I am amazed at how poorly email is managed when it is such a critical part of most of our jobs. Like most of you, I receive hundreds of emails a day and need to be careful not to spend my entire day doing email and losing focus of where my time needs to be spent.

I won’t waste your time on all of the ineffective ways I have seen others manage email, but will focus on what I have been doing for over a decade that has worked great for me. I have yet to see anybody else doing anything similar to this method.

Having set times for doing email (first thing in the morning and later in the afternoon), taking action immediately on any emails that take two minutes or less, touching each email only once, and making sure your inbox stays under 100 emails (both read and unread) are great additional tips to put into practice.

How I manage my emails can be summed up by discussing three inboxes: Inbox, Sent Items, and Deleted Items.

Inbox: Emails in the Inbox folder should only be those items I am personally responsible for. If these items are Spam, I use Shift Delete so they are removed permanently. If these items have been taken care of, they are deleted. If these items are for someone else or I need to follow up on them, they are dragged to my Sent Items.

Sent Items: Emails in the Sent Items folder are items that others needs to take care of or I need to follow up to make sure they are done. If I send an email to someone that requires no follow up or further action on my part, this item is deleted from the Sent Items folder. Emails in the Sent Items folder should be reviewed on a weekly basis for follow up, deleting, and making sure nothing is getting forgotten.

Deleted Items: Emails in the Deleted Items folder are items that are taken care of and may be needed for future reference. At the end of each month, the oldest month of emails are dragged into their respective year folder – like 2007 or 2008. Usually, when you are looking for a past email, it is in the last couple of months, and if not, your email is still organized for searching.

Michael Phelps: Greatest Olympic Champion

Well, Michael Phelps has done what no other Olympian has, win eight gold medals in one Olympics (2008 in Beijing) and in doing so, set seven world records. Every event he entered, he won, and in most cases dominated.

Every media and publication source has Phelps on their cover with a similar story written on what he has accomplished and what it means.

From a marketing perspective, Michael Phelps is white hot. Of course, we will see Phelps on the cover of Sports Illustrated and Wheaties and probably endorsing his own swimming goggles (hopefully ones that keep the water out), and other swimming paraphernalia. These would be the obvious sponsorships which won’t even touch the number and range of products he will be peddling.

At this moment Phelps is the savior for marketing. Anything associated with him is a guaranteed winner.

So don’t sit around marketers, get your place in line to Phelps' agent and cash in on your golden ticket.

Prioritizing Your Projects

You have hundreds of projects that need to be managed, delegated, and followed up on that vary widely in scope and skill required. If that wasn’t daunting enough, new projects are coming across your desk in waves. Is this you?

1. How do you prioritize your projects?
2. How do you make sure you are working on the right priorities?
3. How can you quickly assess a new project and get it properly ranked against others?

I have spent plenty of time on the Internet looking for an answer and didn’t find much help. Here is what I have so far.

In the simplest form, a spreadsheet can be used to multiply the score of different categories together to provide an ultimate Project Priority score. Here are some example categories:

Requested by Customer (1-5 ranking with CEO at a 1, General Managers at 2, etc)
Importance to Customer (1-n ranking so each individual / groups ranking reflects their priority)
Urgency (1-5 ranking based with 1 being a hard due date)
Return on Investment (1-5 ranking based on revenue or cost savings)

Example Project: The Widget Project was requested by the CEO (1), this is her third most important project she wants you to do (3), it has an immovable due date AUG 29 (1), and it is going to generate $xxx,xxx (3 for example). Multiplying 1 x 3 x 1 x 3 gives is a Project Priority of 9.

I have seen others include Project Scale but the smaller the project the better score it gets which will continue to bump larger projects – usually the ones that really matter.

I am sure many of you have some ideas and feedback on this matter that you could contribute. Knowing how to easily gauge ROI and if there are other key categories for measurement would be extremely insightful.

Batman: The Dark Knight

Somewhere between being a tight-wad and having a young family, I rarely see released movies in the theatre. However, I have a weakness for super hero movies. The last two movies I have seen are Iron Man and now The Dark Knight – both very well worth seeing.

Without considering the untimely passing of Heath Ledger that is helping to promote this movie, was there really any doubt that The Dark Knight was going to be a box office hit and record maker? To this point, was the amount of advertising for this show really necessary or beneficial?

I realize that most movies take months and years to develop and have only a weekend to prove their success and recoup their costs. However, there are a few movies where I think word of mouth will completely take care of itself.

Most products and services are not lucky enough to have this problem, but anything with the Marvel name, Christian Bale, and Batman is a nearly fail proof recipe for success.

Let’s say that only half of the advertising budget for The Dark Knight was spent. Would this negatively impact the revenue generated for this movie?

Breaking Dawn

Last night was the release of Breaking Dawn, the fourth and final book from Stephenie Meyer in the Twilight series. I have to admit that I have read all three books although the last book I had to choke down. I realize that I am a thirty something male which isn't exactly the target market for these books. I blame my wife for reading these.

While watching the news last night, one of the stories was of course on the midnight release of Breaking Dawn and showing thousands of people at the Barnes and Noble store waiting to be able to purchase this book.

What caught my attention was the captive audience Barnes & Noble had and they were not taking advantage of this rare opportunity. Although some additional sales will come from customers looking around the store for this four plus hour time frame, so much more could have been done.

For example, why not co-market this release with a radio station or similar company where you could be selling food, giving away prizes, and drawing even more traffic to your store. You could look at various bundling and ways to sell related Stephenie Meyer merchandise with this new book. Perhaps, you even allow customers to buy two books and get the third book half off.

Overall, it isn't that often that most of us have a captive audience and missing an opportunity like this is really a waste.